Reasons for me to keep smiling when the world seems to be falling apart

We’re doomed. And that goes for both worlds, if you should believe the people who speak most and loudest.

In Real World we’re expecting to die from a new kind of flue. Run away, little girl, Armageddon is coming!

And in the Gaming World, the prophets are equally sure that Azeroth is about to be deserted any day. World of Warcraft has peaked and it’s just a matter of days before the servers will shut down.

Well the last statement was maybe just a LITTLE bit exaggerated. But there’s no doubt that a Wall of Apathy has hit the Blogosphere and critted us pretty badly. Well known and much loved blogs are announcing their closing more or less daily. Resto4life, BRK, Out of Mana, Gun Lovin’ Dwarf Chick and Hoof n’Healz are names that come into my head, but there have been more of them.

Other bloggers like Kestrel and Euripiedes still write and play, but have written posts about how the game has lost its magic grip on them. It remains to see if it’s a temporary burnout or if they’ll gradually turn their back to Azeroth until they decide to cancel their WoW accounts, like Tobold did the other day.

Gloominess spreading
In Swedish there is a saying that goes “there’s no smoke unless there’s a fire”. I really hate it, because it’s often used as an excuse to spread false rumors and lies. People often jump into conclusions from random observations, without actually checking facts and how things really are.

About this general feeling of decline in WoW I’m not sure what to think. I don’t have access to the subscription numbers or server statistics of Blizzard. I don’t know how the discussions are going in their direction room.

All I can say is that there currently is a sort of gloominess that is spreading in the Blogopshere. The quality of light has changed from dawn to dusk; it’s still glowing, but it’s lost some of its freshness. This could have to do with the fact that many of the bloggers are long time players. They’ve been doing this more or less since the very first beta. Day after day, week after week, month after month. Tobold bravely displayed his /played hours in a post and I bet many of those bloggers have a lot more. It would be strange if people didn’t eventually feel that they’d had enough of this game. It really would.

I on the other hand started to play in TBC, so I’m two years behind the rest of you guys who are burned out. Think about how you felt about the game two years ago! That’s how it is to me now. (Yes, I know I’m lucky!) It’s as if I find myself a safe spot. The Apathy Wall couldn’t touch me this time.

Reasons for me to smile
I have plenty of reasons to keep smiling, even at a point when Azeroth seems to be falling apart. I keep rejoicing at small things that are happening to me. Here are a few of the most recent events:

• Glory of the Hero completed

I finally got my Glory of the Hero achievement completed!

The last achievement I needed for it was the Emerald Void achievement in Occulus. On my third mission to get it (the two first had only ended in wipes) we nailed it only after a few tries. Words can’t describe how happy and proud I am about this one. It really feels like an achievement worth mentioning, very much different to “explore Badlands” or “Eat 100 pieces of chocolate”. The dragon mount that came with it honestly looks hideous. It’s too big and flies only with difficulty. It looks as if she’s about to crash any minute. But she means a lot to me anyway, since she embodies all the fun I’ve had doing those instances in new and challenging ways.

• Gevlon’s still around

Gevlon has found a new guild! I’m glad that it seems as if he finally can look forward to get some decent raiding within the frames of a guild instead of in horrible pugs. And I’m glad that he’ll keep blogging. I would have missed him for sure.

• The return of the realm clown

Cacknoob is back! Yep, the retired realm clown that I wrote about in mid March has once again turned up at the server. He couldn’t stay away more than six weeks. Within 20 minutes of his arrival he was back arguing in the trade channel and things were back to normal. Some players were pouring out their contempt, not for Cacknoob himself, but for the people who like him. Well, that includes me then. When I whispered Cacknoob and greeted him, he told me that he read my blog continuously and that he agrees with 99 percent of what I write. Woot! I didn’t think he agreed with anyone but himself. But Cack, you’ve got a spot in my heart and a special chair at the inn, that’s for sure. This inn is open for everyone, especially for outcasts.

• New bloggers incoming

There are a lot of new, promising bloggers incoming! New bloggers are reporting for duty every day at the introduction forum at Blog Azeroth. They’ll give us entertainment and food for thought if we just give them a chance and some encouragement. Stop moping over our fallen heroes and look for the new ones! I try to include the ones that I fall in love with instantly into my Blogroll. The latest jewel I found was Shy at WoW. Please pay her a visit!

• Argent Tournament

I’ve learned how to joust! Or at least I’ve improved. I’ve currently got valiant rank, when you’re doing The Great Melee quest, fighting three opponents. When I first tried this I lost over and over again, four, five matches in a row. Won one and then lost again, swearing over my own incompetence. Now I oneshot them pretty easily, feeling like a gnomish version of Ivanhoe. I may suck at some parts of WoW but at least I hardly ever give up on anything. And that pays off, eventually. It remains to see though if I’ll be quite as triumphant when I advance to Champion. I must say that I really enjoy the Argent Tournament. I’m rather drawn to the swords and sorcery side of WoW than to the high tech and here I’m right in the middle of a fairy tale, including frog kissing. Apart from boring travelling time that I could have been without, I think they’ve done a great job in this.

• My new bartender

And last, but not least: I’ve hired a bartender, as you’ve probably noticed. I’m very proud to introduce Elnia, who will be guest posting at The Pink Pigtail Inn every now and then. Actually I don’t know very much about her. Elnia is one of my regular readers who one day offered to write a guest post. Or maybe I should say “him”, since I think it’s a guy behind this character, but after all, does it matter really?

What I do know is that Elnia knows how to write. The style is a bit different to mine but I think you’ll like it. At least I do. Don’t expect quick shots that you finish in a second and then stupidly stare at the empty glass. Expect walls of texts that are like cocktails that you can sip and enjoy for a long time. That’s the kind of bartender that Elnia is.

I keep smiling
The Wall of Apathy passed me at safe distance. I’m not doomed yet. And when I think about WoW and the WoW community I still have many reasons to smile. How about you?