Wasting Time

One of the reasons I came back to playing WoW was the mechanics of the game. I enjoy playing a ranged class that has a pet to keep the mobs at bay. I also enjoy the healing aspect of the game.

I did not come back because I missed the social interaction; in fact, so far, the majority of my play has been solo and more so recently since Jay and Robin transferred their mains over to Andorhal. I've done just two instances since coming back and really haven't had any desire to do any more.

I didn't even come back because there was content that I felt I was missing (raids and the like); when I quit, Uldar was yet to be released, and I had seen (not downed) all of the current content. Also, I had all of the tradeskills well above 400, and some of them were capped.

So, I guess I'm saying that I had beaten the game or as much as I wanted to beat, so why come back?

That's a good question. I've been pondering it a bit lately, too. I came up with some facts about the current state of the game as it appeals to me:

1. I'm having fun. This is the single most important item to me, and when I quit, I wasn't having fun. I'm not worried about capping any levels or tradeskills; I know I'll get there eventually.

2. I look forward to playing. This is closely tied to #1.

3. I don't mind wasting my time inefficiently gathering resources. Ole Rysteranch has solo'd ZF twice in as many days in order to gather up Mageweave and Greens for Daxea. While I'm still opposed to wasting those resources in inefficiently using them for my tradeskills, I don't mind the gathering part of them.

4. I've started reading WoW related blogs again. This is almost exclusively at work during down times, but still, it's an indication that I have a peaked interest in the game.

5. I've been blogging about WoW stuff recently. Of course, you guys already knew this.

6. I am dropping WoW in favor of wife/family stuff that comes along instead of declining the activity in order to play WoW. This is a caveat that I force upon myself to keep from becoming unbalanced like I was not too long ago. Case in point: Last night I really wanted to play my little PvP Daxea (and did for about 20 minutes), but my wife thought the dog wanted to take us for a walk, so I bailed (and left Daxea out in the middle of nowhere) and went for a walk.

So, the answers that can be denied are:
1. I want to raid. Uh...NOPE.
2. I want to level to 80. Nope.
3. I want to pwn noobs. ....uh...maybe....nah.
4. I miss all my friends. If that was the case, I'd pick up my Alliance toons again, ya know!
5. My RL sucks, and I need to escape. Quite the opposite - my RL is outstanding! My marriage has never been better; my financial situation has never been better; I've never been paid so much to do so little in my life; and the stresses that I'm under at home and work are easily bearable.

The answer that I keep coming back to is: I'm having fun again.