The Daily Quest: Burning out
by Elizabeth Harper 
Jun 24th 2010 at 9:00PM
It seems to happen to everyone at some point or another: the game's no longer as exciting as it used to be, and your logins become sporadic and finally vanish entirely. At WoW.com we love World of Warcraft as much as anyone -- but once in a while, everyone needs a break. Even from their favorite game. Today, a few posts on the subject of burnout.
- Achtung Panzercow discusses the dreaded b-word. Since this blog post has been gathering dust in my "links to use in The Daily Quest" list for a while and Panzercow is still blogging about WoW, it can only be assumed that burnout has come and gone. Or perhaps come and gone and come and gone. Or perhaps... well, you get the idea.
- Mana Obscura talks about battling burnout.
- Moar HPS! talks about trying to stay interested.
Filed under: The Daily Quest
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Spriesty Jun 24th 2010 9:06PM
I've been leveling alts in the old world with boa gear at a relaxing, solo questing snail's pace just to enjoy and remember the places I've been before it's all destroyed. Taking lots of screenshots too.
Terrant Jun 24th 2010 9:29PM
Don't fight burn out. The game will always be there later, so why insist on playing it now?
Autumn Jun 24th 2010 9:50PM
I haven't burned out yet, mostly cause I feel like there's still so much to do and see. I'm not one of those who have been playing since vanilla days... I really only started a year and a half ago. I have a couple of 80's now, and I play both sides, so if I get bored dealing with something, I have plenty more to do. Right now, I'm not geared enough on any of my 80's to run ICC and since no one is really running lower level raids on my server, I just use the time to go back and work on achievements and such.
Artificial Jun 24th 2010 9:50PM
Whatever you do, DON'T DO DAILIES! Doing the same bloody thing over and over and over is the quickest way to burnout. I don't even know why Blizzard put the bloody things in the game -- I ended up quitting for several weeks halfway through trying to get the Crusader title repeatedly doing those same quests every day for each bloody race in my faction. I did eventually get it, after I came back, but seriously -- what were they thinking? Are they TRYING to drive people away from the game?
Lokradu Jun 25th 2010 11:13AM
I agree. I don't do dailies on any of my characters anymore... I think all those daily quests should be turned into weekly quests that give 7x the amount of rewards. Who's with me?!?!
shad0w99 Jun 25th 2010 9:41PM
I agree with both of you!
Gief weekly quests instead of dailies!
We already have daily dungeons and daily battlegrounds. You could literally spend 6 hours a day just doing all the possible daily things.
Cyanea Jun 24th 2010 10:08PM
The "try new things" suggestion is golden. It was boredom with raiding that got some guildies and I into battlegrounds, and then later into Arena. We're having a blast with it.
sooper Jun 24th 2010 10:13PM
I've burned out a number of times. I've struggled to get back into the swing of things after a certain point. Sometimes things just don't appeal to me like normal I've tried somethings to help me last longer and improve my performance but only occasionally does it work.
I asked my friend at the doctor's office about it and he suggested Enzyte or Viagra. I stared at him blankly. I said, "WoW". He said, "Well....." I said, "No, WoW." He looked apologetic and before he could say anything I said, "Warcraft... world of..."
Can you believe this guy? Wow.
zappel Jun 24th 2010 10:28PM
the best cure for burn out is.... give up. leave WoW to us, thanks very much! (esp. if u are horde) seriously, there are lots of fantastic games out there. why play WoW? :P
Johannes Farr Jun 25th 2010 12:18AM
I burnt on raiding too. The funny thing is that before I raided I was okay being casual and just getting on to level an alt. I would do some pvp, some dailies, whatever I happened to feel like for that day.
After raiding...it seems like if I'm not raiding, why should I play. I almost wish I'd never raided, maybe I'd still love the game.
Wix Jun 25th 2010 12:57AM
What you said really resonated with me, because I feel the same these days. Used to be, I'd have hours of fun just levelling, usually to get access to some fancy new pet or ability. Now I log on for raid, and when it's done, I feel like I have no reason to play. I don't know how to get the old 'spark' back. I've tried rolling Horde, BG's (which I had to leave because they turned me into a frothing maniac), alt levelling, achievement silliness...it's like I'm in a holding pattern until Cat when everything becomes new again. I'm not totally burned out, I still log on every day, raid or not, but yeah...it's not like it used to be.
