Why do I raid? It's a pretty simple question but lately one I've struggled to answer. I started playing the game because it sounded fun and upon entry I found that Blizzard had created an amazing world. I wandered aimlessly in the game for about a year until I found the Requiem guild and for the next 3 years I spent 3-4 nights a week with these people as we progressed from a casual family guild to a elite raiders that dominated the server. It was very special and every night was a lot of fun.
Raiding is very intense and after 3 years I took a break.
WoW burnout is common but I decided that once the Cataclysm expansion came out that I was going to get back into raiding. Over the past 3 months I've spent quite a bit of time getting ready to raid to the point that my gear is definitely ready for raiding and my experience in dungeons has my confidence at a pretty high level. Tonight a guild group needed help in a 10 man and I decided to help. As I entered an instance for a guild run for the first time in about 30 months, I experienced something I never considered during my comeback preparations.
It wasn't fun.
After the 4th wipe I actually looked at the clock and realized that it had only been 30 minutes and was thinking to myself, "I wonder how long we are going to raid?"
The reason this is a big realization is true raiding takes 3-4 hours a night meeting 2-4 times a week. Wipes are part of the process but here I was thinking ... "How much longer?" after 30 minutes. It got me to thinking. "Am I have fun?" and truthfully the answer was no.
I think one the reasons I loved raiding was I really enjoyed my guild mates but that isn't the main reason. For me, it all comes back to the realization I had at the end of Burning Crusade that Blizzard's virtual world isn't permanent and what is considered an amazing achievement today will be meaningless in 6 months. Nothing in a virtual world can compare to the real world in terms of meaning which leads to the question -- Is it worth the time investment?
Right now I'm not sure that I want to spend time to even find out.
Raiding is very intense and after 3 years I took a break.
WoW burnout is common but I decided that once the Cataclysm expansion came out that I was going to get back into raiding. Over the past 3 months I've spent quite a bit of time getting ready to raid to the point that my gear is definitely ready for raiding and my experience in dungeons has my confidence at a pretty high level. Tonight a guild group needed help in a 10 man and I decided to help. As I entered an instance for a guild run for the first time in about 30 months, I experienced something I never considered during my comeback preparations.
It wasn't fun.
After the 4th wipe I actually looked at the clock and realized that it had only been 30 minutes and was thinking to myself, "I wonder how long we are going to raid?"
The reason this is a big realization is true raiding takes 3-4 hours a night meeting 2-4 times a week. Wipes are part of the process but here I was thinking ... "How much longer?" after 30 minutes. It got me to thinking. "Am I have fun?" and truthfully the answer was no.
I think one the reasons I loved raiding was I really enjoyed my guild mates but that isn't the main reason. For me, it all comes back to the realization I had at the end of Burning Crusade that Blizzard's virtual world isn't permanent and what is considered an amazing achievement today will be meaningless in 6 months. Nothing in a virtual world can compare to the real world in terms of meaning which leads to the question -- Is it worth the time investment?
Right now I'm not sure that I want to spend time to even find out.
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