remember when you used to be good?

[McFrotton]

i used to be a pretty good healer. i still get by, but i know im not as good as i used to be.
age has caught up with me & im no longer the player i was.
i used to raid a lot, now i dont feel im capable of getting to the level i once was.
the thing i would like to know (after ive wiped the tears from my eyes), what should i do?
should i persevere & try & recapture past glories, or should i just concentrate on doing mythic dungeons & LFR?
not sure this is relevent, but im currently guildless atm.

this post probably wont have much of a baring on the younger generation, but anyone over 40 may have an inkling on where i am on this.
i also know this is mmo-c & the answers, if any, could be from one side of the spectrum to the other...i await with bated breath.

I used to be good too, but now I am playing A LOT LESS than before maybe 5% of the time I was playing before, I was a top dps doing heroics raid and hard mode bosses in ulduar, Now I quest do achievements slowly, some dungeons and LFR, I do not have the time to devote to wow I had when I was in college/university. I have three kids lots on my hands. I still love playing the game, due to time constraint I also often take brake. I personally feel the game is better since then, It was like a job before.

While some call it dumbing down, I feel like blizzard is adjusting wow to fit it's core player base that grew up with them.

- - - Updated - - -

I am still good just stopped doing anything that shows it off. No need to, you just get used and then left to rot anyways, might as well just play for fun rather than play for others.

This precisely. Why pour shit load of time....for a skin set... why devote TONS of hours to raiding to just get covered in a new flashy skin with 10 more ilvl...Most people don't have time for this anymore, this is why the mmo genre got stale and this is exactly why moba and shooter like overwatch took the world by storm, games are quick, effective, and pretty much always fun/rewarding.

[De Lupe]

I'm as good as I need to be. I have no reason to be better than I am.

That's the only thing that matters.

[Deleted]

Probably at my peak right now, not looking forward to becoming slower and less capable to do things but it is what it is. It's the only real fairness in life, everyone will eventually grow old and weak (if they are lucky) and everyone will die.

[Demithio]

Yes, I remember. Back in the TBC / first half of Wrath days. After that, I stopped playing seriously.

[Direpenguin]

If you're one of those people who say "I was a top raider in 2005", you were never good. The game was not mechanically complex at the time and almost no skill was required.

If you just mean a couple years back, whatever, just ask yourself how important it is to you.

Yeah, and Ali was never a great fighter because the training and conditioning of boxers back in his day pales compared to what's out there today. Same thing with Sandy Koufax, Wayne Gretzky and anyone else who was great back in the day.

It's pretty stupid to assume someone's skill by comparing them across eras... you really can't. Who are you to say people who were good at raiding in 2005 wouldn't have been successful in today's game? One could argue today's players are worse because of their (over) reliance upon macros and timers to tell them when and, in many cases, how to do things.

[Aoyi]

I can relate to a degree. I used to be a hardcore raider. Not world first competing good, but in the top 3 server good. I had several world number 1 ENH and frost mage records during progression that I was really proud of. Now, I'm older. I'm married. I don't spend 5 nights a week raiding anymore and that's ok. Its not the way I want to spend my time. I've taken many breaks from WoW and now I'm back and enjoying a much more laid back progression. I'm still doing heroic content, but not worried about the mythic race. I know I'm just not the same gamer I was 10 or even 5 years ago.

As long as you're enjoying what you are doing with the game today, then its ok. If you stop enjoying it, take a break. Come back when you have the urge. They've added some really forgiving catch-up mechanics and even AP isn't the huge wall it once was. I've leveled up several alts to 110 now with the invasions and I've managed to get concordance on those alts in about a weeks time. I'm not sure what server you are on, but I'm sure there's a home for you with a more laid back guild.

[The Flavour Cat]

Even if you're guildless, just do what you want to do. In regards to raiding, you don't have to stay with LFR. I'm not in a raiding guild, but I still raid normal and heroic in group finder. If you still want some challenge in your raids feel free to try that out.

[Deleted]

i used to be a pretty good healer. i still get by, but i know im not as good as i used to be.
age has caught up with me & im no longer the player i was.
i used to raid a lot, now i dont feel im capable of getting to the level i once was.
the thing i would like to know (after ive wiped the tears from my eyes), what should i do?
should i persevere & try & recapture past glories, or should i just concentrate on doing mythic dungeons & LFR?
not sure this is relevent, but im currently guildless atm.

this post probably wont have much of a baring on the younger generation, but anyone over 40 may have an inkling on where i am on this.
i also know this is mmo-c & the answers, if any, could be from one side of the spectrum to the other...i await with bated breath.

