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This game is burning out for me.
donmaximo
Member Posts: 67
I've got a level 67 Pally on a PvP server but I'm finding it hard to stay motivated to play anymore. I'm looking for a pep-talk or some advice on how to get back to playing this game with the same enthusiasm I had before. The reasons I'm frustrated are:
1.) I play often, but not enough to seriously commit to ever doing a raid. As I'm nearing the top end of levels I'm finding it frustrating that I'm out geared much of the time. This is especially relevant because I'm Prot spec. Also, I belong to a small guild made up of about 10 friends which means that I don't have a resource pool to draw from, for gear and enchants. This became totally obvious to me when I was tanking a 67-70 instance and the 70 Warlock in out group was trying to give me condecending advice about tanking. I tried to explain to him that he was 3 levels higher than me and his gear was probably much better, etc, etc. He was an idiot anyways who liked giving "tips" to everyone, but his personality is beside the point. I just really realized in that moment that the game seems to be more and more geared towards fanatic playing at high levels. And if you don't have the time or desire to raid, grind, quest (or whatever) for great gear, you might as well not play. Is this true? Am I just realizing it now? It seemed to me that this was not as much of the case at lower levels, or specifically, before BC came out. If so, that blows that this is what this game boils down to after all that time getting to where I'm at.
2.) The community is getting worse. I came to WoW from CoX and the community there was great! Though I understand that CoX is a niche game, it seems to me that in the 2 years+ I've played WoW the community is getting progressively worse. By "community" I don't just mean all the immature kiddies that play, but the ridiculous skewering of AH prices from gold buying and (seemingly) the release of BC. Gold Buying, well, I don't think I have to go there. It's lame and it ruins the game - for those of you that have done it...you're spending REAL money on an UNREAL commodity - nuff said. But I've also really noticed that since BC the cost of items and...well EVERTHING is really messed up and out of whack. Further, I really feel that the "fun" of doing instances is now lost to a more business approach that's based on "how do I epic out my character?" so that everyone is a jerk. Not to mention that the old 60+ instances are just sitting in a wasteland gathering dust. I don't think it would have been THAT hard for Blizzard to create some balance between WoW: Original and the BC expansion. Why the need to go all apesh*t in BC with the gold and loot, etc?
Which leads me to...
3.) The BC expansion. Sure, there's a lot that was cool about it: New area's, flying mounts, more content - but am I the only one that feels that BC kind of feels like a skeleton of an "ok" idea that was rushed to production? I honestly feel that all the phat gear you get as soon as you get over there, the fact that for Elite quests in Strat and Scholo I'm getting rewarded just as much for grinding in Hellfire, the uninspired new instances, green weapons and armor from level 60-70 that essetially look identical (what's with the retarted "viking" type helmet that's the model for all the helmets?) are all evidence of something shoddy. I just don't feel the same level of immersion in BC at all. Not to mention that Blizz is ALREADY anouncing a new expension? Did the expansion machine just all the sudden go berzerk at Blizzard HQ and they can't get it to shut off? I ran a guy through Deadmines the other day and it was so nostalgic. I remeber first running that, or Uldaman, and how COOL it was. I don't feel that same way about any of the BC instances so far.
I guess this is a pretty long rant now. All I'm saying is that all of the above, coupled with running my alt 19 mage in WSG yesterday and getting wailed on by twink players with +15 agil chants at lvl 16-19, makes me think that there is something broken with this game that I once enjoyed so much. How can it be fixed? Can it be fixed?
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading - any insightful comments are appriciated.
Comments
I too can relate. One day I was having fun, the next day I asked myself "Why am I even playing this?"
I too hated the community. Sure, you'll find some more mature people here and there, but otherwise it was just immature/annoying kids. Of course, we've all been there before.
I never got to the end game raiding, so I can't shed light on that topic.
Trying to find a guild was a pain for me. It's like 90% of the guilds weren't even real, organized guilds, but just someone trying to get people to join his guild because "it's cool and fun and we'll eventually raid!". Reminds me of people adding someone on myspace just to get your friend count up.
WoW probably would have been a much better game for me if it were my first MMORPG, but I've been playing MMORPGs since middle school. I came back a few times to give it another try, but it was really hard for me to keep playing WoW after a month.
I've recently tried EQ2, and it's been pretty fun. The community is great, and the game looks great(if you have a decent rig that is). Even the most powerful gaming rigs today still struggle to play EQ2 on the highest graphics settings.
So maybe all you need is a new game or maybe even a break from WoW. Usually when I took a break from a game(Dark Age of Camelot for example), I'd always want to come back and it was always fun for a while when I did.
Looking for something new.
