Breakfast Topic: Are You Bored?
by David Nelson 
Oct 11th 2006 at 8:00AM
While I am not personally bored with WoW, a lot of my friends are incredibly bored and are patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for the expansion. In fact, more than half of my Warcraft playing buddies have stopped playing entirely until the Burning Crusade launches. While I enjoy the raiding aspect of the game, and the social aspects, I can see some of their points.I hear the complaints of the bad PvP honor system, the large raiding time commitment and the unappealing reputation grinds again and again. Now while I certainly hope that the Burning Crusade will solve these problems (and from previews I have seen, it will), I just wonder if that will be enough to get all my friends hooked again. Tobold touched on this in one of his recent blog posts, and he wonders if BC will be enough to keep everyone entertained and happy while we wait for Blizzard to slowly churn out another expansion. I mean, in about a month or two after release the hardcore raiding guilds will have started raiding, the PvPers will be endlessly PvPing to gain tokens for gear, and the casuals will catch up a few months later only to find that a 25 man raid is as big a time sink as a 40 man raid. Then what?
Another expansion down the pipe? Is Blizzard going to make the content patches a little more assessable to everybody, meaning some raid content, some 5-mans and some new quest hubs? What do you guys think? Will the WoW burnout that some people are feeling be cured by the BC, or is it a temporary solution?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
DÖT Oct 11th 2006 8:18AM
Any game that has constant repetitive tasks will get boring...honestly, from lvl 1 the game is the same...kills things or find things and get stuff. Raids and instances are exactly except maybe for strategy. TBC will add some content but I fear that it has been way over hyped and the continuial wait will turn people off.
I have abandoned 2 lvl30's because I couldn't see the point of continuing because I am just starting over when TBC comes outs.
There are sooo many lvl 60's out there who have had nothing to do but raid for the last year and who have tons of gold and who have probably already purchased armor for their BC alts. They will continue to be bored because they will sent hundreds of gold to their new characters so they can have everything they want.
So, anyway...I think TBC won't be much of a change and while I am excited to get it and try out the new races I am not hopeful that it will change that much. World PVP will make it more interesting however!
New classes would change it up a lot too...
Sylythn Oct 11th 2006 9:07AM
Unfortunately, the phenomenon most common among complainers is self-defeating. You're a hardcore player, and you love playing WoW - so you play all the time, have a ton of characters, and love it. But you finish the content so quickly, that you have nothing left to do and get bored.
I haven't had an issue with boredom, but that's because I haven't even hit 60 yet. I play only two characters, one alliance rogue, one horde warlock - so there's a lot of the world I haven't even seen, a lot of quests I've never done. I've still got a lot of content still available to give me that "new" feeling. At the pace of a casual player, I really don't see boredom setting in in this lifetime.
synack Oct 11th 2006 9:05AM
I find myself bored with anything but raiding anymore. Having been level 60 since about March of 2005, I have pretty much run the gamut of every last level 60 quest in Strat, Scholo, DM, BRS, etc etc. The only thing left for my guild to do is finish BWL and Naxx, and even we're not sure if it's worth the effort given all the work and knowing that the expansion is imminent.
Why work so hard for incremental upgrades to level 60 gear when it will quickly become obsolete or at the very least not quite as cool?
Although, as a priest I wouldn't mind getting my hands on Atiesh. *scratches chin*
Hanna Oct 11th 2006 9:12AM
*applauds Sylythn*
I just started playing a month ago. I have a 22 Warrior and a 10 Rogue. I have plans to soon start up a Warlock and Paladin. Between work and graduate school, I get to play maybe an hour a day if I'm lucky, maybe a few extra on the weekends with my boyfriend (who has 2 level 60s, chomping at the bit for BC, and already preordered our copies).
But everyone else can go have fun with the expansion. I'll catch up to you eventually. Let me still have a blast with everything you guys did years and months ago. So maybe I'm not as cool, but I'd rather have fun.
Amaris Oct 11th 2006 9:23AM
I've had an issue with boredom. I've quit WoW twice, because at lvl 60 I couldn't think of anything to do. I did instances, but since that priestly set of devout never dropped, I got bored. Then I stopped for four weeks.
I came back, started blogging, rp-ing, tried raiding (and hated it) and got bored after a couple of months.
Another four week break later, I came back, started an alt, joined another guild, even found a nice raid group, started re-doing those old instances (yet still no devout parts have dropped).
My point? WoW can really get boring, but there's enough to do to get hooked again.
And I do think that BC will push the boredom further into the future for quite some months. It will come, I warn ya, but taking a break is quite fun, too.
