Dark Clouds Gather

[Bolty]

Let me ask you this as well, you never played in Beta so you have about 8 months of time since the game has been out.  Look at myself, Tal, Roane, Ruvanul, Bolty, Mongo, Dragoon, and others that were in the closed test.  We've been playing this game from a year plus, yet we still find things and still haven't seen the luster lost.  The key to playing is moderation.  That is the problem that you're running into, you have played Rylea to exclusion for the most part.  How often have you taken Katrin out since you hit 60 with her?  How often do you play your Rogue or your Warrior?  Look at their /played sometime, it might just be a complete eye openner.  While it's interesting to build a character up, there does come a point that playing that one character to exclusion or following only the goals of that one character to the exclusion of others leads to the not-funness that you're talking about.  How many different characters did you have in Diablo and Diablo 2?  Did you play one character to the exclusion of all others?  Did you eventually get burned out by playing that one character over and over again?

You're (and Flyn and Arethor) at the crossroads of burnout.  One path will lead to further burnout, the other will give you a fresh perspective.  The choice is yours.[right][snapback]84242[/snapback][/right]

Please take heed to this.

Lissa speaks truth. Deny it all you want now, but come back in 3, 4 months and see for yourself.

Remember the critical thing about MMORPGs: they are about the PEOPLE just as much (if not more) than the game artifice thrown at you by the developers. There are those who realize this. There are those who don't.

The *people* will be around long after the game has gone old and stale. Which means it goes beyond just WoW. Consider that. Consider what people here will think of you in the future.

There are numerous analogies to Real Life that can be made - the Rat Race and all being an obvious one. People can get so caught up in it and in keeping up with those pesky Joneses, that they lose touch with what is actually important. In the end, they're burnt up, alone, and unhappy, never understanding what was wrong.

The way the game sets it up, it leads to the feeling of "OMGWTF these other players have done things I haven't and have cool lewtz, I need them" if you lack the critical mass of raiding. This puts pressure on people to do it, simply because it's there. There's nothing wrong with that - it's the challenge that drives us in life just as much as in WoW, to better ourselves as well as our characters.

So you abandon everything you know and the people who were there with you through it all in order to have a shot at the golden prize. Then you get it, with much less challenge due to being in a group that's done it all before. Now what?

You do it again, and again. And again. Then you do it another 40 times until Blizzard releases some new content. Then you blow through the new content in the first or second week, followed by another 100 re-runs.

Then you burn out.

Then you realize that you can't go back. You burned too many bridges, betrayed too many trusts. It's over. Stuck between a rock (not getting to see uber content right away unless you play multiple times a week doing things you've done 100 times over again) and a hard place (starting all over somewhere else).

What is the alternative?

You stay with those who are your buddies, who've been through it all with you. And someday, eventually, you get that big win. Onyxia falls. MC is run. BWL is finally accessed. The guild grows stronger and stronger, and it's due to YOUR efforts. As new members rise to join in, you know that YOU paved the way for them. The pride of escorting others through their first raid victories belongs to you and those who worked so hard with you toward that satisfying goal.

The indescribable joy of that first Onyxia victory with a rag-tag bunch of friends who have tried over and over with third-rate gear will never be experienced by you now. The true challenge is gone, instead replaced by machine-like precision with super-geared players that are mostly strangers to you. Exciting and thrilling at first, the fun wears off relatively quickly and you're left with nothing and nowhere to turn.

The Lurkers are so very close now, and this is the key. If we were a 10-player guild with absolutely no shot of ever getting anywhere, that would be one thing. I keep expecting any time now to hear of a victory over Onyxia, and to slap everyone involved on the back because I've watched what they've been going through.

Since inevitably someone will mention Boltress and try to use that character against me: she is retired for exactly the attitudes expressed by certain guild members at the time of her capping. While those attitudes are likely no longer present due to player migration, she will likely remain retired as her replacement is rising through the ranks. Believe me that I *really* want to be participating in these raids for the reasons I've mentioned in the above paragraphs, although it cannot be with her. Some of you here know more, although I have not been that forthcoming.

Have fun in your new guild.

-Bolty