I can't speak for how you feel about the game. All I can say is if you feel bored or tired of the game either take a break and go play CoX (or a different mmo or just any game) for a little bit. Repetition without goals will do this to you. WoW has always been tailored to keep the raider in mind first for end game play. At least up to the point in which I finally got tired of the game. I'm surprised you are 67 and just are figuring this out now
. Nevermind the warlock, dunces like him are everywhere.
Most people I have come across that have purchased virtual products do so because they are so restricted with play time they do it to sort of keep up with others. In other words they are hardcore players but they have an important and time consuming job or activiity that they don't get to game as much as they used to. So they buy money to get the most out of playing with what little time they have. Instead of taking time out to actually "farm" gold. I admit I've done it a couple times.
I wish I could give you a pep talk to keep playing WoW. But if you require a pep talk to play a game, I think you already know what you should be doing. No ones relying on you to be in Azeroth are they?
just take a break, or just stop playing it, about the nostalgie part thats the same with any game, its just get olds after a while, if its the same old for you then just stop! i dont understand people playing game they dont enjoy.by reading your post, you sound like you're just pissed off because you cant get what you want, you want the game to be easy-mode, wow is already to easy lol
and not raiding shouldnt make you stop playing, you can get good gear now without raiding, not everyone is wearing epix and buy gold you know and they enjoy the game.
And if you don't have the time or desire to raid, grind, quest (or whatever) for great gear, you might as well not play
thats the same with every MMORPG, sometime i'll be wanting to do something but you think ah f*** that, going to take ages, cant be bothered, than if you dont have dedication you'll never get anything done, some people play the game but do you really think they enjoy raiding every night ? no, they want the phatloots.
im not trying to be a ass but if the magic is gone for you just take a break or stop playing it!
I play on an RP / PvP server, and although there are still a fair number of kiddies around, there are enough mature people that you can still put together decent groups, and occasionally I meet players I can admire.
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You shouldn't need to worry about epics and enchants so much at 67. I adventure regularly with a prot pala, and he definitely didn't have those goodies when he was your level - and he did fine. If players act like arseholes (e.g. the warlock you mentioned) then just put them on your ignore list and don't adventure with them again.
As well as your guildies, it helps to have a long friends list, and to put some effort into maintaining regular contact with a few like-minded players outside your guild - especially when your guild is so small.
And nowadays level 70 isn't all about raiding. I've been level 70 for a few weeks - and I have a long list of things to do e.g. yesterday I ran my first heroic instance, and visited my first level 70 battleground, where I found that despite not being epicced out I could compete without problems.
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Even though MMOs are supposed to perpetually entertain us, I think that this is only possible if you are playing in reasonable moderation. Despite the fact that WoW can cater to playing extreme amounts every day, this will inevitably lead to burn out in most people. I find that World of Warcraft no different to other MMOs in this regard.
This is why I supplement my time in WoW with other games, usually single player games. IMO the great tragedy of the MMORPG era is that some of us expect that a single MMO can entertain us for the rest of our lives. No matter how good the MMO, you will eventually tire of it - unless you change your perspective in a way in which I will attempt to explain in a bit.
Yet some players can remain in their MMO of choice for years. There are players who have been playing WoW since beta and show no sign of quitting. Same goes with EQ and UO which is even more amazing considering how old those games are and the amount of changes both have seen.
I think that if you want to remain in love with the MMO that gave you so much entertainment in the past, you need to identify the parts of the game you really enjoyed and try to wrap your play-style around those moments. Play how you want to play, not how others expect you to play.
The example the OP gave of an elitist warlock being condescending toward a lower level, insufficiently geared tank can be seen in most games in this genre. This kind of person exists in all MMOs. Perhaps I've been guilty of being that person, when in pick-up-groups in EQ2 the tank was so woefully equipped to deal with a dungeon that we weren't getting anywhere, I may have been been that warlock, in a sense.
Very often, critics will see this behavior as a result in a flaw in the game. Play the Devil's Advocate for a second here. The more a game is able to bring out all qualities of human nature, the more engaging it becomes. This includes the potential to be an asshole, because for every opportunity there is to berate, insult and infuriate other players, there's an opportunity to help them, to make friends, to do the right thing.
So how do players manage to stay addicted to WoW after so many years? It's the question haters can't answer as they grow increasingly condescending towards us. They have convinced themselves that the WoW community around them is inferior, immature, and unworthy of their presence. Despite the fact you'll people in their 30s and 40s, and 50s. Despite the fact people have got married over this game, despite the fact there are in fact many people just like them, they refuse to partake in it.
