Does anyone else feel the game becoming like a job?

[Relapses]

That's why I stopped raiding. I have a busy life and the two 3 hr long blocks of time it took to raid was too much. I actually enjoy the game much more now for some reason. Which is funny, because I used to think that I played this game just to raid, but I know realize that the whole raid thing was a bit of a chore and I enjoy the rest of the game much more.

I think that my experience is indicative of a changing player base. All that group stuff was great when it was new (and had never been done before) but now its 15+ years old and starting to show its age. Players like more "fluid " grouping today (i.e.: not waiting in a que 15 mins (or more) for a group to form).

I think Blizz either has to find a way to "modernize" its grouping or start shifting its emphasis away from heavy group content focused. They are already losing players because of the dated system. I think a good way to start is with this: four armor sets for each class every patch (first three equal, fourth slightly better). One from world stuff (quests, etc) one from pvp and one from dungeons/ raids, one set that unlocks if you get the other three (you still have to earn the fourth set but you need the other three to start the "challenges" for it). This way, players can play completely how they want, earn as many sets as they want. You solo/ casual get the world set, you are group/ semi-hardcore- get two sets, you are hardcore: get all four. Play your way, as much as you want, how you want. If Blizz wants over a million subs- they have to appeal to a wide variety of players. If you go niche- its a smaller market (obviously).

That's what players want, to play the game how they want to play it and still get the rewards they want. They don't want to be "forced" into content they don't want to play to get rewards. If you sit for a second and think about that last sentence- it is terrible game design and a disaster waiting to happen (really think about it for a sec), and that's what Blizz currently does.

Sitting back and thinking about this really makes me wonder about who is managing these dev teams at the moment. Are they even aware of the state of the current game market? Or are they still making games for a market 15 years ago? I think the answer is obvious......

"Hey team -- let's go ahead and get rid of the one thing our game does better than anything else in the gaming landscape and replace it with... more homogenized bullshit that cynical gamers already complain way too fucking much about anyway." -no reasonably sane game developer, ever

[Erous]

@op You're a 10 year member and you're just starting to feel this way now? Damn. I have to say, you've had a tremendously positive run of world of warcraft all these years. I'm not being sarcastic either.

[mizeri]

only time it felt like a job was during any mythic progression

[TwoMana]

It only feels like a job if you make it into your job.

[Flower Milk]

You've hit the nail on the head, OP. I come in every day, put a few hours in to my shift, and then clock out after I've hit that time gate progress wall to go and do stuff I actually enjoy like play games that don't feel like just chores/a job. This game isn't particularly hard, grindy, etc. It's just that the way it's set up now with the time gating makes me feel like I have to log in every day no matter what and play for a few hours, when I used to play this game when I felt like playing it, for however long I felt like playing it. I miss the ability to choose the timing of playing WoW, the time gating has completely turned me off from this game now. Every time I try to get back into the game from a feeling of nostalgia it never lasts very long, like a day or two at most, just because I hit those time gated walls and go play something else and completely forget about WoW after I find another interesting game that I can just... keep playing.

[froschhure]

LOAL, i wonder you never realized this.. it has been 15 years.

[rohoz]

Rares shouldn't even be in the game imo. Better to just rebrand them minibosses and have them respawn in seconds or minutes. Up to two hours of work for a .01% chance at a mount is torture.

for the pepega on this forum to complain like they did on argus? Lmao okay.

[ArkantosChampion]

With weekly Mythic+ chest, island expedition, PvP Chest etc

[Huntaer]

Please show me literally anything this fucking community is ever "on board" with?

The problem isn't your boss. It's the fact that your co-workers hate their job so fucking much they blame their boss for their own self-inflicted misery.

You are right. For 95%.
I've been in that 5%. In the end, we all managed to get rid of that boss though so things have changed

[rohoz]

Basically this.

I like how emissaries can be saved up for 3 days allowing you catchup up if, for some unknown reason, you don't want to play WoW every single day. But of course, they go ahead and ruin it with things like Nazjatar follower XP, which is limited to 3 Daily quests, and then gate an Essence behind them. Miss a day? You're a day behind.

I've always maintained that I (we) pay our Subs Monthly, not daily. Thus, so long as there's enough content to keep us subbed for the month, who cares if we don't feel compelled to log every day.

I'd rather sit down and knock out my weekly grind at a time that suits me and be done with it rather than do 20-30 minutes every day of tedium. But that's just me.

You were a day behind months ago. People got lucid r3 in october.
Y'all are running yourselves ragged and nowhere close to the head of the pack. For what? lmao

[Samuraijake]

Please show me literally anything this fucking community is ever "on board" with?

