I... quit WoW today

[beez]

After 6 years, I'm leaving. Can't say that I won't miss my pretty phoenix, all that cooperation and drama but... I mean, what they are doing to the game... well, I do not support it.

Here's my reasons:
I've been paying my subscription fee for years, and since Cata, a lot of the content we were getting was rehashed, remade, et cetera.
I've been paying my subscription fee for years and they kept holding back more or less awesome content for money. A lot of times I've saved up money on buying food (I did not starve, but I bought less, or worse quality food for example), just to be with my friends
now they announce that they are slowly implementing microtransactions on top of the subscription model, further locking people, like me out of content that should be part of the game (and cosmetic armor for money? srsly)
the new things they implement seldom work, so patch by patch we see classes struggle just to keep up, or get a complete redesigen in an even more ridiculous way.

I'm not having fun anymore, and all the stuff they publish convinces me that they lost their soul as a company. I don't think it's a coincidence that they are losing subscribers, I've lost all of my IRL friends. Also, I've found that all these things, plus, looking back at it, the time I've wasted that I could've used more productively, have made me regret playing at all in the first place. So, I think I'm not touching an MMO ever again in my life.

What do you think? I'm not planning to start a flame-war, hate-thread, or anything, I'm just interested in your opinions or similar stories.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

A lot of times I've saved up money on buying food (I did not starve, but I bought less, or worse quality food for example), just to be with my friends

Right there. Once something starts harming your quality of life in a negative way, it's time to move on. A game shouldn't come before your health...even a little bit.

 

[beez]

Funny thing is, it is never the game that particularly comes before anything, it's the people you play with, the social experience.. I guess.

 

[Ryotknife]

Funny thing is, it is never the game that particularly comes before anything, it's the people you play with, the social experience.. I guess.

I know that feeling. Towards the end I had no real interest in WoW as a game, but merely as a social tool. It was where all of my friends (scattered around the country) were.

As for me I quit at the end of WotLK right after my guild beat 25 man Arthas with...like one stack of the buff. I just wanted to go out on a high note. Came back for Cata for a little bit, but lost interest very quickly. I hated what they did to my favorite specs (feral and affliction). Even though its been years since ive played, I still do not have any desire to play (even though some of my friends tried to get me back in).

Although I have been hankering for a MMO, just not WoW. Nothing will replace vanilla or BC WoW in my heart though.

 

[MCerberus]

WoW finally died for me when my server died and the social group I was in just collapsed. Coming back and seeing nobody online and the 200+ roster of alts sitting inactive... it was weird.

But I have a rather large selection of f2p games, League Season 3 is heating up on Twitch, and a few rentals console-side I still want to play out. All-in-all, a better use for the $15 a month than what has turned into a chore simulator whose death is so extremely slow because of its inertia.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

I think it's extremely difficult to play an MMO casually, and I think playing an MMO hardcore is extremely unhealthy. So congratulations on breaking the spell. Do everything in your power not to relapse.

It took me a long time to quit WoW as well, and for basically the same reasons. I'd shed a decent number of RL friends in favor of my online friends, too. The worst part (and you've either experienced this already or very soon will) was quickly discovering that nearly all of those online friends completely vanished practically the moment I stopped playing. Sure, they'd respond to an IM or text here or there, but there's this weird unspoken awkwardness that exists between the ex-addict and the still-addicted. It's like communicating with someone who no longer wastes all of his or her time somehow highlights the fact that you are still doing so.

Just remember: social experiences are supposed to be energizing and satisfying and even productive. They aren't supposed to interfere with the course of your life, and they aren't supposed to make you feel bad for missing a day here or there. In all honesty, you'd probably form a pretty tight-knit group of friends in prison as well, yeah? Doesn't mean you should consign yourself to such a place for the sake of maintaining a social group that can't survive outside of those walls.

 

[skywolfblue]

Welcome to the many-million fold of Ex-WoW players!

I kinda saw the writing on the wall reading through stuff about the Cataclysm beta. Nearly everything I read made me go "Ugh, really?", so I made the choice to skip out before things went downhill.

About the hardest point of quitting was leaving all the friends I had made in my WoW guild behind.

In hindsight I think I'm glad for the chance to have played it. I got to see some incredible things and meet some incredible people. That's not to say it was all roses and sunshine, I was going through a difficult time in my life, and WoW was something of a salve/escape for a while.

But all said and done, I think I'm richer from the experience then naught.

 

[Remus]

Can't say I ever had the RL friend interaction with WoW. I got a friend started on the game in WotLK but then we both came off the game at about the same time. None of the guilds I was in were all that social, except the first, one I migrated over with from another game. But then they quickly split up after the move, so all other guilds after them were more a means to an end than a social gathering. I did little outside power-level and raid. I liked the end game for WotLK and for Cata, not so much for MoP. End game is what I do, what I'm good at, but it is only engaging to me if there's a big reason in the lore for it being there. In MoP, the raids were basically "Oops we woke up this ancient evil that nobody's heard of or remembers. Lets kill it." I could go on, but you get the idea. The game had lost its charm and I was no longer interested. So I stopped playing, am moving on with life, etc. I still play MMOs but I'm in considerably better shape and not nearly as pale as I was while playing WoW.

