I treated the game like it was real life, and put too much of my heart into it, as opposed to treating it like a game, and it ended up just hurting me in the end. Just like it had in the past.
This post is long. Very long. And sad. Apologies. Continue reading “Why I Chose to Leave WoW”
When I decided to start this blog, I thought it would be simple to find time to write, but it has been a challenge. Besides caring for my little one, all I do at home all day is play WoW or the Sims (although I did just pick up crocheting recently), so you would think I’d have something to write about, right? Nope. Not really. Despite the fact that I spend the majority of my day at my computer, I feel like I’m barely playing the game, not doing anything… not doing anything with writing about really. But hey, maybe someone out there will find this interesting!
I would say that a good chunk of my time spent on WoW lately has been time playing my Shaman, which has quickly become one of my favorite classes again. I’ll always be a Hunter at heart, but she’s just SO fun. For those of you who missed my previous post, I recently transferred my very first main, a Troll Shaman named Zuljinn, from the Dethecus server to Earthen Ring. I’ve been doing this for years, but always decided against it. I enjoyed the idea of having that one character, completely original and frozen in time where I left her… but on the other hand, she was my main for nearly five years. I spent A LOT of time (and money) playing her. I have so many incredibly fond memories of my time playing her. So… I decided to take her out of retirement.
Meet Zuljan, level 100 Troll Shaman! I hit level 100 on her last week after using my character boost to go from 70-90, and decided to try out playing as Elemental, since she was always Resto/Enhancement. It’s very different from playing my Hunter, for example, my Shaman dies. MY HUNTER NEVER DIES. Maybe I just suck? Combat on her is a lot more fun though, more buttons to press, more cooldowns to manage… my adorable elementals. Fun!
Her item level is hovering in the very low 600’s, since I hit 100 in Spires of Arak, and not Nagrand, so I missed out on some of the higher level quest rewards. She does have several pieces of crafted gear though, so that’s something! Unfortunately, between her low item level and my lack of skill, it has been very hard to do my Apexis dailies. And complete the damn Silver Proving Grounds… so no heroics either. A lot of focus on my garrison, as well as quest achievements in Draenor. It’s been a lot of fun!
I feel like I’ve completely lost interest in my Hunter since transferring my Shaman. Since I’m no longer able to raid, and all my WoW friends are… nonexistent, the only thing really for me anymore is leveling alts, farming mats, pet battling… actually, yeah, that’s pretty much all I do on my Hunter. Pet battles, farming for garrison crap… boooring.
The good news is, after hardly touching her for two and a half years, I’ve decided to finally start playing my Priest again! She will remain as shadow (healing is gross), and after playing her for just a few minutes today, I was pleased to see that shadow spec hasn’t changed at all. I miss my Priest, she was my main for a long time before I became addicted to being a Hunter. I’m not alone in this, have you SEEN how many Hunters are out there these days?
I suppose that’s it for now! I hope you enjoyed this long-winded description on what I’ve been up to this past week… it took me nearly a week to write it. In fact, I’m finishing it up from my couch, while trapped under a sleeping two month old, watching Bones… ah, this is the life… Thank you for reading, friends!
J
Balancing gaming and a newborn has been tough. I already knew raiding was completely off the table for me, but I’ve been surprised at just how little I’ve been able to do while home alone with my son.
I was without internet for two years. Two. Long. Years. To some, this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when all of your hobbies, friends, and the majority of your life exist solely on the internet, suddenly being without it is somewhat devastating. I really don’t care if you find that pathetic, that’s just how my life was.
After my ex of four years and I parted ways, I was broken, and broke. Even working full-time at my job at the time, I could barely afford rent and bills on my own, let alone luxuries. I felt completely cut off. During those two years, I was also without a phone, so I had zero contact with my friends or family. Or work. It was awful. But I’m back now. As great as it is having the internet back (I missed you, Netflix!), I feel like the last couple months have been a horrible game of trying to catch up with the world… movies, music, TV, games. I’d been so out of the loop for all long that it’s almost overwhelming now that I’m back.
Listen to me, sounding like I was held captive in a bunker or something for 15 years. Ugh. This is a little pathetic.
Anyway, I got my internet back a few weeks before my son was born in January. I decided that if I didn’t have SOMETHING to keep me sane during my maternity leave, even if it was just Netflix, I would snap. Besides, my fiance and I were both making more than enough to make ends meet, so why not? Despite my excitement, I told myself I wasn’t going to jump into my old online life, not that I didn’t want to, I just couldn’t. Everything was different. My old friends had moved on from me. My podcast was old news. No one knew who I was anymore. I felt replaced and depressed. There could be no big comeback. What was I even coming back to? I was never really a somebody, but more than ever, I felt like a nobody.
Despite my better judgement, I reinstalled WoW on my computer and reactivated my account. I guess deep down I knew I would. I decided to lay low. I had missed out on a good chunk Mists of Pandaria, as well as the launch of Warlords of Draenor, and everything felt overwhelming. There were people bragging about their 4th or 5th level 100, and their level 3 garrisons, and raiding whatever they were raiding… and here I was, logging in and standing in the middle of my FARM. Everything in my bags and bank, everything I was farming when before I was forced to quit, now completely useless.
Awesome.
On top of that, there are new games? Hearthstone? Heroes of the Storm? WTF is that?
Class changes, mounts and battle pets, raids. So much to learn. I rejoined good old AIE on my hunter, whom I had resumed playing as my main, but let my priest stand idly by. She’s still only level 90, despite the fact that my hunter has been 100 for over a month. I also recently transferred my level 70 shaman to Earthen Ring and began playing her again after five years of letting her sit unused on my old, old, OLD server. My first server. She was my first main. She is now level 98 and I’m having SO much fun playing her as elemental.
Balancing gaming and a newborn has been tough. I already knew raiding was completely off the table for me, but I’ve been surprised at just how little I’ve been able to do while home alone with my son. No PvP, no raiding, no instances at all… at least, I can’t do any of those things WELL. I spend the majority of my time in WoW doing activities that don’t require me to play with both hands, e.g. maxing Archaeology and fishing, doing my Apexis dailies, putting together killer transmog sets, farming mats, farming raid pets, etc. Even still, with him being a little over two months old, it’s been difficult to find things I can do to keep me interested in the game with him in my lap.
Thank god LFR is such a breeze that I can do it with one hand on my hunter. She actually has a pretty respectable gear score, for being on a raid team.
And please, don’t even get me started on rebooting Something Suggestive (for those of you who didn’t know me before this year, I ran a podcast for a while). Sorry to disappoint… whoever is even left to be disappointed, but it’s not going to happen. My podcast is dead. Sorry.
So, as glad as I am to be back, it has been hard for me as well. I’m enjoying myself and adjusting pretty well, but I still get overwhelmed and upset from time to time. But I guess I have plenty of time to play now that I’m a SAHM, right? I’ve also met a lot of really great people lately who have helped me more than they know. So thanks, new friends!
Woah. This post was much more depressing than intended… sorry. Thanks for reading! More to come later.
J
My Life as Jan 
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