The problem isn't your boss. It's the fact that your co-workers hate their job so fucking much they blame their boss for their own self-inflicted misery.

whats causing them to hate their job so much?

[rohoz]

whats causing them to hate their job so much?

trying to fit square pegs in round holes, and ignoring all advice that helps them

[Aeula]

for the pepega on this forum to complain like they did on argus? Lmao okay.

Argus' rares were good. When one was up you could gather your alts and farm it out on all of them. And the mounts had a higher drop chance.

[Dakara]

You were a day behind months ago. People got lucid r3 in october.
Y'all are running yourselves ragged and nowhere close to the head of the pack. For what? lmao

Ummm... where did I say I was grinding Lucid now? And what's that got to do with my post anyway?

From the day 8.2 launched, if you missed a day you were a day behind.... then, now, tomorrow, it makes no difference. The quests are Daily and cannot be caught up. Emissaries however, can be banked for 3 days. Other systems, such as the Islands Quest or Conquest cap, are weekly objectives.

That was the entire point of my post. We pay monthly, so why give us a reason to log in daily? So long as there's enough content to keep us subbed for the month, it shouldn't matter if I want to do a weeks worth of "dailies" on the weekend instead of logging every day.

[Granyala]

Yeah MMOs basically feel like jobs after a few years of play.

It's because you burn out. Stuff is no longer fun in itself, too often you get the feeling of "been there, done that already, this is just a new coat of paint onto the same old system".

It's the point in time at which you have to start being vigilant because you might play more out of habit or even addiction rather than genuine fun. That can even apply to the crown of the game: raiding. After 8.5 years of doing that 3 days a week @95% attendance, I realized that I wasn't having fun anymore and merely raided because of team loyalty and because it was ingrained behavior at that point.

Stepping away from the game was the best decision I ever made. Now, once or twice a year I reactivate my account, take in the story developments / new zones and call it a day. I skip all the "menial character maintenance related labor". Too many other activities out there that are actually fun in order to waste my time with grinding stats that will be meaningless come next patch anyway.

[Augusta138]

WoW keeps evolving, however in a bad way.

Where we had less content back in Classic / TBC etc, and you could literally raid log without any consequence, you can't do that anymore for basically any activity.
There is always something you need to do in a week because thats how the game is nowadays:
- AP gains
- Artifact weapons
- Essences

Etc etc,

Where back then you could login and do a dungeon or raid or just a few pvp matches, that whole mindset is changed to: you have to do atleast x chores a week to be able to do what you wanna do.

[rohoz]

Ummm... where did I say I was grinding Lucid now? And what's that got to do with my post anyway?

From the day 8.2 launched, if you missed a day you were a day behind.... then, now, tomorrow, it makes no difference. The quests are Daily and cannot be caught up. Emissaries however, can be banked for 3 days. Other systems, such as the Islands Quest or Conquest cap, are weekly objectives.

That was the entire point of my post. We pay monthly, so why give us a reason to log in daily? So long as there's enough content to keep us subbed for the month, it shouldn't matter if I want to do a weeks worth of "dailies" on the weekend instead of logging every day.

Dailies are fine. I don't have addiction problems, however, so I don't feel bad when I don't do them.

If you don't have the willpower to do that, I can't help you

[Granyala]

@op You're a 10 year member and you're just starting to feel this way now? Damn. I have to say, you've had a tremendously positive run of world of warcraft all these years. I'm not being sarcastic either.

Agreed, compared to other games, WoW had an insane run for me.
I'm currently enjoying year 6 in Final Fantasy XIV, though I am not raiding anymore in that game either.

[rohoz]

WoW keeps evolving, however in a bad way.

Where we had less content back in Classic / TBC etc, and you could literally raid log without any consequence, you can't do that anymore for basically any activity.
There is always something you need to do in a week because thats how the game is nowadays:
- AP gains
- Artifact weapons
- Essences

Etc etc,

Where back then you could login and do a dungeon or raid or just a few pvp matches, that whole mindset is changed to: you have to do atleast x chores a week to be able to do what you wanna do.

WaRloRDs Of BoReDMoRE, We HavE NOThinG tO dO ouTSIdE of RaiD Bliz PleaSE Whut r u DoiN???

[Dakara]

Dailies are fine. I don't have addiction problems, however, so I don't feel bad when I don't do them.

If you don't have the willpower to do that, I can't help you

Can't help you with your reading and comprehension either so I guess we'll call it a day.