A Blizzard employee contacted us over the weekend to share the story of one of those rad statues that are going out to ten-year veterans of World of Warcraft. And how not all of them are necessarily going out to the living.
Mortisana writes on the game's official boards that back when the game first launched in 2004 (2004!), she was there on day 1 and played it along with two other people: her husband and her father.
"While my husband and I took several breaks, one of which was to bring a child into this world (who is now 8), we always enjoyed the times we could get together with my father in game", she says. "He wasn't the best player...He preferred to play alone, or with us, though he played for hours on end every day. You see, several years ago, he had a stroke and was in very poor health after that. He didn't go out of the house much, could barely walk. Wow was so much of his world, his escape. It was one of the few things he could do that gave him happiness."
"He passed away in March and I closed his account and my own. I just couldn't log in and not think of him. In December, my 8 year said he wanted to play. After much thinking, I activated dad's account for him. Now I play with my son on the account my father played so much. He would have loved that his grandson enjoyed it."
"Today my mother called me and said a box from Blizzard showed up on the doorstep. So thank you Blizzard, I will always look at that statue and remember how much joy you gave my father and me."