Breakfast Topic: The curious phenomenon of "reverse burnout"
by Weston Arrowsmith 
May 10th 2011 at 8:00AM
We all hear the stories about people who played World of Warcraft too much and as a result had to stop playing to make the game fun again. I've fallen victim to that myself back in the days of Trial of the Crusader. But lately, I've encountered something that at first makes little sense. The best thing I can call it is "reverse burnout," and it's not from playing too much -- it's from not playing at all.
I admit to being a raider at heart. I love making my gear a shiny shade of purple so that I can join nine or 24 other people as we down the big, bad monsters of WoW together. It was my reason for getting to level 70, and it kept me hooked all throughout Wrath of the Lich King. But since the launch of Cataclysm, my raiding days have just ... stopped. Each guild I've joined on the promise of being able to raid either hasn't raided at all, or they've gone raiding without me. And without raiding, it feels like my motivation to play is gone.
I've gotten all the gear I could get from heroic dungeons and reputation vendors (except bracers, which will never, ever drop), daily quests feel like a chore, and the friends that I have online are off in their own raiding guild that I'm on a waiting list to try out for (they're full on hunters). Pickup raids have proven to be too unreliable in terms of both time and talent as well. It's like one part of such a huge game was the glue that held everything else together for me.
So what do you do when one of your favorite parts of the game becomes off-limits? How do you deal with being bored with WoW -- when you're not even really playing at all?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Greenimeani May 10th 2011 8:01AM
My bro cancelled the account before I got mine, so I coped by playing WCIII.
Prior May 10th 2011 8:12AM
I wish I knew the answer but I have been in the same situation for the last month.
Aalokor May 10th 2011 9:48AM
I've fallen in love with Arenas this season. I haven't had the time to raid, but a friend of mine who just came back joined me for 2v2s, and it's been a blast so far.
Jorges May 10th 2011 11:20AM
I've been in this situation for some time now, but it got worse in the last month. I'm only playing if my GF plays. If she doesn't then I just play something else like Global Agenda, Magicka or Left 4 Dead. Interesting and fun games that you can play with a couple of friends.
I'm a PvE player at heart, I don't dig PvP too much. But I've been thinking on giving it a try. It's a totally different game that I have avoided for many years. Maybe the answers are there.
Donhorn May 10th 2011 12:19PM
I've been mixing it up, between lvling a healer alt, working on Minecraft, and doing a few other things. I'm starting to try to push into WoW more, hopefully I actually can get into more of the other stuff like PvP that I never really messed with too much.
Greg May 10th 2011 8:16AM
A one year break. Allow an entire season to wither on the vine- it really helps change perspective.
I've already taken a 6 month break before. This time I'm off for a year. I don't know what the game will be like when I come back to it. But I know I'll be fresh as the morning dew.
Nawaf May 10th 2011 9:16AM
Agreed.
Around patch 3.2, I would barely play WoW. I decided to completely stop playing instead of playing less than 2 hours a week. It was a lot better.
I stopped playing until Cataclysm came out.
loop_not_defined May 10th 2011 10:28AM
I quit for the entirety of Burning Crusade and honestly thought I'd never play WoW again. Then I played the ever-unliving hell out of WotLK. /shrug
Robbiejandro May 10th 2011 11:10AM
i quit for 9/10's of BC, then WOTLK got me back hooked in, and i love cataclysm.
my guild is slowly dying (even the core of friends i've played with for years is starting to fade away, which i thought would never happen). so i've decided to roll an alliance priest alt on the same server (so i can still feel somewhat close to them if they log on) that i plan to raid with eventually. raids need healers, right? i'm really into the alt for some reason. i think it's because i've played horde for so many years that it's nice to see stormwind again.
i also play on a pvp server so i'm excited about killing them when i'm max level...we'll be on the same vent and i'll be eavesdropping on their locations >=)
dengarsw May 10th 2011 7:04PM
Essentially this. If you can't play with your friends, play something else. You may be surprised to find some of your fellow guildies are in the same boat! Nothing helps with bonding than learning a new game together
Reala CtL May 10th 2011 8:16AM
I'm completely with Weston on this, I'm a raider - that's what I enjoy and where my best memories of WoW come from. Since the death of my guild in early Cata, where I was a core healer, I've been tagging along in a guild with a few RL friends. Which you think would be great, but their team is established and there's never a spot for me.
