Breakfast Topic: How do you cope with burnout?
by Lesley Smith 
Jun 18th 2009 at 8:00AM
Burnout is a natural part of doing anything for a long period of time whether it's a game or your job. Right now I've got WoW burnout, I can't be bothered to log on and the thought of raiding Ulduar (Ignis specifically) just makes my eyes and head hurt. It's not too bad and I've certainly had worse pre-Wrath but it's exacerbated in part I think by the lull. Patch 3.1 is out, Patch 3.2 is coming and the next unannounced expansion is a long time off yet. On top of that there aren't enough hours in the day to work, sleep, raid and play with my cats.
It makes me wonder what's the best way to get out of this phase? Do I go cold turkey for a week? Do I reroll or do I just try a new instance? Tell me your suggestions, please, how do you cope with burnout?
Filed under: Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Jun 18th 2009 8:07AM
Try doing some random silly achievement.
Alternatively, find another game to play for a while.
(Be sure to come back though. :P)
furry Jun 18th 2009 8:41AM
Agreed. I'm still raiding and all but I've slowed down and am focusing my mind on running through GTA-SA again on my ps2. I'll probably be back in the groove when I finish that game again.
MecChef Jun 18th 2009 9:19AM
I actually just dusted off Gran Turismo 3 for my PS2.
volicio Jun 18th 2009 9:19AM
^^this. I find it funny but true, my solution to WoW burnout is playing more WoW. I just spent 2 days finishing up the Explorer title, and now I'm doing keymaster. I'll keep doing this untill 3.2 comes out and then I'll grab my albino drake real fast, since it will be cheaper, and then move on to my level 16 shammy that is felling unloved.
Vaserati Jun 18th 2009 1:59PM
I'm playing a game called Rappelz, a free MMO with a crappy dungeon system and kill stealing and PKing flaws. Still fun.
PS the person in the screenshot of this topic is in "an illegal area" so please censor their name before you get them banned.
Shinji Jun 22nd 2009 2:15PM
I agree, I quit playing WoW altogether, sometimes for months at a time. Right now I am reliving the past, playing Quake 3 again. The difference is, now its 100% free. Go to www.quakelive.com and you play the game from there, it runs in your browser. Definetly not for everyone, but if you can handle the pace, FPS games don't get much better than this.
kbarush Jun 18th 2009 4:52PM
You could get a life and hang out with your friends and experience the REAL world a little. Trust me...it's much more fulfilling. Then, when the next patch or expansion comes out you can return.
Arelion Jun 18th 2009 8:09AM
Taking a break is good, I'm going through this right now with WoW myself to focus on a few things other then raiding, and grinding, etc...etc...
Once you're done with your break you'll definitly feel a sense of refreshment and you'll be ready and rarin' to go once again.
Personally with all the 3.2 news coming out lately, I might just wait until ~the day after~ 3.2 hits and jump back on then, looks like a lot of exciting new features comin soon!
smcn Jun 18th 2009 11:32AM
I'll jump on the "take a break" bandwagon. I've been WoW-free since January, mostly due to financial reasons, but at the time I didn't really miss it. Around March/April I was waist-deep into Mass Effect & Fallout 3 and didn't care if I ever played WoW again. Fast forward to June, I've moved to Utah and left my gaming rig behind, now I can't WAIT to get a new computer and jump back into raiding.
To be cliche for a moment, you can take the player out of the game, but you can't take the game out of the player.
whack Jun 18th 2009 8:09AM
i had the same thing happen to me right before 3.1 came out. ive been cold turkey since then, only killing one boss in ulduar, razorscale. ive been enjoying some warcraft 3, replaying the campaign and getting onto battlenet occasionally. also reading alot. eventually ill miss the game enough to pick it back up and get back into the spirit of things. for now, im enjoying not having to schedule my life around raiding and dailies
:)
Docp Jun 18th 2009 8:10AM
Try playing a different MMO, more often than not they remind you of why you love WoW so much and why so many other MMO's pale in comparison.
TJ Jun 18th 2009 9:06AM
This. I played warhammer for a bit when it launched because I had gotten burnt out on WoW. After I few weeks I came back on my hands and knees to WoW, begging for forgiveness. Its true when they say you don't know what you have until its gone.
Optimist Jun 18th 2009 8:10AM
I find that taking a break, say, a few days. And coming back and trying something new helps a lot.
For instance when I get bored of instancing and doing dungeons (and this is very bored, mind :P) I will log off from anywhere between a couple of hours to a couple of days, go do something else, and come back and play PvP.
Also another thing you could do is just play less, this also works.
Apologies for stating the obvious :P
I find that these things help, and I hope it will help you as well, Lesley :)
Beonit Jun 18th 2009 8:14AM
I agree by doing achievements, also making an alt has helped me.
Rizuli Jun 18th 2009 8:11AM
Do what I did. Transfer to an RP server.
And no, it is NOT as nerdy as people say.
toxicityj Jun 18th 2009 10:26AM
definitely the thing to do. I was burnt out on my PVE realm and rerolled on a RPPVP realm. I brought like 5 toons to 20 and leveled a DK to 75. Then i was forced to go back to PVE realm, because my guild died and it was too much of an arse pain to find another one. So I went back to PVE completely refreshed and raided with my mage and then leveled my druid to 80.
Now I'm bored again and where am I now? On another RP realm, this time as a horde :o
Tumleren Jun 18th 2009 8:11AM
I played intensively in BC, and in LK it's basically been one big burnout-fest. I cba to level a death knight 6 levels to 80 and I only log on once in a while to do a heroic or two. To begin with, it was pretty hard to pass time, but now I've begun watching TV-shows like Heroes, Lost, Mythbusters, Extras and The Office. They're great for passing a couple of hours. When I get bored with that, I might log on and level a low-level alt for a while, and so the day goes by. Then eventually I feel like logging my main again, and that's it.
Actually, the last few months it's been like this. I log on a couple of times a week, do some stuff and then pass time by watching shows or level alts.
Veras Gunn Jun 18th 2009 8:11AM
I was going through a burnout phase a few weeks ago. Around that same time I went away for two weeks. During the time I didn't really think of WoW, was bored out of my mind, but my mind didn't focus on how I much I wanted to be in a raid. I might have been bored but it was relaxing, especially with the raiding guild I was in was a pain in the ass. Progression with delusions of grandeur that led to little more than the raid leader yelling at the DPS(which I was apart of) for not putting out enough during an Ulduar raid he was sitting around 2k being DPS as well. I tried to take breaks from the game during that time but couldn't bring myself to do it. Once I got back home WoW sort of became a game again. A week after I got back I quit the guild along with some friends, joined the guild I was in before that and have been doing some low key raids. I play WoW much less than I used to.
To answer the question, I guess I cope with burnout by going cold turkey.
RetadinMan Jun 18th 2009 8:12AM
I usually work on alts. Right now I'm leveling an undead warrior, hit 19 yesterday. Leveling him as arms, though I might try out fury for a bit once I get dual wield. I'm trying to level him like a noob, like it was my first character.
Tauran Jun 18th 2009 8:12AM
Reputation grinds are fun once you can AoE grind and oneshot things. Farming gold is fun if done with friends. I level another toon 3 80s and counting. I also QQ about Shaman on the forums and hope.