Zam Jun 25th 2010 12:33AM
After playing alliance for years I rolled horde on a different server and am enjoying levelling again. No boa's, just taking it easy enjoying "new" quests and lfd, and seeing the game from a different perspective. Fun to play the AH from scratch too!
ash Jun 25th 2010 1:39PM
God, I have not logged on in such a long time. All my mail is probably deleted.
I think the closest thing I have gotten to getting me interested in the game again is leveling a new Tauren hunter as I have not done a lot of the Horde quest past the starting area of each race. Maybe one day I will make it out of the Barrens.
I did it on a new server to hit up these blog guys. But, even that is getting kind of stale. Maybe its cause the Barrens takes so long. But, I kind of want to do the quest for the lore. Although, surprisingly, I do enjoy starting out with no gear and having to make do. Part of the original fun was having to be resourceful in how you tackle content.
The fact that they canceled the Path of Titans really dims the prospects of me continuing with the game, though. I was really looking forward to being able to customize my character further as that was one of the major drawbacks I felt from the game, the lack of customization.
I got burned out playing my pally as doing the same heals over and over became a chore. I don't know if the new healing abilities are going to be enough to drag me back in. Maybe if Blizz can work up a better UI for healing it might help make it enjoyable again.
Oh yeah, and why do you have to pay 25$ per character to transfer, it should be 25$ for the whole lot. It's not like its hard to drag and drop a save file from one place to another. Sorry, rant/off.
Domiku Jun 25th 2010 1:49AM
BURN
Blayze Jun 25th 2010 2:49AM
Play different games. The DS isn't just for travelling, y'know. ;)
Maira Jun 25th 2010 3:32AM
My suggestion for how to combat burn-out:
See everything through the eyes of a n00b (like me).
For example, on Monday I:
Went to Tanaris because I've never been there, and because I've never been to a real desert, and because I wanted to see it.
Went "Gosh, this place is beautiful."
Stood in place for five minutes trying to get the perfect screenshot of that dark blue sky.
Got the Noggenfogger questline even though it was ten levels too low.
Went "Gosh, this place is beauti- ow, hyena, ow, scorpion, ow, carrion bird." on the way to farm because I ran through them on purpose to see how far they'd follow me.
Went "Ooooh, Explore Tanaris Desert achievement!" and went in completely the wrong direction.
Went to the Caverns of Time for the first time. Had a couple of silly moments ("My God, it's full of stars!" was my first reaction), had a couple of freaked out moments (those statues: their eyes move!), and had a couple of "Gosh, this is why I signed up for this thing" moments.
Ran along the beach even though there was nothing to kill.
Took a million screenshots, just because it was pretty.
Wandered through Steamwheedle Port to see the pineapple wallpaper my guildies always giggle about.
Walked (not ran) to Gadgetzan, with nothing but mountain range on one side and nothing but desert on the other and nothing but road before and behind me.
Poked into all the buildings and wondered if goblins have air conditioning.
Went to the inn and /slept my way out of the game for the day.
I killed, eh, five things, maybe.
I didn't turn in my quest- it could wait.
I didn't get any achievement points (I'm still missing a chunk to the west).
I didn't run any dungeons.
And I had one of the best days I've ever played.
Can you say the same?
Wix Jun 25th 2010 3:49AM
Funny, and inspiring. Thanks for that! Maybe I'll go back to swimming around Eastern Kingdoms, trying to find a secret way to get to Nessie. I'm convinced there is a way. :::)
Ozzard Jun 25th 2010 4:35AM
Absolutely. If I feel burned-out on WoW, I'll go sightseeing - idly hunting for pop culture references and spend the next 10 minutes giggling when I find one.
weltallica Jun 25th 2010 3:58AM
It's doing Ulduar heroics for the 77th time that's doing it for me. So many 5-man heroics out there... and it's always HoS or HoL. Always.
One day, it was HoR. A long time ago, I even got Oculus. It was so... fresh. So new. So exciting. Then back to Halls every day for 9 weeks.
I'm sick of it. So very sick. WORKING AS INTENDED.
Muse Jun 25th 2010 4:09AM
If you're a raider, swap roles. In fact, make most of your guild swap roles and come on alts for a run or two. Declare it to be a "casual run, lets just see how far we can get". Don't yell at anyone making mistakes. (such as popping heroism because the button was next to lava lash and they look almost identical) Old content gets hilariously new when nobody's really sure what they're doing.