I'm not lazy

One of the things you can read quite often on the forums is how lazy "casuals" are. And how easy things are made so "casuals" can participate. And "casuals" aren't willing to put in the work for rewards.

For one brief moment I almost started to believe them - "I *do* want things easy, I'm lazy and don't want to work for rewards!".

But it isn't true. I'm not lazy. I could, and have, spent months where I spent consecutive hours raiding for rewards. I could, and have, spent months where I have run battlegrounds for rewards.

But those activities ceased to become fun for me. So, because I choose to not participate in tedious, boring activity I'm lazy?

I think we have our descriptions or expectations wrong.

Doing quests is a fun activity for me. I know some players who skip quests and either instance or grind to max level. Are they lazy because they've skipped a ton of quests?

I know some players who only log on to compete in arenas. Are they lazy because they don't raid? Are raiders lazy because they don't compete in arenas?

I hope achievements give "hardcore" players the recognition they desire. That recognition that sets them apart from others who decide what they like doing should be rewarded in some better way. Maybe that would make them happy and they can quit finding time to label the rest of us.

I want...

I added another cautionary tale to my blog. This blogger, Boatorious, has listed why he quit WoW and what he wants from Warhmammer Online.

I agree with many things on his list, like the following:

I want to take a break from RvR when I want to take a break -- not because I ran out of potions, need attunements or need to go PvE for gear.

I want the best gear in the game to be RvR gear that can be earned without requiring 20 hours of scheduled play every week.

I want to log on and play the "end game" anytime I want.

I want to log on any given night and play the "end game" with my guildies.

I never want to spend three hours in a PvE instance, ever.

I want it to be easy to find a group for PvE instances and easy to find public quests being completed.

I never want to fight with my guild over loot.

Tier pressure

A good friend of mine recently told our guild he wanted to take a very short break from raiding to do something else. He would be able to log on every now and then, but instead of joining the raid then dropping he'd just rejoin full force later.

One person quickly commented that he should reschedule the "something else" and still raid.

Later on, during the break, someone else tracked him down on an alt and asked him was he going to raid.

Comments like these are the peer pressure raiders feel to raid constantly.

I've taken more vacation time from work than some raiders have from their raid schedule.

I'm not trying to knock raiding. Then again maybe I am. It just seems insane sometimes.

Resolution List Revisted for the 2nd time

I'm playing less, let's see if my list helped me:

1) Play a needed class. One common refrain to the shortage of tanks posts is "there is no shortage of tanks, just a lack of tanks wanting to pug". And this is where I sit. It's not because my gear is great and I feel above pugs, I just realized I don't like being the "leader" often. And that's what most pugs required, someone to lead them through instances. For instances I felt comfortable with (usually stuff I outgeared) I was okay with it. But if I'm struggling to tank I don't want to have to tell everyone what they need to do. So in the end I quit doing 5-man instances for the most part.

2) Focus on one role. Well if catbear is a role I focused on one. As I mentioned in #1 I quit pursuing 5-man instances so focusing a role didn't matter. I was 99% cat and 1% bear (Galvanger and Drek'thar). If you don't group you don't have to be a bear much.

3) Do not raid. The Kara group I raided with had a better geared druid come back (for badges) and I ended up sitting out enough that I quit showing up. The Gruul/Mags impromptu raids disappeared.

4) Do not pick up a crafting profession. I'm still a gatherer. I want to mess around with inscriptions but that's not until WotLK.

5) Get loot through crafting, reputation and pvp. I grew tired of the pvp "welfare" gear grind. I don't even see myself going through it in wotlk if Blizzard decides to keep that type of stuff in the game.

6) PvP marginally. See #5

7) Grind reputations that only give rewards I can't easily get anywhere else. Haven't done anymore reputation grind except Scryer because I was so close to finishing.

8) Give up on fun frivolities I'm not sure why I listed this one in the beginning, what is this game but a fun frivolity? I have the most fun questing with a friend. But sadly I think we've run out of most of the quests we can do as a duo. Pretty much what is left is only group and raid quests.

