I doubt it will come as a surprise to most of you after the recent events (me backing up from the 7v7 Tournament, leaving the 85e etc ..) but I'm going to stop Napoleonic Wars actively (and all other warband modules for that matter). Now I know that people saying they were 'leaving' has been a thing pretty much since the birth of the community and making a post to 'announce' it, can be seen as highly pathetic by a few. But I've always been one from cringe topics and it actually kind of bothered me to go without saying a lil' good bye.
I have been playing warband for nearly 7 years now and never really completed stopped it, only gave more focus to certain communities like native when I was a bit tired with NW in 2016 for instance. In every communities I've played in, warband wise, I've always felt the need to involve me as the best of my communities because I don't know any other way to do it, simple as. But despite me thinking at some point that Native was going to have the upper-hand on NW, forced to admit that it wasn't the case. Napoleonic Wars will always be my first and best community despite the amazing experiences and encounters I've made on Native too (also part of the reasons why I don't post a message on Taleworlds for example). I've also always told myself that the day I wouldn't feel the vibe, even not a little, I would stop. And this day has come. There is only very few stuff left to clear such as who is going to replace me as moderator of the French forum and its something Carabino and I have already been looking into but for the rest, my posts on the forums and my in game activity have already been decreasing by a large margin those last few days/weeks and it won't become better as the time goes.
I know many people are going to expect a 'Tardet's novel' or something along that line, with me thanking all the people who mattered in those seven years. Well you're going to get a novel one way or another because I can't summarize things for shit even if my whole life depended on it however, true is that to give to those people the recognition they actually deserve, it would take me approximatively the same time needed to write an actual novel, like a book one.
However, a question which often came back when I was discussing with people throughout the years was to explain what were the reason(s) which kept me interested and motived to involve myself in different aspect of the M&B communities and especially on Napoleonic Wars. Among all the answers I could have think of, from the weird-but-unique gameplay which has always fascinated me, to the high competition which never cease to existed, and the diversity of the events that are organised, there is one which always stood out more than any others.
Mount and Blade Warband effectively represents 7500h of my life, the time spent on Napoleonic War being approximatively 50% of it if not more. 7500h. 325 days. 450000 minutes. 2700000 seconds. Nearly a whole year playing that game. And if I don't regret a single second of it, this is mainly because I was given this unique chance to encounter thousands of exceptional people which all impacted my gaming experience in one way or another. I've never been part of the greatest players, never the most talented leader, certainly not the best event organizer. And despite what people may think, I do strongly believe there are hundreds of people who contributes daily into making this community a better, more enjoyable and more interesting place; way better than I will ever do, but who get eventually unnoticed. However, if there is one thing I've always been good at, it’s always seeing the best in most people. Or at least trying to.
My last message is dedicated this to all the wonderful members of this community I had the chance to meet. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Words will never do enough justice to your greatness.
I had a blast.