Quaddw Oct 11th 2006 9:26AM
Slight boredom has come over me, have had the game for about 4 months play time now give or take (although I tried it at launch for hte 30 days but then got sucked back into the evil of SWG). Havent reached level 60 yet on any of my characters mainly becuase of friends changing realms and work/school. Mainly what is holding me back is that I really want to make a Blood Elf warlock . Right now have a level 58 Druid so I have those 2 levels to gain to keep me "entertained" till BC release, thus making my waarlock my main.
Elbows Oct 11th 2006 12:30PM
I've quit WoW twice, once when my the 4 guys I leveled to 60 with stopped playing, and once when I got fed up with the PVP grind.
I could never see myself getting bored of the game from a content perspective, and I never have, even when I played 40+ hours a week. Then again, I find stuff like grinding enjoyable so I'm probably biased.
Draegan Oct 11th 2006 9:38AM
I've quit WoW twice as well with end game blues. However I've come back strong found a great guild and am awaiting the expansion eagerly.
What Blizzard should do with their 2nd expansion is introduce new classes. It's the one gimmick that will drag people back and find something "new" to do in the game.
Ritchie Oct 11th 2006 9:40AM
I am active duty military so I am only home about 5 months a year. My wife and I enjoy playing WoW together and she only plays when I am home. For us it is easy to stay interested because every few months it’s like we are picking up a new game. Needless to say it’s tough to find a good guild. The last one we were in disappeared during my last deployment but it isn’t that big of a deal because we are neither one level 60 yet and we always have at least one other person to play with. Playing this way has ensured that we won’t be getting board for a while.
Jedrallin on Kul Tiras Oct 11th 2006 10:11AM
I've been playing since March, lvl 56 warrior, lvl 19 hunter (one on each side) and I'm done. I've cancelled my account, which ends on Oct 17... I'm debating about BC.
The time commitment involved when playing is just too much and the questing isn't really "fun" for me anymore.
Dungeons are too much of a pain in the butt to get involved (and I'm in a good guild).
LiquidMK2 Oct 11th 2006 10:29AM
I got bored with WoW a few years ago. I was a "casual" (meaning, I played less than 20+ hrs a week) and hit 60 and found there was nothing left that I wanted to do. I geared all the way to full blue just as MC was getting big. But I had no taste for more than 10 people, I quit not too long after that. Everything was geared for people who can spend their life in WoW. Also, my main interest was PvP, and PvP has been lacluster at best...
I am hoping tBC helps that point. With 5 mans being able to go to hard mode and 5 man PvP arena rating, there should be something that "lesser" players can advance into...
But as far as breaking a trend... I highly doubt it. I mean, you can only kill a boss so many times before it gets boring. The only thing that keeps people coming back is better gear so they can kill the next boss over and over again... For that to change, blizzard would have to change WoW. Which wouldn't be a bad idea...
oomu Oct 11th 2006 10:37AM
it's sane and good than with time you are bored. nothing is eternal.
I do think Blizzard has to create _new_ way of enjoying the "world" of world of warcraft
things as Hanaa (the city to conquers, with wyverns and bombs and stuff) is a good for that
world pvp, I hope, will be improved , mostly in Outland with the expansion but we can hope the same in the "old" world.
they should give betters tools to do roleplaying also, it helps people to create socials connections and to be hooked.
new classes, it can bring new mechanics and newer way to play the game. new classes is a tricky stuff, it can destroy all balances or just be a new boring warrior with a tiny twist.
Tarik Oct 11th 2006 10:54AM
I've been playing since about March as well. I have a 56 resto druid (people need to run BRD more ;) and I have a lvl 24 pvp mage, since when you play "whack-a-mole" with green bars for too long, you occasionally want to shoot someone in the face with a giant fireball.
I am already bored with alot of the game mechanics, and I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that I played Diablo II. The grind of bosses and constant item upgrading after a certain point, has become the main-stay of Blizzard it seems.
I am debating even continuing to play/pay for the game when the Wii comes out. As someone who works a 9-5, I am constrained for time anyway, and somewhat forced to be a casual player.
PuG organization, the vast swings in PVP group ability now with the mixed realm PVP in BGs (sometimes you own, sometimes you're scoreless and shut-down) makes for a very erratic gaming experience, at best.
I gotta say, healing for a pimp BRD group, or even re-discovering low levels in a completely new character, is very rewarding...I just wish it took less time...
Also, for the newer expansions, I think the focus will be on item/skill complexity. For example, once again for the D2'ers, one of the best ways to move away from the standardized builds that dominate the game currently, is to add SYNERGIES (explanation can be found here: http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/basics.shtml ) .
That...would be pretty hot...and runes for jewelcrafters...