So I'm playing less but I don't think its as much a result of following this list as it is just how things have worked out.

Done until WotLK

I came across the first random "raiding has been called off until WotLK" announcement. The guild I'm in is still going strong, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more of this.

It just must be too much of a pain to keep people motivated. The expansion will be a bit of a gear reset and wiping on Sunwell content with better options on the horizon is a tough option to choose. But if you are in a raiding guild, wouldn't raiding be the only option you'd be happy with? Or is it more important to prepare for raiding in Wrath?

My deadline is looming and I didn't get all the things I said I would done, but I'd rather spent my last days playing now instead of preparing to play later.

Rawr!

Responding to a comment on my previous post led me to expound on why I enjoy playing my druid so much.

If you mention druids need buffs on the forums you will be met with Druids are OP in the arena!

But, whether this is true or not, they most likely mean restoration-specced druids. And they also mean in 2v2s (and 3v3s?) So in a small subset of the world...of warcraft...druids are OP. If you pin them in a corner you might get them to admit feral druids aren't awesome in arenas. However this is not meant to be a PvP post so I'll leave it at that.

What I was getting at is there are things I feel are missing for a cat druid in pvp, but in reality I only do arenas as a "something to do" and not to be competitive so I have no complaints in that arena (I'll quit apologizing for the puns one day).

I don't participate in the higher heights of progression raiding, so my dps not matching a rogues, or 90% of a rogues, or whatever percentage rogues would be happy with ferals doing, doesn't matter much to me.

I'm able to tank Gruul level bosses, and as I mentioned I don't do anything higher so my bear is content.

For the purpose of my druid (the occasional 2-hour raid, 5 mans, quests, yucky alliance bgs, dailies, welfare arena) the class is almost perfect.

Wrath: Rerolling, DK or sticking with main?

Since I've pretty much decided I'm going to play the next WoW expansion, I'm thinking about what my plans will be when I come back.

I still have fun playing a druid and at this point no other class appeals to me so much that I'm willing to start at 1 and level up to 80. So I'm sticking with my main.

I do want to play a deathknight as Blessing of Kings suggested.

Will I stick with it? Most likely no. It would have to really turn out to be a fun playstyle for me. And it would have to sway me away from my druid altogether. Because I have no plans to level up multiple characters anymore.

It is doubtful a DK would make me turn my back on my druid. Because the things I like about playing a druid cannot be replaced by a DK. But a druid and DK can both tank and dps you say! Ah, but the real joy I get out of playing a druid are some very simple things.

Stealthing and instant cast swift flight. Yep that's it.

Weaning

I continue to wean myself off of WoW.

I've been selling bank stores on the AH, yet still holding on to certain things just in case I decide to come back.

Yeah it seems I just can't make that clean break.

The more I think about it the more I want to lean toward not coming back for WotLK. I think I used the idea of resubscribing for the expansion as a way to make quitting not seem so final.

I spent a lot of my gold (I didn't have much in today's standards) on buy reputation mats. I then spent the next few days doing dailies and earning it back.

I made a game out of how fast I could do dailies, thinking about what order would have been faster. But once again doing a bunch of dailies over and over, or a bunch of anything (re: achievements) over and over is what I have to step away from.

If it sounds like I'm trying to talk myself out of playing it's because I am. I can't seem to find another game to take WoW's place to make things easier. :(

WotLK release date speculations

We all have them. Here's mine.

Based the previou beta period of about 3 months I want to say they may shoot for an October release.

However maybe they'll try to push for November 23, 2008, celebrating the 14th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise. That will also give them the Thanksgiving holiday period were people will have some extra free time to play and advertise to their friends.

Then again maybe they'll want to take advantage of releasing it near Christmastime.

Longest Countdown Ever

No not until the WotLK expansion is released, but when my subscription runs out!

I still have well over a month before I logout for good, and I still find ways to stay busy in-game.

