Warcraft Mounts creator dies from cancer – Fans pay tribute to founder of beloved WoW resources
https://www.wow-petopia.com/The creator of Petopia, one of World of Warcraft‘s most beloved resources for Hunter players, has died from cancer, a statement on Reddit has confirmed.
In a post on the official WoW subreddit (and on the Petopia forums), user Bunny-_-Harvestman shared the news that Sandra “Mania” Powers, the leading figure behind the site for many years, had died on January 25.
“I’m devastated to report that Sandra Powers, the power behind Petopia and creator of Warcraft Mounts, passed away from cancer on 25 January. She’d been fighting it for some years. Known as Mania to Petopians, Sandra ran Petopia through WoW’s golden age and is responsible for taking the small site and making it what it has become.
“Sandra was funny, patient, smart, generous, and a great teacher. When she couldn’t run it anymore she handed Petopia to me in the mid-2010s and taught me all I needed to know. Sandra was an MMO producer and engineer who worked on Asheron’s Call, EverQuest II, and she and her husband Eric built their own MMO: Project Gorgon. The world is a worse place for her loss.
“You can find Sandra’s famous orc persona immortalised behind Trueshot Lodge in Highmountain.”
Petopia has been a stalwart resource for Hunters in WoW since the game’s earliest days, with Powers taking over responsibility for the site from its original creator Bamoo.
WoW community share their memories of Petopia
Underneath the original post on Reddit, many players shared their stories of how important Powers’ work on Petopia was to them.
“As a hunter main for over 10 years, her work has helped me figure out about anything pet-wise over the years. Truly sad, and I’m sure her talents stretch beyond what I don’t know. I will definitely be paying a visit to her NPC the next time I log on. RIP,” one said.
“Super sad, but will say the fact Blizzard immortalizes people who have contributed to the betterment of this game by allowing their character to live on in the game is heartwarming in the most bittersweet of ways.
“From one hunter to another I look forward to finding even more big game in the sky beyond with you one day,” another added.
Up until her death, Powers had been working on Project Gorgon alongside husband and co-dev, Eric Heimburg. The latter confirmed on the game’s Discord that development work will continue, though with some allowances for the additional time needed to do so.
