When I started, I had no idea what WoW was. It was just another cheap game on a stack I bought with my new PC, in preparation to play Duke Nukem Forever, which would be the first time I had played anything since the days of Doom.
My first character was a Paladin. Being a quantitative sort, I realised by level 5 that I would always kill one mob, that I would usually kill 2 at the cost of a lot of damage, but that I was doomed if I engaged 3 at a time. I had the numbers, for damage and HP, to prove it.
I thought this was a dumb game, stopped playing, and moved on to the next on the stack.
But I wondered why so many people played it. It nagged at me.
I started another character, as different as I could from my Paladin as I understood things - a Mage.
The mage was different. There was more variety in the fight. But still not what I would call interesting. But I was in Teldrassil! I fell in love with Taldrassil, and still love it to this day. So I stayed with the game a bit longer.
And then I got my Specialisation, chose Frost, and got my Water Elemental.
My Water Elemental changed my view of the game entirely. For the first time, I saw a glimmer of the idea of choosing different ways to fight.
I learned to send my Elemental to the far side of a mob, and order it to attack. The mob would them move to the Elemental, and when it was about halfway there, I would attack it from behind with Frostbolt, which would slow it, and it would die before it ever reached me.
I was ridiculously thrilled with this discovery, and used it again and again. I didn’t need to; I just enjoyed it.
I never did get to that next game on the stack, or to Duke Nukem Forever.
Later, I learned to use Freeze, and he became a core part of my gameplay, which he is to this day. They brought in Lonely Winter, and nerfed my Elemental. I didn’t care. For the duration of a dungeon, I was ok with leaving him aside, but back in the world, where I could play the way I wanted to play, he was always by my side.
My Elemental has been my constant companion and friend for 12 years. And now the devs are deleting him. 
“The standalone pet summon had a very low pick rate to begin with” said Ion disingenuously, completely disregarding the fact that the “low pick rate” was his own doing in nerfing the Elemental. The “You made me punch you” defense doesn’t fly.
Those whom the devs would destroy, they first make weak. We’ve seen it again, and again, and again.
Yes, for instance play, the Elemental is now a bad pick, a liability. It is so by the will of the devs. It didn’t have to be; it’s just a matter of tuning talent numbers.
But for questing in the world the Elemental is by far the best pick, because of its remote Freeze. You can get the same effect with Frost Nova, or Cone, but Mages are squishy, and when there is no tank around, getting that close to a dangerous pack is a terminal mistake. I am sad and disappointed both for myself and for other Frost Mages I see wandering around the world.
I hadn’t been following the PTR news, and this comes as a shock. I am sad, and angry, and a little bitter. Mostly sad. I am used to devs’ decisions being slanted toward the more competitive end of the game, and I’m over being angry about it so long as they let me get on with enjoying myself.
My mage will never feel the same again, at least in Retail. Another loss, in a long series.
Goodbye, old friend.