Insomnia, or, I can't sleep so I play when no one else is on
by Matthew Rossi 
Sep 12th 2007 at 1:30PM
One of the biggest problems I have is that, from time to time, I suffer from extremely painful bouts of insomnia. I've had this issue ever since I was a very young boy, and it still reoccurs from time to time. This has lead me to discover the joys and pains of logging on to play World of Warcraft in the middle of the night. Since I tend to play on servers in the same basic time zone as I am (Edmonton, Alberta if you're curious) this often leads me to discover that it can be an entirely different world when most of the server is asleep.
One of the large positives is that I often catch the Auction House when a bid is about to expire - I got my BE pally a Sword of the Magistrate for practically nothing not an hour ago, for example. It's also a lot easier for me to do quests that involving farming mobs that are otherwise popular either because the quest itself is popular or because they drop something folks want, like the elementals in the badlands that everyone and their parents tend to farm.
There are some big downsides, though. For starters, instances? Forget about it. If I can find two people on at my level at any given time it's a small miracle. Also, when you're bleary eyed from lack of sleep, that may not be the best time to try and do an annoying escort quest. Admittedly, I tend to find escort quests in general to be the second most annoying quests in the game, with "bring me x number of the eyes/hearts/brains of y" being the absolute worst, but I want to level my characters so I do them anyway.
Is anyone else out there playing on the graveyard shift? It sometimes seems like I'm totally alone, but a few folks must be toiling away alongside me. Do you prefer it or are you just there sometimes? What's good, what's bad about it for you? I sometimes like the relative peace and quiet, but I miss being able to get a Sunken Temple group when I need one. And I can't say that playing the game makes me feel any more rested.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Insider Business, Virtual selves, NPCs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jamesisgreat Sep 12th 2007 1:43PM
I moved from Enlgand to New Mexico a few months ago, but still play on my European server. Because of the time difference, I'm usually playing 4 or 5AM server time. Its great for farming the elememtal plateau and things like that, but seeing as my main is 70, he really needs to run instances more to get some better gear.
Saying that, you still get quite a few people online at the same time on my server - either there a bunch of ex-pats like me or a bunch of insomniacs like you!
Tyler Sep 12th 2007 1:46PM
I find myself play a lot late night as well. It's awesome! At first I didn't like it with trying to run instances, raids, etc. But questing and farming is the best at night! Have all the mobs untouched were ever you go is great! I'm a college student so staying up real late is all part of the college game. I am happy that I found this little gem. Good article.
Zuric
Destromath Server
Chris Skrzypchak Sep 12th 2007 1:46PM
I play late/early hours at times. Not because I am an insomniac, but because I have a family and spend waking hours with them.
That being said, I find that the drop rates on greens, blues, and quest items are much better during these times, so it doesn't make the grind so draining on one's soul.
Randy Sep 12th 2007 1:46PM
Edmonton, Alberta. Damn, me too!
theremover Sep 12th 2007 1:49PM
I'm a Canadian myself, but I moved to Europe several months ago. I was a WoW player before I left and still am. I already kept strange hours, but now with massive difference in time zones, I'm on at all kinds of crazy hours. It is definitely different in mood in the middle of the night. It's fun discovering things like daily quest reset times, etc... doing dailys twice in a row within a short time span is kind of monotonous, but it's nice to get them all out of the way that way too.
Epiny Sep 12th 2007 1:49PM
I tend to suffer from insomnia at times too. When I was little I use to play FF7 to fall back asleep. Now I play WoW, course I don't fall back asleep now.
My wife thinks I wake up to play games, while in actuallity I'm just doing something to pass the time rather than stare at a clock or infomercial.
vern Sep 12th 2007 1:50PM
I am not working yet (still looking) so I like a lot playing during evenings and nights.
I usually farm at night.
Minimize wow in a 1024*768 window on a widescreen monitor and I watch videos... TV stuffs, South Parks.... I could be herbs farming or fishing...
