The world has changed... I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air.
Yes, I steal this quote from Galadriel. It sort of got stuck in my head when I reviewed it a little while ago.
Because it isn't just about hobbits. It's about Azeroth as well. Something has happened. Vacation season has passed and you would expect people to gome back to business. Stormwind should once again be teaming with life - nice people as well as the annoying ones. At the summoning stones outside the major raid instances there should be a crowd at peak raiding time, making you lag badly so you get a bit worried about the coming night.
But it isn't. People seem to have lost interest. If they even log into the game tehy don't play it with the same happiness or dedication as they used to. They log in to level alts they want to bring up before the expansion or just to change tradeskills or gather some herbs for the inscriptions. But the burning desire is gone.
I feel a bit cheated to be honest. I woke up one day and saw that I was the only one left at the party, still dancing, to drunk and stupid to notice that everybody else had left an hour ago.
The expansion blues is here. It seems like resistence is futile. And still I keep fighting. It seems like I can't stop dancing - no matter if I make a fool out of myself doing so.
The Dark Legacy was spot on the other day. A guildie pointed it out to me, after one of my rants.
Even among the bloggers I see signs of the blues. Pike just left her guild. 2nd Nin is trying to reorient himself and seems a bit lost.
Something has changed. You can hear and feel the blues all over the place. How do you deal with it? Do you fight it, deny it or embrace it?
2 days ago
17 comments:
I think you're onto something, and its worth making a big deal out of. The holidays and other games, activities, and families have taken some of the regulars away.
Yup, that sucks in the short term. But then again its ok. This does not have to be a fight, this can be embraced.
- Farming just got way easier.
- AH prices will now vary a lot more, making profit for the marketeers.
- Folks are using a lot of alts, which makes lower level runs possible again, rather than only the heroics being viable.
Maybe some of the bad players are taking breaks too, as my last few pugs have been good. Granted some players are trying to extend themselves beyond gear, but the players are better.
Wrath rumbles in the distance.. even if it's not full Wrath, 3.0.2 threatens all your skills, talents, addons, innovations. It's all up in the air.. any day now the game will change completely.. and you just can't bring yourself to spend time on something that could go poof like smoke.
So you wait.. you do dailies.. you re-arrange your bank. You farm up that 50th pet. But it's not business as usual.. because business isn't usual... we're at that spot where everyone has battend the hatches and is cowering in the basement.. and is waiting for the roof to fly off.. or cows to fly through the air.. or.. for the sirens to sound the all clear.
It's damned annoying if you ask me.
I've got things to do besides cower in the damn basement. Damn inconsiderate Blizzard.
Nibuca
http://chicanery.fibergeek.com/
It was about this time last expansion that I quit the game, perhaps that is what's happening now?
Imagine taking 18 months off now and coming back to WotLK, everyone at level 80, all these new instances and professions and items you know nothing about are just business as usual....
I won't be doing that again!
This time, however, I'm not worried about losing all my gear, i'm looking forward to new this and new that, and im looking forward to taking on the expansion as part of a fun raiding guild :)
In the meantime... well is your fishing skill up to 375 yet?
mine neither :/
I likes better Ah prices on herbs...
It was getting to the point where it was cheaper to buy a mark of the Illidari then to buy a flask of pure death..
I must admit, I am one of those with the "why bother attitude".
Don't get me wrong, I still want to play, but do I still want to run Kara for 2 months? No
Do I want to run Kara every week to gear up the new level 70 alts of my mates (so they can run the higher Tier stuff)? No
Is there other stuff in the game that I have forsaken to "stick with the program", yep
Would my mates like to assist me in doing that? No
So I am stuck... we have discussed "rosters" of weeks for raiding and weeks for other stuff (Multiple times over 12+ months).
The weeks for raiding come - we raid.
The weeks for other stuff come - we raid.
So, yeah I am off to do some stuff for myself now.
If one plays for gear, he will definately lose interest. So here goes 90% of the lvl70 PvE players.
If you want challenge, if you want to try out something in this simulated world that can be used in the real one (no, I'm not talking about summon succubus), than expansion is not a big deal, just new places for your challenges.
I'm currently starting lvl5 alts one after the other and fill their slots and bank and guildbank with herbs. I'll be very rich after inscription comes out. * in the rays of the rising sun the face of the arcane mage fades and for a second let the real face to be seen. A green goblin face with evil grin * :-)
I rather enjoy the economic slowdowns they make the market such an interesting thing to play with.
I for one started this game with the lofty goals of 9x70 and seeing as much as I could possibly see without tieing myself down to obscure raiding schedules.
I am on track... wrath or no wrath it's not going to change how I play.
It's blizzard's own fault really... if they educate and motivate people to go after the gear than introducing a complete change in talents / gear then that is akin to paralysis.
I for one have nothing that I won't be willing to replace for a green or two later so I do what I do best and level
I have to admit that I've been stung with The Blues, particularly since hearing about the increased ease of leveling from 61 to 70 in the 3.0 patch.
Personally, my guild seems to be almost more energetic than usual. Everyone is in that excited stage where we are all looking forward to all the fabulous new stuff that is coming while trying to squeeze as much as possible out of the old before the expansion.
We used to struggle getting more than 1 raid evening per week going, all of a sudden we have 3 and people being benched because we have more people than spots. (And bear in mind we are still poddling around clearing Kara and just recently started dipping our toes in ZA, it's not like we are, or ever will be, pushing the 'proper' end-game.)
Many of us are altaholics so are making a push to get as many of the little 'uns as far as we can. 70 would be great, but 60 will do so that they will be easier to pick up once the mains and main-alts are levelled.
Others are running around gathering herbs for the character they are going to re-skill to Inscription or items for that Death Knight they want to create.
