Farewells and New Beginnings

I always made fun of my friends for playing World of Warcraft when I was in high school. Then, one of them showed me the Leeroy Jenkins and Serenity Now videos on a brand new thing (at the time, I feel old now) called YouTube and I thought I’d give it a shot. That was 2006, I was 16, and in 2013 as a senior in college I put down my WoW raiding gear and retired, having finished 8th in the US alongside my guildmates in the Cataclysm expansion content completion race. Then, I did not play another Blizzard game for two years.

Until I saw Kripparian – a streamer of my game of choice, Path of Exile – playing a weird card game called Hearthstone in his free time. Hearthstone caused my WoW itch to itch again, and I joined the open beta. I was hooked on streamers like Reynad and eventually reached out to Frodan to write deck guides for Tempostorm to keep myself sane while I applied for jobs. Thank goodness he said yes.

In 2015 I found myself at my first BlizzCon writing about Hearthstone and Tempostorm’s esports dreams in WoW and HotS. There, I chased pros around the convention center for interviews, but I found time to play my first game of Overwatch.

Later that year, I launched my own website, PlanetOverwatch.org. Then, in early 2016, I wrote my first Overwatch Hero Meta Report. The meta report grew, with me alongside it. I learned new skills, met new people, and found a home here on Overbuff. Sabina and Jason gave me the freedom to grow, and the platform I could leverage to build upon all that I learned. At 2016’s BlizzCon, I covered Overwatch for Overbuff, and the Overwatch League was announced.

When 2017 began, in the spirit of continued growth, I decided I needed a podcast. I informed Pesto and Harsha that they would be my cohosts, and Around the Watch was born. I’m still surprised I found two perfect co-hosts on my first try. Since then, we’ve had what feels like at least one guest from every OWL team at one point or the other. Turns out, Overwatch pros are insanely entertaining and fun to talk to, doing the podcast was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

At 2017’s BlizzCon, Blizzard themselves wanted me to work for them. I flew down early to work behind the scenes on the production of the Overwatch World Cup. I got to meet the big ballers of Team 4 – Jeff Kaplan, Scott Mercer, Adrian Finol, Bill Warnecke and more – and I was dying of embarrassment that they even knew who I was. I did my best to make the World Cup a more memorable experience, in my own way. I think we did a pretty good job!

Throughout all this time, I’ve been doing all of this on the side. I work an 8-5 job as an engineer at a nice company in the medical devices industry. I go to gymnastics twice a week, and I run twice a week as well. Social life? Never heard of it. Working BlizzCon? That’s my vacation. Nearly all of my evenings and weekends the past two years have been dedicated to Overwatch content creation, not even playing the game itself! That’s my excuse why I’m still in plat, anyway…

Today this changes. Blizzard came knocking once again, but in a more permanent sense. I will be joining them for the Overwatch League, as the Live Stats Producer for all Overwatch League broadcasts. Hey guys and gals, CaptainPlanet here to present the Overwatch League Meta Reports Live Stats – for every match played. What stats do you want to see?

As I leave Overbuff, we will be looking for replacements for content creation on the site. Do you have unique opinions about Overwatch strategy and meta? Do you produce quality original Overwatch content and are looking for a home? Are you a Overwatch League freelancer looking to be a paid-lancer? Please send writing samples and portfolios to hiring@overbuff.com. Overbuff has been my home for the past year and I hope some of you find yourselves here too.

Until next time,

CaptainPlanet