Feel like you too are now forever stuck in a “wait and see” cycle?

[RemasteredClassic]

Why would you play inferior games?

I don’t think they are inferior, they simply don’t and cannot compare to WoW and its unique take on things. They do feel inferior to someone who has spent the majority of their gaming life on WoW tho since it becomes the measuring stick.

[ohwell]

The game is way better when you don't bother to play it anymore. just watch the videos. That's how I scratch my wow itch.

I'd agree for BfA which I did skip because I got burnt out during Legion trying to do too many characters, but if you simply watch the videos for SL you will miss a lot of important information and become one of those "lawl lore is bad". Then again you have people who even miss stuff in the videos posting stuff on these forums.

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This was somewhat the case in legion and the feedback was pretty mixed on it. Though it was probably because it was rng related to the legendaries.

What Legion were you playing? Outside of getting a super titanforged item from old raids or, as many expansions had, possibly a trinket that might be overtuned or unique enough to need, there was very little incentive to clear old raids in Legion for gear and the whole titanforged thing goes out the window when you realize the current raid also did that so why bother and I don't even recall if the trinket part applied. There was absolutely no reason to clear EN while clearing ToS that I can recall.

[Soon-TM]

There was absolutely no reason to clear EN while clearing ToS that I can recall.

Legiondaries.

[ohwell]

My experience with this has been with the Campaign Weekly releasing through Renown.

I found I enjoyed Shadowlands a lot more when I waited to be able to go Renown 1-40 all in one go. The first time I did it week by week during the first 3 months of launch, which can be frustrating to just have to wait and see what your requirements next week are to gather that renown.

So then I just gave it time for 9.1.5 before I resubbed to get my renown up to 80.


I find with these things that only we can really remedy/find the solution for ourselves by just shaping the meaning of 'End Game' for ourselves.

So basically because you've become the binge watcher of Netflix it automatically has translated to all facets of your life. You are the reason I think the skewed releasing of episodes of shows on streaming services is a good thing even though it technically nets them more money in the long run as well. Binging is not good. All things in moderation. There is no way you played the entire covenant campaign in like 2 hours so if it's the whole argument "oh I only get a chance to do it XXXX" you could easily still have fit it in with the delayed release.

It gives you something to look forward to. With the renown cap here, Tuesdays mean almost nothing to me. So there are most definitely good sides in terms of anticipation.

Also this demand of the players shaping the game has gotten out of control. You don't make the game. You want to shape the end game go make your own game.

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Legiondaries.

Did not see a single one drop there for me and barely any for others. Most if not all of mine came as random world drops. That's not a reason to do it. That's even worse of a reason than titanforge. Unless you're talking about the currency which I burnt out in Legion just as it came out or before, which then who really cares as most people had their desired one if they hadn't already fairly quickly.

[Very rare pepe]

all you said is imo 100% accurate. but there is still that problem of „long term dependency and long term investment“.

i for myself do not even WANT to play other games. one of the greatest aspects of wow for me is, that i have that 1 game, that i play to infinity. and in that one game i invested a lot of time, since 16 years. all the „hunt and collect“ mentality has lead to having 12 max classes, A LOT of achievements and collected stuff. this all was an investment over years and i for myself totally understand why a „let it go“ is not that easy, when you bring these things on the table.

And the thing about this post is, Blizzard understand this very well, hence why there are ever increasing numbers of collection things for these players to keep going for. It's why the game won't die, blizzard can keep pumping out shit and as long as there are some nice mounts to go farm or pets to go win it will survive. It is really hard for these guys to walk away from 'thousands upon thousands hours of play time' and I can understand that to an extent.

[Soon-TM]

Did not see a single one drop there for me and barely any for others.

Anecdotal. By the same line, I could tell you that I got the arcane mage ring from EN by the time 7.2 dropped, and I saw plenty of people getting leggos from old (Legion ofc) raids. My experience is as valid as yours.

[ro9ue]

I occasionally resub for a month, but every time I do I play for a few days tops and then just stop logging in. I still check every patch announcement and watch every expansion reveal just to see if there's anything interesting but it seems like what I want for the game doesn't line up with the vision of the developers. In fact as time goes on these two things drift further apart.

