I haven’t decided yet what I will do in terms of PvP. I pretty much told Mr. Phae that if he won’t raid with me, I won’t PvP with him. ^_^ But I think I’ll probably end up going back on that and trying for at least an 1850 Rating for the Season 3 healing hammer. Trust me, though. PvP is NOT a way for me to destress. =D

As far as considering other guilds, that just isn’t an option for me. I care too much about my guildmates, and I know many of them in real life. The game just wouldn’t be the same without them! And, while I DO enjoy raiding, the idea of being a guild where its “top priority” fills me with dread. I guess I’m just afraid that some of the personalities attracted to such an environment would be too aggressive and drama-prone (and unfortunately, it only takes a few).

I’ve sort of been on a break the last 2-3 weeks as it is, popping on once or twice a week (I think I may have lost some Super Mana Potions in the mailbox because of this – doh!). I think I’m just going to try playing less than normal, helping out with 2/3 of our 25-man raids instead of trying to make all three in a row. It’s going to be hard for me to LFG in guild chat, though (must … get … Heroic … badges). Mr. Phae has historically been the one to form our groups.

Thanks again, everyone! I appreciate your thoughts on the matter, and I feel much better for having read them!

As you can see, most of us understand what you’re feeling. I think it happens to almost everyone who plays this game as a large part of their life.

About the raiding – if raiding is what you want to do, it’d probably be better to find a guild that is dedicated toward it. I spent almost a year and a half pre-BC in a more casual guild that took AGES to start raiding, and it was always a struggle to get people motivated. The guild never conquered its identity crisis of ‘what kind of guild are we?’ I decided personally that I wanted to raid so I moved on to a guild that was focused there. It was hard to leave friends that I’d been with for so long, but they are still in the same world with me, we just have different guild tags. Ultimately, do what is fun for you. And if that isn’t raiding, well that’s fine! I’d talk to your GM about how you feel and just see what his/her expectations really are – if they understand and just tell you to lay low for awhile, a lot of the obligation and duty you feel will fall off your shoulders and you’ll be able to relax. Burnt out and discontent raiders NEVER = progression.

As to the spouse issue, I understand that too. I started playing long before my boyfriend, but now that he does too, we try to coordinate our raiding schedules and it’s often frustrating when one wants to arena til late night and the other is just tried of gaming or something of the sort. I think it just comes down to priorities and if WoW is cutting in on time you really end up wanting to spend with your partner, well don’t let it! RL > WoW. Btw, this is advice I still struggle with following myself so.. >.>

And on burnout in general – take a break. They are AMAZING!!! Every 4-5 months, I usually take 3 weeks off or so, just to rejuvenate. I get to watch movies, get work done that I’ve been procrastinating on, work out more, take a day trip, just anything I want. And after a couple weeks, I start to get that itch where I *really* want to play again – and when I do, voila there is the fun again.

Anyway, good luck with everything. Hope to see you feeling up to snuff soon!

Ada

Zul’Aman COULD cause some thrilling, but I only see it as a second Karazhan, another 10-man to be stuck in.

If you guys are needing a warlock/another resto druid, let me know, I’ll hop over!

Just don’t leave WoW (I know you won’t, I’ve read your note). I love your blog, it’s helping immensely on my “quest” to become a good durid 4 heel.

Burn-out happens – especially when you devote a tonne of time not only in the game, but outside it as well, as with this blog. Take a breather, and when the urge to play hits you again, come back refreshed. (Been there, done that.)

The 25-man content (post-gruul especially) is definitely a huge step up in difficulty. The trash gets harder, and the bosses less forgiving.

We’ll still be here for you when you return. For now, re-energize.

Coordinating so many people is not easy, not only due to everyone having their own lives outside WoW that mess up with schedules (which is enough to complicate things, in both ways!), but because of people willing to play with their alts, do some PvP, or simply not in the mood when it’s time for some “scheduled fun”.

Someone’s so right.. When I left my previous guild I said that very same thing: this is (or SHOULD be) about having fun, and everyone should find their own way to do so. Some wanted to try high level raiding? Great!. some were happier doing something else? So be it! It’s not something to argue about!

