On Quitting WoW
by Mike D'Anna 
Jun 27th 2006 at 10:16AM
Burnout: it happens to the best of us, even with the best of games. And with a game like WoW, where you can literally whittle away hours upon days upon weeks of your time trying to advance, sometimes the grind can just get to be too much, as it did for the author of this article; a 40-something gamer who's guild has decided to leave WoW after becoming disillusioned with some of the changes made to the game since release.The article goes into great detail about why certain changes, the battlegrounds system in particular, caused the game to simply no longer be a rewarding experience for him & his guildmates, echoing statements that I've heard from a wide variety of players. While I agree with many of his gripes, I've yet to become burned out myself, but then again, I haven't yet reached the ranks that the players in question were able to reach, nor have I invested quite as much time yet; I'm somewhere in-between a casual & hardcore player, usually playing about 10-20 hours per week.
The article does raise some good points, however, about the state of the game almost 2 years since its release & the reasons why certain aspects of it can become tedious & frustrating. What about you all? Have any of you experienced 'game burnout' before? Have you quit this, or any other game, over changes that you didn't agree with? Do you still enjoy playing WoW as much as you did when you first began? Check out the article here, and then let us know what you think.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Guilds, Odds and ends
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Franky Digital Jun 27th 2006 10:59AM
Every MMORPG gets old to the vast majority of the playerbase. While WOW has easily become more successful than I think even Blizzard forsaw, it's only a matter of time before all but the hardest of hardcore gravitate towards something else. Burning out is very common. I mean, if it weren't, most of the MMORPGs would still be in EQ.
As for the "changes made me leave" statement, though some fundamental change can ruin a game, it takes quite a lot. The only big example I can think of in the last 5 years is SWG, where they totally changed everything down to the lowest levels of combat and class structure. That would have been the only significant, altering change I can think of in the history of MMOs.
Branislav Jun 27th 2006 11:04AM
I recently abandonned WoW and decided to go back to Everquest since they are introducing a new concept : Progression Server. Thus being able to revive the old times and most of all the old community of passioned players.
WoW is the opposite. Enough.
Jake B Jun 27th 2006 11:21AM
The certain problems that the guild had can be easily defined. Number one, a lot of players loved the constant frenzy of battle between menethil harbor and tarren mill. That was actually pvp, the current system if ctf, there is a difference. As the game ages it becomes more and more apparent that power is based on gear, which wasnt the case. Arguably the only class that can own without good gear is a warlock, which only happens to be because of the counters and damage bonuses they have. The game has basically turned into a contest of who has the most time to blow in Azeroth.
Gunn Jun 27th 2006 11:24AM
He's right, but WoW is still fun as hell for me. Also Blizzard intends on putting in World PVP contested zones. If he really wants epic battles why don't they join PvP servers?
recrudesce Jun 27th 2006 11:39AM
I quit Eve Online because there was pretty much nothing to do if you didn't want to kill things all the time.
Recently, I've gotten bored of my 60 Druid, mainly because there's nothing in WoW to accomodate a Balance Druid and at 60 there's little you can do.
Because of this I started another character, a Paladin... but I've gotten to lvl 32 and have now gotten into the same quest chains, so I'm just going around and around in circles and completing quests is no longer rewarding.
I rolled a Undead Priest, and got bored after level 3 cos I dont want to have to go through all the same quests again just with a different character :(
josh Jun 27th 2006 11:40AM
I stopped playing wow when the time required to get a "virtual" item in a game became such that I felt that "loser-esque" quality coming over myself.
When you hit the point where 20, 4 hour raids ,don't net you anything you have basically just relegated your life to nothing more than a slave worker for blizzard's bottom line year end cash statement.
Are you playing for you? Or are you playing for them?
I was under the impression we play games because we have fun doing so. Blizzard has very craftily architected a game where you start off having fun and are slowly brainwashed into the grind. In the end, you are a mindless drone slave who plays for up to 100 hours to get... nothing.
Go out and go for a drive. Get a girlfriend, or take the one you almost forgot you had out for dinner and a movie. Clean your house. Play some xbox or ps2 and remember what it was like to actually enjoy playing a game.
WoW is a ton of fun 1-59 and even after about a month of hitting 60. Past that, it's just a game engineered to strech a minimum amount of content as far as it can be stretched to keep you a slave.
Hildar Jun 27th 2006 11:43AM
I am also concerned that the whole point of end-game has become the endless quest for better gear. Blizzard perpetuates this by adding more tiers and more instances to farm.
Personally I don't care much about raiding or PvP, so end-game for me is just that. It means I start another character and enjoy playing another class.
leinman Jun 27th 2006 12:06PM
The final insult is when they require mindless grinding of faction just to gain admittance to new content. It was at that precise moment that I knew I was never playing WoW again.