[Archmage Xaxxas]

So basically because you've become the binge watcher of Netflix it automatically has translated to all facets of your life. You are the reason I think the skewed releasing of episodes of shows on streaming services is a good thing even though it technically nets them more money in the long run as well. Binging is not good. All things in moderation. There is no way you played the entire covenant campaign in like 2 hours so if it's the whole argument "oh I only get a chance to do it XXXX" you could easily still have fit it in with the delayed release.

Lol what the fuck? Buzz right off.

Where do you get off making claims about my lifestyle and methods for appreciating content like that? You could at least do it remotely accurately.

I love weekly released series, I don't binge shows. I don't even dislike a weekly released campaign at it's core, it just felt awful lame to have to "be done for the week" when it came to my own goals.

Nobody here is claiming they want to shape the game.

[Cthulhu 2020]

all you said is imo 100% accurate. but there is still that problem of „long term dependency and long term investment“.

i for myself do not even WANT to play other games. one of the greatest aspects of wow for me is, that i have that 1 game, that i play to infinity. and in that one game i invested a lot of time, since 16 years. all the „hunt and collect“ mentality has lead to having 12 max classes, A LOT of achievements and collected stuff. this all was an investment over years and i for myself totally understand why a „let it go“ is not that easy, when you bring these things on the table.

if we would talk about some console game, or things like counter strike etc. i am TOTALLY on your side. i for myself played A LOT of games in my life and foremost before 2005. for all that games, yes, you are right. but exactly that „1 game“ thing, where all stuff happens and evolve, is what made wow great for me. so, to me, „leaving wow“ and „stop playing i.e. CSS after years“ is not the same thing

so, for „normal“ games, yes, totally agree. but some mmorpg, with all the worlds and expacs you did, the big world formed in your head, with all the books/lore read, with all that stuff you collected and achieved, with all your beloved characters… no, its not as easy as it sounds in your post. even when i 100% agree.

in short: i can totally understand why some ppl have that „weird marriage“ with wow and why „just play other games“ is not so easy for longterm wow gaming, than for other games.

You're right, it's not easy to leave over a decade of progress in a single game behind. I had many server first achievements. Rare achievements and titles that can no longer be gotten. Ultra rare mounts and an enormous mount collection. 8 maxed characters, all maxed professions, an enormous amount of gold, etc.

But at a certain point, I realized that I was not having fun with WoW. I realized I had not been having fun with WoW for YEARS. I'd log in, do my obligatory dailies, and then stand around wondering if I should PvP or do dungeons. And I'd decide neither, because neither were fun "just to do them". So for a long time, my play cycle of WoW existed entirely of doing obligatory dailies, then standing around doing nothing, and feeling anxiety over quitting.

When I ultimately quit WoW, was when we were in a content lull. I already had best in slot gear, and there was no reason to do my obligatory dailies. I had nothing to do, other than FOMO activities that Blizzard likes to put in to make you feel like you need to log in.

So I took a "Break" from WoW during that time. And played a new game. And now I'm hooked on that new game, but am also able to play plenty of others as well without feeling guilty. Largely because in this other game, there's no FOMO. If I want to leave for a time, all of the content they implement will be there for me to do.

[MoanaLisa]

You're right, it's not easy to leave over a decade of progress in a single game behind.

It's easy to leave and come back to the game. Blizzard makes it as simple as possible. No one needs to leave a decade of progress behind.

It's not necessary that you be around seven days a week, 52 weeks or 12 months a year either.

Everyone should be playing more than one game. I cannot even begin to wrap my head around the idea of playing one game for years and years if I'm being honest.

[Cthulhu 2020]

It's easy to leave and come back to the game. Blizzard makes it as simple as possible. No one needs to leave a decade of progress behind.

It's not necessary that you be around seven days a week, 52 weeks or 12 months a year either.

Everyone should be playing more than one game. I cannot even begin to wrap my head around the idea of playing one game for years and years if I'm being honest.

It's the state of mind of a lot of players. I can understand it because I've been there. It took me playing a different MMO entirely to change the way I thought.

Many people definitely feel "married" to WoW, and it's an especially uncomfortable feeling when you're not enjoying the game. But as the other poster said, part of it is the amount of time and effort you've put into your character and account. All of those accomplishments, achievements, money, mounts, pets, etc. add to the attachment.

It was extremely uncomfortable for me to leave a ton of exclusive achievements on my WoW account behind, but I did. And once I started playing other games I... have looked back occasionally, but have never been impressed with WoW enough to play it again.