But now that there is mention of achievements that you can only obtain *before* WotLK is released, it makes me wonder...just in case...should I attempt to wrap up more things before I call it quits?

And this is the same web I'm caught in spun by WoW's addictive spider. What about all the goals I never completed??? What about the goals I don't even know about that I want to complete?!?!

It is a nasty web. Nasty, nasty thing. I didn't sign up for beta on the chance I get stuck in *that* cocoon!

The NDA has been lifted from what I've heard. I still like reading all about it and seeing the screenshots. But no! This fly wants its freedom!

*buzzes away*

Achievements!

The announcement about Achievements got me excited about Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

I think EQ already has this, but the achievements actually improve your character. These are more like maybe LOTRO things like exploring several places will give you a "World Explorer" achievement.

I was excited and at the same time sad. Because the things that are stopping me from playing soon - spending too much time in-game, well Achievements make it sound like I'd be on acid.

I never ran out of things to do really, I just ran out of things I considered fun. And achievements sound like a ton of fun things to chase after.

Exactly what would keep me playing hour after hour after hour.

I look forward to them adding it. Not for myself. But for other gamers who don't have a problem with their slash played. :)

L2P terribad scrub

I guess I'm getting all the ugliness that is part of a mostly anonymous social gathering we call MMORPGs out of the way as my time winds down.

With the addition of arenas and the armory it is hard to have opinions on the WoW forums without your opinion's validity, accuracy and importance being called in to question based on how well you have performed and what gear you have acquired.

What puzzles me most is how often WoW players like to point out that WoW is extremely easy to play. And if you aren't a top rating arena pvper or Sunwell gear donning pver or even both there is no hope for you - you know because the game is SO easy! Yet, in usually in the same breath, we are expected to sit at their knee for achievements gained in this realm.

It's like learning to spin out on a big wheel, and looking down on another kid because they couldn't. Aren't you all high and mighty! Oh wait...all you've done is learn to spin out on a big wheel.

This is really only directed to those players who have let their "accomplishments" somehow go to their head.

I guess good sportsmanship is the term I'm looking for here.

Why is it okay here?

For some strange reason I was thinking about griefing the other day. "Griefing" - going out of your way to ruin someone else's time.

In what other games and hobbies is griefing okay?

Killing someone in PvP fine. But corpse-camping them? Going out of your way to wait until they rez only to kill them again?

I remember why I was thinking about it now. Someone went out of my way to say some nasty things to me.

At least I got over it quickly, but it makes me wonder why that behavior is tolerated.

Playing to the end

So what will I be doing for the next 2 months as my subscription nears expiration?

I find it interesting that if I choose to not do certain things because I'm quitting its almost like quitting anyway.

For instance, I went on a shopping spree like most players when Season 4 started. If I happened to already have enough materials to enchant a few of the new stuff I purchased I easily did so. However when it came to purchasing gems off of the Auction House I struggled with whether I should even bother. Because I would need to farm for more gold.

Do I want to spend my last days farming for primals? Or do I want to jump into a battleground?

The answer is an easy one. And I find myself still running around with a several un-gemmed, un-enchanted items.

But the question I've pondered the most is should I bother getting the best enchants/gems if I'm going to quit?

Which leads to should I bother getting honor and arena points or running instances for gear if I'm going to quit?

Which leads to if I don't PvP or PvE I might as well not log on.

But I want to play and knowing I have a time limit encourages me to decide what is most important (read fun) to me. And quit playing for what is going to happen down the line.

A recipe dropped and I collect recipes, so instead of passing I rolled for it. Who cares if I'm not going to play tomorrow. Today I added to my recipe collection and that is part of having fun in the game to me.

What would you do if you knew you only had 6-months left to play? 3 months? 1 month?

I remember a guild member quit raiding because he knew down the line he would have to quit. He didn't want to take gear that other players would need and he also didn't want to take a slot that could be used to train his replacement. So as a result he ended up quitting raiding long before he quit the game.

