Please helpe me love the game again

Community General Discussion
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Hello, I’m an old player trying to return, I played the final months of WTLK, and the entirety of Cata, Pandaria and WoD, and then for personal reasons I was never able to play it “for serious” again, so I became ultra-casual, pretty much subscribing for the anniversaries in order to get the achievement and then not logging in again.

I’ve always had the game in my heart, I really like the gameplay, the atmosphere, the transmogs, most dungeon fights, etc, but I just can’t seem to enjoy it no matter what I do.

I found a very social guild where people help each other and are very chatty, but none of that calls my attention anymore; I picked this character for its beautiful animations thinking the eye-candy would keep me tied, but it’s not really making a difference.

Probably the huge lore gap has a lot to do, since I feel no connection to any of the stories told in the quests or the shorts, I don’t know any of the names mentioned or anything, I tried watching lore videos but it’s overwhelming.

Has anyone else come thru this? What did you do to overcome it?

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No one can do this for you. Either fidn a way to enjoy it or move on.

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I want to love it again too, but people and/or games change… Sometimes they just don’t align.

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It’s a video game, either play it or don’t lol.

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I don’t think you can force yourself to be interested in the game.

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That’s not possible, you either love wow or its time to move on or take a break.

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I suppose look at the highlights of the expansion

Delves
Raids
Mythic
PvP
Follower and story modes
Dragon races

As a sad bad tourist casual, it’s fun. I cannot speak for the elites. But it’s got that WoW feeling that’s familiar. In a sight seeing not much time to play way.

:crab: :izakaya_lantern: :crab: :izakaya_lantern:

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I went and played other games or took extended breaks.

For me, the appeal of WoW over other RPG-type games is the MMO part, the social part. I have a group of people who have played this game with me for years. Some of us have been in the game together since 2005. Others joined us in Wrath or MoP or BfA. We even have two new people here in TWW.

I don’t have those people with me in modded Skyrim, for example, so when I return to WoW, it’s to play with my guild and hear their voices and laugh at their jokes and do things with them.

I do love the solo components of WoW. I spend a lot of time in the game fishing or crafting or farming herbs/ore/etc. That said, the reason I play WoW at all is the people part.

If your group doesn’t do that for you, and if the idea of learning the story is overwhelming, then maybe you just…outgrew WoW? If that’s not the case, have you tried playing Classic? I love going back to Classic. I played heavily in the Vanilla, BC, and Wrath Classic editions with (yep, there too) a guild of people I’ve played with for years. It was fantastic.

But if your nostalgia and connection for WoW live in old expansions…try playing Vanilla Classic or Cata Classic and see if that scratches the itch for you.

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If you don’t like it now, then you simply don’t like it.

Stop trying to force yourself to ‘love’ something you clearly don’t at this point lol.

Maybe you once liked it, but that’s not the case anymore.

Perhaps start playing the old content from where you stopped initially playing? If you want to feel some sort of connection again, filling in the gaps might help.

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Sounds to me like you have fond memories of the game but simply DON’T enjoy it anymore, contrary to what you say about still “liking the gameplay”.

At the end of the day, we’re still doing the same exact power grind we were doing in WotLK, just with more busywork steps involved now, more trivial early-game and leveling content, and a much more jaded playerbase.

If you burnt out on that (or just didn’t enjoy it anymore upon returning), there’s not much you can do to magically turn the love back on.

WoW has always had a turning point. Once you see the mechanics behind the coat of paint it loses some of the magic. Some people leave. Others still have fun with it. It kinda seems like you might be better off just leaving if it’s not clicking anymore.

If story is your thing, well, we’re in a new era. WotLK effectively acted as a pseudo-conclusion to Warcraft III. Cata, and WoD were blatantly rooted in RTS characters and locations. Even MoP, while a bit of a departure from the norm, was taking directly from the RTS.

That’s not what WoW is anymore. We’ve exhausted literally all of the notable plot points, characters, and locations left in the RTS. BfA basically speedran some of the last ones left in minor patches, for some reason. Some long-term characters carry forward, but there’s no leftover bit to go base entire expansions off of anymore. Everything is new, or working off seeds planted in like Legion or later.

