On 10/12/2011 at about 830pm, my WoW account will expire for the first time ever. I played regularly for about 5 years. It was so much fun for such a long time. I did everything the game had to offer. I raided, PVPed, and whored achievements when they were added to the game.

I was never hardcore. I never raided daily. I was in a casual guild that raided 2 times a week. Our greatest moment was killing Lich King for the first time before he got so nerfed that PUGs could kill him blindfolded. It was the first time we had cleared all the content of a current expansion and it was glorious.

Sadly this latest expansion started out so hard that it caused most of my guild to quit the game. When you need an organized group to get through a normal dungeon, something is wrong. When you needed a guild and vent to get through a heroic dungeon, something was really wrong.

I am not one to just ship that fast. I manned the fort for many months hoping to draw in new people or for old ones to return but it never happened. It the last few months only 3 other people have been on regularly. So last night I promoted all of them to the highest rank. I left a message that if someone wanted GL they could get a GM to transfer it.

I mailed one of my friend 10k gold. Should be a nice surprise next time he logs on. I've kept a few K just in case I come back in the next expansion.

And even if I wanted to play more, I can't justify the expense given my current financial situation.

So for now, Warmason, my level 85 warrior who has been my main since the beginning, his pixels will be atop the fire scarred gates of Stormwind Keep until I return for him or he fades away...