Thanks to everyone who has written in or commented about the recently datamined item, [Phaelia’s Vestments of the Sprouting Seed]! As if it weren’t enough of an honor to have been mentioned, Blizzard was thoughtful enough to include my as-yet-unborn “Sprouting Seed!” The stats are amazing, and even the crit isn’t necessarily a waste with the upcoming changes. And to top it all off, they’re beautiful, matching the colors of the Tree of Life (plus green)! I’m happy for all the players that will wear them proudly some day. Thank you, Blizzard!

Finally, because so many have asked about it, I am writing a non-Druid-related blog. (Resto4Life has been too much fun to give blogging up altogether.) Focused on my love of Marvel comics – and specifically my long-standing love for two specific characters – the supremely dorky Sugah & Spice blog is small, less frequently updated, and intended to be a much, much, much (much) lower level of responsibility than was Resto4Life. While I doubt the content will be of much interest to many readers, maybe there are a few other comic geeks out there who would be interested in reading something so niche.

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• Community Spotlight: Road to Blizzcon
• Resto4Life Closing Its Doors
• Community Spotlight: Gank Frank

Thanks to everyone who sent in one or more screenshots for the Farewell Celebration! Click on any below to enlarge (and scroll through the gallery).

In Game Party

And here were a couple of images from the in-game Farewell Celebration (complete with cake, dancing, and – of course – plenty of booze)!

The Winners

As announced, I randomed off a Belkin Nostromo N52 TE along with 2 Tree Shirts. As a surprise thank you gift to those who showed up, I randomed off an additional 3 Tree Shirts! Congratulations to the following winners:

• Yragon of Medivh (US) – Nostromo
• Timov of Proudmoore (US) – Tree Shirt
• Eittynn of Eldre’Thalas (US) – Tree Shirt
• Ermengol of Shadowsong (EU) – Tree Shirt
• Macclean of Doomhammer (US) – Tree Shirt
• Kayeri of Doomhammer (US) – Tree Shirt

Thanks to everyone who participated, either by sending in a picture or coming to the party!

Related Posts

• Resto4Life Closing Its Doors
• Some Follow-Up
• Timberrrrrrrrrr!!! Arbor Day is Coming!!

Bre and Fimlys of the Twisted Nether blogcast very graciously invited me onto their show this week to talk about my decision to close Resto4Life and what will become of Blog Azeroth and the World Tree Project. If you’re looking for a little more insight into my thought processes and future plans, I’d encourage you to give it a listen!

Thanks, Fim and Bre! It has been a tremendous honor to share the blogosphere with you both!

P.S. Apologies for the heavy breathing. My mic is just awful!

Related Posts

• Phae on the WoW Insider Podcast!
• Some Follow-Up
• Resto4Life Closing Its Doors

First of all, allow me to say how much I appreciate the outpouring of gratitude and support I’ve received since posting Resto4Life Closing Its Doors. It’s truly overwhelming, and I can’t be more thankful to everyone who’s spoken to me – directly, through comments, through e-mail, or through their own blogs – with nothing but kind words. Wow!

Secondly, I’ve realized that I could have been clearer in terms of how you can submit your screenshot for the “Farewell” competition. Here is some additional information:

1. You can submit your image(s) by e-mailing them to.
2. All entries must be submitted on or before March 12th to give me plenty of time to prepare the post.
3. TGA, JPG, or PNG are all acceptable formats.
4. You must be in some Druid form or in one of the class-specific armor sets so that I can verify your Druid identity.
5. I would appreciate also if you could let me know if you happen to live outside the U.S. or Canada so I know whether you are eligible to win the Nostromo N52te.
6. I’m going to do the give away in game on March 19th at 9 PM EST in the Shadowglen starting area in Teldrassil on my home server, Scarlet Crusade (US). Shadowglen is the starting town for Night Elf Druids.
7. You need not be present to be eligible to win, and you need not have submitted a picture to come hang out with all the baby Druids (Restoforwife, I’m looking at you).
8. Because of the tremendous number of shirts that have been ordered in the last few days, I’m also able to offer two shirts as “runner-up” prizes in the “roll off” competition! Thanks, everyone!
9. No, I’m not giving away naming rights to our baby. Nice try, though!

Fimlys and Bre, cohosts of the Twisted Nether Blogcast have very graciously invited me onto their upcoming show. I had to decline recording it live because a) I might get overly emotional and b) I’d definitely be over-nervous, but I am looking forward to recording on Friday (shows are typically released at some time the following week).

