Post 500.
What a weird way to end it.
The TLDR of this post is - I'm quitting WoW. So now on to the essay lenghty post everybody knows me for
I had originally planned to stay on to ICecrown, and if not that, at least until I got my Violet Protodrake. But, things change. I was talking to Rhodie and Lex in vent last night (blame Lex!
) and I mentioned how I wasn't interested in raiding anymore. Lex asked me what the point of being around was, in that case, if all I was going to do was sit around Dalaran moping. I don't remember if I had a smart ass reply to it, but I thought about it seriously after I logged off and I couldn't find a single reason to stay.
My first long-term guild was back when I played my lock on Maelstrom. And being a lock at 60 sucked, having low DPS and maybe 2 raid slots at best in 40 man's was a joke. Not to mention that I was in a purely casual guild at the time, and could only pug ZG and the occasional AQ really. But even then, I had more fun with my time than I'm having now, in the best guild I've been in, as a class I enjoy like crazy (Or else the guide I wrote to prot warrioring never would have been written
).
Something is fundamentally wrong with that picture.
Part of my tiredness is from playing for as long as I have. My account was created in July 2006, and its now August of 2009. Over three years of playing, and it's mostly been really enjoyable. I've met some great people, people who's views have changed the way I think not only in game, but out too. The game has been made up of mostly high moments, with the occasional low moment in that rollercoaster of issues known as guild drama.
I've guild leaded, been an officer across numerous guilds, and raid leaded. Doing these things has taught me a lot about people, so even if I haven't done a great job at any of it (our U-10 man group probably has a lot of complaints about me
) I've taken a lot away from playing this game.
So why quit? It sounds as if for the most part, I've had a good time, and I don't deny that I have. I started becoming disinterested when we were in Ulduar, a few weeks before we hit Yogg for the first time. The nerfs to some of the Ulduar bosses were hitting, some that made Ulduar more relaxing (removing Ignis and Freya trash for one T_T) and the others which took away the challenge and enjoyment that makes raiding to me enjoyable.
Seeing new content is great. I can remember the first time I saw the bosses in ZG, I can remember the feeling of elation when I first fought Ragnaros, Onyxia and even Prince. But with the way Blizzard designed things, hard-modes now replace seeing new content with seeing content for the 2nd time with an added twist.
That has made me feel cheated out of my money, really, and it's hard for me to get behind the idea 100%. I have never bought a game because it has an easy-medium-hard difficulty setting and then replayed through each. I buy games mostly because I love losing myself in the story, in the boss fights, in the new experiences. When you're asked to do the hokey pokey while fighting a boss just because, it's hard for me to muster up the excitement to do it. Not to mention that now, if you want to gear up in t9, you have to do heroics on a daily basis in addition to Trial of the Crusader on both 10 and 25 man, to get gear at the same pace you did in Ulduar, and it's downright impossible to say "HEY, THIS IS FUN".
I could write a whole article on how the new loot looks like shit, and how much of it has been recycled since WOTLK came out. And I think that's every bit as important to the experience. I remember bein a 60 and seeing people in t1 and t2 and thinking WOW that looks cool. I didn't care what the item stats were, it just had to look cool. Now, theres no incentive for me to go out and collect the gear because I end up looking like all three other plate classes and who will tell us apart? Not to mention it looks shit. Oh I already mentioned that, whoops! But it totally does!
Class balance actually has nothing to do with my quitting. It's always been at a decent level, since the beginning of TBC at least, and I've never understood the fuss with which Blizzard has approached class balance since WOTLK. They seem to have prioritised it above all us, and this has lead to a game that really isn't very fun. I originally had a 70 of almost every class and enjoyed playing all of them. Now, post-WOTLK, i can hardly bear the boredom of doing it again. Not because they're terrible, but because once you've played one class now, you are almost literally playing the same game all over again in a very unnoticeably different way.
So, with all these complaints done and filed, ONTO THE EMOTIONAL STUFF. I've stuck around as long as I have because of the guild, and how awesome you've all been in my time as a BooB. I've never been in a guild with so many people I like and I believe are good players both at once. Usually its one or the other, you can't both be nice and a good player, but this guild proved me wrong. It's the one guild I've enjoyed logging in to vent to "talk cock" as Lex constantly phrases it. Even getting insulted by Gallow, Shiro, Jan, Junik, Xiph, Sed, and everybody else who enjoys taking shots at me has been enjoyable.
The hardest part of leaving is that once you no longer have a place (virtual or real) to interact with people, it becomes harder to relate to them. If you've been in a long distance relationship, romantic or friendly, you'll know what I mean. I'll continue to lurk on these forums, but it's always been extremely hard to find middle ground on which to continue the bonds formed in game. Hopefully we manage though, and I'll try and occasionally log on vent to talk when I can.
I do plan on trying out Aion when it comes out, possibly even the new FF when that does. Hopefully I'll see some of you in either of those. If not, it was great knowing you guys and don't be strangers.
Hopefully from here I can do some things with all the free time I'll have to do something productive, but I doubt it. But I feel like a huge weight on my shoulders is gone, it's been hard writing the messages to people on old servers about quitting because of all those memories I have. Levelling with my shadow priest friend and getting ganked from STV to EPL to Silithus,
getting ganked by Moroes at the entrance of Karazhan,
sapping murlocs and then doing voiceovers from behind them on my rogue
doing Mechanar on my first warrior and enjoying the stupid debuff those mobs placed on you
But that's the only thing about WoW I still enjoy, the good old days, and I only wish I had met most of you and raided with you guys back when there were things which forced you to work better as a group rather than allowing people to pay no attention and still do well (Admission: I've drifted off in Valdr's briefings and played flip the coin and somehow still managed to do my job without any research >.>).
Cheers guy, love you all even if I hate you at the same time
I may be back for icecrown, assuming it's any good, and I wish you all the best of luck in the future.
LOL. I may just add you on facebook if I get around to logging in to it again hahah.. Keep in touch bro 
