I had a number of turning points.

- Learning that WoW actually allowed solo players to reach max level. It's what led me to actually try MMOs back in 2005.

- Back at the start of BC, realizing how much I hated world PvP (particularly gankers using their flying mounts to stalk players leveling in outlands) and how little PvE challenge there was for solo players. Got into a mix of frustration and boredom and left the game for greener pastures. When I returned, half an year later, I decided to try Dual Boxing, in order to both increase the challenge, and to be safer against gankers.

- I became so angry with Blizzard over the WotLK launch event (specifically, the Zombie Invasion) that I canceled both my accounts before the event even ended. I only returned because I couldn't find another MMO that held my interest - CoH had restrictions on respecs I couldn't live with, LotRO at the time still required groups to do plenty of the main quests, etc. When Ì did return, it was again playing solo, I always would be keeping a subscription to a second MMO - I didn't trust Blizzard to be my sole purveyor of MMO entertainment anymore - and I was focused on leveling and achievements.

- When the current LFD was made available, my focus shifted to random Heroics; I would chain-tank them. This got me invited to a guild, I started raiding, and spent perhaps the best time I ever had in WoW.

- Cataclysm made tanking random Heroics too stressful and killed my raid group. In a month I unsubscribed - I already had a couple other MMOs to fall back to. I'm currently playing LotRO and eagerly waiting GW2; I'll give TSW also a try, though I'll pass on TOR. TOR reminds me too much of WoW's BC era game systems, including those that were changed for the better with WotLK and Cata.

- I might return with MoP. From what was revealed already, it will most likely be the WoW expansion that comes closer to what I want from a MMO, ever. Besides, LFR - with an easier difficulty and, specially, no lock - is like a dream come true to me. The only doubt is because of the increased competition, mostly GW2 and TSW; I'm a sucker for extreme flexibility in my characters, and both GW2 and TSW not only have all characters capable of doing all game roles, but also free respecs whenever out of combat.

Reply