Saying goodbye, for now or for good: why I’ve stopped playing WoW
At least I got this done before I left.
With a title like that, it’s obvious that this isn’t like my usual posts, at least in tone anyway. It will probably still be long and rambling, but I’ll do my best to keep things brief.
I actually haven’t really been playing WoW since shortly after my last post; early September was about the last time I logged in regularly. I kept my subscription active for a couple months afterward, only deactivating it in December after Winter Veil came and went. So it’s been about six or seven months since I stopped playing. For reference, I have been more or less a constant subscriber and player since April 2010, so that’s an over eight-year streak that’s finally been broken.
So why’d I finally quit? What would it take to bring me back? And why am I bothering to write this now?
Why write this up?
I guess I’m writing this just to organize my thoughts on where WoW is now, the direction I see it heading, and why it’s just not a fit for me anymore. I know no one’s likely to read this, but this is more of a personal post anyway, so whatever.
I’m just gonna hit the major reasons that caused me to stop, and devote some time to each. There are probably other, lesser reasons that added to this, but let’s just focus on the high notes, starting with…
My main spec is garbage
Enhance has been a rollercoaster of a spec for me, and it seems that every expansion it oscillates between being really good and really awful. In Wrath it was a lot of frantic button pushing that, while far behind many easier specs, was still a lot of fun to play. In Cata, it was dumbed down and slow, doing miserable DPS for both single- and multi-target. In Mists, kinks were ironed out, new abilities were added, and it did outstanding DPS; it was probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing enhance. In Warlords, ability pruning got rid of a lot of what made it fun in the prior expansion, so while the mechanics were generally unchanged from Mists, it was less interesting and less fun. Legion fundamentally changed how the spec played, but the addition of the Doomhammer and its traits slowly built on that foundation to add fun and engaging dynamics between abilities.
So naturally, following that pattern means that Battle for Azeroth should be another low point, even if I’d rather it weren’t. Unfortunately, it most certainly is. While the design of enhance is, again, basically unchanged from Legion, the removal of the Doomhammer and its traits has also removed a lot of what made the spec interesting last expansion. Blizzard’s class designers also didn’t do much to actually offset the loss of these extra abilities; only a couple of our traits were baked into the class, and the signature burst cooldown Doom Winds was not brought back. Apparently DPS sims for the most recent patch suggest that, despite this, enhance is still close to the top of the meters, but as someone who doesn’t really care about topping the charts, the fact that it’s not all that fun to play is a much bigger factor in whether I continue or not.
Usually, the “down” expansions gradually make improvements over time, such that the spec is in a better place at the end of the expansion than at the beginning, setting it up for a good expansion to follow. But this time, I guess I’d just had enough. Sure, I could change specs or classes, but I can’t really bring myself to. My shaman was my first character, and enhance was how I leveled it to 80 back in Wrath, the only spec I raided with, and how I experienced every subsequent expansion the first time through. If my favorite spec doesn’t feel as good as it used to, for the third time since I’ve started playing…well, fool me twice, shame on you; fool me three times, shame on me. I decided not to get fooled again.
I don’t know what they were thinking with Azerite
The Heart of Azeroth and Azerite armor were supposed to be the replacements for three systems from Legion: artifact weapons, tier sets, and legendary armor pieces. By acquiring certain armor pieces with the traits you wanted, you could build a set to augment your abilities in new and exciting ways…
…in theory. In practice, I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between pieces for the most part. The traits were so inconsequential that it didn’t really matter which traits I had selected; my rotation was always the same, and aside from the flashier traits that summoned NPCs to fight for me, very few traits had any noticeable impact while I was fighting. And if you were min-maxing and tracking down specific traits, you’d only find them on certain armor pieces, which would mean running various dungeons over and over again on the off-chance you’d get that piece you needed.
