I fear that I have come across as belittling end-game raiding in several recent posts. I don't. I know it requires a lot of individual skill and team coordination. But what end-game raiding is not, is something I enjoy doing.
I was involved in "casual" raiding guilds for at least a year, total, between TBC and WotLK. Those people provided a form of friendship as I went through some tough times in my life. WoW was my escape hatch, my pressure valve. I raided because that's what my online friends were doing. But we were all there for different reasons. Eventually, I had to take a break from raiding because business put me in time zones incompatible with our raid times, not to mention the interesting things to see and do in the places I visited.
When I first stepped out into Coldridge Valley in the summer of 2006, I was almost awestruck at the incredible world Blizzard created. The novelty and sense of adventure I experienced through Vanilla and two expansions was wonderful.
Raiding is not that for me. I eventually decided it was not how I wanted to spend my evenings. Repeating content over and over for weeks and months—regardless of how easy it became before we moved on to the next challenge—lost its appeal long before I came to the realization that my raid group didn't really need me. I was totally replaceable.
And that was OK, because I moved on to other things, other games. I haven't spent nearly as much time playing other games as I did playing World of Warcraft. Within a month or so after I quit raiding, I met my lovely bride, and things changed again.
I may be a bit of a gaming nomad now, but I am not alone in my wanderings.
I was involved in "casual" raiding guilds for at least a year, total, between TBC and WotLK. Those people provided a form of friendship as I went through some tough times in my life. WoW was my escape hatch, my pressure valve. I raided because that's what my online friends were doing. But we were all there for different reasons. Eventually, I had to take a break from raiding because business put me in time zones incompatible with our raid times, not to mention the interesting things to see and do in the places I visited.
When I first stepped out into Coldridge Valley in the summer of 2006, I was almost awestruck at the incredible world Blizzard created. The novelty and sense of adventure I experienced through Vanilla and two expansions was wonderful.
And that was OK, because I moved on to other things, other games. I haven't spent nearly as much time playing other games as I did playing World of Warcraft. Within a month or so after I quit raiding, I met my lovely bride, and things changed again.
I may be a bit of a gaming nomad now, but I am not alone in my wanderings.
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