Age is not a good reason. Its just a challenge to actually make time for a hobby you appreciate. WoW is an easy game, making time for it is the only challenge. You aren't too old. The only problem you have is the attitude. The moment you stop feeling like you can play good, you stop being good. You gotta put effort into finding people to play with, after that, rest comes on its own. When your gaming environment is positive, like, you enjoy playing with the people you play with, you find motivation to start min-maxing again. Like, you want your friends to enjoy playing with you so of course you want to be the best you can be again. Or maybe it wont happen like that. Maybe you give up. But I suggest you don't

[MasterHamster]

Unless you raid at a high level, the game doesn't require you to be a good player anyway. In how many MMORPGs can you in theory see nearly all PvE content without saying a single word to anyone? Solo your way to 110 and queue the rest.

[MoanaLisa]

i used to be a pretty good healer. i still get by, but i know im not as good as i used to be.
age has caught up with me & im no longer the player i was.
i used to raid a lot, now i dont feel im capable of getting to the level i once was.
the thing i would like to know (after ive wiped the tears from my eyes), what should i do?
should i persevere & try & recapture past glories, or should i just concentrate on doing mythic dungeons & LFR?
not sure this is relevent, but im currently guildless atm.

this post probably wont have much of a baring on the younger generation, but anyone over 40 may have an inkling on where i am on this.
i also know this is mmo-c & the answers, if any, could be from one side of the spectrum to the other...i await with bated breath.

Look for a guild that has older players. They're around. The game changes for you as you get older. The twitch reflexes aren't quite so fast and you have to play smarter instead of faster.

I've personally known of a World of Warcraft raiding guild that consists solely of retirees. They're never going to race for #1 and they don't care. They just have fun.

Anyway, best advice I can give is to be open to the idea of getting social with people that are around your age or older. It can take some time but I think it's well worth it in the end.

If you, honest-to-God, can't get past the idea that you might be a little slower than you were and not quite as sharp, then it might be time to move on. It's not necessary at all to quit when things slow down a bit but you'll need to get over the barrier of thinking that being not-as-good as you were is the same thing as being bad.

[Xargoth6634]

I can actually kind of identify with this, although it's definitely more from a "less time/interest to dedicate" rather than purely an issue of skills/capabilities atrophying.

[Henako]

I dunno, man. I'm still pretty good.

[TJ]

Was always good until I stopped playing, but I think if I was to start playing again I'd be unbelievably bad and very impatient with it. WoW is something in the past for me now, as is skill in games in general for me haha. Terrible at FPS too now.

[Queen of Hamsters]

As the content I tackle has only grown more demanding and challenging, I've gotten better as a player. Bosses that once seemed like the pinnacle of challenge, come across as cake walks today. I still have the same attitude towards raiding though, that's not changed, nor has my passion for the game as it keeps improving.

There are people whom saw bosses downed in 2004-2005 yet remained on that level of "skill", and couldn't tackle HC dungeon bosses today.

[chooi]

Know your limit(ation)s and be honest about your own skills and motivation. Then go out and find a group of people that share the same approach to the game. This can and will change over time btw - so don't hesitate moving to other projects!

There's no point in joining a hardcore guild without the necessary skills and commitment. But it will also be frustrating playing casually on low standards when you actually want to play on a higher level and bring the necessary skills & time for it.

Or, you could always quit the game if you don't or barely enjoy the game anymore.

[Deleted]

Yeah, and Ali was never a great fighter because the training and conditioning of boxers back in his day pales compared to what's out there today. Same thing with Sandy Koufax, Wayne Gretzky and anyone else who was great back in the day.

It's pretty stupid to assume someone's skill by comparing them across eras... you really can't. Who are you to say people who were good at raiding in 2005 wouldn't have been successful in today's game? One could argue today's players are worse because of their (over) reliance upon macros and timers to tell them when and, in many cases, how to do things.

Because most of those players I am talking about are people who say "I was amazing back in vanilla" but can't heal or dps for shit or deal with complex mechanics?
Of course there are people who were great then and are great still, that's not the point.

[Deleted]

Define good.

Hitting a 5 button rotation while using 20 addons to keep you out of harms way and track anything you need wasn't really hard to begin with.

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Was always good until I stopped playing, but I think if I was to start playing again I'd be unbelievably bad and very impatient with it. WoW is something in the past for me now, as is skill in games in general for me haha. Terrible at FPS too now.

Shotgun, corner.

[Bathory]

Yeah I remember. I was good, as was my guild. We were running server/realm first kills an uprooted the established top raiding guilds on the server. Good times but, I've since gone full casual. Sure, I could be good again, do all that. But I really don't want to. The time commitment is just not appealing to me whatsoever.

[Honeyprime]

I raided hardcore back in Vanilla and TBC. I was a holy priest and was good enough at it that I leveled in that spec and was the class leader. Nowadays though I'm pretty casual as I have gotten older, my job as an accountant is pretty demanding and I don't have the time to play like I did. I do still log in and mess around whenever I get a chance. I also plan on staying subscribed, retiring someday, and perhaps finding a very casual guild (if WoW is even still around by then) and raiding for fun and good times.

[Gondule]

Do the thing that makes you happy bro.