[Niter]

Blizzard cannot seem to care about any of their games anymore. For some odd reason, many here still feel the need to be their champions and defend them, point fingers at their lousy management team and board without realising that the DEVS created a rather uninspired Cataclysm, WoD, BFA and Shadowlands. It wasn't those in suits that did it. They don't know where they want to take the story and the 'rule of cool' has overstayed its welcome, so they are lost and will probably do what Blizzard have always done: they will copy their own franchises or they will rip off Warhammer Fantasy.

That will not change, and without fresh ideas we'll get only rehashed mechanics, overused models, the same old boring quests and world quests or whatever. The game at this point in time is hopeless and they are clueless as to how they caught lighting in a bottle more than a decade ago and have been living off those laurels ever since.

Let it go and find other lore to read, find other 'world' that is intriguing and enjoy the freshness of that. If they ever care to make the game interesting again and not a farm simulator with horrible story in a 3D world, then consider returning. Or if you, like me, have those moments in which you miss Azeroth or feel like you need to reconnect with a race in particular or revisit some of your memories, then you sub again for a month, level a new alt and leave when you remember why you quit in the first place.

What doesn't quite make sense is dwelling on whether you should return/continue playing when there is ZERO reason to do it right now, ZERO improvement, ZERO cool stories and it's the same game it was in late Legion, but without character and personality.

[RemasteredClassic]

Blizzard cannot seem to care about any of their games anymore. For some odd reason, many here still feel the need to be their champions and defend them, point fingers at their lousy management team and board without realising that the DEVS created a rather uninspired Cataclysm, WoD, BFA and Shadowlands. It wasn't those in suits that did it. They don't know where they want to take the story and the 'rule of cool' has overstayed its welcome, so they are lost and will probably do what Blizzard have always done: they will copy their own franchises or they will rip off Warhammer Fantasy.

That will not change, and without fresh ideas we'll get only rehashed mechanics, overused models, the same old boring quests and world quests or whatever. The game at this point in time is hopeless and they are clueless as to how they caught lighting in a bottle more than a decade ago and have been living off those laurels ever since.

Let it go and find other lore to read, find other 'world' that is intriguing and enjoy the freshness of that. If they ever care to make the game interesting again and not a farm simulator with horrible story in a 3D world, then consider returning. Or if you, like me, have those moments in which you miss Azeroth or feel like you need to reconnect with a race in particular or revisit some of your memories, then you sub again for a month, level a new alt and leave when you remember why you quit in the first place.

What doesn't quite make sense is dwelling on whether you should return/continue playing when there is ZERO reason to do it right now, ZERO improvement, ZERO cool stories and it's the same game it was in late Legion, but without character and personality.

I agree with everything you said except for the need to resub for a month just for nostalgia since Blizzard made it possible to play through hundreds of hours worth of content for free even if you're stuck at level 20, you can create dozens of alts and do BG's, level up every race and class/spec combo you like for free....etc.

[Niwes]

You're right, it's not easy to leave over a decade of progress in a single game behind. I had many server first achievements. Rare achievements and titles that can no longer be gotten. Ultra rare mounts and an enormous mount collection. 8 maxed characters, all maxed professions, an enormous amount of gold, etc.

But at a certain point, I realized that I was not having fun with WoW. I realized I had not been having fun with WoW for YEARS. I'd log in, do my obligatory dailies, and then stand around wondering if I should PvP or do dungeons. And I'd decide neither, because neither were fun "just to do them". So for a long time, my play cycle of WoW existed entirely of doing obligatory dailies, then standing around doing nothing, and feeling anxiety over quitting.

When I ultimately quit WoW, was when we were in a content lull. I already had best in slot gear, and there was no reason to do my obligatory dailies. I had nothing to do, other than FOMO activities that Blizzard likes to put in to make you feel like you need to log in.

So I took a "Break" from WoW during that time. And played a new game. And now I'm hooked on that new game, but am also able to play plenty of others as well without feeling guilty. Largely because in this other game, there's no FOMO. If I want to leave for a time, all of the content they implement will be there for me to do.

yep, thats where it will end for me too (soon TM).

should you stop playing, when you stop having fun? yes, ofc.
is it easy to lay down longterm wow investment? no.

