If The Game Is Getting Old, Here’s How To Restore Balance

WoW is all about Blizz trying to balance things.  This spell against that spell.  How classes work in PvP, how they perform in raids, keeping everyone (reasonably) happy (yes that is totally impossibly but we are willing to accept a certain level of overall customer satisfaction).  And they have done such a good job of keeping the game engaging and fun that you might just find yourself at a point where you are spending WAAAAAYYY too much time in the game.

All your plants are dead, your dog is biting your leg, you girlfriend is long gone (probably with someone who doesn’t play WoW), and you haven’t eaten in three days.  It’s fine, we’ve all been there.  Well, not exactly there, but I have lost a plant or two over the last four years.  Actually, I lose them all the time and it has probably nothing to do with WoW – or raiding – or dailies – or randoms – or working the ah – or . . .

There’s just too much to do.  The game becaomes a little life all it’s own.  And as such, it comes with regular sorts of real life pressures.  Your guildies expect you to show up just like your real friends.  Your running buddy wants you to finish leveling up your alts.  In my case, the wife needs another 3,000 gold for some crafted bracers or another (always shopping) and that’s before I spend one minute at the ah or anything else I like to do.

Now, I’m not one to just chuck the whole thing – which I have known people to do (cough you know who you are).  But the one thing I refuse to do is feel guilt about a game.  Honestly, its supposed to be fun and if I am having negative emotions about something that is supposed to make me feel good then something is way wrong.  Actually any sort of guilt (real or just guilt feelings) is a bad sign, but we won’t go into psychology or the spiritual condition here.

But, suffice it to say that even though mild degrees of frustration can be healthy if they make you grow (like beating your face into Rotfaces’ face for three freaking weeks – then doing a serious fist pump routine when the sucker finally hits the floor) if you are feeling frustration and annoyance every day when you log in it’s time to re-evealuate . . . something.

Just start by taking a few days off here and there.  Instead of raiding five nights a week until 4 am, why not just raid until 2 am two or three nights a week.  You’ll feel much less like a zombie if you don’t keep those zombie hours.

Try a guild change if your current guild schedule is too demanding.  Sure, you probably won’t hit all Best in Slot gear nearly as fast, but in the big scheme of things, who gives a crap?

Try to give up on just two things you have been trying to get.  Maybe it’s an achievement or item.  Been busting hump for a chopper or getting every single reputation achievement?  Give it up for a while until you figure out just which parts of the game are causing you grief.  You can always pick those back up again later.

Mostly, what getting mad at the game means is that you’re trying to do too much, too fast, too often.  Just slow down a little bit and trim away activities until you feel like you are missing the game again.  that’s always a good sign.  When you get to the point where you’re not sure you want to play, just cut your time spent in half.  If you spend half the time and begin to miss it, add a little back in.  If you cut it in half and still feel like it’s a bother, keep cutting back until you hot a sweet spot.  Oddly enough you might find the exercise of cutting back quite helpful in RL as well.

Yeah, I know it’s no big tip, but you might not be seeing the forest for the trees in this case.  Maybe I just wanted to remind you that it’s a great game, and it should be a lot of fun.  If it’s not a lot of fun right now, back off until it is again.  You don’t have to play ten hours a day to Dominate.