Playing Classic really made me realize that the amount of limited time rewards in WoW has gotten out of hand. For the most part they used to keep it pretty minimal, like the bug mounts and PVP rewards. Other than that, I can’t really remember feeling like I missed out too much on anything for most of the time I played WoW until recently. You could always just go back and get it later, eventually. Now there’s whole handfuls of content that I won’t even bother doing because it’s not worth stressing myself out if I miss out on it, I’d rather just… enjoy playing a video game.
FOMO sucks, anxiety and stress should not be a motivator for people to do content and get a reward. That is silly.
In general, I just wish the seasons were longer. Or maybe even a season each year. This last season that’s ending, I felt that it was way too short. Even season 3 felt too short with the two or three weeks non raiders had to play without tier set.
In the end it is a personal feeling.
you can’t get the Tabard from the portal opening or the cool recolors from scourge event anymore.
Therefore you missed out.
FOMO only works if it’s not out of hand, if there’s too much of it, people just get frustrated and throw their hands up and say “why bother”. I used to care at one point, but it’s got so out of hand that I’ve just given up caring anymore on missing out. So the entire point of “FOMO” no longer works on me anymore.
There needs to be a “season” (like Season of Mastery) which is designed to “slow boil” with greater amounts of time between new content rollouts and mechanisms that actively curb trying to rush through. Basically a season tailor made for “dad guilds” and serial alt levelers.
It’s a “very real” strategy designed to appeal to one segment of the playerbase. However, it is a turnoff to others and gives them less content, because most old content - outside of leveling quests - has been removed. That includes all events that occurred during most expansions, and the story that went with them.
So you’ve written off lore fans, levelers who might have been interested in that FOMO content that got removed to make FOMO addicts feel more special, new players who are seriously disappointed that the best stuff in the game is unobtainable (ie sparkle kitty, for which there is nothing remotely comparable), and just in general people who have less to do because much content remaining is now pointless.
I’m not sure a tiny core of hardcore FOMO addicts are going to be enough to keep the game going.
I don’t really feel like I did anything to “conquer” that feeling though, I feel like the FOMO just got so out of hand that it wasn’t worth caring about anymore. I did nothing, Blizzard did all the work for me lol.
You underestimate the amount of people this affects, even if many don’t see it. Again, very real psychology, very real proven strategies. There are ENDLESS things that affect us on the unpercieved, unconscious level.
As for the rest, the game is so big that if you miss a few older items, does it really matter? If you have done everything, and find nothing to do, move onto another game. There is not, and never will be, one game to rule them all.