It’s been two years since I last picked up World of Warcraft. And two years since I wrote for this blog.
I bought Battle for Azeroth, and never finished it. I bought Shadowlands, never finished it. Then, Dragonflight came out. I was bored between major game releases that fit my niche (ie: picky) needs in a game. And I had even grown bored with Final Fantasy A Realm Reborn (FFXIV from this point on).
But in the two years of playing FFXIV and not playing WoW, I may have learned some things that help me not quit at the end game.
You see I’m not a raider. I don’t do mythics. In fact, I only really care about doing things that continue the story or reward pets or cool weapons and outfits for transmog.
But it never failed, I’d hurry to get to the end and level to max, but then what? There’s not much left if you’re straight casual. So I’m slowing down. I’m not rushing to the end, I don’t care how long it takes to hit whatever the magic number is now. In fact I haven’t even started the new zones yet.
I’m traipsing around Shadowlands in the hunt for some Dark Ranger transmog armor. I’m taking a lowbie lightforged Draenei through Battle for Azeroth to hit 50 and get the heritage armor. Maybe I’ll unlock some more allied races and make more characters.
Blizzard may never make WoW casual or semi solo player friendly, but maybe I can.
Great read! I really get that feeling of games not really being made for casuals. Like, when I played MMOs, I wanted to roam the world, meet people, read lore, get to know all the nooks and corners, maybe find cosmetics, and just slowly get through areas… but everyone around me was really into raids and PvP.
Most of the time, I’d stop playing because the people I wanted to just casually play with were all about raids and stuff… and those are too stressful for me. With Destiny 2, for instance, raids were incredibly exciting but they also killed some close friendships because of how salty and they got.
Hence, I love your approach to it of making games casual; playing them the way you need them to be played.