Breakfast Topic: This is the game that never ends ...
by Cynthia Gonzales 
Aug 13th 2010 at 8:00AM
Once I finally reached 80, I felt so accomplished and at the same time so behind. I still had not finished all the Northrend quests and needed to get going on heroic dungeons, maxing my tradeskills and maybe working on some achievements. Now that Cataclysm is coming soon, of course, we all have our bucket lists to be concerned about, as well.
Sometimes this becomes frustrating. I love to make myself to-do lists, much like collecting quests in my log -- but even more so, I love crossing things off the list that I have accomplished. With WoW, I always seem to feel like I am just trying to keep up. With more and more things about the game that I discover I want to accomplish, my to-do list grows longer. However, I guess that is inevitable when you play a game "that never ends."
So am I really bothered by the seemingly endless tasks put before me? No. In fact, I kinda like it. Yes, it does bother my brain a bit to know there are some things that have to go on the back burner or be avoided altogether while I complete other tasks. But the frustration is more than made up for in the limitless choices available to me. While I may feel like I am struggling to keep up, I can just as easily switch gears. Maybe I still haven't gotten enough badges for a decent trinket, but I still also haven't fished up any coins in Dalaran. I love that I have the choice of which area to tackle next.
Although I may constantly feel overwhelmed at the tasks left to conquer, it's a joy to know that there is still so much fun to be had. I do still want to get everything done, everything crossed off my to-do list ... but I'm not holding my breath for it. I'm just doing what I can, accomplishing things here and there and overall just enjoying the play.
Does the endless playstyle of WoW leave you frustrated, motivated or a little of both? What does your WoW to-do list contain? Do you think it will ever get completed? And would you even want it to? Do you only focus on maxing out certain parts of the game, while others go completely untouched?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Elazul Aug 13th 2010 8:09AM
A bit of both to be honest.
I mean, i usually have fun playing the game.
But occasionally (or most of the time) it feels like a chore.
But then again, most games feel kinda boring (you fight your way through boring enemies until you reach the interesting boss) so i guess it's all the same.
Gyde Aug 13th 2010 8:12AM
My to do list is endless. There's mounts need farming and achievements need completing. I love the fact that even at lvl 80 there's still a never ending list of things to do. What I find frustrating is never being able to maintain focus on one thing. One day I'm merrily working away at "Insane in the Membrane", then I read an article on here about a Mount that will vanish when Cataclysm is release and the next thing you know I've spent the whole week in a completely random place trying to get something I didn't know I wanted last week!
stephmabry Aug 13th 2010 11:15AM
This. My "to-do" list currently includes max-level toons of every class...Loremaster on my main toon (151 quests to go!)...probably should get back to farming Baron Rivendare's mount...gotta get the "the Exalted" title...
Achievements gave me a lot of things to add to the to-do list. I joke that when I complete Loremaster, I'll have beaten the game...but really, no, no way, haha.
omedon666 Aug 13th 2010 8:16AM
I find the "time triage" ethic this article aludes to to be one of the core ideals that defines WoW as an RPG. You log on, the list is before you, and what you do *right now* helps cement the development of your character, as well as illuminating what you enjoy as a player. That is the paradigm of choice that the game is built around.
In my personal example, when I had my first 80, then geared him through heroics, I was presented with the option to either put fourth the monumental effort to commit him to (ethical) raiding, or to spend that same time and effort getting 7 other characters close to his point of development. I chose the latter, and I've found that this "effortconomical" approach has made me a better guild officer, and more flexible to enjoy the game with my friends. This is my game, there are many like it, but this one is mine. ;)
(formatting may be shoddy/non-existent due to copy-pasting from phone notepad)
omedon666.livejournal.com
jealouspirate Aug 13th 2010 8:19AM
Here is my endless routine:
1) When I find time at work, I look up WoW stuff and plan out huge goals (Loremaster, Battlemaster, raiding, creating a better UI, learning to better use the AH, reputation grinds, etc)
2) Once I get home and actually start undertaking these things I realize how huge a time commitment they are and I just play some BGs (or just work on my goals extremely slowly and intermittently)
3) Return to point 1
Orrdeath Aug 13th 2010 7:34PM
That sounds about bang on for me, if my character was as complete as my UI, I'd be so epic I could one chop laser shark!
Daedalus Aug 13th 2010 8:21AM
To be honest, I try not to think about that side of things. I resisted MMO's for the longest time exactly because they didn't end; I felt like a game that couldn't be beaten was fundamentally missing something. But when you get in there, and there's so many shiny things to see and do, it's hard to resist.