Contrast that with the various power boosts from Legion. The artifact weapons provided slow and steady power gains over the course of the expansion, first by augmenting your spec’s toolkit, then through a direct linear power progression once you’d filled out all your traits. Tier sets, a staple of the game since its earliest days, continued to provide unique and noticeable power boosts as you collected more raid gear. And legendary armor gave distinct, noticeable effects, with certain pieces having the potential to make you change your playstyle.
Azerite armor is just a major letdown on all fronts. There’s no power fantasy, it’s just clicking some traits that you’ll never really notice, not in the way that we were accustomed to in Legion. Maybe it was because they gave too much in Legion, but if that’s the case, then they should have realized they couldn’t slide backwards in this regard.
I’m so sick of the faction conflict it’s not even funny
Look, I get it. It’s Warcraft, not Peacecraft or whatever joke you want to use. I get that the foundation of this series has been Alliance vs. Horde since the days of the very first game (which, of course, was subtitled Orcs vs. Humans). Removing that entirely would have the potential to make it no longer feel like Warcraft.
But let’s face it: the faction conflict is beyond ridiculous at this point. It’s borderline insane.
Naturally, I lay the blame on the lore team, and for several reasons. The first is the constant need to produce an even bigger bad than the last expansion, just to keep the hype train rolling. Remember how a lot of us thought that Sargeras would be saved as the ultimate final boss for the last expansion of WoW? Now that he’s out of the way, we’ve gotta find an even bigger problem to face for the next expansion, which makes the faction conflict look even more like impotent, petty squabbling. I mean, if you’ll recall, the last expansion ended with Sargeras literally stabbing a planet with his sword, wiping Silithus off the map, mortally wounding the nascent Titan Azeroth, and causing its blood to start erupting all over the world. The fact that the Alliance and Horde are going to war with each other when the planet itself is on the verge of death is so laughable I don’t even have words to describe it.
Second is the ever more contrived reasoning to keep this faction conflict going. Things might have gone okay if the lore team didn’t decide to turn Sylvanas into the literal devil just to instigate more fighting between the factions. Yeah sure, let’s just burn down Teldrassil for no reason, what could possibly go wrong? Also real nice of Blizzard to always make the Horde the bad guys here, thanks for insulting half your playerbase, like we didn’t just deal with that with Garrosh a couple expansions ago.
But the biggest reason is that it’s honestly insulting to think that the characters in this game can’t learn from the mistakes of their forebears and themselves, and resolve to be better. The Third War was only about a decade prior to BfA, and it’s like they completely forgot the whole reason it ended: because both sides had to learn to come together to defeat a greater threat to Azeroth as a whole. Huh, I wonder when that could possibly come up again…oh right, literally every expansion this game has had. You’d think by this point that the factions would try diplomacy before launching attacks on each other, but I guess every single leader is just a complete moron who can never remember what happened last week.
Again, that’s not to say that there can’t be conflict between the Alliance and Horde. Just, y’know, write it more sensibly. Have them debate the best course of action to take to fight their common enemies, explore diplomatic conflicts over territory (instead of going straight to the swords and guns every time), and so on. I just can’t take the idea of a war during perhaps the biggest crisis Azeroth has ever faced seriously.
“But muh PVP!” Simple: reframe battlegrounds/arenas as training exercises, with the Alliance and Horde training against each other to strengthen their forces for the battles to come. Easy peasy.
It’s just more of the same
It’s questionable just what all Blizzard could add to WoW at this point that hasn’t already been done. But when the expansion just seems like it’s spinning wheels, when it’s really just “everything you had in Legion minus the artifact/class hall stuff,” what is there to get excited about? Maybe it’s just that I’m getting older and I don’t derive the same enjoyment from these things that I used to, but I really couldn’t deal with going through it all again.
The biggest thing I didn’t want to do again was unlock flight for the umpteenth time. I used to think the Pathfinder achievement system was a good way to let you earn flight just by playing the game, but at this point, all I can say is “give me my flying mounts back now, thanks.” No gold cost, no achievements, just hit max level and bam, off you go flying again. Or better yet, no level restrictions; just accept that people would rather fly to their destinations than deal with getting knocked about on the ground. Maybe consider adding some content that makes flight relevant? I dunno, seems like a game design problem more than a player choice problem.
