I just want to thank the DDO community on Thelanis for the fun I've had in parts of 2 years playing. For various reasons, I'm no longer playing, but wish to bid you all farewell.
Legion, and the people formerly known as Ground, I thank you again here, as I have done so privately already.
Lock and Relle, guildies in multiple guilds, dungeon mates for a very, very long time, I thank you for the fun, the laughs and all the time spent. Lock, best of luck in the IT field, maybe, in this crazy world, we will interact in that field at some point.
Sock, best of luck to your Detroit Tigers, and thanks for being the teacher and guide of many quests.
Vandrik, Thank for the midnight runs and the laughs. I don't think I've duoed that much content as fast as with you.
Crug, thanks for everything my friend, best of luck to your Bengals (aside from games against Pittsburgh or teams QBed by Favre (who knows where he is next year). You really are a blast to run with!
Bunker...you gave me the inspiration for Daybreak, you gave me great advice, fair trades and a lot of fun. I always wished I handled various situations more like you would, and appreciate your sense of fair-play and honesty.
Mr. Cow, your insight and dedication to the game is most appreciated and respected
Drew, Tourbillon, my two favorite guys, who faced a very uncertain future to stand up against racism, bigotry....two people who showed real character, even in an online setting, even when they had no real attachment to the person being afflicted, even when it would potentially make their ability to fully enjoy their relaxation time a little more difficult...I really thought that was awesome, and the more I see how more common it is to hide behind the 0's and 1's I appreciate it even more. You guys rock.
Dr. Who Fan....I'd list an alt, but I have NO clue as to which is your main. If Thelanis ever had a mayor, I'd vote for you. You get people to run Tempest Spine when it has no raid loot, you post some pretty good threads, you are incredibly inclusive and one of the most active people in the game, and you are a credit to yourself and yours at all times. Thanks for making Thelanis a better place.
Orratti if I owned DDO, and was to write my will, I'd bequeath it to you, for I feel you would be a good steward of the game, fair and honest with all, willing to run as a role-player, an explorer, a zerger, however is best for the most involved. Your selflessness has always made me smile.
Turbine developers, some parting advice/suggestions:
Recognize the game is populated by novice/casual players, "medium" players and power-gamers both. Try to consider the various demographics of your game and realize that while some people like to break the boxes, some people like getting their loot as fast as possible.
Many of the more recent changes have been very exciting/intriguing. While Dungeon alerts/dungeon scaling made the game not very fun at all for me (I felt I was punished for helping newer players, forced to make every dungeon a grind, just a personal opinion) I hope that in many ways you continue to get feedback from the community (and again, various demographics thereof) and consider this before implementing new things.
Please do more testing before releasing content.
I have a suggestion on dealing with exploits: Identify the worst of the exploiters, give them a reward (something worthwhile) for exposing the exploits. There is a lot of precedent for that, the FBI has used check forgers to catch others, tech companies routinely employ hackers to make their own security better.