My contact form has apparently been borked since the last time I tried to “fix” it. If you sent me a message that way, please send me an e-mail instead. I’ve been unable to respond to Ako of Tortheldrin (US) or Imparatus of Azgalor (US) so far.

Finally, I realize that I wasn’t clear about the future of the site. As far as I can foresee, Resto4Life will remain online at least until the next expansion (the only thing that would change this would be if something went catastrophically wrong with it). I’m a web developer so having some web space available to me is always a good thing. As such, while I appreciate the several offers of hosting I’ve received, I’m happy to continue hosting it myself. Thank you, though.

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• Resto4Life Closing Its Doors
• Shift Happens Submissions!
• "Shift Happens" Contest and Community Spotlight

As of March 19, 2009, Resto4Life will be closing its doors*.

As you can (hopefully) imagine, this was no easy decision to make. In fact, it’s one I’ve been struggling with for the past three months which – not coincidentally – was about the time I found out the happy news that Mr. Phae and I are expecting our first child. I quickly came to realize that it will be too difficult for me to balance working full time, taking care of a new baby, blogging, and finding time to actually play the game I blog about.

I feel a tremendous amount of love and obligation toward Resto4Life, its readership, and all of the time I’ve given to both over the past two years. I take pride in the readership I’ve garnered and the reputation I have for helping others. All of which are positive emotions. At the same time, however, feelings of guilt, disinterest, stress, and unhappiness have lead me to conclude that it is time for me to move on to a new chapter of my life. Hopefully this will be a chapter where I can consider playing another MMO, drawing, or rereading a favorite book series without feeling a sense of guilt that I’d be stealing time away that could be devoted instead to improving Resto4Life. Perhaps I can finally take a laptop-less vacation or stop compulsively checking my Blackberry every 5 minutes for new site-related emails or comments. And maybe I can finally stop saying “I’m sorry, but I just don’t have time for another personal project.”

I want to give special thanks to everyone who’s helped make Resto4Life what it is or just helped made my stay within the blogosphere a happy one. Runycat of Unbearably HoT, Megan from Out of Mana, Karthis from Of Teeth and Claws, Bigbearbutt, Andrige, Graylo, Daniel from Bigredkitty, Leafshine, Matt and Sydera from WoM, Bell from 4 Haelz, my co-authors Currant and Korryna. A special thank you goes out to Mr. Phae for his dedication, mathematical analysis, and tolerance of my near obsession over the years. Thank you also to the many wonderful commenters who have frequented Resto4Life, among them Zackoria, Ermengol, Hokuto, Nilianil, Tone, Yggdrasil, Bigtoy, Crythia, Zaira, Kestrel, Kalaghan, Keeva, Aiuriun, Warscreamer, Dimitris, Beathooven, Kaera, Josh, Kuhbi, Ammeli, Draezele, Not An Issue, Wise Fox, Adarel, and Horns. Finally, thank you to all the readers out there, RSS or otherwise. Even if you’ve never commented before, thank you for choosing to read Resto4Life. I hope that it has enriched your enjoyment of the game in some way and wish you all the best in your future adventures in Azeroth, Outlands, Northrend, and beyond.

As a celebration of the community here at Resto4Life, I plan to make a final post in March, comprised of reader-submitted screenshots and artwork. Because over the past two years, I’ve tried to embrace and welcome all types of Druid players, you can feel free to submit a picture in whatever form (excluding Elf or Cow for verification purposes) that you prefer and needn’t limit yourself to Tree Form. Of those who choose to participate, I will randomly be awarding a Belkin Nostromo Speedpad N52TE, purchased from the funds I’ve acquired from shirt sales and advertising revenue. I hope that in this small way, I can say “thank you” to everyone who has made such a difference in my life. If you are interested in participating, please be sure to send me your submission by or before March 12, 2009. Due to shipping costs, you must live within the U.S. or Canada to be eligible to win the Nostromo, but I encourage International visitors to participate anyway.

With warmest regards,
Phaelia

P.S. Although the Tree Shirts store will remain online as long as Resto4Life does, I probably won’t be advertising any further sales. As such, U.S. residents still interested in purchasing a Tree Shirt can save 17% with code MARCH29. Canadian residents can use code CADMARCH39. Note that this discount only applies on orders of $25 or more and will expire March 12th.

*The contents of Resto4Life will remain available for at least the forseeable future. However, I will no longer be posting or responding to comments or contact requests. I will also be largely withdrawing (even further) from the blogging community at large, including Blog Azeroth.

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• Some Follow-Up
• Resto4Life … or at least 2007
• Phaelia’s Vestments of the Sprouting Seed