* 2017 *

Subject: *** 2017 *** Fri May 05, 2017 7:10 pm

***POSTED TO LoD FORUM ON JANUARY 3rd 2017***

http://z15.invisionfree.com/LoD_SGE/index.php?showtopic=1418&st=0&#last

Happy New Years to the few that still remain, as well as all of the wonderful people & players of the past!

Its now 2017, Has it been a hell of a long time since the release of our beloved Stronghold Legends or what? A decade now going on of one of the best RTS games I personally have ever played.

I have been contemplating this for a while and thought to myself the other day to put into perspective my life and how far I have come. There is nothing left for me in this empty vessel and with this...

I am announcing my retirement from Stronghold.

I wanted to first thank the community, of which has long withered away,

I have played all of the Stronghold Games but my affinity for Legends never ceases to end, I started playing the game when it was first released in the US in late 2006. I was only a kid at the time only, 12 years old. While still attending school I didn't want people to know how old I was of course so at the beginning I lied about my age to other players so they would have respect for me. Only it was later I realized age didn't matter, only how well you played did.

This January on the 20th I will be 23. Im still in college and have been living in New York City my entire life. As I got deep into this game I found people who were not only entertaining, but would teach me little things about life. I got to feel how other peoples lives were all around the world through my computer screen, I was amazed. Some of the very first players of which from my time are now long gone, these players were many years my elder. A thought always pops into my head on where they are now?

I realized as of the December that just past I have so much more to do in my life. More business to make, More relationships to go through so on and so forth. Playing Stronghold Legends was a huge part of my life. It eased the pain from the stresses everyday brought. Even though I am still young, whatever I was going through at the time I knew that I always had a place to vent, relax and escape the world (even though that is not always a good thing). I could not be more satisfied with the whole experience of what this game has done for me.

I was first a lone wolf at the time of SHL launch until I met a few players who seemed like they were well organized. The big group known as {LI3C} at the time a cool guy known sole and forever as WARLORD, a few other small clans and Samir who is now immortalized as Judgment Day. I stuck around my skills got better and eventually I joined the Lions Blood Clan. Going by I3LOOD at the time. To make a long story short I played under a few names throughout my history.

When I left {LI3C} I did not want any one from the clan to know so I basically disappeared from both Skype and the name, I never used it ever again. Instead when I reinvented myself I came with the name you see now, + EzChi +. At this time Samir moved SGE into the best clan on the game LoD and I wanted in on it. Why did I leave the original Lions Blood? I didn't feel the competition, there was no one in there who pushed me to innovate and make my skills better. It was time to move on.

When I tried out for LoD, 1v1 against Samir. The game ended in a 1hour 30minute loss and Samir immediately let me into LoD without having to gain any recognition from his fellow clan mates and as they say the rest is history. Back tracking little bit I knew and have played against all of the proclaimed "best" players in this game. All of which games I have lost and won. It was a real pleasure and experience I will never forget.

I sit here on my laptop writing this now thinking shit there was so much history that I can't even remember it all. I make this last announcement in a very jovial state. Later on after the game died and servers went down, I kind of picked it back up with players YuiYui, Nightmare and Bounty on a different server that supported the game known as GameRanger. This was so much fun because I realized years after, Not only were we gods at the game, There literally was no competition. We wound up playing endless 1v1s against each other. Shortly after this is when Steam actually came out with its edition of Stronghold Legends, and yes it was supported by its servers there. So I transitioned over there to meet other players from old.

Long story short again here I am just a few months after the release of Stronghold Legends Steam Edition and I realized, Where the fuck did the time go? Has it really been 10 years since I have been playing this game? How did this time fly by so fast? Its like my whole life flashed in front of my eyes through remembrance of small windows in time of SHL. Spooky thinking about it I realized that I am the longest active player in this games history. I have literally played since its release to the time FireFly brought its servers down in 2014, till it was revived by others. I couldn't understand why I stuck around for this long. As I said before however my affinity for this game will never end. It will hold a special place in my heart forever. With this last thought I want to end of with a quote form one of the greatest ever WARLORD

My return back to SHL on the steam edition..."...lead to a shocking yet humbling revelation. The desired effect occurred, it was plain to see that SHL was a passing memory. To not just myself but to us all, so with that day. I permanently retired from SHL.

Though I initially felt a stronger tie to SH2, in the end. I could tell that SHL was in fact, home."

Thank You all so much from the bottom of my heart, This game and this community has meant so much to me, I will never forget this for as long as I am living and you can count on me to be there if ever a miracle occurs and we are all brought back within the same space in time.

May this site live forever,

One Love My Brothers.

+ EzChi +

Steam Username: + EzChi +
Email: Sir23khan@gmail.com

*** 2017 ***

* 2017 *