Changing Perspectives

Posted by on Jan 10, 2011 in Commentary | 5 comments

This post is long overdue. I’ve been meaning to write about this for about a month now but every time I did so the result just didn’t feel right. It’s like I can’t write about my departure from WoW without mentioning something I wasn’t comfortable sharing. So what’s going to be here are carefully written words from someone who’s had a change of perspective with WoW. While this will likely not sit well with certain people, believe me when I say that it was the only way I could get back into the game with any semblance of sanity.

I left because I was burned out. That’s the plain and simple reason. I felt good about leaving the game. Immersing myself in Assassin’s Creed 2 and then moving on to Demon’s Souls and Uncharted 2 were experiences that I enjoyed immensely. The only thing I regret about leaving the game is that there were items in my mailboxes that I have now lost forever. All of them are replaceable, of course, but losing them is a waste nonetheless.

Now we move on to the part that might rattle a few cages. When I made the decision to come back I told myself that this time I’d play the game according to how I wanted to. Read that as you will, but there have been times in the past wherein what I was doing was done in the spirit of working with a group even thought I felt like we were forcing it. It was fine when we were seeing results, but after about a month of failing it got to me and led to my eventual burnout. So now, I’ve decided to become a little selfish. I’m not going to force things anymore. I’ve decided to go casual.

I know that this sort of attitude will not fit into a raiding guild. While I have no plans to leave mine, I like the idea of writing down where I stand. Heroic dungeons are still pains in the ass and will probably continue to do so. I don’t know about other realms but the average wait time for DPS spots in random heroics on mine is 20-30 minutes. Those two factors are the reasons why I don’t PUG heroics with Sin. I’ve tried and the stress wasn’t worth it. I’d rather do it with a guild group but we lack tanks at the moment so H-dungeon guild runs have been sporadic.

So where does that leave me?

Sin needs a lot of gear from heroic dungeons and is unfit to raid past Baradin Hold. So unless it’s that raid specifically I’m not going to raid with her. Heroic dungeons are the priority and I make the effort to be available for runs when they happen. Other than that, I’m going to be doing dailies, rep-grinding and pretend I’m making an effort to level my professions. That’s about as casual as I can get but it’s currently the level of play I’d prefer to do.

I’m still going to be obsess over stats and rotations to make sure that I’m doing things right. My first and so far last venture into Baradin Hold proved that I can still dish out DPS on par with better geared people. I know it’s not going to last but I’m okay with it. I’ve been careful to the point of paranoid when it comes to raiding. If I smell stress (AKA wipe-fests), I’m staying as far away from it as possible.