This definitely isn’t going to be a helpful suggestion post, because frankly I wouldn’t even begin to give advice on something that I’m struggling with.
I’m unhappy with WoW right now.
Socially things aren’t really that bad. There’s grumbling about cliques and some people aren’t happy, but I’m coming to accept that there’s nothing that I can do about that. You can’t really make everyone get along, and I’m happy with my friends who I talk to in and outside of the game so I’m just going to let go of everything else and enjoy that.
The problem for me is the game itself. I’m bored with it – there’s simply not much of anything that I want to do, and especially not things that I can do by myself. Most of the time if it’s not a raid night I tend to log in, check my mail, idle around Dalaran dancing or putting down a picnic basket for 5 minutes, then log off. I pretty much play this game for raiding, and when there’s nothing I can do to improve my raiding game outside of raiding itself, I just don’t have anything to do. Leveling alts is an option, but it’s not one that holds my attention for long.
I am having a little bit of a raiding issue now too, though. Since we’ve started 25s, I’ve come to realize that I vastly prefer 10s. I like smaller groups because I find them less confusing. I feel more useful as a healer in a 10 man run because we usually have just enough, while in 25 it feels like it’s no big deal if I bite the dust or don’t bring my A game. My other problem is wipes. I’ve always said that I’m okay with wipes because they’re a part of the learning process. I’m starting to feel like it was complete BS that I had even tricked myself into believing. :P Wipes are frustrating, especially when there’s no sense of progress and it feels like you’re repeating the same mistakes over and over. At the end of a wipe night, all I can think of is that my time would have been far better spent doing something else.
A person who doesn’t play WoW would probably respond to that with “so why don’t you just quit?” (believe me, my boyfriend did) and I can’t explain why that’s not an option for me. I feel a sense of responsibility towards the people who I call my friends, because I’m part of a team. I know what a big set back it can be when one of the team members decides to leave. I don’t want to be the person who lets down others that I care about. I’m really not at the point where I want to leave the game anyway, I just feel like I need a break from raiding for a little while, but I don’t want to be that person who bails when progression content is tough, only to come back and reap the rewards when it’s cleared. That’s really not what it’s about for me, I don’t give a crap about whether or not it’s easy to hoover up all the loot, but what I do care about is how I spend my time. Right now the way that I spend my time just isn’t making me as happy as it used to and I’m at a loss for deciding the best thing to do about it.
You and me both. I like raiding. I like 25s. I prefer 25s, but I’m also bored of it. It doesn’t feel as epic as it once did. To top it off work just crit me and life’s gonna be stressful and I don’t need added game stress.
Alts are what’s keeping me going. All I can suggest is trying to find something like alting in game or find a game that distracts you for a bit making you want to come back and enjoy it once again.
I prefer the intimacy of 10s as well–and I like that everyone has to be on top of the game for the group to succeed smoothly.
Of course, the fact that my connection grinds to a screeching halt the second I zone into a 25-man *may* have something to do with it. Maybe. Just a little…
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I prefer 25 when everything goes well…but when the shit hit the fan, 25 man becomes not fun really fast.
10 mans is better for progression content because its easier to single out what went wrong and correct it. This way you feel more like your progess and less like a complete waste of time.
Yesterday’s raid was especially bad and im kinda happy i had to leave early because of my wife being bitchy lol.
Anyway, we’ll see what happen in the near future…but as we talked on gchat this morning, some thing s HAVE to change.
Are there things you want to do for lols that you just can’t do alone? Or are you really disinterested of anything outside of raiding? I would be down for some lolzy stuff with you. :P
Last night I think was a “WTF” moment for a lot of people. I may or may not have said at some point “Wow, so glad I got all my stuff back for this!” (which obviously, I don’t mean, but … yeah).
I would really really really hate to see you go, even temporarily (because ZOMG, ULDUAR DRAKES RAWR), but I will totally support you in doing whatever’s best for you, whether it’s doing crazy stuff to find the fun again, or taking a break.
It would be fun to do some old content, if that would ever interest you. There’s still a lot of stuff I haven’t seen! And I’ve been thinking about working on my Salty title.
As long as the drake runs keep happening (/eyes signups :() I’ll gladly keep coming to that. Our 25s are just making me want to tear my hair out.
maybe time to try a new mmo and maybe your guildies are feeling the same and are willing to join you?
sometimes even having two mmo’s (what am i? made of money? lol) can allow you to keep interest :)
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I much prefer 10 mans, too, because 25 mans is just a lot of people, and opens the door for lots of stupid.