But this same old gameplay loop was just getting to be too much for me. Level up, do world quests, run dungeons, run raids, do your weeklies, grind this, grind that, and so on and so on…I suppose it’s amazing I held on as long as I did, but I guess I’d finally had enough.
And let’s not forget that the new things they’d introduced this expansion were letdowns too. Island expeditions got way too repetitive too quickly, and I’ve already gone into how Azerite armor sucked ass. I didn’t even get around to Warfronts before I stopped playing, because they weren’t available until after I’d moved on, but it sounds like they weren’t nearly as interesting as their initial description would have you believe. And if that’s all they could come up with for new stuff, then I don’t have much hope for the rest of the expansion.
Maybe if they finally introduced player housing like people have been asking for since the game launched, that might be enough to pique my interest and get me to poke my head in again. But I’m not holding my breath.
I’m getting my fix elsewhere
This is, I suppose, the biggest reason why I haven’t been playing WoW for the past few months (though BfA’s lackluster content has certainly not made that decision any harder).
I don’t think I’ve mentioned it on this blog before, and I don’t care enough to go check, but I’ve been a huge fan of Destiny since it was first teased way back in early 2013 (I participated in the ARG that announced it and have the emblem in Destiny 1 to prove it). And while it’s a series that has had its high points and low, it’s been enjoyable enough to keep my interest at a pretty steady level for the past four and a half years.
And the reasons why I’m into it are pretty much the opposite of why I’ve started to fall out of playing WoW:
- The basic mechanics are intuitive to understand and satisfying to use; gunplay is outstanding and the abilities are fun, especially supers
- My favorite class (Titan main for life), which has had its ups and downs, has never swung so far in one direction and remains fun to play
- The loot system is easy to understand and more impactful than the relatively boring gear in WoW
- The world is engaging and for the most part consistent; the story is interesting with many layers to delve into
- New ways to play are added on a fairly regular basis, whether it’s a new activity or a refresh of an old one
But perhaps most importantly, I can get on, play for a short period, and still feel like I’m making progress. Compared to WoW, progressing in Destiny is much easier time-wise. I don’t have to set aside a whole night for a raid that I might not even complete for rewards that I may or may not earn. Instead, I can get in and out in a couple hours’ tops and be showered with gear in the process.
Obviously, Destiny and WoW are two totally different games for two totally different audiences. But both satisfy my desire to grind loot and get stronger, and in that regard, I’d rather play Destiny.
What would get me to come back?
That’s a damn good question, and frankly one that I’m not sure I know the answer to. If enhance were a fun spec to play again, if they brought back certain systems like tier sets and legendary armor, if they actually implemented player housing…well, that would be a start, anyway.
But at this stage, I don’t really know if there’s something that could truly bring me back to becoming a regular subscriber. I know never to say never, but I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that would be a guaranteed resubscribe.
Thinking about it another way, I first started playing WoW about nine years ago to the day (I started during Noblegarden 2010). I’ve been a subscriber for over eight of those nine years, and have spent more than my fair share of time in Azeroth. Is there really any point to trying to continue? Sure, I haven’t seen everything WoW has to offer, but I’ve seen the majority of it. There just doesn’t seem to be much magic left in the game for me.
But again, there’s always a chance. We’ll see what happens down the line, but for now, I’ve got an Ahamkara to rocket in the face. One Thousand Voices will be mine, I swear it.
So yeah, if it weren’t obvious, I wouldn’t expect my third reputation guide anytime soon. I do have it written up (still), but I’d need to be subscribed to check on various things to make sure everything’s accurate. Since I’m not planning on subscribing for quite some time at least, the guide (and any WoW-related things, for that matter) are on hiatus.
Maybe I’ll write some more stuff about Destiny here, or maybe start a new blog altogether. I dunno, we’ll see what the future brings.
Until next time, whenever next time is!
Enhanced Elements 