but in the end of the day, you are totally right. i often, over the last years thought the same. i often logged in, did a few dungeons, or treadmill stuff and logged out. and thought also „better invest my time into other things“. this low wow phases mostly are interrupted when i start to bring a new 60 alt (have all classes at max level) to 245 or so (maxxed HC raid and all dungeons multiple times 15 upwards). and this type of content still brings me enough fun from time to time, to keep beeing subbed. but since Legion i more and more slowly move towards a „its just not fun enough, to justify the amount of time vs gain“ sentiment. you can quickly sink 10-20 hoirs a week into a sideways wow. and after a while you get that „there are so many better invested time things instead“ stance.

so yes, i can totally feel your post. we will see how long (especially with xpacs like Legion, BfA and SL) i still get enough out of it, to justify it. after 16 years without sub interruption its maybe ok, to move on. and its not that hard, to let that investment go. as soon as better invested things show up on the horizon, i assume i am done too. maybe.

[Mardux]

The game is way better when you don't bother to play it anymore. just watch the videos. That's how I scratch my wow itch.

Trolling around forums trying to drag people down with you probably helps as well.

[Niwes]

And the thing about this post is, Blizzard understand this very well, hence why there are ever increasing numbers of collection things for these players to keep going for. It's why the game won't die, blizzard can keep pumping out shit and as long as there are some nice mounts to go farm or pets to go win it will survive. It is really hard for these guys to walk away from 'thousands upon thousands hours of play time' and I can understand that to an extent.

cant agree here. what drives me hardly away from wow is exactly that spitting in of 1935464835 collectible stuff. until WoD/Legion i had so much fun, to farm the mounts, the tmogs, the pets, the achievements. because per xpac there was a rational amount of them. but when they started to spit in 30 mounts and 20 pets in some patch, it completely devalued that gameplay type. at least for me. getting cheap shit copied mount 422 in 3 color variants? and another 17 mounts, following that pattern? nah.

exactly that „over-collectibility“ is what stopped me being a die hard collector. it simply overwhelms you. they spit them in, like water. it completely devalues it and water down the whole „hunt and collect“ mentality. at least for me.

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+1. I agree about "one game" mentality. This is also, what keeps me connected with Wow. That long term investment. Dunno, how to explain. When reward is permanent, it makes it much more meaningful. It's not that Cinderella's pumpkin. When you know, that what you do today, has long term impact and progression. Example: Diablo 3. You grind that super rare sword, but excitement from getting it is ruined via fact, that game isn't supported any longer and once you run out of things to do - you'll have to throw all that rewards to trash.

yep. wow is like „software as a service“. it literally runs to infinity. and so there is this place where you achieved all that stuff over a long period of time and you know (thats a key point here, as you said) its not going anywhere.

not like some other games you completely played, got all, being the biggest bastard in that game and then the game fades away into nowhere. this is not a good motivation.

instead, to know, in a living world in which you all did that, all your achieved stuff will progress further and further, without getting stale or lost… this is a great part of that „play solely that ONE game“ mentality.

[Makaloff]

Why would you play inferior games?

its not inferior (in my opinion atleast) but its different from wow yet it has stuff i really enjoy. not to mention the company and devs running FF14 arent complete troglodytes and their ceo isnt some greedy muppet who threatens to kill people.

[Doffen]

I am in a "see" cycle as I am not going to wait for anything(and neither am I stuck) as there are tons of other games to play.

[Cosmic Janitor]

its not inferior (in my opinion atleast) but its different from wow yet it has stuff i really enjoy. not to mention the company and devs running FF14 arent complete troglodytes and their ceo isnt some greedy muppet who threatens to kill people.

I don't really want to put fuel in the fire of this side topic and I hate to make any arugment that might embolden the delusions of that ultra guy, but the Squeenix CEO isn't exactly a decent person either. Squeenix has done enough dirty stuff as a publisher this year alone with their marvel GaaS title. We frankly just don't know the other shady shit he has done, so I wouldn't jump ahead and extoll him as paragon of virtue.

Also in general it's best to ignore ultrasomething, since his believes tend to be beyond fact.

[Makaloff]

I don't really want to put fuel in the fire of this side topic and I hate to make any arugment that might embolden the delusions of that ultra guy, but the Squeenix CEO isn't exactly a decent person either. Squeenix has done enough dirty stuff as a publisher this year alone with their marvel GaaS title. We frankly just don't know the other shady shit he has done, so I wouldn't jump ahead and extoll him as paragon of virtue.

Also in general it's best to ignore ultrasomething, since his believes tend to be beyond fact.

yea that is true, i was mostly thinking of Joshi P but yea i heard quite some of SEs shit aswell