I’ve also seen quite a few people leaving WoW or at least having a break, and I keep saying the same. Good for you! If you’re not having fun with what you do, what’s the point of doing it? Leave it for a while, try to keep in touch with the friends you made there, and look for something else. There are so many great things to do.. And who knows, maybe one day you come back and enjoy it like the first day (it happens to me all the time, not just with computer games).

Whatever you do, I’m sure it’ll be the right choice. How can it be wrong, if it’s about choosing what makes us the happiest?

Note: I’d miss this blog though

My solution: call it off for a couple weeks! Maybe show up once a week for a raid or something, but otherwise either don’t play WoW altogether or go try another class/race! If you’re on a PvE server, you can even level another druid for the opposing faction! Or try some other completely different classes! Mages are not good 1st chars as they are glass cannons, but now that you know better, you could probably try one for size! Check Girl Meets WoW’s Mage Leveling Guide for a start.

Ultimately, just remember this: WoW is about HAVING FUN! I have a self-imposed and friend-regulated limited play time, from 20:00 to 0:00 Mon-Thu, 20:00-02:00 Fri/Sat. Last Monday night I was playing WoW as usual and, around 22:00 (with 2 hours playing time left) I wasn’t feeling very well, but I had that feeling “I HAVE to play now as I can’t play outside of this schedule”. And then it suddenly hit me: I *DON’T* have to play NOW! World won’t come to an end if I “waste” two of my allowed hours of gameplay! I’m going to bed earlier tonight. Period.

It’s not like WoW is a job you need to be in every day at the same time for a given number of hours whether you like it or not: WoW is about having FUN! If you’re not having, take a break, go see a movie, go out, play a card/board game, sleep, play an alt if you’re only burned out on your current char due to the dreaded end-game issues… There are plenty of solutions out-there! I hope you don’t get to the same “extreme” I did on my main as I’m not in any guild nor want to be: Guild = Commitment, and I’m already committed to my wife and daughter, don’t need any more commitments! And it made me a lot sad about playing my chars when I got myself in shoes very similar to the ones you’re in now, only pre-TBC when things were even harder trying to get 40-man raids! Last I did was some 20-man ones like ZG and then the guild couldn’t handle it anymore (was even hard to get a weekly ZG run back then!).

I found that playing my alt is a great antidote to raiding blues. Especially with the 15% increased XP now. And make sure you do all the things you didn’t do on your main character – Cooking, Fishing etc.. I’ve had a blast.

And maybe take a few more nights off. My personal observation is that anything more than 3 nights a week raiding starts to take its toll on your sleep/health/patience and life balence.

I went through this exact phase about 2 months ago. Karazhan loves having people who can multitask- and then the 25 mans demand everyone be the epitome of either DPS, tanking, or healing. Add to that many folks right now are seeing great gear from running heroics or going and doing more ten man runs in ZA- well, the motivation to deal with getting 25 folks together was waning for me. I am one of those folks who love a challenge and push hard to be the best at what I am doing!

So I way scaled back how much I was online, started listening more to what people wanted to do. Worked with folks to see how I could help them enjoy the game. Now, were talking with two guilds about doing both ten and 25 person content together- it may not work out, or it could freaking rock! The new dailies reward a pvp angle and running a heroic each day to keep you sharp- do those and a few others and bam- gold in pocket. Help some folks out, screw around with the anal retentive people in the guild by messing with the guild bank stuff, lol. Find the folks who want to do the same as you, and then find some more. Druids to me are like what my Yoga instructor kept saying- “Its the journey, not the destination.”

Truly enjoy the blog-its not often that I can read one without the image of monkeys behind bars flinging poo at anything they see comes to mind.

My experience is this: being able to raid 25-man isn’t so much about time commitment to the game as it is about using to time you have well and knowing how to play your class well. Everyone has to be using consumables, stopcasting macros, have the best enchants/gems, be PvE spec’d etc. Clearly you’ve got the knowledge to do this – I learn plenty about playing my tree Druid from your blog and we’re working our way through tier 6 (12 hours a week at a time). You’ve got to get people in your guild up to that standard of knowledge and performance or you’re not going to get over the hump and start clearing out more 25-man bosses. I know this can be hard – my original TBC guild died trying to make the transition.

Anyway, I hope you find a path that makes you happy. Zul’Aman seems fun and the badge vendors have some loot that will help guilds starting on 25-man content. Best of luck to you – I really enjoy the blog!