Thanks for everything you've done, Veracor! I wish you all the best.
Your retirement is nagging at me a bit more than I expected. After all, I only just returned to CoX back in January after the HC licensing announcement. I'm pretty sure you and I teamed on live. But I can't remember and I can't find you in any of my old screenshots. So why is this bothering me so much? After thinking on it for a bit, perhaps you'll indulge my ramblings.
First, there's the obvious: Years of leading daily raids, master runs, trials, badge attempts, et al shows just how selfless you've been. Relatively few people do that in real life, let alone in a virtual space where you get even less feedback for your actions.
Next, City of Heroes was ripped from our hands. That has tended to increase the nostalgia for the game. It didn't die a natural death. We were all still enjoying our little heroes and villains with whatever crazy story we came up with for them when the rug was pulled out from underneath us. Those feelings come back to the surface when a prominent and well-loved member of the community leaves. We weren't finished with you yet!
We also play a 20-year-old game that, even in its heyday, was a niche within a niche within another niche. That's no accident. Most of us were weird kids that were into weird hobbies that we didn't give up when we became weird adults. Despite the dramatic increase in the popularity of videogames, our little pocket dimension has become an even smaller niche. A highly driven person who takes on leadership roles is someone we can point to and tell ourselves, "See!? I'm not that weird! Other people get why this is cool too!".
I'm probably being too maudlin. But I guess it really just comes down to this: I'm gonna miss ya. If you see me in some other virtual universe someday, don't be a stranger.
Or, as my current, primary alternate personality would put it:
Vaya con Dios, brohim! Catch ya on the next wave!