Yes there are kids in WoW. There are kids in EVE. And EQ2. That's not relevant. What are you like in your community? How are you entertaining yourself? Have you ever tried leading a successful guild, turning it into a sub-community you can be proud of, and if you failed, was it the fault of the community, or could you have done better? Haven't you ever made friends in this game? Don't you enjoy helping others out? When was the last time you did something worthy of that pious pedestal you have put yourself on?
I'm going to finish by linking to a nice story I read on the WoW forums about someone who actually took it upon themselves not to be an elitist jerk and actually help out the "kids" of the game for once. Worth a read I think. Here's the link.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
If your bored then try taking a break for a while and coming back. That usually works for me. Also, you could always do Arena and BG for nice epic pieces (more geared toward pvp obviously). I never raid and almost never do instances and am almost fully epic. Doing arena will not take up as much of your time as raiding would and IMO is way more fun. The only problem is your not 70 yet and prot spec is horrible for arena. I would suggest making a team with your friends and respeccing holy. At least get to 70 and try a few more things out before you decide to quit.
You could also make an alt or two and rotate between them. Thats what I do when my team isnt online. You could also try low lvl AB and WSG if your not in a rush to lvl (or even keep them at that lvl and twink them out). It's actually a lot of fun if you dont mind having less spells than you would at max lvl. other than that I dunno what else to say. I find instances boring as hell and I can see how it would burn you out (constantly doing BG can do the same). Since you seem to like running instances, rotating between that and PvP should help out.
btw pallies are the most OP class in arena.
Those other games you mentioned (UO, EQ, AC) are fairly different from WoW in many different arenas. Those games weren't built to cater to the masses, and for good reason. The masses want an easy game, with easy quests and a learning curve of elementary kids. EQ and UO didn't do the same things. People are still in love with those games not because of the graphics, because of the look of their elf or the mount they found. Not because of the epic loot that could be had or the raids at endgame - people have stayed in EQ and UO, etc. for the community. That's why those games work - the community is the heart and soul of it. When you take 9 million subscribers, or whatever they're boasting, the community is not your main goal. That's why we forever see community blogs on worldofwarcraft.com - so they can establish some sort of real-world community between these 9 million people. When I played other games, I never saw the same thing - the game created the community, not vice versa.
WoW is getting old. And now they're releasing a new expansion that lengthens the game even more. Bad move. Replayability, as much of a farce as it was already, is now dwindling even more. People are getting tired of the same old thing. And, in a game that's driven by loot and gear alone, not the community within the game, you'll find more and more people like the aforementioned warlock. People that tell you how to spec
People that tell you how to play or what you're doing wrong.
A long time ago, people set out to play games to have fun. If fun has taken a backseat in any respect, its time to move on.
Just my 2 cents, for what its worth.
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/played: EQ, EQ II, DAoC, WoW, LoTRO, AoC, CoH/CoV, WAR, Aion, Tera, Wildstar and many others that don't merit listing
/playing: Clash of Clans, Hearthstone
I have a feeling your post was directed to me but you seem to have ignored a great deal about what I've said. You've tried to distance EQ from WoW, as many critics of the game try to do, but they are more similar than people will admit. Especially EQ1
Saying that the game is driven by loot and gear alone is your opinion. Thats is not why I play World of Warcraft. Speak for yourself, not for others. There is a strong community in WoW, especially on the RP servers. Just because you have had bad experiences, doesn't make it so for everyone else. People tell you 'how to play' in EQ1 as well. Instead of telling you how to spec, they tell you how to spend your AAs, or how to play your class. This applies to any game.
All of the criticisms you have applied to WoW can be attributed to the MMO genre as a whole. How is Blizzard releasing an expansion a bad thing, when every other game does this? You claim people get tired of the game, yet complain when new content is added - to me that just signifies that you just don't like the game.
If you don't like the game, fine, but don't let that blind you to the fact that other MMOs really aren't that much better. I've played EQ for years and while I can agree that the community there is more mundane, it's also pretty stagnant and not as lively or as immediate as WoW. It's so much easier to make friends in WoW. In EQ you have to jump through 5000 hoops before you can even consider yourself to be worthy of socializing with the elite of that game.
You have to consider all the facets of a game's community or your world view will not be realistic.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
Especially do not let one random dude ruin your fun! end game is what you make out of it, you have a group of friends and blizzard added plenty of group and solo content at the end of the game. Just stick with your friends and decide what you want to do. raiding can be do casually too, no need to go raiding 24/7.
Try new things with your buddies, go arena for a while for one when you are 70s. even if you lose a lot, you will get points and eventually can get the arena epics, or do the battlegrounds and same thing, or something
2) it is a fact that economy of games grows more inflationated and worse with time. More gold is on the market so stuff cost more. Outlands is super rich compared to Azeroth so that's why. instead of whining about it, take advantage of it! everybody is selling copper ore at 1 gold per 20 pieces? so do the same and soon you will have more gold than hit points.