I think their litmus test statement from back in the beta days of... "Everything we develop, we ask ourselves *IS IT FUN?*"... has gone into the crapper and been spit on and flushed 100 times over by now.
Let me help you Blizzard.
Creating new content and allowing people to immediately be able to play it is fun.
Creating new content under a thinly veiled gauze of bull crap faction grinding hoping it will delay the inevitable moment when the players are sick of your game becuase they have done everything... only in fact makes them realize that there is nothing "worth" doing left in the game, because your *NEW* content is not even worth doing as you didn't even try to hide the fact that the only reason it exists is to be a pain in the ass.
This silly ploy actually made me quit SOONER. Instead of staying another few months to play the new content.
Blizzard ignores this kind of feedback sadly. I say sadly because this is the same kind of feedback that EQ got a long time ago and look where they are now.
Blizzard got 1-59 right. But dropped the ball at 60.
John Dough Jun 27th 2006 12:37PM
As much as I like the game and credit Blizzard on having created a masterful MMO, I do have some pretty major issues as a 60 druid:
- rank 14 pvp grind = ridiculous. Basically if you have a full time job or any semblance of a life you simply never get rank 12/13/14, let alone r10+.
- 4+ hr raids = too long imo.
Your options are pretty limited at 60 I find.
Despite all this I am still hanging on, playing when I can doing what I can to have fun. Not sure how long I can keep that up tho. ;)
Dave N. Jun 27th 2006 12:59PM
To every game
churn, churn, churn
there is a season
churn, churn, churn
and a time for every person
to go elsewhere.
LOL
Brian Jun 27th 2006 1:11PM
The game is what you make of it. IF you feel "forced" into a certain playstyle of course you will get bored. If you go out and make an effort to have fun, regardless of what the game's design tells you to do, then you will have fun.
Ignore the overly hardcore players that say you have to compete for Rank 14 to have fun in battlegrounds. Ignore the raiders that say you have to spend 4 hours a night in endgame instances to have fun.
Better yet, find others who have a similar play philosophy as you and play the game with them.
Yes, the game has problems. But Blizzard appears to be addressing most of the concerns (albiet slowly), until then do what YOU think is fun. And, if nothing in the game is fun, then quit.
Mat Jun 27th 2006 1:51PM
Dave, that was beautiful.
olhado Jun 27th 2006 6:21PM
I only just got WoW two weeks ago, however I'm not too worried about the burnout-- while I can understand all the points about things getting boring and repetitive-- for me it's about playing with my friends.
Ted Morrill-McClure Jun 27th 2006 11:48PM
To those who are burned out with their level 60 characters... I understand, but why not create another character in a different race or class or even on a pvp instead of a pve server? In a couple of months you'll be able to play them up to level 70. Wait a bit after that and i'm sure 80 will be along.
I find myself bored with a character occasionally, so I put it aside for a week or a month and play someone else. There can be no "grind" unless you feel the need to "win" the game in some way. Why the drive to be Rank 14? Find your own way to play.
Finally, take a break once in a while, don't play a day or two and you may find the old spark coming back.
boneyard Jun 28th 2006 3:48AM
creating more characters gets boring also, sure the class plays differently, but the quests are pretty much the same, except for the starter stuff if you change race and everything if you change side. but in the end you have seen it all, well a group of people does. for some people there simply won't ever be enough content to keep them, not much to do about that.
stapleboy Jun 28th 2006 12:03PM
When I quit, it'll be because the grinding at level 60 is just completely inane. If, heaven forbid, you don't want to raid from 10p.m. to 2a.m. daily, well don't worry! You can kill 900,000 zombies in order to get a quest to kill a boatload more and then be .1% closer to the rep you need for single piece of gear.
Meanwhile the dev team is putting out even higher high-end gear to guarantee the psycho guilds will utterly mash you in PvP, no skill required. Hurray for friends and alts!
Old Jun 30th 2006 2:26PM
I've been meaning to respond to this although it's way at the end and somewhat out of the subject.
I'm tired of the game after playing since day one for several really base level deep reasons that have bothered me from the start and won't go away.
Death - it's too easy in WoW, I wish it was a bigger deal, 1. Need to lot bod, may need guild or PUG help doing that. 2. Illness so you play at reduced level for a period of time. Loss of gear or cash or both. Now THAT would change the moment solo and group strategy of the game BIG. I know, most all people would leave. Not me, I'd just need a REAL strategy for solo (80% of my play) instead of a quick run back or in my case a soul stone.
XP - I hate this all-in-when-you-level type development. I am so tired of counting every bar so I can finally do something with my character when she levels. In other games, you can add to your skills and attributes with what ever you have managed to earn in the period you gained more XP. I do understand this is a COMPLETELY different system than WoW but the fact WoW is this way is driving me crazy.
Items - May seem minor but I miss how some games have ID-able items you can drop, pick up and give. Or find in the landscape for at least some period of time if dropped or hidden.
My 2 silver,
Old