I suspect you’re gonna struggle to attach yourself to the story now that it’s moved beyond what it was anchored in when you played.

I can recommend low level PvE Twinking (Like, 10 - 13 depending on spec) as a temporary thing to focus on just because for most people it’s a new experience and completely absurd to the point that it turns what I view as a negative in normal play into a positive just because of how extreme it is.

Add me on Discord (username: ventorath) if you wanna ask a bit about that.

But that’s not normal gameplay, it’s not going to be the thing that keeps you playing WoW long term, it’s the kind of thing you go do when you’ve been playing WoW for awhile and burnt out and just need a temporary break from “normal”.

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I am a 20 year WoW gamer. I was hardcore almost 24/7 no life from Vanilla to WoTLK. But my issue is different. I was addicted to WoW. I combat’d my addiction by leaving WoW in Cata. Later, I realized that I cant totally leave WoW. So I went back but I became Casual.

Just doing their hard dungeons, and my semi-addiction starts pouring on my veins. I just like Dungeons and Raid… and now Mythic+… and now Delves. But I am trying to control my addiction. I just need to be Casual.

Ask my wife if what I would choose… between her or WoW. Oops, pls dont tell her I would choose WoW but I am Casual now… so I have to please my wife on RL while I enjoy WoW when I get spare time. Like now, it’s time for me to cook dinner for her… for us. But I can play WoW later tonight. GG.

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I loved this game up through Legion. Then the end of BFA and Classic - WotLK was great. I’m tired of raiding so I was hoping to swap over to retail and enjoy a casual experience but I agree, I can’t get into it either.

Feels like there’s a lot to do but nothing fun to do. Maybe it’s burnout, or maybe the game isn’t for me anymore. I know I’d enjoy leveling another HC character, but instead I’m going to play OSRS for a bit and see if that helps.

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simple short n correct

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idky but this was kinda funny to read lol rip

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You like what you like. Don’t worry about it. Just go with what ever feels right. If you’d rather go shoot hoops, play chess or croquet then go for it. Do what makes you happy.

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I find enjoyment in a game is usually about perspective changing your perspective can alter how much you enjoy a game or not. This doesn’t mean your perspective is wrong, however what it does mean is that if you want to enjoy a game bad enough your perspective will have to change as it’s unlikely for a game to change to match your own perspectives. That said feedback is always valuable and could move things closer to your perspective if enough people share that perspective and the devs happen to understand it enough to agree.

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It’s hard to tell what exactly makes me lose motivation about it, because I enjoy my collections, flying around, etc, but it’s like the… soul? is not there anymore

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I’ve been in sort of the WoW “funk” many times, yet somehow I always manage to find a reason to stick with and ultimately love the game. I think a big part of that has to do with the fact I split my time between other games, with WoW as my main staple. Though it doesn’t have to be that way for everyone. Point being, my only advice is maybe you can find that passion again by allowing other games to scratch a certain itch, while WoW scratches the other?

For example, I find WoW’s gameplay absolutely addicting, particularly Mythic+, and these days my favorite thing to do is hunt transmog. However, storywise though I’m into it, I’m not exactly “passionate” about it these days. So I find my narrative passion in other games, my current obsession being Baldur’s Gate 3 for the story / RPG aspects. PVP I play a lot of DBD and Elden Ring, as I enjoy PVP in those more. Basically, I never really fall out of love with WoW because I divide my time with it, so whenever I start playing again I’m not really in a funk. I’m enjoying it for the particular gameplay I’m seeking, which in the end is enough. I feel if I play too much WoW in all its aspects, I more easily fall into the funk.

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so would you recommend me trying it out?

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I have been playing WoW off and on for the past 20 years. My issue with WoW was never about pve, but more with pvp. I can’t seem to get myself to play pvp anymore. Alot of my friends and enemies have quit WoW because all the pvp nerfs. No factions wars , no pvp severs , and no Swifty . Pvp has really went down hill or just went right off a cliff.