3)I can't tell you much about that as I have not experienced much of BC but...
What I experienced of BC (the starting areas of BElves and Draenei and a bit of the peninsula) are 10 times better than the rest of the azeroth. Heck you have plenty of people compalining that you have this awesome level 1-20 experience with a belf and then you have to go back to old world for 38 more levels....
So, no, i do not see BC as being rushed, the content is a lot and is great. Maybe you are just suffering of nostalgia, the "first time" effect. i liked Deadmines too... but then I passed on to other instances and so on and so on.
As for the new expansion, 1 expansion a year is the industrial standard for x-pacs. the expansion is not coming out tomorrow! it will be in 9-12 months for sure! so do not band your head just yet, you will have alllll the time of the world to get to see all BC content long before it comes out.
Have a nice day
"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"
Recant, I agree with pretty much everything you said.
I have a feeling your post was directed to me but you seem to have ignored a great deal about what I've said. You've tried to distance EQ from WoW, as many critics of the game try to do, but they are more similar than people will admit. Especially EQ1
Saying that the game is driven by loot and gear alone is your opinion. Thats is not why I play World of Warcraft. Speak for yourself, not for others. There is a strong community in WoW, especially on the RP servers. Just because you have had bad experiences, doesn't make it so for everyone else. People tell you 'how to play' in EQ1 as well. Instead of telling you how to spec, they tell you how to spend your AAs, or how to play your class. This applies to any game.
All of the criticisms you have applied to WoW can be attributed to the MMO genre as a whole. How is Blizzard releasing an expansion a bad thing, when every other game does this? You claim people get tired of the game, yet complain when new content is added - to me that just signifies that you just don't like the game.
If you don't like the game, fine, but don't let that blind you to the fact that other MMOs really aren't that much better. I've played EQ for years and while I can agree that the community there is more mundane, it's also pretty stagnant and not as lively or as immediate as WoW. It's so much easier to make friends in WoW. In EQ you have to jump through 5000 hoops before you can even consider yourself to be worthy of socializing with the elite of that game.
You have to consider all the facets of a game's community or your world view will not be realistic.
Actually, it wasn't directed at you. I don't really mind WoW - I think it was a good game, however, I -do- think it is loot driven. When an expansion is released, what's the thing that everyone clamors about? Epics and new instances to get those epics. PvP epics, or what have you. And I played on the RP servers - those are the only servers I play on and I don't know which one you played on, but I never found a good community. Especially after transfers were allowed - all the l33t guilds transferred to places like Steamwheedle Cartel and destroyed the community.
And yes, I do think expansion are wise - you have to keep going and maintaining your world. But they're not. All they're doing is lengthening it. They're pushing the finish line back and not adding any early game content. Now, whether you love WoW or hate it, it doesn't matter - that limits your replayability. If you stick with the same 8 classes and then just make it longer to get to endgame, it does nothing for you but cater to the people who are 70 - the people who are already sick enough of grinding/rep gain/instance attuning.
Again, I don't hate WoW, but I think the mmo community has allowed itself to be dumbed down by this game and they're starting to get fed up. They're looking for a game with more meat. Too bad the developers right now are blind to that and they're too busy trying to make new age mmos that mix different genres together, rather than looking for the good in all the games past and creating one that is actually decent.
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/played: EQ, EQ II, DAoC, WoW, LoTRO, AoC, CoH/CoV, WAR, Aion, Tera, Wildstar and many others that don't merit listing
/playing: Clash of Clans, Hearthstone
The easiest way to solve your burning out problem is to quit playing. That's the only time you will see from afar the real view.
And it could mean that you have grown up a little.
I'm actually wondering if I should even bother to ask you about your rediculous absurd link between a game burn out and growing up.
I'm actually wondering if I should even bother to ask you about your rediculous absurd link between a game burn out and growing up.
Well someone will answer your inquiry about the growing up thing, sooner or later.
i think the grow up thing is a lame attempt at calling wow a kiddie game which if that was true ceo's, elderly folks, hell even other developers, like from warhammer, pirates of the burning sea and other games wouldn't be playing this game.
also the real view is what you personnal find fun, never let anyone else tell you what to play.
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
I've been playing WoW since US release in Nov 2004. I agree with all of the OP's points.
I've canceled my account 3 times in the past year when I get birnied out, but I keep activating my account.
I never play just one character. I try to have a character in a level range (1-10, 10-20, 20-30, etc). It helps ease the burn out.
I can't imagine playing the same character for years. I put my first character in mothballs right afte BWL was released, and don't play him.
I have characters that only do WSG, some that just gather resources for money, etc.