 

[OpticalJunction]

I wonder if they introduced microtransactions to facebook whether many people would quit. After all, most people on there are only there because of their friends/family, and the addiction aspect is similar to that of an MMO.

Anyway, congrats on getting your priorities sorted.

 

[Neverhoodian]

It can be hard to get off the MMO treadmill if you're really sucked into it. I should know, having been a WoW player myself for a few years.

I started playing the game because a friend of mine wouldn't stop bugging me about it. He kept telling me about how awesome the game was, and how it would be terrific if I started playing with him. The only problem is that he played WoW far more than me. We're talking addiction levels of play here, from sunup to sundown (and sometimes more). Consequently, I could never keep up with his character progression. He would create alt characters for the sole purpose of playing on my level, but he would end up power-leveling those as well. When all was said and done my main character (an Orc warrior by the name "Bonecrusha") only got to level 43, while he was rocking 70's and 80's and exploring all the endgame content without me.

This constant playing catch-up started causing me anxiety, making me feel compelled to play more and more for the sole purpose of keeping up. After spending countless hours grinding mobs, I finally got burnt out by the whole thing. The time invested that it demanded, the monotony of many of its tasks, the subscription being a small but nonetheless steady drain on my then-limited finances (I was working a minimum wage job at the time), etc. Simply put, it stopped being fun and became a second job (except that I was paying money to work instead of getting paid). I finally canceled my subscription and have never looked back. Eventually my friend realized how much the game was consuming him, and he stopped playing as well.

I have nothing against WoW or its player base. I just wish I caught on sooner that it wasn't the right type of game for me. Skinner box game mechanics and peer pressure can be a dangerous combination.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

You did the right thing. 6 years of subscription to that thing? That's a lot of money.

 

[thebakedpotato]

I'm not having fun anymore,

I happen to be a huge Blizzard fanboy. (I am really, really pumped for Blizzard All Stars.)

But at the end of the day... If you're not having fun playing a game. It's time to stop playing the game.

 

[Vhite]

It's about 20 days until the next patch, enjoy your freedom until then. If you are quitting for a first time, you really haven't even began. I'm still quitting since Burning Crusade, my best time was about half a year.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

Now you just have to resit the constant temptation to go back to another MMO...

WoW became so lifeless and about cold, machine-like efficiency with Pandaria. Join LFR, derp on boss till its dead, get valor points and go.
Then there is the rep grind to actually spend those valor points which Blizz repeatedly admitted was a bad idea but still wont completely remove it.

The weird thing is that Blizz seem to be putting a lot of focus on 1 time questlines in the Pandaria patches rather than more repeatable content like dungeons etc as usual.

 

[Amaror]

Hehe i tried playing an mmo once. A fried triet to convince me how great it is, so he gave me the dvd and let me use his account to try it out. After i trained my warrior dude up a bit to kill a big guy in a cave. I only had a small chance of defeating him by kiting single enemies out of groups and defeating them individually. Was pretty frustrating. But the real reason i quit was:
I was level 10 and just couldn't finish that damn quest, until one tiny shaman level 6 ran by me, killed hordes of the damn enemies and one hitted the boss. Stupid game

 

[Miyenne]

Good on you for leaving. I never struggled financially, but my social life and relationships did really suffer because of that game and it was a very bad thing.

Like everyone else here I had a hard time letting go. I left a while after WotLK came out. Most of my friends had stopped playing and I was logging on out of habit more than anything.

I did make some amazing friends there from all over the world that I still talk to or visit (if I even fly down to Arkansas every few years to visit some of them, you know I love them... I mean, it's Arkansas...) but the game had died at the end of BC for my circle of friends.

It'll be hard for a while, but you'll get used to it.

Or you could join some of us in FFXIV when it opens this weekend.

(I know, I know, another mmo... But we're different people now and haven't the time to be sucked in, too many responsibilities.)

 

[Fappy]

Welcome to the quitter's union. We are legion. I've been clean since the beginning of Cataclysm. I ain't neva goin' back!

 

[Evonisia]

Good for you, making a decision you wanted to make. I wish I could sympathise more but if you visit the WoW Forums you'll notice a Leaving WoW thread pop up every other hour so I don't really bat an eye to it any more.

I'll just keep playing, I've found the right way to play game which would be casually go about what you want to do then go do something else, and come back on when you really feel the urge to (which is rare after 8 years).

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

It amazes me people play the game for that long. I quit after 2 months because its such a grind and the people i met where either arseholes or they take it way to seriously. I think i met one guy and a girl in a guild who were awesome, friendly and helped me out a lot and i left them both all my gold when i quit. The game isnt fun. I think its more about hanging and playing with friends than the actual game. Being part of something, being important in a guild when your nothing in real life. Either way, its good your out and can live life for fun and have fun with life.

 

[Teoes]

I left for a few months around Cata-time and just had a sudden urge to return so played a few months more, then just up and left again and I've been clean since.

Congratulations. Whilst you are winning if you stay away and never feel the urge to return, the important thing to remember is that you're not failing if you want to go back and decide to go back. Been there. Although, if your diet was suffering so you could play, yeah that's less healthy.

I still have the occasional pang as I really miss the fun times, my Druid and my Warlock. I don't miss the payments, the hassle and the lack of time available for other games.