Video Games

Warcraft: Why I Don’t Raid

I don’t play nearly as much World of Warcraft as I did originally, but the time I spend in game is spent doing relaxing things like fishing and cooking quests or grinding reputation.  Even while leveling up, I didn’t do any of the dungeons at the level intended – most of the instances that my brother and I have done were after we reached a high enough level to two-man the instance.  In fact, I think the only dungeon that I’ve done with a group close to the intended level was the Nexus, and I’ve only completed that once.  (We’ll leave out the heroic Utgarde Keep run that I started in and then got kicked from.)

The reason that I haven’t done any of these dungeons is not an accident – I’ve purposefully avoided doing any raiding.  I believe I’ve mentioned here before that I suck at old games because they are hard, but I don’t really think that the games are really any harder to complete, I’m just not willing to put in the required effort anymore.  This parallels my attitude about instances in WOW.  Instances and raids require paying attention and actually playing the game, something which is at odds with the intended effect of my time in game.

The end result of this attitude toward a specific section of the game means that I miss out on personally experiencing a lot of the story and progression until long after it is no longer relevant.  I’m not really worried about it, however; I can live vicariously through others.  Even my brother tends to spend more time in that side of the game.  I will be content right now to continue trying to find rare mobs and grinding rep to get cool stuff and money.