Hey guys! I don’t want this to be a typical “I’m quitting the game” thread where I list all of my bad experiences and advise others to quit too. The truth is, I actually love the game and think it’s better now than it has been in a long time. I’m just genuinely trying to quit the game and I need help!
I want to play other games, I’ve got a huge backlog on steam of titles that are interesting and new. But the problem is it feels like all my brain can do is think about WoW. I boot up Cyberpunk and love the game for about 15 minutes then my brain immediately starts thinking about wow: new builds and alts to try, gear goals, pvp strats… And I can’t enjoy myself unless I start up wow.
I can hardly sleep at night sometimes because I’m busy reading the forums or looking up class guides and reading all night. I feel like this needs to stop and I want other parts of my life back.
I wanted to ask the people here because other places are so judgemental of the game and treat it like a moral failure to play or they equate it to a drug addiction, which I disagree with entirely. I love this game and world and I think that I will always come back, I just want to rewire my thinking so that WoW stops consuming my entire life. I’m sure there are others on this forum that have gone through this before and have developed a healthier relationship to the game.
TLDR: does anyone have any advice in helping me quit? What can I do to stop having WoW on the mind constantly? No judgment towards anyone in this thread, I hope that you’re all having fun with the game!
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You don’t have to play the game as hardcore as you’re making it to be. Just a couple hours a day will satisfy you if you can maintain less interest in the game overall or try some other existing MMOs and see why you like WoW so much. Hopefully you can use your time wisely with a new objective that way
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I agree, and I know that I don’t have to. It just feels like I’m predisposed to feel this way about the game. I tell myself that I’ll only play for an hour or 2 and then it turns into another 6-8 hour day of Wow. I know that I need to temporarily quit entirely in order to come back with a fresh mindset, but it’s hard to stop.
Especially when I think about wanting to raid or something, it’s like: Okay, I need to be able to block out a few nights a week in order to do the best part of the game. It feels like I can’t just play casually sometimes.
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Well, if this is about “I can’t play other games because I’m focused on WoW” then who cares? If you wanna play WoW and be on the forums most of the time, then go on lol but I hope it isn’t interfering with your actual real life such as health (I guess besides sleeping…Take sleeping pills haha…) WoW will always be here until it’s not lol. I just don’t want you to really go down hill over the game. ):
Good luck!
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I can relate in BFA I was doing 10 hour days way too often. It’s very distracting and honestly not worth it for me. Working more hours and doing other things makes the few hours a day of WoW feel better than those 12 hour nights lol
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You really want to quit? Gimme all your stuff. Disenchant all your gear and give me all your gold and mats. I’d say delete characters but it takes no time to level so no point in that.
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There’s an addiction hotline you can google. They deal with everything from cigarettes/booze/drugs to gambling/etc.
They’ll be much more helpful than the forums of the activity you’re trying to quit.
But they probably won’t give you the amount of attention you’re seeking here.
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No disrespect, but it feels like you need to work on your overall self-control and try to develop hobbies that are not video game related. I’m an excessive person myself and when I get invested into something I go all out. At some point, though, you have to set your own boundaries, as adults do.
If you’re unable to do that, you may have an issue beyond just “loving” the game. It’s entirely possible to be addicted to video games, and as with drugs the first step to recovery is accepting that you have a problem. The situation you are describing (up til early morning looking at guides, 2-hour gametime that almost always turns into 6+, etc.) and you searching for an echo chamber leads me to believe that you may have an issue in that respect, and in my opinion this is the first thing you should work on.
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Yeah totally. I don’t even necessarily think that it’s a waste of time or whatever, I have no regrets about the hours I’ve put into this game. I would just like to play other games that my irl friends are playing and talking about.
It’s more of a concern I have that my brain can only have fun if I’m playing WoW. Why can’t other games that I actually love, like Cyberpunk or whatever, take over for a few weeks in the “fun glands” of my brain? I love WoW but I don’t love being so dependent on it for a good time.
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Like with any addiction you have to find what you enjoyed doing before starting it. Keep playing other games and you will find your happy thoughts again. My last break lasted bout a year and after this expansion prob shoot for 2 years this time.
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Wrap up your loose ends, get your characters all parked in convenient places, and drop your sub for a month, give yourself a break, and if at any point you realize you really just want wow and wow alone, resub and dive back in.
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Delete all your characters, uninstall everything.
Done
Ps mail me anything valuable
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This is great advice. I think I shot myself in the foot by using all of my gold I made at the start of Shadowlands on game time up through next November, so I literally can’t cancel my sub.
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This game is not worth of your time.
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Honestly no. Its seriously like quitting smoking, but mental addictions are far worse than physical/chemical ones. Magnified more by there being little in the way of alternatives.
Use my experience for what its worth and draw upon it what you may. I used to play wow a LOT…until i started running seasons in Diablo 3…now a lot of people give D3 a hard time whether because its repetitive or boring to them, which in fairness it IS repetitive. Also though, theres a huge element of RNG ,not in the same way as wow, but more so in getting what you DO have to synergize perfectly to be a massive killing machine. Im not pushing D3 on anyone at all, its just what worked for me. There is a lot of min/maxing and gear reforging, gear augmenting, ancient and primal ancient gear that makes you even more powerful so you can climb higher and higher in the Greater Rifts.
The reason i like the seasons is because i get to start from nothing and try to accomplish all that over again.
I AM having fun with shadowlands, for now, but i can see a ceiling for me on that in which i will likely let a sub expire and wait for further content patches.
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it is to your benefit to wait til the 9.3 patch of each expansion to play, play the game when it doesn’t suck.
You don’t have to deal in absolutes, you don’t need to play wow all the time to be good and do content so why do it when it is at its worst
Just take a break and only play x.3+ patches! I feel like that is how the devs are wanting us to play it anyway since the early expansion stuff is always torture…
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I can only help you stop smoking cigarettes, or start smoking them.
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This is a great perspective I hadn’t thought about and realistic for me.
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For your situation (we are talking about managing entertainment time right?). I would say enjoy your drive for WoW while it’s there. There is no need to feel guilty about shelving other games like Cyberpunk for a time when you have a similar drive to play it.
I used to think a bit like you. Gotta watch this latest movie, play this new game, new tv show, wow, war hammer painting. But honestly, it is not worth overthinking it. Just do what feels fun at the moment, no need to force yourself to cover everything all the time. It’s free time after all.
Small edit: This thinking goes both ways though. If you are enjoying your time in cyberpunk you don’t have to feel bad for skipping a couple daily’s/weekly stuff in wow. I do it all the time, It’s really not a big deal.
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Youre right, of course. But i want to add something about this. And OP, this is in no way a judgement call on YOU personally, its just a feeling i get. It seems the OP needs guidance not just on how to quit, but what alternatives exist during the “wait until patch X” time to soften the blow.
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