Meditative vs stressful content?

[WowIsDead64]

I heard this term from one guy in another thread and I liked it. Meditative. I usually call such content "casual", but may be it's wrong term, so other players don't understand me? I don't want it to be super easy and quick. I just don't want it to be stressful, that is opposite to meditative. But all of a sudden at some point online game developers, including Blizzard, decided, that online game = stressful game. Meditative game is called "boring". And players seem to want "challenging" and "engaging" content. What do you think about it? What kind of games do you prefer?

[Eazy]

Almost everything in WoW is meditative(for me).

It's just the matter of the perspective.
If you care too much about something then anything can be stressful.

The only kinda stressful thing are some situations in PvP. E.g. when your partners died in 3v3 and suddenly you're in 1v2(and one of them is almost dead) scenario and you just need one more win to reach that rating/goal. Though I'd rather say it's more exciting than stressful.

[Amariw]

I came back to wow after a long strech of sc2 ladder, and perhaps due to this it always feels medidative, even in 3v3 or mythic raiding, and definitely m+. Just a really chill game.

[Saltysquidoon]

Meditative and stressful are relative terms.
Content I don't find stressful (like idk tanking) would be hugely stressful for someone who never played wow.

I prefer to play 'stressful' games or modes if I'm going to participating with other people, single-player games exist for you to feel like a god and I see little point in wasting my own or other people's time running content you cannot fail.

That said, I find mining and smelting ore to be hugely meditative (probably a nostalgia trigger from the sounds) and I sometimes do it to relax while listening to music.

[Razion]

I don't know anymore. For a while there it felt like I was enjoying a lot of more carefree gaming, and then the whole stressful type of game style suddenly became what all games were about for a while (Dark Souls, and such). It kind of feels like whatever is popular just kind of exhausts me and I think I end up looking for the opposite because it feels more fresh and less like I'm full or exhausted on that kind of experience. Right now, a lot of games are still kind of pushing those "games that kill you instantly," or horror games, that entire kind of dark and gloomy and defeatist kind of angle and so right now I'm looking for something comforting I can escape into. But I guarantee if everyone started making carefree games again (like if games like Fall Guys and Among Us start being the trend) then maybe I would start looking for competition and challenge again. Right now I feel like taking it easy, but that'll probably change soon if recent popular games are any indication.

[WowIsDead64]

I understand, that meditative/stressful term can be subjective. But we talk about some absolute scale. Stressful games usually constantly try to "shake" you, so you just can't turn your brain off. For example devs just don't let you dive into environment and story. They put some exceeding challenge, competition and obstacles into their game, you constantly stumble upon. I guess, games like online shooters are on peak of stress. CS:GO for example. If you don't have 200ms reaction - you're instantly dead there. There is no second, when you can loosen up there. And I just don't understand, why Wow should be game like this, i.e. so called "competitive" and "challenging" game.

This problems started in MOP, but reached their peak in Legion. BFA was especially bad, because even later patches didn't bring any improvements, as it happened back in Legion, despite of hardcore Argus. I'm not 100% sure about SL, because "pay to try" nature of Wow prevents me from trying it's content. It's not bad, if you buy some 4$ game on Steam with 85% discount, it's worth just 2-3 days of play time and you don't like it at the end, so you just uninstall it and forget about it forever. Wow is serious game. If I buy it - I must be sure, that I'll play it in a long term. That's why I need some guarantees. Blizzard should come out and say, that they guarantee, that game won't have exceeding competition and challenge in a future outside of content, that is intended to be competition and challenging, like M+.

[Mendzia]

It does not matter it its hard or easy if i would feel it that way... i'd simply stop playing at all.
Games are annoying or sometimes give me burst of adrenaline at best but are never stessful.

[Dhrizzle]

Pretty much everything in WoW is meditative unless you opt for the harder stuff like raids, PvP, Mythics etc. Shadowlands in particular seems to have knocked the difficulty of world mobs down to WotLK levels and while the dungeons so far have done a good job of putting some interesting mechanics on the bosses they're still easy enough that the most stressful part is trying to keep up with the tank.

[Toybox]

Wow is serious game. If I buy it - I must be sure, that I'll play it in a long term. That's why I need some guarantees. Blizzard should come out and say, that they guarantee, that game won't have exceeding competition and challenge in a future outside of content, that is intended to be competition and challenging, like M+.

I'm not sure I completely get what you're saying. Are you suggesting that M+ shouldn't exist, or are you saying that it should be less of a focus?

[Malania]

Depends, if it's farming or something meditative is fine for it. If it's content where something is a reward I do like a challenge.

[WowIsDead64]

The only thing "stressful" about wow is the behavior of other players. Remove other players from the equation and you have a fine game.

I agree, but how can I remove them from equation, if I can't even opt out from CRZ, if I don't like overcrowding, excessive competition and lags?

To all. You don't like term "stressful"? Suggest another opposite term to "meditative". Overall when something bad happens, so I start being angry and exhausted - it's stress. Or not? For example I play PVP games, but I can't play more than 3-4 matches in a row, because even if previous match was good, I just don't feel, that I have enough mental health left to launch another one. I feel, like I'll do some stupid things, like dying early due to suicide attack, anyway. Isn't it stress?

[Mightytasty]

This is a one sided poll question lol. Should be "meditative" vs "engaging" or something similar.

[A Chozo]

Meditative, but not every time of the day. I like to mix and match.

Also, lol at people disliking the term stressful.

[WowIsDead64]

Dunno. For me meditative - is similar to relaxing and getting rested. What is opposite to it, when you get angry, tired and exhausted instead?

[Clawsout]

Deff meditative last thing I want is more stress after work its a game after all so this is all subjective to each owns opinion i dont think raids or m+ fall under stressful but im sure some ppl do

[WowIsDead64]

I just try to say, that I'm not ultra-casual, who just wants to get everything easy and fast. But when I come after work, I'm tired enough already. So last thing, I want to see in game, is some "rush hour" hassle. And meditation is some sort of relaxing. You turn music on, may be TV. You turn your brain off and start doing some routine stuff. So, when you come to some WQ and see queue there or other faction AOE-tagging everything, you just understand, that you had enough of such crap today and log out.

And all of a sudden, some players say, that they like it. And I just don't understand them. How can they like THIS: