Failing Resolve

Perfect Drug

This morning I am having a bit of a slow start getting going… so as a result I spent the last 30 minutes or so crawling through my news reader looking for something to inspire me.  At which point I landed on this post from Liore talking about her feeling the need to apologize for playing World of Warcraft and the overall negative reaction she has gotten from other gamers.  I think in part… the negative attitude is due to the fact that there is really no such thing as a former WoW player.  I don’t really intend hyperbole with, but much like an alcoholic you are never really fully over World of Warcraft.

I was so damned pumped the day I got into the Hearthstone beta, and while I am presently having a blast playing it despite how many times I get beat…  it has awoken some things that I was not quite ready for.  I cannot count how many times after a game of Hearthstone this weekend that I considered reactivating my account and “playing some wow”.  I am still resisting, and my little interaction a week or so ago with a trial account is keeping me in part from doing it.  World of Warcraft this is wonderful marzipan world that is awesome so long as you are willing not to think about it too much.

Can’t Not Think

The problem is… each time I go back to the game I just end up frustrated about the decisions they didn’t make.  World of Warcraft is like that friend you know with so much potential, but they keep making horrible life choices.  So when I go back I get frustrated by the Transmog system, and the piss poor community support, and the fact that every single social channel that used to be my lifeblood in the game is dead…  since most of the folks I care about have long since moved on.  For me World of Warcraft is this magical thing that will never again be, because we have all fundamentally changed from the days when it was our nightly obsession.

We reject WoW so harshly because we know it is basically an empty promise.  All it takes is a little bit of nostalgia and reminiscing about the “good ole days” and we are ready to re-up for another ride.  Hearthstone has been horrible for me in this aspect, because seeing the cards and the artwork… makes me want to go play Belghast and actually get him to level 90.  However my allergy to pugging, or more so TANKING for pugs will end up in tears as I would be going back with no real support structure.  House Stalwart still exists, but it is a shell of what it once was, and going back and seeing that is hard on me as well.

Failing Resolve

All of this said… I fully expect over the next few weeks this nostalgia trip that is Hearthstone will eventually end up in me reactivating my World of Warcraft account.  I figure I will only last a week or so if I do, and even knowing this going into it… I full expect to do it anyways.  I spent most of the weekend trying to play various things without really having much success.  I played a little rift, patched up gw2, played a lot of pokemon and hearthstone… and even considered patching up SWTOR.  All the while trying to avoid the fact that the rush of nostalgia is demanding me playing some WoW.  But all of this is why we push back so hard when we see a friend slip back into playing the game.  We know deep down inside that we are likely next to follow.