Ciao, WoW
I quit World of Warcraft last night. For the third time. For the last time.
I was never a diehard WoW player. In fact, I only created three characters, and I only leveled those characters up to about 30.
The first time I quit I did so out of sheer fatigue. Though it may sound laughable to MMO gamers who cut their teeth on titles like Everquest, even WoW’s gentle grind eventually began to feel more like work than play. I plunged back in when Burning Crusade launched, but after I leveled a Blood Elf Warlock up to 30 I ran out of steam once again.
I didn’t uninstall, though. I’d always wanted to max out at least one WoW character, so when the v2.3.0 patch eased the leveling requirements for levels 20 through 60, I thought I might give it another shot. Given the lack of post-holiday game releases, it seemed like a good time to re-commit to the game. I was wrong. It only took me a few nights to realize I will never earn a standard mount, let alone an epic ride. I’ll never hit level 60, let alone 70. And I’ll never raid.
If I didn’t have a family, or a job, or other interests (including no shortage of other games), I could probably justify playing WoW often enough to develop a social network that would carry me through. But I live on the West Coast, my gaming schedule is erratic, and I generally don’t play games to socialize. There’s just not enough variety and action in WoW’s solo experience to hold my attention.
Know what the real dealbreaker was? The walking. I wasn’t more than a few hours back in before I realized how much I hated hoofing it from place to place, even between quests in the same region. Though some of WoW’s landscapes are quite beautiful, they’re just not all that fun to jog through. Either drop me right in the middle of the action, like Hellgate: London does, or let me travel through remarkable places, like Shadow of the Colossus did.
I’m quite certain I’m finished at this point. Not because I canceled my account. I could easily re-subscribe. I know I’ll never come back because I completely uninstalled the game, and there’s no way I’ll be going through the installation and upgrade process again.
Goodbye, World of Warcraft. Alas, I hardly new ye.