I get a go at a lacklustre alt run every now and then where no-one cares because they've done it before. So no kill shots, no excited vent chatter, nothing that makes raiding fun imo. I find myself levelling alts these days, which is fine and gets me closer to the goal having an 85 of every class, but I'd rather be raiding.
~Reala
Gloryan May 10th 2011 9:09AM
Funny this - my guild would love to be raiding but 4 times out of 5 we're just short a healer and have to cancel. It seems like everywhere I look there are people who wish they were raiding but don't have the right people for one reason or another. There must be a way of getting all these people together so they can do what they want to be doing.
sporkwind May 10th 2011 10:25AM
I've been in the same boat. The highs of Wrath were there were so MANY pug groups for ICC and then we hit up Lich King eventually with a cross guild group. That group kinda died out due to life stuff though.
Cata came along and was fun for a while. I ran up Sporkwind to 85 really fast, rep grinds, dailies, and geared him until I felt I was just hitting a wall, then broke out an alt to 85 and was about to level another alt when I decided to come back to Sporkwind full time.
First order of business drop dailies like a bad habit. Next I decided to take up PvP and gear up there. Then yesterday I was able to pug into a raid that went well. Add to that we've got a couple new guildies who are adding some good energy to the group and I'm in a lot better place than I was a few weeks ago. Still no regular raid, but I'm coming back from the brink of boredom.
Lissanna May 10th 2011 10:40AM
I had a problem finding a raiding guild that I liked pretty much all of Burning Crusade. I was in 2 or 3 guilds on my original server, and then server-transferred twice trying to find a new home. I finally settled on Elune (US), and have been much more stable in my raiding groups through all of WotLK and into Cata. The trick to getting back into the game is to find the right guild-home for you. Your other option is to give up and quit for a while (in another 4 to 6 months, the current content will be PUG-able, with people's alts still probably running it).
Baba May 10th 2011 11:25AM
@Reala I'm in the same boat, I've tried to compensate with arena and leveling alts, but I just don't play as much as I did at cata's launch, nor do I want to..
Another raid team is promised in our guild, if it doesn't turn up then I'm going to quit and possibly buy SCII
Prissa May 10th 2011 5:39PM
@Raela
This is me too. I was a healer in my guild for a while and was a core member through a huge chunk of progression. Made it to 4/13 hardmodes until I just physcially could not make the hours anymore. It just killed me to say to them I couldn't do it, as I'm so emotionally invested in these guys. Now they found my replacement and knocked out 6/13 in the first week I wasn't there and it just hurts so bad! I WANT to be there with them, raiding where it actually counts!
And yeah, not really handling it well. Doesn't help when my boyfriend is raiding with them too, so there's 4 nights where I don't get to talk to him and I know exactly where he is, without me :(
ScorchHellfire May 10th 2011 11:55PM
I'm in a similar boat... half the time our raids are cancelled because 1 or 2 people can't make it and the other half we end up stuck on the first couple bosses for hours on end... my guild killed Lich King just fine but now we take forever on Omnotron because so many went inactive and now I find myself not even being able to see most of the content anymore... I like the people in my guild and have been with them for years so I am torn on wether or not to leave them after all this time, but if I stay then I probably won't get anywhere in Cata raiding...
lindsaycbritton May 10th 2011 8:20AM
I too am a raider at heart but currently my guild is kinda at a stand-still raiding wise. So, too keep myself busy I'll do one of a few hings. Pick a zone to quest in that I have not done yet (I love WoW lore) or I hope my friends are chatty and I dig or farm for whatever pet I currently have my eye on. Achievements are always a great way to stay entertained. Pick a random achievement you haven't done yet and try to get it.
Damn Dirty Ape May 10th 2011 8:24AM
I'm in a similar situation, although for me the problem isn't so much that I don't have the opportunity to raid, it's just that I can't make the time commitment. Raiding requires at least 2-3 hours of uninterrupted time, typically on a weeknight which is something that is hard to do as you get older (and I don't even have kids, I don't know how people with kids ever manage to do anything).
Darthregis May 10th 2011 9:25AM
Unrelated to the topic:
I LOVE YOU, DR. ZAIUS!