Playing and Dealing with Long Term Illnesses

[Deleted]

Dear admins, please don't lock this thread please read and understand its context, I'm merely unwell and wish to continue playing and could use the insight and experiences of the community.

Hello,

Due to an illness that's so prevalent in my family and joining the club. I'm looking for guidance regarding a limitation I've noticed, my ability to focus to a level I once had. For as long as I've played this game I've mained a healer a Priest to be exact and only ever diverting after returning from a WoD break... to play a Warlock. The thing is I'm a healer through and through and it's what I've always enjoyed there is nothing quite like it for me in WoW.

So after that little context, I must ask what can I do? Playing a Tank is out of the question, I'd rather just call it quits. Playing the Warlock didn't feel as fun as I'd hoped and a melee class has never been my sort of thing. I still do enjoy raiding even after all this time. Out of each of the Classes, I do have each at 110 but wouldn't be ready crucible wise until well into HC Antorus if the week following blizzcon is correct. I've been without a guild for a some months now while my diagnosis was underway so I'm free to switch but I know I will be behind.

Discipline is what troubles me I've always been more of a reactive healer but never had trouble in older iterations of the spec. Calculating timers for Light's wrath and preparing Evangelism correctly with bossmods (using bigwigs: for time until cast) I find my attention quite split with the large number of mechanics such as with Mistress Sasszi'ine. I know I could just play Holy but I've always had that drive to have both Spec's ready to go its difficult to explain but they are 2 different toolkits designed for different fields and one if Holy isn't doing so well Disc really does shine. That flexibility is important to ensure I can always play my best and now I honestly can't. Without that I know my time with the priest quite likely nears its end.

Has anyone ever had to give up their role/class because of a long-term illness whereby you honestly couldn't effectively do it like you once did, what did you do? I'm not asking anyone to pick my class merely to give me insight on your own experiences and ideas if you've known anyone that has also dealt with this issue like this.

[Eazy]

WoW is not something that needs F1 racer reflex/focus. Seriously, we had mythic tank players who were drinking all night long in the raid and we were totally fine.

But if you have seriously Illness that won't let you play as a tank, then I wouldn't even bother doing it as a healer or even DPS, the mechanics/movements will destroy your fun(and raids). Only if it's something SERIOUS, like Alzheimer, dementia, delirium etc.

Otherways just stop being lazy and get back to the level you had before! Just a little training and you will be fine.

By the way about that focus - a little anegdote - everyone lose it with the time, and that's not because of the age, but because we're getting accustomed to things(our brain is just fucking lazy 99% of the time and goes easiest way). Same for the drivers - the older/more you drive, the more you do things automatically, less focused.

[Deleted]

WoW is not something that needs F1 racer reflex/focus. Seriously, we had mythic tank players who were drinking all night long in the raid and we were totally fine.

I've thought of tanking but I think it would be difficult to build logs at this point of the expansion and to sell myself well to others when most guilds usually promote tanks from within.

But if you have seriously Illness that won't let you play as a tank, then I wouldn't even bother doing it as a healer or even DPS, the mechanics/movements will destroy your fun(and raids). Only if it's something SERIOUS, like Alzheimer, dementia, delirium etc.

Its nothing like that and not terminal but I won't share it here for my own sake.

Otherways just stop being lazy and get back to the level you had before! Just a little training and you will be fine.

By the way about that focus - a little anegdote - everyone lose it with the time, and that's not because of the age, but because we're getting accustomed to things(our brain is just fucking lazy 99% of the time and goes easiest way). Same for the drivers - the older/more you drive, the more you do things automatically, less focused.

Outside of what I'm doing I'm not sure if there are any tools that I could use that would make it that easy, I guess encounter design right now has basically reached the point whereby they are trying to make encounters difficult because of weakauras becoming so powerful. In doing so it might be pushing out others like myself and I've always enjoyed "Old Heroic/Mythic"

I hate to ask this because of the admins but could possibly playing priest for so long have a negative effect in its own way now that it's on autopilot?

[Baedril]

I hate to ask this because of the admins but could possibly playing priest for so long have a negative effect in its own way now that it's on autopilot?

Probably not to be honest, the more you play something on autopilot the easier it will be to focus on the fight. Usually when you start playing something on autopilot that means you're comfortable enough that timers come to you automatically and that you don't fuck up the tiny rotational things.