Bring it on, I say (but please let me get at least my druid to 60 first)!
Try to hang in there basically.
Our guild's frustrations with not getting into 25 mans has prompted us to make it very clear to all in the guild that if they do not help us with 25 mans, we will not help them in Kara any longer.
We're also recruiting all classes fairly heavily to find people that still want to raid from guilds experiencing the same problems.
What we've decided is that it's more frustrating to know we have the people and not raid than it is to worry about upsetting those that don't want to help us progress.
We'd rather have raiders than bodies.
On the other hand, I'm spending a lot of time on alts. Would still like to get two more to 70 before expansion, but it all depends on raids.
I embrace it, and even wrote a post about doing so (The Offseason). Don't get defeated! Use the time to get your characters, stock up on gold. Work on your alts. Save up honor, it's better than gold!
Oh, I'm not alone! It wasn't just my imagination, the blues IS here. And not only at my server, apparently.
@Typhoonandrew: yes, I noticed that at least during the summer. I found some really wonderful heroic pugs. Recently I haven't done much of heroic pugging - there isn't anything in it except badges and badges are only for selling vortexes... so I rather pug ZA if I can, but it's kind of hard to get a group like that, it can take hours.
@Nibuca: oh yes! Rearrange the bank. Mend the roof. I really should. It's just so bloody boring. But I guess I'll come to the point when that's what's left to do.
@Zupa: no fishing isn't 375, but not far from actually. The daily fishing quests have helped me the last way. I think I'll hit it before expansion.
@Pugnaciouspriest: I haven't noticed any decline in that really. And it seems a bit unlikely. Aren't people gathering herbs now for inscription?
@Gnomeaggedon: I can see it from your point of view. You've got what you can get from Kara and you haven't got the intention or possibility to raid 25 man on a regular basis. Probablly I'd think like you in that situation. I'm just a victim of my weired desire to work my way through BT to the end.
@Ghostboci: 90 percent of the lvl 70s play for gear? Oh... sounds bad. But maybe you're right. I feel sort of sorry for them. And I really must hurry up picking herbs as well. And put on some nice podcast shows - Twisted Nether! - to entertain me while I'm doing so.
@Captain the First: I wish I took such a pleasure in levelling and not in raiding. But I honestly don't.... Most of all, I think, because it's such a lonely business. The teamwork is what makes me have fun in the game.
@Einz: I hadn't heard about quicker levelling 60-70 until now. Thank's for mentioning it. Comes in handy for my rogue (currently lvl 51)
@Tufva: you're the exception! Grats to being unaffected of this disease.
@Kyrilean: yes, I guess all guilds are experiencing those kinds of struggles. My own guild has had an alliance with another not-big-enough guild in order to run 25 man raids. The other day we did a divorce so now we're back to recruiting, which is rather tough in the current situation. But I'm still full of hope. We've got awesome, decicated raiders, I hope we'll get back to raiding on our own soon.
@Gow: I think I'd accept the blues more easily and just embrace the off-season if I'd been playing the game longer. I did my first 25 man raid this spring and I've just got the taste for it. I think it's different if you've been playing since Beta and done the old 40 man and 20 man raids as well. Been there. Done that. Time for vacation. Sort of. I'm still hungry.
I definitely feel it, and it's tough. A lot of my enjoyment of the game comes from the fact that I feel like I know my class inside and out. With the fact that my class is gonna turn upside down looming on the horizon, in a way that is sort of exciting but also sort of ominous... it's kinda hard to do stuff lately.
And yeah, my guild basically fell apart =/
My guild is actually experiencing the opposite. Far from losing interest in raiding, we're more focused than ever — most likely because we're all aware that this is our last chance to see content we haven't seen before when it is still appropriate to our level. Sure, we could come back to Black Temple at level 80 and kill Illidan for giggles . . . but it won't mean as much if we do it then as it would if we accomplish it now, and we very much want to accomplish it now.
That said, I have noticed an increased, server-wide interest in old world content. The #2 Horde guild on my server is currently hosting weekly Nax PuGs, and I saw an advertisement on the realm forum not too long ago for an Ony key group. There's a definite sense of nostalgia.
At least you'll be ready for the whole Wrath raid cycle... and if the jump in quality from original to TBC is any indication, you're in for a better time. :)
There is definately a lull in gameplay at the moment and I know that I for one am just concentrating on getting my third character to 70 before the expansion. Who wants to raid the same old instances anyway... :)
samownall - Wow Blogger
Am not lost, just not sure of the path to walk.
I think Wrath incoming will be a major change, the slow down is happening, and in many ways its killing part of TBC, while there would have been a drive for more of the Sunwell, trying to finish, people start to worry about the changes, see their gear from T6 being replaced at level 75+ and start to wonder what the point is.
I think perhaps the Sunwell gear should have remained useful into Naxx, making it unique, the ability to have 3 set bonues potentially (4xT6, 2x/4xT7 and 2x0xT8), it would have been good, however instead the gear is made useless and pointless, those that want to push on for other reasons will keep trying, but doing so will get harder and harder each time, every day someone else will give up, and when enough do we all go dormant and wait.
At the moment I am sitting with 3 guild deaths behind me and trying again, restarting at the early MH level and trying to go kill Mr Stormrage himself. Its not going to be easy, and I think Blizzard should really have done more or hoped for more to keep their raiders in the game, we don't need a down time, 70-80 is down time enough, especially with Naxxramas being cleared in under 12hrs on the 80 premade servers, its not a good sign for those of us who want to raid that its possible to clear the first tier at current, even in Beta this fast.
I don't suppose Blizzard could do a lot, except make the tier gear more worthwhile, or give us something nice to look forward too, perhaps a special mount or something for an insane number of badges, lets get some life back into TBC, after all its not dead yet.
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