Week ends are for raids, the week for video farming :)
Mammy Sep 12th 2007 1:57PM
When BC came out, I did all my leveling in the middle of the night since I wasn't working at the time. I loved it. ya its not great for getting groups, but it is nice to have whatever area you need all to yourself, especially then when everyone was the same level and had to kill the same 20 mobs for quests. Now that I'm back to leveling alts, it doesn't matter as much, because pretty much any time of day I'm the only person in Silithus or Un'goro.
the middle of the night is also good for gathering herbs or mining.
Scalin Sep 12th 2007 2:01PM
I guess it's either a good or bad thing, but my server has a large Aussie population, so even in the middle of the night, there's people there.
Sinnersaint Sep 12th 2007 2:13PM
Last night is a good example of me playing when no one else was around. I woke up at 1 am, Mountain Time, and got two decent quests complete in about 1/2 hour. Not a bad way to earn 20k xp.
mrderekt Sep 12th 2007 3:03PM
Hello from Calgary! (Edmonton's souther rival/neighbor for those who don't know)
I'm a bit of an insomniatic as well. What I eventually discovered was that leveling was made much easier at night (mostly due to ease of grinding issues) but my level 70 Blood Elf Pally has yet to be able to run an instance at this time of night. Because of that I usually spend my nights on as an alt or perhaps doing a daily or two before switching over.
Hollywood Ron Sep 12th 2007 2:36PM
I love playing in the middle of the night. Generally it makes soloing a breeze and battlegrounds are easier to win for some reason.
Kahja Sep 12th 2007 2:37PM
booo deadmonton
I occasionally have the same bouts of insomnia but instead what I do is catch up on reading, or generally anything that isn't WoW.
Addie Sep 12th 2007 2:44PM
I peek in to check mail and auctions before work ( I am NOT addicted ::shifty:: ) at around 6 server. I say "Good Morning" in my chatty channel and get several responses of "No Way!" My friends, that I left just 6 hours ago, played all night and are surprised to see me. O.o
Addie Sep 12th 2007 2:45PM
When I can't sleep, I pick flowers until I can. Anything more complicated will keep me awake.
Apoc Sep 12th 2007 2:48PM
For the most part, the only times I have ever played (save for a few occasions) has been late at night, anywhere between the hours of 10pm and 8am.
Seeing as how I do so every night, I have managed to make a lot of friends around my level to quest and run instances with, and they've all joined my guild now, so I really don't have much of an issue with that.
Worst case scenario is when I ask for help with a group of elites and my friend says "sure once I ding lvl 67 I'll be right there" and having to wait about 10-20 minutes. Not really a big deal when you already spend so much time in-game not even realizing it.
It takes me longer than that to drive to my girlfriends house, so it's not an issue.
Plus there's also an advantage if you've been farming some items to sell in the AH, and you post it in the middle of the night for 24 hours, it's guaranteed to be seen during the entire next day of daytime play for anyone looking, so I find it easier to sell things.
Strongmark on Arthas Sep 12th 2007 3:02PM
They need to fire Kevin Lowe and kick him out of that city. I don't care how many Stanley Cups he helped them win when he was playing.... Also, why the hell couldn't they let Katz just buy the team?
Oilers Forever!
(Yeah, I am more likely to post our home pride before reading the rest of the article, lol)
honkhonk Sep 12th 2007 3:36PM
I play on EU servers. I'm in the US quite often and tend to log on from there. Means I'm playing at "night" server time. It rocks for farming the elemental plateau. But beyond content you can do solo there isn't really anything to do.
Krick Sep 12th 2007 3:07PM
Cut the caffeine out of your diet totally for a month and see if the insomnia goes away. Even a single cup of coffee in the morning can affect your sleep patterns that night.
There is caffeine in coffee, tea, sodas, chocolate, and chocolate flavored items.
Many energy drinks and herbal supplements include caffeine and other caffeine like stimulants often hidden under other names like guaranine, guarana, mateine, mate, theine. Plus, certain over the counter pain medications like Excedrin contain caffeine.
Justin Sep 12th 2007 3:08PM
I lived in Japan for 10 months and I always played during odd server hours. This was about a year and a half ago, so instead of questing and instancing I was PvPing. I made friends with a lot of the people grinding for HWL and even managed to get on the A-team (those were the good 'ol days of PvP...but I digress).
Now there's no reason for people to be on late/early to grind honor so I would be at a loss for things to do except level.