If you're having trouble keeping up two specs because of time constraints/being slow thanks to your illness, simply focus on disc? There's no shame in going down a difficulty to current heroic if you simply can't keep up with mythic raiding and all the demands anymore, it's all for your enjoyment after all. And if heroic feels too easy, perhaps mythic raiding might still be an option, or even trying to push mythic+ keys so that forming groups at weird times isn't that much of an issue and you can maximize your playtime.

[Regalbeast]

Honestly, you are probably better than 80% of people who don't have an illness (don't believe me? step into LFR). Just have fun and play what you want, man.

[Marrilaife]

1. Use addons. Don't be ashamed about widespread weak auras, healing addons and so forth. Lots of able people use them, and disabled people might find specific addons help them with troubles (like limited eyesight, limited concentration span, problems with motoric functions where default UI is just too small and many others only people with specific health problems know themselves).

2. Play the class / spec you're the most comfortable with. Unless you play in some cutting edge hardcore guilds, you can be a 1-class 1-spec wonder and find a spot. It's just a matter of finding a correct guild that won't force you to play something you don't like. It's better to be good at 1 spec rather than jack of all trades master of none. Yes, there are world top players who are "masters of all", take a healer from Method and he can probably play any of the 6 healer specs. But 99.99% of the playerbase doesn't need to concern themselves with that. If you want to play a reactive healer, holy priest or paladin are good choices. No point forcing yourself into spec you hate the playstyle of. And tbh since Blizzard reworked disc to not longer be a bubble bot, it's not exactly a spec people really care to have over some other healer.

[Naiattavain]

replying to original poster, The class I play is a rogue. I just recently had a diagnosis of an Illness and yes it has affected me in a negative outcome adding more stress to my life. my pursuit to play world of warcraft.. my knowledge and performance climaxed towards the end of warlords of draenor. the rug was pulled out from under my feet so to speak and the whole class changed. when legion went live, I found that once again i was at rock bottom-last place. it was a very bloody grind to 110 and everything was killing me in world pvp. was very stressful leveling and loosing everything i learned from draenor sucked. the legion experience proved to be the most annoying and quality of the game took a landslide into the dumpster. i think rogue has always been hard to learn and implement, proved difficult over time from 2007 to 2017. rogue seems very much useless in raids. people really don't invite me when i send an invite to join raids. even though my item level is 899 and not 905. people just mostly ignore my invites and whisper attempts to try for raid invite. the combination of stress of the game experience and the illness. leaving me with thoughts of quitting the game entirely. though lately i think I've been figuring out this puzzle of death and seem to be getting the hang of the new changes. troublesome, proving to myself adapting to the new arbitrary restrictions is annoying. its number one reason why i liked rogue because it never really changed over ten years. everything basically kills us too much and when i figure out how to make it work there these nerfs coming from blizz.

hope that helps you figure out your dilemma lkarri.

[Deleted]

If you're having trouble keeping up two specs because of time constraints/being slow thanks to your illness, simply focus on disc? There's no shame in going down a difficulty to current heroic if you simply can't keep up with mythic raiding and all the demands anymore, it's all for your enjoyment after all. And if heroic feels too easy, perhaps mythic raiding might still be an option, or even trying to push mythic+ keys so that forming groups at weird times isn't that much of an issue and you can maximize your playtime.

Its not that I'm having trouble keeping up it's more of adjusting to the changes, I understand that the skill ceiling right now for Disc is very high. Made all that more difficult by the lower floor that I have.

1. Use addons. Don't be ashamed about widespread weak auras, healing addons and so forth. Lots of able people use them, and disabled people might find specific addons help them with troubles (like limited eyesight, limited concentration span, problems with motoric functions where default UI is just too small and many others only people with specific health problems know themselves).

2. Play the class / spec you're the most comfortable with. Unless you play in some cutting edge hardcore guilds, you can be a 1-class 1-spec wonder and find a spot. It's just a matter of finding a correct guild that won't force you to play something you don't like. It's better to be good at 1 spec rather than jack of all trades master of none. Yes, there are world top players who are "masters of all", take a healer from Method and he can probably play any of the 6 healer specs. But 99.99% of the playerbase doesn't need to concern themselves with that. If you want to play a reactive healer, holy priest or paladin are good choices. No point forcing yourself into spec you hate the playstyle of. And tbh since Blizzard reworked disc to not longer be a bubble bot, it's not exactly a spec people really care to have over some other healer.

I did find some weakauras that would help make use of Light's wrath easier but it would require much more practice still. Outside of my Priest the only class that I quite like is the Paladin which I may yet go to if all this fails.

hope that helps you figure out your dilemma lkarri.

