MMO Fatigue... Is There a Cure?

One of my favorite bloggers, Tobold, has recently been showing some frustration with the fan-favorite MMO, World of Warcraft. I have to say, I'm right there with him. It's been nigh two and a half years since I started playing WoW, and for a while now I've been suffering from the titular "MMO Fatigue". I'm sick of the game... I don't want to log in... and yet for the past 6 months I've been feeling this way, I keep resubscribing, trying to play, trying to love it once more... but I can't.

I bought the expansion on opening night like the rest of the world, and my fervor and zest for exploring the Outland lasted only as long as it took me to realize I was still just a casual player with nothing to look forward to at 70 except waiting for the level cap to be raised to 80. I'm not a fan of raiding, been there tried it, enjoyed it once or twice, but I prefer small group content.

There is a TON of small group content in the Burning Crusade, but I'm not excited about it anymore. Why? Because I've quickly realized that it's the same as small group content in Vanilla WoW: fun, but with rewards on the lowest end of the totem pole. I love doing the dungeons but it's hard to feel motivated to complete them more than once when you know that you're missing out on the best gear (WoW's only real form of progression at the level cap) by not raiding or PvP-ing. I'd be fine without the good weapons and armor, if only there was a better form of character progression at the maximum level... which in WoW doesn't exist as of this writing.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm sick of WoW... finally. I still have very strong ties to the game, as it was the 1st MMO I truly went full-steam into (not just for a couple of months before leaving), but I think my time with it is done. It really did open up the genre to a lot of people who never even considered it, and it's certainly a high-quality crafted game. One of the best I've played for all intents and purposes, on both consoles and PC... but it's no longer for me.

I also have the feeling many folk like me are realizing it's not for them anymore. The game is more and more shifting into old EQ territory... for the "vocal minority, and less for the non-vocal majority" or something of that nature as Tobold put it. And the more they go into that mentality, the more I feel like I'm being told by Blizzard to GTFO.

I'll wrap this up. I'm sick of WoW, fatigued by the grind, I don't think there is a cure, and I'm now looking forward with cautious optimism at Lord of the Rings Online. Similar mechanics of gameplay to WoW and a host of other classic MMOs, but with a real focus on story, casual play, and equal paths of all kinds to the best of the game. I only hope all that it looks like it will be, it really will be.

AC was and still is friendly to all manner of folks, AC2 was as well, and DDO is more and more. Turbine's the 1st company to cater to casual people with real lives that come before their MMO lives, and I hope that stays true with LotRO... keep Tigole and the like far away from Middle-Earth please. I don't want to be making a post like this in another 2 years for my favorite fantasy setting turned MMO.

Am I alone here? Is anyone else feeling the same way about the 800 pound gorilla that is WoW?

Being Sick Sucks... but there are perks!

So I woke up yesterday morning with the sudden realization that my throat felt like Lawrence Olivier had gone all Marathon Man on me over night. Thank god the Nazi didn't touch my teeth. But it turns out there be some drainage and general nasty-ness that no one wants to hear about. So I'll get to the point.

When you're sick, have you ever noticed how nice everyone suddenly becomes? They give you cock-headed sympathy "Awws" and offer you free drinks, cough suppressants, and even the deliciously coveted Wendy's Frosty.

And the cynics say there's no kindness left in the world. I guess it helps when you're nice to people. Being so often leads them to be kind to you when you're in your hour of need. What a concept.

On a side note, wife and I signed and locked in our loan for our 1st home last night. I was unable to get my WoW fix in or even touch my Wii (one day that'll stop sounding sick), but in order to get one step closer to being a homeowner, it was worth it. Tonight I'll more than make up for it with some WoWing in the Outland. If you see a feisty red-haired dwarf hunter named, Begud, sent a tell.

Migrating Realms = Fantastic!

So I've been playing on the Dragonblight server now since about January of 2005 in World of Warcraft. In my time there, I've leveled a couple 60's, done my share of dungeons, and met my share of cool and loyal friends. But I'll be damned if that server didn't get full over the past 2 years. It's ri-goshdarn-diculous.

I live on the East Coast, and the server runs on West Coast time (I switched from my East Coast server of Warsong after realizing I'm afraid of being ganked and PvP servers are not for me). So what that means for me, is that logging into a West Coast server at 9pm means it is 6pm where the bulk of that server's player base is. As you can imagine, over time the server got popular (it is a cool name, after all), and I was finding myself waiting in line for 30 minutes to an hour every night I couldn't get on before 8pm EST. That got old... and fast. I wanted to leave, to find a new server to call home, but I didn't want to throw away all those hours of play, and I certainly didn't want to pay 25 dollars per character for Blizzard to move them. That's just a ludicrous price.

But last week, O' Glorious Blizzard came to my rescue. They offered free transfers off of Dragonblight to the low population Mountain Time Zone realm, Blade's Edge. Some good in-game and real life friends and myself packed things up Friday night, and transferred out main characters and alts to the fledgling new realm.

The transfer process only took one night, and by about mid-morning all of my characters had been successfully transferred to their new home. No hiccoughs, no missing items, no messed up quest logs, or naked avatars... everything was in its place. I was happy. I am happy.

My friends and I quickly put together the new guild's charter (we chose the name Killer Bunnies... because why not?), picked out the appropriate purple, gold, and white bunny adorned tabbard, and got the requisite signatures out of the way. We are now hopping about Blade's Edge in all our glory, striking fear into the hearts of Horde throughout Azeroth and the Outland. Passersby chuckle at our name, but quiver at our intimidating presence on the battlefield. Especially nice is the fact that we all can actually walk five steps in Hellfire Peninsula without getting jumped by a fast spawning mob or running into a cluttered mess of other players. Overpopulated, Blade's Edge is not.

I just wanted to write this out here, because well, if any of you blogspotians have the option, I heartily recommend taking up Blizzard's offer of free server transfers. It's a far better choice than waiting and hoping other people leave to make the queues smaller or the lag smaller. Also add in the fact that if the server isn't reduced in population enough Blizzard will be forced to split the realm, leaving you and your friends to coordinate which one to pick at the log in, and I think it becomes clear that the best option in such a situation is to talk to your mates, get the willing together, and make the move.

It worked for me, and it will work for you.

(This message has been approved and endorsed by Bildo.)