I don't really want to do that. I don't want to pass on things and quit earning things and stop enchanting things because I know I'll be quitting. I don't want to be left standing around in Ironforge until my subscription runs out.

Following AoC

Back in May I blogged about new Age of Conan fansites.

Can you tell how well a game is doing just by the amount of blogs that exist for it?

You can at least get a few ideas what the game is like from them. Of course they will be biased according to the blogger.

What brings me to this is the end of a AoC blog nearly before it began.

Apparently the blogger had high hopes for the game, but yet we see within less than two months this gamer has decided AoC isn't engaging enough.

As I blog this with the feeling of passing by an accident, I wonder did I want to see AoC fail? No, not at all. I wanted another game to pull me from WoW. And now that I'm canceling WoW I desired an alternative.

Maybe because I felt my pc couldn't run it, I wanted to feel like I'm not missing out anything anyway.

In all fairness, revisiting the blogs I came across back then, one of them mentioned they are having so much fun they haven't had a chance to blog. Then again, they also haven't reached max level.

"See you next week"

People post "I'm quitting!" and the usual response is "Can I have ur stuf?" but also a common response is "See you next week".

I've known several people in my guild who posted what sounded like definitive goodbyes only to pop up again months later. I'm not talking about the ones who decided to take a break for the summer, but the ones who say "It's been great knowing everyone and I'll never forget the fun we had".

I thought about this as I found myself unwilling to actually delete my characters even though I plan on quitting for good.

If that's my plan why do I need to hold on to my characters...just in case? I also want to get rid of most of my banked materials and gold, yet I want to hold on to a few things....just in case.

I don't even really want to come back for WotLK, so why can't I do a mass mailing of all my stuff to friend and do a youtube delete?

Is it because I'll realize I really miss wow and end up re-subscribing a week later?

No, I think it is because I just want to hold on to something I've spent so much time with -- as virtual as the thing may be. I would have bought a Figure Print if it weren't for having to win a drawing for it and also because the quality of the Figure Print is a bit lacking not to mention sometimes gifts are burdens (link to Penny Arcade here).

It is weird thinking about not wanting to lose ownership of my virtual loot. I've heard of people selling their accounts with legendaries on it and here I sit unwilling to part with my characters who were never at the pinnacle of any area of WoW be it PvE or PvP.

I rationalize it by saying I wouldn't get much if I tried to sell my account anyway and if I delete my characters I could always get a GM to restore everything.

So when my subscription expires my characters will still be there waiting for me, whether my break is a week or a month or a year.

Now or later

Maybe I just had a bad evening of play, but I'm toying with the idea of quitting before my actual cancellation is up.

I'll probably feel better when I get a chance to sleep on it. Goodnight internets.

One thing I won't miss about WoW...

Penny Arcade "summed" it up quite nicely here.

No more mmorpgs for me?

I received a reminder about buying Age of Conan. I finally unsubscribed to the "newsletter" because I have no plans to ever subscribe.

The main reason is most likely the fact my computer can't run the game, but another reason is I think mmorpgs and me maybe aren't the best fit anymore. At least not to the extent I've played a few.

I don't strive to be the very best, but I do like attempting to do lots of things in the game. I feel like you can't do a lot of things without spending a lot of time. And, like many WoW players realize (some much sooner than 4 years later), a lot of that time can be better spent elsewhere.

I'm quitting mmorpgs while circumstances make it easy to do so. Given my compulsive nature for mmorpgs, I'm lucky my pc won't run AoC well, Wrath of the Lich King nor Warhammer have mentioned any plans of releasing any time soon.

I'm setting my sights on some single player games with 40 hours of play or something like that. Something that will give me a sense of completion that is fleeting in WoW.

Fire Festival

I participated in some of the events like Lord Ahune mostly at the request of guildmates (our series of runs yielded the enchant and elemental pet but no scythe). But fortunately I don't feel excited or compelled to farm 350 blossoms to purchase something.

Believe me, last year I would have.