RPGs and real life

[Dravok]

I love playing WoW and have thought about resubscribing again to have some fun. My only concern is having the time to even play. After work, the gym, and having some dinner I could see maybe at most 3 hours on a night to play. That wouldn't be consistent and I also don't want it interfering with quality time with my girlfriend (going out to dinner, movies, hanging out together, going to concerts, etc.)

I guess my question is would it even be worth trying to play with such little time or maybe look for something else to play? I'm not looking to be in a top notch raid team doing heroics. Just having casual fun in lfr or a casual 10man.

[Treeskee]

yeah with how easy it is to gear up, you'd be caught up in no time. The biggest issue I'd see is if you get stuck in a terrible LFR, some of which can take over 3 hours if you get a truly horrible group.

[Ebonheart]

I love playing WoW and have thought about resubscribing again to have some fun. My only concern is having the time to even play. After work, the gym, and having some dinner I could see maybe at most 3 hours on a night to play. That wouldn't be consistent and I also don't want it interfering with quality time with my girlfriend (going out to dinner, movies, hanging out together, going to concerts, etc.)

I guess my question is would it even be worth trying to play with such little time or maybe look for something else to play? I'm not looking to be in a top notch raid team doing heroics. Just having casual fun in lfr or a casual 10man.

At this point in WoW's life cycle I say skip it and find another game. I mean after quitting WoW, I came across so many different games that I skipped cause of WoW and those that I would have chosen over WoW any day if I actually played them any earlier.

You talk about loving RPGs. Well there are a ton of RPGs to choose from. Play the entire Mass Effect series 1-3 + DLCs. Should take you and keep you busy for more than a month and more. This way you stick to your own pace rather than depending on 24 or 4 other people in groups which never are smooth. There are so many other RPGs that let you have much more fun. There are Skyrim, Fallout 3, Bioshock, Dishonoured. If you on the console, the list only gets bigger. Big up the Batman Arkhym series and thank me later.

But honestly, I wouldn't waste time on WoW. As recently as 5 months back, LFR queues took me more than an hour. Open joining a group, the run would take more than an hour or two and that is if everything actually went smoothly which rarely does considering how many tanks drop, healers not pulling their weight, DPS doing random crap. Its just a toxic playground for trolls. The most fun raids and experience I've had was during WTLK and the whole experience has gone down since then. Its more of a chore these days. Save yourself the time and pick up something else.

[Dravok]

Thanks for the advice. Maybe it is better to look into other games to play that will fit my needs. Skyrim is one I have been lookinginto starting up especially with all the mods. Hearthstone looks fun too if I can get a beta key. I am hoping to get into elders scroll online or everquest next whenever the beta starts.

[Deleted]

Id also recommend skipping wow - i've playing through a few decent single player games (skyrim/fallout/ME) at greatly reduced prices since quitting over summer. For me wow was only fun at a "decent" raid level - id find no pleasure in running lfr/flex as a time sink: there are much better experiences out there for those without the time commitment raiding requires. Havent honestly missed wow that much tbh. your mileage may vary.

[Hottage]

RPGs are dangerous in real life, do not point them at your face.


On topic: Prioritize, if you are worried about World of Warcraft eating into your real life activities, you've already shown which is more important to you. Make a choice based on that priority.

[Fencers]

I guess my question is would it even be worth trying to play with such little time or maybe look for something else to play? I'm not looking to be in a top notch raid team doing heroics. Just having casual fun in lfr or a casual 10man.

You are asking this question of the MMO that pioneered the practice of opening the MMORPG to casual play?

Aside from MMOs made for actual children, World of Warcraft is the definitive casual friendly game of the 2nd MMO era.

Not only will you be fine joining up, World of Warcraft was made for your lifestyle.

[Deleted]

You are asking this question of the MMO that pioneered the practice of opening the MMORPG to casual play?

Aside from MMOs made for actual children, World of Warcraft is the definitive casual friendly game of the 2nd MMO era.

Not only will you be fine joining up, World of Warcraft was made for your lifestyle.

I don't agree with this necessarily. Yes, it can be played casually...but if you are even a bit sensitive to wanting to collect things etc, it will easily suck up a lot of your time with all the dailies and things. Yes it's casual...but considering the OP also has time-constraints, I'm not sure if it's the right choice (again...IF he's sensitive to collecting things)

Gameplay-wise I completely agree with you Fencers.

[Ebonheart]

You are asking this question of the MMO that pioneered the practice of opening the MMORPG to casual play?

Aside from MMOs made for actual children, World of Warcraft is the definitive casual friendly game of the 2nd MMO era.

Not only will you be fine joining up, World of Warcraft was made for your lifestyle.

I don't really think MMOs in general are suitable for any lifestyle especially one like WoW. What really seems suitable to our current lifestyles are games like Destiny and the Elder Scrolls Online - Games without raids.

Sure WoW is very "casual" in the sense where you don't really have much to do to get in with the flow and the game. I mean when comparing games like EVE, its pretty easy to see which one a casual will pick up. Eve just has a very hardcore playstyle compared to WoW. But the term "casual" play keeps getting thrown out around and seems to be used interchangably for different reasons. I mean a person can just log into wow without raiding and spend hours on end just focusing or griding dungeons.

I came across this girl last expansion that was stuck at level 70 for the past two expansions (3 years). All she did was run Vanilla/TBC raids and dungeons and a few random stuff with her professions in game. She just didn't feel she needed to pick up the WTLK/Cata expansions.

I find it funny you say that Warcraft was made for "your" lifestyle. For the first two patches, these very forums were filled with people bored with dailies. When I got into the game, all of game time was spent doing dailies. I couldn't do anything else and it took up a ton of my time.