But ultimately, it's all just a series of bigger and juicier carrots being dangled before us to keep us trudging merrily along. It can be a lot of fun, but if you think too deeply about stuff like that, it's a lot like knowing how a magician does his tricks, or watching sausage get made; you risk ruining the experience...
So personally, I try to just put the blinders back on and keep chasing that carrot...
Jake Aug 13th 2010 8:34AM
I have to agree, wow will never finish and everyone, no matter how much time they spend in the game, will always have something new for example. I, personally, have OCD, or at least it feels like it, I try to finish everything. For this reason, I only have one character beyond level 10, my death knight Mendenbarr on Cho'gall. He has mostly tier 10.5 and 264/251 gear for dps, mostly 245 gear for tanking, 87 pets, 99 mounts (as of today). He has 450 cooking, fishing, first aid, jewel-crafting, and engineering, and at one point, 250 enchanting and mining. He has 25 reputations exalted, and 36 at revered or higher. He has around 8000 achievement points and 28 titles. He has farmed himself halfway to the insane title, and already has both the salty, chef, lore-master, and many other titles. He has fished in northrend pools over 10,000 times in the past year for that god-damned sea turtle and hated every freaking minute of it.
He also has over 90 days, which is 2160 hours, of played time.
Now, in listing all his accomplishments, the last thing I'm trying to do is brag, I'm trying to point out that I've got so much left to do. Gear to upgrade, new and old mounts to farm, new and old pets to collect, new and old random achievements to get. I still need to finish the insane title, finish the exalted title, do an undying and immortal run, finish 10/25 glory of the naxx raider, finish 10 and 25 glory of the uldy raider, do the outland fishing daily until I get chuck, do the northrend fishing daily until I get strand crawler, fish in pools till I get sea turtle, run ZG every 3 days till I get both mounts, run TK every week until that fated awesome day comes where I win that roll, do the children's week and noble-garden metas and achievements, run H UP daily until I win the mount from random baddie alts, raid until I get shadowmourne, raid until I get thunder-fury, raid until I get the legendary hammer, kill anzu until he drops his mount, finish the argent tourney dailys until I get the 7 mounts that I am missing there, farm gold so I can buy a chopper, grand ice mammoth, and travelers tundra mammoth, do SSC at some point to finish up my BC raider achiev, and so on and so forth.
There are so many other things I can list, due to the fact there is so much to complete. Notice which wall of text was bigger.
I, however, am proud of my accomplishments, and feel happy there is so much more to complete. I would have much less done if I had more then one 80, for example.
At lot of people wonder why us "farmers" exist, why would people break their backs over getting a title or achievement in an online game, why spend 100s of hours for a few pixels, and I'd like to explain why I do it.
When you farm, be it gold, items, mounts, pets, reputation, or any combination of them all, it gets boring. It is boring. If all I got was a stupid label saying Mendenbarr the Loremaster over my head after completing every single quest I could find, I would never do it. But when you finish something, when you reach the end of the farming, when that item drops or the rep bar tips over, you feel amazing. You feel ecstasy, you feel like your hard work had a result, and that it is epic. And then, wearing that title above your head for the world to see, you feel like it was so very worth it and try to decide what to achieve next.
shade780 Aug 13th 2010 6:01PM
Yes, that is exactly why people love WoW so much. It gives the best false sense of achievement.
Kadin Aug 13th 2010 6:04PM
I know this feeling all to well... And I kinda hate it. Probably one of the happiest moments in WoW for me was, not hitting 70 and raiding, not hitting 80 and raiding, not epic flying or anything else I thought would take me forever. (And was right.) No. The proudest moment for me... was getting that accursed Crimson Whelpling... But I cannot describe the joy I felt after nearly a month of grinding it to finally see it... And now I need to get the others before Cata comes out. Joy~ T-T.
Divinia Aug 15th 2010 2:28PM
I was under the impression that you Need to have à lvl 50 or something character to create a DK?
Jake Aug 14th 2010 1:56PM
I had a level 70 hunter back in TBC, but I have long since deleted
him.
matt Aug 13th 2010 8:37AM
MMO games feature elements that turn a defined time investment into a defined result (grind kalu'ak dailies get a fishing pole). These things are fun in a reflective sort of way, you feel good about the achievement that you have completed. The other feature of games is outcome-unknown elements (PvP and Raiding for instance), these types of things are exciting because you don't know how it will turn out.
