WoW-Freedom

Having spent 2 years of my life in WoW, I am now officially WoW-free for a year as this marks the anniversary of my account expiration. I actually stopped actively playing sometime in mid January, a few weeks after Burning Crusade was released as I found myself wondering why I was paying Blizzard to play a game I had already played just for new graphics and to keep up with the Jonses.

I played a horde mage named Sputnik on a PvP server grinding up the PvP ranks to General, and indeed half way towards Warlord, when the PvP honor changes occurred. In some ways, the months of honor grinding for gear (which was now being given away for almost free) marked the end of the game for me. I still tried to give BC a chance, but with a record number of players in the same zone filled with quests collecting items with a 0.0001% drop rate (which we affectionately called "livers"), I could stand it no more.

With 2 months still paid on my account, I decided to let it expire. This money making machine of Blizzard has no end - there's no goal to look forward to and all it takes is another patch to keep you playing catch-up for the next set of gear (and more subscription money).

I wouldn't have reached out to other forms of entertainment and hobbies if I hadn't quit. As well, I had renewed focus in my day job which lead to two promotions that year - far better returns than my night and weekend "job" in WoW with nothing to show for it but digital bits. I also had renewed interest in playing music and found an artistic outlet in building the resin kits shown in this blog. None of which would have happened if I stayed on the WoW treadmill.

R.I.P. Sputnik.