Sure in patch 4.3 where there are ton of catch up mechanics its easier, but even then its shoots its self in the foot when players have to wait 1+ hours for a LFR queue and go through hours of wipes. I certainly don't call that entertainment or "Fun".

WoW is only a "casual" friendly in the sense that its easy to get into and to stick around for months and years without while achieveing something though nothing significant.

- - - Updated - - -

Pretty much this.

You could even do "US Top 100" level progression on 3 hours/night, 2-4 nights/week if you got into the right guild.

"WoW takes too much time" or "WoW is for people with no life" are mostly things that people who just don't like MMOs (or have never even played one!) say.

Sure and this is a minority. And I am pretty sure no top 100 level progression guild is going to skip PTR testing. And again in the minority there is an even smaller minority - the ones that only log into to raid that simply have everything handed to them and good to go as in mats, recipes to boost them, gold, etc.

[Pull My Finger]

The more negative comments so far are bad comments, if I may say so. They're colored by the usual frustrations of players who have been playing way too much for far too long, despite being discontent for years anyway. They're not really answering the question in an adequate way.

The right answer is: WoW is very playable on a very casual, time-limited level. Very much so. If you like the game itself or not, is a whole different story. I suppose you wouldn't even be considering playing again if you were inherently turned off by what WoW is about. There's only one way to find out, and it isn't a particularly costly one.

[Ebonheart]

The more negative comments so far are bad comments, if I may say so. They're colored by the usual frustrations of players who have been playing way too much for far too long, despite being discontent for years anyway. They're not really answering the question in an adequate way.

The right answer is: WoW is very playable on a very casual, time-limited level. Very much so. If you like the game itself or not, is a whole different story. I suppose you wouldn't even be considering playing again if you were inherently turned off by what WoW is about. There's only one way to find out, and it isn't a particularly costly one.

And the same can be said about people that are so trapped in the game that they don't really know anything better. They've played the game for so long and that is all they know. Well they ain't really answering the question in an adequate way cause their personal experience is completely different for a "normal" individual.

[Pull My Finger]

And the same can be said about people that are so trapped in the game that they don't really know anything better. They've played the game for so long and that is all they know. Well they ain't really answering the question in an adequate way cause their personal experience is completely different for a "normal" individual.

Yeah, true words of wisdom ... not. Why not just move on? Would be healthy.

[zealo]

If your on a time constraint i believe you would get more quality entertainment out of time spent by just sticking to single player games or playing games like SC2/dota/lol using the solo queue systems, but if you do enjoy the casual content in WoW like LFR, doing scenarios, pet battles and dungeons, you should go for it i say as what you find the most fun is probably what mathers the most. WoW as an MMO is great at a casual level if you enjoy the content given even if it lacks a challenge. Otherwise checking out GW2 might be something.

[Ebonheart]

Seriously, you're just coming off as someone that's bitter and burnt out.

As for being "trapped in the game", I haven't even played since the start of MoP, so there's that...

Well that again is your assumption, but just like the other guy said, there are two ways of saying it. The only time I would say WoW was full on "casual" in every sense was during WTLK when there was just enough to do in the game and not too much to get overwhelmed with it.

And with your "raid progression" 3 hours a week, 2-4 nights a week. You wouldn't be considered a casual player in the first place.

The OP clearly says that he isn't going to be able to commit to days every week and his play time is going to be pretty inconsistent. How does your suggestion work into his plan? No guild that raids on such a tight time frame would even consider having him besides filling the bench.

Well I've honestly heard a lot more people come up with that same reasoning on these forums to actually self justify their reason for whatever reason rather than "wow players have no life" because if it was so easy, then everyone would be raiding 3 hours a day 2-4 times a week while simultaneously having continunous progression.

[Ebonheart]

What about it was a "suggestion"? It was pretty obvious that it was just a statement about the nature of time investment required in the game right now.

Seriously, just give it a break. It's obvious what your stance is, and that you're just trying to dissuade someone from playing for no reason other than you're THAT bitter.

Alright then well your answer wasn't helping the OP. You come here making a statement that you think is right but offer no help to the OP. He asked a specific question which you clearly have no answer to. Why would you even bring that statement up, trying to prove something?

Even the developers themselves don't believe in your point otherwise they wouldn't have to come out and keep nerfing content.

BTW its pretty obvious what yours stance is and you are simply trying to brag about I don't really know what. You also talk like someone that has no facts.

I maybe bitter according to you, but I do have the facts to back it up.

[Fencers]

I don't really think MMOs in general are suitable for any lifestyle especially one like WoW. What really seems suitable to our current lifestyles are games like Destiny and the Elder Scrolls Online - Games without raids.

The presence of raiding is of no importance here. To the genre, audiences or OP.

Aside from competitive raiding, which only affects a small portion of the player base of any MMO and the OP specifically states he is not interested in this aspect of the game; the gameplay mode of raiding is no greater or lesser an inhibitor to casual play.

To use a personal example, at one point I was actively raiding in 3 MMOs. The Old Republic, Everquest 2 and Rift. Raid nights were about 2-3 hours weekly. In which I ONLY logged on to TOR and Rift to raid for that evening. After which I was done for the next 5 to 7 days depending on how fast we cleared in a given MMO. EQ2 progression was a bit more casual but only a twice weekly, 1-2 hour affair.

Adding to this is my experience in competitive raiding environments of Rift, EQ1, EQ2, RA, TOR and WOW in their respective eras. Where the heaviest time investment was during the start of a new content cycle. After the progression race [which the OP is not interested in] every single progression guild I have been in retreats to a once or twice weekly 2h raid night.

I have a family, husband, job and still have time for other pursuits like art, music, film, reading and so forth. And raiding.

It's a bit of an overblown myth that the game mode in MMOs known as raiding is some great time barrier. And especially uncommon in MMOs post 2nd wave.