I have found that putting my effort into defined outcome activities makes me feel foolish about time wasted. The portion of my life that went toward getting the crusader title is something I can never get back, and it was not really that fun.
I try very hard to keep myself focused on activities that are fun for there own reasons, If I am not enjoying myself RIGHT NOW, I log off. The exception I make is for grinds that are required to participate in the endgame, the Random H grind, or leveling.
that said, I really appreciate the flavor that these elements add to the game. You don't see "the insane" very often but I am glad it exists... for somebody else.
Gulbrandt Aug 13th 2010 8:46AM
Absolutely true. I try to be very aware of how I'm feeling. If I feel myself becoming unhappy, grumpy or bored, time to log off and do something else. This is a game, and it should be fun. =)
Trilynne Aug 13th 2010 8:40AM
After having geared up through BC and now Wrath, it's really loosing any urgency I may have once had for it. :P You can only replace so many sets of gear before you realize it's counterproductive to sweat and strain and cross your fingers for that drop or hope that no one else rolls on it when it does drop, or obsess over how many badges you've got and how many more you need for the next piece of gear... I'll do heroics exactly when I feel like it, and if/when I get enough badges for that trinket, great! But if it takes me forever, that's fine too! I have alts to play with and professions to level(this last is a new past-time I have discovered and am enjoying immensely!). I figure a game should be fun, so if I'm getting burnt out over one aspect of it, I should switch to a different part, and perhaps return to whatever it was later, when I feel like it.
mmc109 Aug 14th 2010 3:32AM
You hit the nail right on the head with this one.
Gulbrandt Aug 13th 2010 8:44AM
Having actually burnt out several times for this very reason, I can say that it's really not healthy to obsess about all the stuff there is to do. There's a safe and sane way to handle it.
It's important to realize that all one can ever do is one thing at a time. Pick one thing on your to-do list, and do it. Also, it helps to keep that "one thing" realistic. "I'm going to get all my badge gear!" is not realistic. Neither is "I'll get one piece today!" A bit more realistic is "I'll get ten emblems today, on one of my characters." Basically, one wants a goal one can reasonably attain and still be able to do other things with your actual life (work, pay bills, have fun outside of the game, etc).
It's possibly to play from the moment one wakes up till the moment one goes to bed and *still* feel like one is terribly behind. It's a dangerous way of thinking.
Arodiel Aug 13th 2010 8:49AM
I guess the closest you can come to 'finishing' the game is getting all the achievements. Those cover every single aspect of the game - once you've done that there's probably not a lot left over. A couple of people have done this, but I don't think it's something I'd actually want myself. What on earth would do you with yourself after that?
The amazing thing is that the game caters to so many different playstyles. People can RP, PvP, dominate the auctionhouse, grind rep, collect pets, mounts, achievements, raid their heads off or solo their way through the lore. Whatever you like doing there will be something here for you.
Although I've sometimes said Blizz should nerf content because I'm afraid I'll never get to see it ALL, I don't mean it. The wealth of options is what makes this game so very more-ish. BRB, farming Rivendare's mount!
Hahahaha Aug 13th 2010 8:53AM
For me it has been a lot easier since I focus on only a few at a time.
For example, when I wanted the turtle mount I fished. A LOT! Every day I logged on for 2-3 hours, did my daily random, raided if it was a raid night. But no matter what I did, fishing was all that I wanted to do. After six months of contant grinding I got my mount and I was strutted around majestically on it everywhere I went. One day though I found someone riding tundra's mammoth. Hmm that's an interesting mount. Let's work on it. :D
Same goes for all the achievements that I actively pursued - Loremaster, Explorer, Champion of frozen wastes (back when Naxxramas was all there was to raid), that magnificent Ironbond Proto drake (man I hate mimiron), THE INSANE title, etc... list is long but never more than 1 or 2 at a time. And then after achieving something I always did Victory walks around major Cities for days if not weeks until I found my next obsessin.
Tim Aug 13th 2010 8:55AM
Want to get Argent Dawn rep and uncover every nook and cranny in E and W Plaguelands with my 80 druid. Got some done but so far to go with where the rep is concerned. Don't know if I'll ever get it. I started my first Horde toon in earnest also. Orc Warrior coming along nicely while my druid languishes in boredom in Dal. Maybe I'll get the Plaguelands stuff done, maybe I won't. No holding breath here either.