When it comes to WoW expansions, I have a fairly tried and true process now. It dates back a long way, all the way back to Mists of Pandaria in fact.
The process runs something like this:
- Expansion Announced: But I don’t much care, because I’ve convinced myself I’ve quit wow. (For real this time!)
- Expansion Details Emerge: Still of no real interest to me, though.
- Expansion Launch Date Nears: I suddenly discover that, no, I’m not near so done with WoW as I thought I was. And so I jump back with a fervor toward the end of the previous expansion to ‘get ready’ for the incoming one.
- Expansion Launches: Mad dash to new max level! New gear cap! Heroics! Mythics! RAAAAAAIIID!
- Expansion Launch Raid Content Complete: Quit WoW again. (For real this time!)
And of course it’s circular, eventually starting all over again.
Except this time it’s come off the rails a bit. Right now I should be right into WoW. All about getting some alts of interest geared up and ready to go. At the very least with the expansion itself being so close I should be feeling excited about the prospect of playing that…
But… I’m just not. Instead I already feel some regret at committing to even an admittedly light raiding schedule.
I keep hoping this feeling will change. And it still might when Shadowlands itself arrives. I may yet get swept up in the current of the routine feel and flow of the leveling and gearing process. I’ve long since learnt the folly in thinking I might be forever done with WoW. Yet… Still the thought has crossed my mind.
I even thought to shake things up with a change of main, in class and role. (To a mage!)
Whether or not I end up feeling like playing WoW again or not, I can at least tell you that I know what a large part of my current disincentive to play is. The blasted ‘borrowed power’ mechanics. I am so very done with them. I thought the BFA essences would be gone with the prepatch. Suffice to say I was bitterly disappointed to find out this was not so.
And with that discovery, all interest in playing ahead of Shadowlands itself evaporated.
Will it come back? I don’t know. But I do have to wonder — yet again — if my time with WoW might finally be at an end. (More likely by far though, in a month or two I’ll look at this post and laugh.)
I like how you have a whole tag dedicated to quitting WoW on your blog, haha.
As for the essences thing, it is an interesting corner Blizzard put themselves in. People didn’t seem to like the Artifact loss in the 8.0 prepatch, so Blizzard tried a new thing – when you go to a Shadowlands zones, all the benefits of the Heart of Azeroth turn off (no traits, no essences, no stamina boosts from neck levels) but in all other zones, everything Azerite still works fully as it did in BfA. So for right now, balancing is a bit easier (BfA content doesn’t have to scale down further to account for losing Azerite system power) but the tradeoff is that what you’re playing right now is sort of one foot in the Shadowlands door and one firmly planted in BfA. It’s weird!
I can sort of see how they got there, but I think it would be much more elegant to have just turned them off and scaled further.
Aye. It’s just too much of a barrier (for me, of middling interest levels to start with right now) to make a return for. I know there is a vendor system for essences already unlocked implemented a little while ago (funnily enough, while I was in the midst of a return).
More though, like we’d discussed on one of your earlier posts — I’d just really like to see an end to these expansion by expansion borrowed power mechanics full-stop. Time for a new flavour!
It’s interesting to read about this from someone else’s perspective because thinking back over all the times I’ve quit WoW, most if not all, have been for social or mental health reasons. I’ve needed to get away. Very few times have I got bored or fed up with the game itself, and I think for me that’s because there’s always something for me to do. The only thing I really don’t ever touch and never will is arenas. While I don’t hardcore raid any more and haven’t really touched mythic +, if there was nothing else it is a possible go to area for me. This isn’t a criticism in anyway, just the way you walked yourself through it made me think about it :)
nod There is no end to the things you could be doing in WoW. I’ve touched most areas in my time, although Arenas not seriously since Wrath.
For me it mostly comes down to the opportunity cost. The value of playing WoW (or most MMOs now, honestly) often falls below the point where I could be getting more entertainment in something else.
My social group in WoW is the same as my general online/gaming group for the most part too — so there isn’t even that tie strictly into WoW like there once was.
What I think I’m finding more than anything else is that the charm of the reality of MMOs has fallen away. I still love the promise of what they could be — virtual worlds and game spaces — but some major shakeup needs to happen!
With how costly they are to make and maintain though, the few out there who might be able to make this happen also have little incentive to do so.
Yeah, I understand where you’re coming from. I don’t get to go out much so WoW is one of my few expeditures for fun/social. I have that bit of freedom (in a strange way) to be able to not worry about it’s cost. I also seem to be stuck in an odd anxiety relationship with other games right now where I can’t seem to play something solo. With Shadowlands coming up it’s not such a big deal, but eventually I’m going to need to untangle what the issue is because I have a backlog of awesome games sitting there and I do want to play them. WoW is the “safe” option.
I’m glad at least that you do have it there as a safe outlet then, but also hope you can find a way through any blockers you might currently have for things outside of it! There is plenty outside of WoW which provide a fantastic experience worth having.
But just bit by bit and as you can manage without making things worse — it isn’t like they won’t be waiting for whenever you’re ready and able. :)
Thank you Naithin, I really appreciate your support hugs <3