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I don’t know that I’ve made it through a single post on this blog without talking about WoW. There could be a drinking game :

Take 1 Drink if Boat mentions WoW
Take 2 Drinks if Boat says WoW is the best game ever
Take 3 Drinks if Boat criticizes WoW

So why did I quit in the first place?

Well, WoW is a great game and I love playing it. In fact, I kind of consider going back to distract myself until WAR (or until the 360 gets fixed). I consider WoW, from a technical and gameplay standpoint, to be the best game ever made. There’s no comparison with any other game — to do such a big game and do it so well is just amazing.

The problem is that while WoW achieves its goals, it doesn’t have the correct goals to begin with. The end game is still time consuming, calendar-slinging, large scale PvE. I raided for about 20 hours a week for about six months shortly after the game came out. It was a fun experience but eventually I was just exhausted, and I lasted longer than most.

I tried to come back but I eventually asked myself : if I had no job whatsoever and could do whatever I wanted with my time, would I spend 20 hours a week raiding? It’s an easy “No” for me. It’s not so much the time, but the schedule that kills me. My “good time” goes to working, family, and exercising. I want to play in my “down time” when I’m done with work, after I’ve spent time with the family, and after I’ve been to the gym. 7-11 PM every night is not “down time”. It’s another job.

Raiding is not just hard as a matter of schedules, it’s also completely detached from the rest of the game. So you can’t just log on and raid — you need to farm to buy mats for potions. You need to work on attunements. You need to get the best not-in-raid gear so you can be better at the raid.

The thing that really kills me the most is not that I don’t have the best gear. In fact, with apologies to Marx (Groucho), I wouldn’t want to play a game where I have all the best gear because I want it to require more devotion than I can muster. After all, it’s not having the gear that’s fun — it’s earning the gear.

But if you’re not a raider in WoW you’ll never earn the coolest gear, no matter how much you play.

What I want from WAR

I want to take a break from RvR when I want to take a break — not because I ran out of potions, need attunements or need to go PvE for gear.

I want the best gear in the game to be RvR gear that can be earned without requiring 20 hours of scheduled play every week.

I want to log on and play the “end game” anytime I want.

I want to log on any given night and play the “end game” with my guildies.

I never want to spend three hours in a PvE instance, ever.

I want it to be easy to find a group for PvE instances and easy to find public quests being completed.

I never want to make another bloody content mod again, I want the idea never to cross my mind because The Tome is so awesome.

I never want to fight with my guild over loot.

I never want to fight with my guild just to be allowed to contribute to their success.

I want to remember right now that I’ll be supremely happy if I get two or three of these things