Poll: WOW Abandonment

[Distazo]

I have been playing WOW for almost 6 months. I started a hunter, slowly, over time, grinded him all the way to the top. I found a guild of people who I would call my friends. They know me by my first name and I have even met a few of them outside of the game. Two weeks ago I reached 79 on my main character. Afterwards, I exited the game, shut down my computer, and went to bed.

The next morning I got up went about my daily routine. When my normal free time came that I usually fill with gaming came I really didn't feel like playing WOW again. So I played something else. The next day the same thing. Its been almost two weeks and I have not even logged into WOW again and I am having a hard time motivating myself to do so.

Now, I was not an everyday player to start with. I probably played WOW less than my Xbox. I have never been the one to log 6 straight game hours in, but I have never been so long without at least wanting to play it again and so far that hasn't changed. Currently I have almost a month left in pre-paid cards on my account.

I have no idea why this is happening but I have several theories:

1. The last two weeks have been busy with school work and watching the olympics but massive amounts of schoolwork haven't stopped my WOW thirst before.

2. I have always been kind of a completionist guy. I love exploring on games. A few days before I gained my last level I had explored the entire WOW world and both expansions so there is the theory that the thrill of adventure, which I treasure, is gone.

3. I know that at level 80 the entire concept of the game changes. It becomes much more competitive, business-like, and official. Personally I play RPGs for the adventures so I could be sub-consciously discouraged by that

4. There have been way to many people that have had their lives ruined by WOW. There is a guy in my guild who has literally been on every time I log in no matter what time. He's a nice guy, but I never wanted to be like him. I could be afraid of becoming "that guy who plays WOW".

The only other people that I know who know about WOW are my guild and I can already tell you that they will just tell me to get over it so I can raid with them. So escapist, I am coming to you in my moment of weakness. Do you have any ideas?

 

[Deviltongue]

You are overly excited for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Chill out dude, it doesn't come out 'til sometime next year.

 

[Distazo]

Haha, possibly, I haven't really considered getting into another MMO though.

 

[Uncreative]

Probably just got burnt out.
Give it some time. You'll either want to go back, or you won't.

 

[RN7]

Don't worry about it. You'll be back. They always come back. You can never escape. Ever. One day you will all serve.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

You've neared the Level Cap and have a form of fear of what you would consider "Beating the game"

Sometimes, epople would rather stop playing a game, rather than beat it and have nothing to do. Something to do with finally finishing your big Time-Sinker and sort of wishing you had something left.

That's my Guess, anyways.

 

[Souplex]

Who cares why, it is a good thing. Keep it that way.

 

[Hiphophippo]

At some point most people realize that they're just doing the same things over and over and want new experiences. It's a hell of a good game until that point.

At least that was why I quit. I do plan on using my 7 free days of play time they've recently given me to try the new LFG tool though. Nice of em, but I really doubt that I'll play beyond that.

 

[dududf]

You've neared the Level Cap and have a form of fear of what you would consider "Beating the game"

Sometimes, epople would rather stop playing a game, rather than beat it and have nothing to do. Something to do with finally finishing your big Time-Sinker and sort of wishing you had something left.

That's my Guess, anyways.

Me thinks this guy is dead on.

Cure to that, is merely to change classes, and perhaps races. Seriously, that will do butt tons to help as you'll have a different perspective, then after 20 levels or so hop onto your main. Then when your main gets boring, hop onto your secondary continue.

Hope this helps a tee bit.

Oh wait! Try a private server. Seriously, it adds some fun to your WoW, and should leave you craving for more WoW.

 

[Distazo]

You've neared the Level Cap and have a form of fear of what you would consider "Beating the game"

Sometimes, epople would rather stop playing a game, rather than beat it and have nothing to do. Something to do with finally finishing your big Time-Sinker and sort of wishing you had something left.

That's my Guess, anyways.

Me thinks this guy is dead on.

Cure to that, is merely to change classes, and perhaps races. Seriously, that will do butt tons to help as you'll have a different perspective, then after 20 levels or so hop onto your main. Then when your main gets boring, hop onto your secondary continue.

Hope this helps a tee bit.

Oh wait! Try a private server. Seriously, it adds some fun to your WoW, and should leave you craving for more WoW.

It actually does. I think I am just going to sit back and either wait until the urge to play hits me again or let my account run out of time. If I want to play again I always can go back I guess.

 

[ultrachicken]

The same thing happened to me almost a year ago, and I still have no urge to start playing again.

 

[The Madman]

No game can last forever, despite all the 'wow destroys lives' nonsense you hear everyone saying whenever this game in particular gets brought up.

Eventually ya just get bored and wander off to do something else. Maybe you'll come back, maybe you wont. Doesn't really matter either way because it's still only a game.

 

[Iwata]

Did you go to rehab? Or maybe your sense returned?

Either way, good call. The motive is unimportant, only the outcome matters. Keep it up.

 

[LockeDown]

I can safely say, as a person who has been "clean" for over a year, that the only reason I've not gone back to WoW is because I can't afford it right now.

My greatest mistake in trying to sever all ties with the game was not uninstalling it. The icon on my desktop now taunts me.

...must....play....WoW....

 

[Nomanslander]

I have no idea why this is happening but I have several theories:

3. I know that at level 80 the entire concept of the game changes. It becomes much more competitive, business-like, and official. Personally I play RPGs for the adventures so I could be sub-consciously discouraged by that

4. There have been way to many people that have had their lives ruined by WOW. There is a guy in my guild who has literally been on every time I log in no matter what time. He's a nice guy, but I never wanted to be like him. I could be afraid of becoming "that guy who plays WOW".

When it came to me, I just didn't want to waste my time with that game anymore, I played it for 3 years on and off and felt like a broken mule afterwards. When the game first came out I had just gotten out of the military and had no clue what to do next, which became a perfect time to fall into the WoW addiction.

WoW doesn't end, it just keeps going on and on. I hated the fact that nothing mattered until I reached level cap, and even then it was nothing more than gear grinding for another 2% increase in damage.

I missed out on a lot of great games during that period, and even after my 6th month of playing the game I was already sick of it. But being a dumbass I continued on because I had spent so much time playing the game, it had become a habit.

Let's just say consider yourself lucky the game has lost it's charm with you as quickly as it has, I mean would you really want to continue playing that game even after you grew tired of it?

 

[wargrafix]

Easy, you got bored. There isn't much that can be done that a single player campaign couldn't fix.

 

[NeutralDrow]

2. I have always been kind of a completionist guy. I love exploring on games. A few days before I gained my last level I had explored the entire WOW world and both expansions so there is the theory that the thrill of adventure, which I treasure, is gone.

If you're anything like me, this is the reason.

Personally, I'm nowhere near that point, yet. However, another reason I could project onto you is simply...lost interest. Granted, you've played WoW for longer at a stretch than I ever have (my record so far is three months), but over the past three years, I've every so often just lost interest in starting WoW up again and taken a break for months.

 

[Phoenixlight]

Well my guess was that the people who brought you into the game and talked to you while you played have now left (as was the case for me) but after reading you post I guess it could just be that you feel like you've achieved what's important to you in the game.