Torra Oct 11th 2006 10:32AM
I've been playing since release and I've gotten bored enough to quit twice now. Each time I come back I try something new. Started out horde, so when I came back I switched to Alliance. Leveled to 60, got some epics, got bored and quit again. Came back to the horde a little later and started my next new WoW experience- running a raiding guild. As long as there are new ways for me to percive the game, I won't be bored for a long time.
Afroloop Oct 11th 2006 10:57AM
I hit 60 by Dec 2004 and then quit the game and tried some others (Guild Wars, Matrix, City of Heroes) and then came back about a year later. Then quit again and am now back again and playing a lot and in a guild that does instances (Scholo, Strat, BRS, UBRS) and am getting some better gear and have been enjoying it. I also worked on getting my epic mount which was a nice challenge. I also got fishing and skinning and mining up to 300 which was something to work on. I think as long as you have something to do and work on (skills, professions, new gear) its fun but if you are just sitting there waiting for something to happen it can be awful boring. I know lots and lots of people are going to come back for the expansion and the servers are all going to croak…
DÖT Oct 11th 2006 11:05AM
I just thoughts of this while reading everyone's responses...I like to play WOW by myself for the most part. I like the challenge of trying to take out 5 or 6 mobs or taking down an elite ALONE...you learn about your playing style and what you need to change to get better.
We know Blizzard markets WOW as a single player and a MMO but we all know its not. To do anyhting thats not just run-of-the-mill questing you need a group or a lvl 60 to run around with. So, my idea is that Blizzard should introduce a single player mode (maybe it would have to have it's own servers but anyway) that was more like a RPG. You could find NPC's along the way to help in your fight instead of RL players and maybe they could create a "class" of NPC that were like a helper "class" and you could ask anyone you came across to help you (and of course they could either turn you down or accept). I think it would be interesting and it would create a constantly different game because you could get different NPCs and maybe some would die. And just like regular RPGs you could talk with your team and get back story and maybe some side quests from them. Then based on how many different helper NPCs there are there could be endless new quests.
I don't know if that came across clearly but I think it's a good idea. That way WOW IS, actually, a single player RGP and an MMO.
I forgot to add that of course the single player RGP would still be a MMO with other players running around with their 4 man team or whatever. And maybe if you only had one NPC you could still group with another player with one NPC...IDK...I was just thinking of a way to keep the content fresh.
Swiftlydead Oct 11th 2006 11:36AM
It must be human nature to try to make it seem like the world is ending. With WoW, we have a microcosmical view of this. It's not the end of the world if it doesnt, so who cares.
Take the elections for example. Everyone thinks their voting one way or another for the sake of the world, FFS. Global warming? Terrorism? Etc. What few people are paying attention to is that the same retards that are crying "Global Warming" right now were trying to tell us in the 70's that there was an imminent ice age coming if we didnt clean up pollution. All I'm trying to say is that it's always *something.* No matter what.
Asciran Oct 11th 2006 11:43AM
I've been playing since near launch and never really got bored persay. Sometimes I play less then normal, or just check the AH once for a few nights, but never have I flat out quit because I was tired of it. But I agree the expantion can't come soon enough.
Zerbe Oct 11th 2006 11:48AM
As the above poster said, I also like to play alone a lot doing normal quests and trying to complete a zone so I can then move on to the next zone, playing with others just slows me down. I do have friends that are already lvl 60 come help me occasionally, but for the most part, I like doing the quests and progressing my character. When it comes time to run the instances, I will LFG like everyone else, when you get a good group, its great, when you dont, well, we all know what happens.
I recently started back up and am working on my 3rd lvl 60. I also transferred to another server and got in a good guild of a friend. I just did my first run of AQ20 and it was fun. I have a feeling of a lot of my guildies are going to be around a lot more when TBC comes out so they can level and check out the new content. I have a few friends that I know are coming back soon or have just recently in preparation for TBC.
My 2 previous times I quit, one was from frustration of being ganked and camped and the other was from not wanting to run the high-level instances(not raiding), but now that there are a lot more better geared players, running those instances isnt quite as painful.
stapleboy Oct 11th 2006 12:01PM
First, off-topic: I pretty much always agree with swiftlydead. Just wanted to mention that, haha...
I'm very bored with the game, because I subscribed for the PvP. I have never been an RPG guy. With fun exceptions, from level 1 to level 60 it's the same old kill 10 of these and then run 3 laps around the continent clicking questgivers. Not really my thing.
This is why the broken PvP system drives me crazy, and why I've finally cancelled. It's probably dumb to expect great PvP from such a huge game anyway, so, meh. Sunk costs and such. Time to catch up on some reading :)