So you basically percivered no matter what? That leaves me with much to think about.

[Deleted]

I guess what you need to remember/consider is that this is still *just* a game, one you play to bring enjoyment. If that enjoyment for you is only in mythic-raiding and you can't keep up because of your illness, then maybe it is time for you to move on from the game. If you find enjoyment in other parts of the game and heroic/normal raiding on a more easier skill-level, then putting in a bit of work to relearn or regain some your abilities might be worth the effort.
From what I can gather through your posts you are still very much invested in the game; and I can say from my own experiences that stepping down a notch and raiding a difficulty lower than I used to is honestly hard at first and takes time to get used to, but after some time it is much more enjoyable (at least for me) with lesser stress, lesser skill-requirement and therefore may give you back the enjoyment even with your limitations, whatever they may be.

So what I'm trying to say I guess, is that there is no shame in stepping down and playing/raiding on a lower difficulty and still having fun and pushing your character and skilllevel. It all depends on your thoughtprocess if it's worth it or not to put in the effort to start fresh, even if it's a step down from how you once played and if that still brings a level of fun you are content with.
If you play but are miserable, it is time for you to move on. If you still mourn the times you were playing better and can't (or don't want to) adjust to a lower standard of playing, maybe the time of WoW is over for you.
But if you can move on, I guarantee you the enjoyment will come back in time.

In any case, all the best.

[Marrilaife]

So you basically percivered no matter what? That leaves me with much to think about.

Tbh his post is in really disheartening note, truth is rogues weren't "useless in raiding", they were brought for their unique utility like cloak of shadows, feint, cheat death in top-end raiding because that allowed them to soak the necessary circles and survive. However if you don't have a nice guild and try to pug - only thing that matters is your item level (must be through the roof) and achievement (curve or bust), it's a pita to get through it as any class, but it's not the class, it's usually "must have 20 ilvls more than the place drops" that is the barrier. So I sure hope if you go back to raiding, you can be a part of a guild at your desired level of progress.

Also classes change every expansion sometimes even every patch. Sometimes we find a class / spec we liked before we hate now. As long as you can find something else you like, just switch there's no shame in that. I had a marksmanship Hunter in WOD, I hate what their did to the spec, I switched it to beastmastery. I had a clarity of power shadow priest, it's non existent now, I just left this character and play arcane mage instead, because I find the rotation fun (even though it's not a popular spec, most mages drift towards frost / fire this expansion). Same story with Brewmaster Monk, the class changes in Legion made me dislike it.

So you need to decide, do you still like disc despite being completely different spec than what you knew from the past? If yes, try to learn it. If no, find what else you'd enjoy instead. After all, you need to have fun in the game.

[XDurionX]

You don't have to raid mythic to enjoy WoW, there are plenty possibilities to adapt to your scope of abilities. WoW is not a job, find a niche for you.

[Gatsbybutters]

I have no idea what's going on in this thread, but you're talking like wow is rocket science. Every class has buttons they press in an order based on single target or aoe. Press them in order. Fire is bad. Kill adds first. Move to or away from group with debuffs. Grats, you win.
This is a video game, an easy one at that. Turn off most of your add ons and just play, should work out better.

[Deleted]

I have no idea what's going on in this thread, but you're talking like wow is rocket science. Every class has buttons they press in an order based on single target or aoe. Press them in order. Fire is bad. Kill adds first. Move to or away from group with debuffs. Grats, you win.
This is a video game, an easy one at that. Turn off most of your add ons and just play, should work out better.

To be honest I kinda agree with this - at least to a point.
Cutting edge mythic can be extremely challenging since you're undergeared and being able to optimally mash your buttons is a good thing - but having said that.. the race progression raiding is much more about having the time and the patience to wipe 100s of times every week. And I'm assuming you're not aiming to be in top 10 guilds.

Anything below that - it's not a precision sport to be honest. If you can hit +50%-ish bracket ratings while doing mechanics you'll be top material in most mythic guilds. Most "normal" mythic guilds (i.e. not those that are part of the race) are constantly looking for new players because most don't have the patience for the preparation grind - and they drop off. Those guilds are looking for new players all the time - and they are desperate to take in people - most of the time you won't need "godly logs" - most of the time they won't even check. Most of the time, they don't even know what to check - apart from basics.

You'll be fine. WoW is not a hard game. Most mythic guilds are full of normal firestanders.