Breakfast Topic: Are you running out of stuff?
by Brandon Cox 
Oct 19th 2011 at 8:00AM
I've played WoW for nearly seven years, almost as long as the game has been available. I've always enjoyed the game and have never once given serious thought to just quitting cold turkey. However, when I logged in a few days ago, I was struck with a revelation. I'd run the Zul dungeons nearly every day since patch 4.1. "I think I'll pass for today," I thought. I didn't really need the points, in truth, as I don't raid -- preferring small groups to large ones and having a rigid schedule -- nor plan on doing so any time soon. So I headed to the Molten Front and found myself asking why I was doing dailies. I had plenty of gold for my typical expenditures, and I didn't particularly care for any gold sink items. I had the Flamebreaker title already, having completed it a day or two before. "I'll come back later," I said.
I didn't go back. It was then that I realized I was out of things to do -- and with further thought, I realized it wasn't a new experience. At least once during each expansion I have this gaming funk, where I find myself excited upon logging in, looking forward to seeing my wonderful guild members, looking forward to being my usual death knight self -- but then find myself almost instantly bored upon doing so. It's not that I don't still love the game. I do, very much so. It's simply that I am out of things to do on my main character.
So what did I do? I rolled a new character, Ashcroft the Worgen warrior. Though I moderate my playtime much more closely now to avoid quickly exhausting the novelty, I have had more fun than I have had in a long time leveling my wolfish avatar through Kalimdor. There is a sense of pervasive newness to the experience that has reinvigorated my love for the game.
Do you ever feel the mid-expansion doldrums, and if so, how do you break out of them?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
exogenesis. Oct 19th 2011 9:03AM
There have been points where I have felt bored and unsatisfied with the game. I'm the kind of person that gets bored of things very quickly though, so it's normal for me, and I'm somewhat surprised I've stuck with the game for four years.
I generally break out of my doldrums by deciding on a new goal. Whether it be Explorer, Loremaster, the Exalted, of the Horde, or something else, I find new interest in the game when I work on something new. Of course, I often get bored of it halfway through and have to find a new goal to finish before I can go back to the other one...
MattKrotzer Oct 19th 2011 9:04AM
It's just a jump to the left!
llcjay2003 Oct 19th 2011 9:07AM
And then a step to the right.
Ad134 Oct 19th 2011 9:32AM
With your hands on your hips...
Revnah Oct 19th 2011 9:32AM
Put your hands on your hips...
llcjay2003 Oct 19th 2011 9:35AM
Damn you Krotzer...that song will be in my head for the next week. I must go listen to it numerous times to purge it. Not a bad thing, I guess.
jtrack3d Oct 19th 2011 9:40AM
It's the season for said silly songs / dances.
Natsumi Oct 19th 2011 2:48PM
/cackle @ llcjay2003
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr4LI27yGl4
Cameron Oct 19th 2011 9:05AM
Yup, sometimes feel the same way, such as right now, when my fifth/currently final 85 is slogging her ways through the FL dailies, and I have my main and an alt regularly saying hello to Ragnaros (heroic and regular versions, respectively).
Feeling a little "meh" about doing things in game, I've broken my no-more-alts rule and started leveling a warrior. I'm not even giving her any heirloom items so she doesn't race through zones so quickly & I can wander through the plots at a leisurely pace.
Turtell Oct 19th 2011 3:44PM
I've done almost the same thing. It's funny, the more heirlooms I get, the less I want to use them. Once you're so decked out in gear that nothing's a threat to you and you're leveling past zones 1/3 of the way through them, you realize you're hardly "playing" at all anymore.
llcjay2003 Oct 19th 2011 9:05AM
I usually switch back to console gaming when I get bored with WoW and try to tackle my considerable back log of games that pile up. I tend to get excited about a game and forget to actually play it because of WoW.
When I get bored and still want to play WoW, I do the alt thing. I have a goal of getting every class to 85 and still need mage (level 70), priest (60), shaman (58), druid (74), and warrior (25).
llcjay2003 Oct 19th 2011 9:10AM
On the alt note, warrior is by far the most difficult to get excited about. Also, disc healing for leveling through dungeons is so damned easy with heirloom gear that it is not even funny. Well...it is a little funny.
Nipah Oct 19th 2011 9:27AM
I always have the thought of "Gee, I could play [game X], but I am still paying for WoW... and I hate wasting money..."
So now that I'm taking a little break, it's given me time to play Fable III, Torchlight, and Way of the Samurai 3.
... though I would've put WoW on hold before 11.11.11 anyhow, thanks to Skyrim and the Elder Scroll's ability to suck any free time out of my life by giving me the quest of "find everythi- OOOH ANOTHER CAVE!"
llcjay2003 Oct 19th 2011 9:33AM
Ah, Skyrim. Well, my wife has claimed that one, so my WoW time will actually go up for the next 1.5 years while she plays that -.-
Natsumi Oct 19th 2011 2:50PM
I find stupid flash games to play, like Rebuild 2.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/sarahnorthway/rebuild-2
BlackTiger Oct 19th 2011 9:06AM
Yeah... Sounds so familiar to me...
nataswar Oct 19th 2011 9:07AM
I have several toons, 5 at 85 and 4 others at various points below (plus one bank alt). My small family/friends guild doesn't raid either, and lately it's been challenging to all get on together to run dungeons...so I got one toon through firelands dailies and am working on another. We also started creating toons on another server. Leveling them through the new starting zones on each continent has been a blast...especially silverpine/hillsbrad and stonetalon.
I get bored at times too...but there's always something to do if you look around a little. Think I'll trick or treat for a while... :)
Badmedecine Oct 19th 2011 9:06AM
There are sometimes i get bored, i only raid and mumble with my guildies, this is rly all i do then. I play some other games mean while. After that period i start leveling an alt, which swings me into the mood again and makes me play my main and level my alt to 85. This happened 2 times this expansion...
Jamie Oct 19th 2011 9:07AM
I defy your time keeping skills Mr. Blogsmith Blog! I was here an hour ago. Nay... I was here half an hour ago, joined by a single tear for not having my regular breakfast topic time!
On topic, I'm not without things to do. My warrior hit lvl80 last night and once me & my wife hit 85 we plan to raid classic dungeons for transmog items.
I also have my lvl44 Gnome Priest to lvl, he's currently lvl44. I'm just tired of dungeon finder but seeing as I play healer or tank mainly I find that it's just so quick.
Natsumi Oct 19th 2011 2:53PM
You need to level that Gnome to 85 and join an all Gnome Raiding guild and Faceroll Deathwing.
The Horde has it easier with their tiny race, the Goblins, as they have a much broader range of classes.