As far as learning a fight, 10mans all the way. But 25mans are still fun in their own way…
Anyway, hope you stick around. ^_^
I don’t care what I do as long shit dies, PvE, PvP, heroics, 10 man, 25 man…I’m not prejudice. I just like leaving corpse in my wake.
That’s my fun. Walking over dead corpses.
I kind of consider you a friend now, so if you had to leave the game, I understand. Sometimes to keep your sanity you got to take a break, and I hope you would stay in touch with me, and come back to chew some dirt in cataclysm, or maybe another game. Don’t stay because of some misplaced loyalty.
Burn out happens to all of us from time to time.
I don’t think I’d completely quit because there are some things I enjoy, but eventually scaling back raiding might happen. I dunno.
And of course I’ll stay in touch. You’re my favorite fail mage. <3
Probably one of the hardest lessons that you have to learn, in game and in life, is that sometimes it’s OK to put yourself first.
I had a very, very difficult time with this in both venues. Largely because I am a fiecely loyal and extremely giving person. To me the concept of “selfishness” was, well, selfish. But, at some point you come to realize that if you are just as important as everyone else as well, and that taking care of you is also important.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s OK to do what makes *you* happy. Unfortunately, sometimes those are the hardest decisions to make, but here and there you’ve got to put yourself number one :)
I do wish you luck as you seek a solution with your conflicts!
Thank you! That’s something I have trouble with as well, IRL and within the game.
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I feel more useful as a healer in a 10 man run because we usually have just enough, while in 25 it feels like it’s no big deal if I bite the dust or don’t bring my A game.
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THIS.
i am not much of a fan of 25mans as a dps, not that i die, but i feel too many people do not have to be doing what they need to be.
i feel in 10m you have to be cleaner about everything you do. plus, i find it a lot more fun, less chaotic, and a little more friendly, less yelling ;)
Hah, the irony. Being logged on right now, waiting for a friend to arrive to cut a bunch of gems for me, I browse on my guild forums on the other screen and somehow end up on this blog, reading about not much you can do while not raiding.
As said as it is, it made me feel better reading it. It’s quite normal for me as well to log in, check my mail, some auctions, doe the faily random for some frosties (which is not worth the effort, even as a druid with a dozen of possible offspecs) … and then logging out again or jumping around the Eventide and trying to summon the Yogg tentacle at dozens of possible spots. The server-restricted chat options even make WoW fail at being and overblown chat room.
I somewhat disagree with the option of “putting yourself first” here, since both in real life and worlds like WoW, where’s the point of being if you just consume?
I decided what’s best for you………..me.
LOL! I just thought of that when I came to your blog and saw new posts. :P
10s are definitely more intimate. As for feeling extraneous as a healer in 25s, I can only say you should push the raid to use fewer healers. It makes your own game more interesting and gives you a little more room for nubbish failure in the dps. We’re 5 healing a lot of ICC25 right now, and I’ve got no fear of 4 healing older content.
Now, if you’ve got healers with issues then I can’t help.
As for cliques, 10mans, and other “they don’t like me” drama? People should learn to deal with it. Make an effort to invite people who are available and want to go. After that, why should anyone feel on the outside when they’re not making any effort to be on the inside.
I don’t know if too many healers is our problem, really, though I wouldn’t be opposed to trying things out with fewer, just to see how it goes.
“why should anyone feel on the outside when they’re not making any effort to be on the inside.” This is honestly how I feel about things sometimes. I try to be friendly but there’s really not much I can do beyond that. There’s no pleasing everyone all the time.
There are times when you have to put your foot down and draw the line. Due to my ever-increasing work load along with other things I want to do after works besides go straight home and log on WoW, I’ve had to semi-retire from raiding recently. This was especially hard for me to do, since I’m the GM of my guild.
I share the same sense of “responsibility” to be there every night, too, and as it was pointed out in a previous comment, to not be there for the guild would feel selfish. To add to that, I remind myself that there are only 3 people that I can trust to ensure my own happiness/success/health/etc.: Me, myself, and I. If I don’t do that for myself, then I’m pretty certain no one else will care enough to bother.
Once I got past the “I HAVE to be there for the raid” mentality, it made WoW more enjoyable for me. I still fight off that mentality, though, especially on nights where we have crappy attendance.
Ok…this comment is getting long-winded, so I will hush now. :-P