I apologise for the somewhat personal and non-WoW nature of this post. Just this once, honest.
Last night I reached the end of my free month of Star Wars: The Old Republic and cancelled my account.
It's not that I didn't enjoy playing it - in fact I was having a great time cackling as I force-lightening'd everything in sight. I had just got to level 16 and my ship and headed off for my first taste of space combat. I had a few tiny alts that I mucked around on as well.
The Problem
Starting over from scratch in a brand new game requires a certain level of commitment and determination. The levelling process, especially in SWTOR where each quest giver speaks the quest text to you in glorious detail, requires concentration and attention.
At the end of a long day, when I'm back working in a job I'm not particularly enjoying where I'm away from my Sproutling for five days of the week and I've finally got him to go to sleep, I must admit that the last thing I feel like doing is sitting down to learn to play a new character and concentrate for a few more hours. A few times in the last couple of weeks I've sat down at the computer and thought about playing, but then fired up Skyrim and pootled around looking at the mountains instead.
That my main character only made it to level 16 in one month should tell you how long I've been able to actually spend playing the game (that is, very little), but from what I saw, it looks like a very detailed Galaxy and the Sorcerer gameplay and starting quests were very enjoyable (if you're into the dark side stuff, of course). I hope to go back to it at some stage once I can devote some more time to it, but at the moment, I'm just not playing it enough to justify staying subscribed.
The Alternatives
So what to do instead? Skyrim is still holding my attention, but I may well resub to Wow sooner rather than later. The Wow-withdrawal didn't hit me hard this time at first, probably because I had other toys to play with. Now I find I'm really missing the small goal driven super-casual play I had been enjoying around Christmas time. Perhaps that's all I need at the moment - my attention span has shrunk and I need the small-project approach with a toon I already know how to play. I'll also admit that the prospect of running an old-school raid with a bunch of Twitter-folk sounds like a right knees-up. I'll keep you posted on that, internets.
A Small Yet Shameless Plug
The other diversion I've been working on gradually is a product of my new-found commute reading time - I've started another blog for Fantasy and Sci-fi book reviews at oakenbookcase.wordpress.com. Stop by and say hi if you're interested in that sort of thing!
So, what will I decide to do? I suppose I'll give myself a week or two of MMO-free spare time before I decide. Unless anyone wants to help Aoifen become a Kingslayer, that is. Aaaanyone?
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| Angelya the Sith Sorcerer |
Last night I reached the end of my free month of Star Wars: The Old Republic and cancelled my account.
It's not that I didn't enjoy playing it - in fact I was having a great time cackling as I force-lightening'd everything in sight. I had just got to level 16 and my ship and headed off for my first taste of space combat. I had a few tiny alts that I mucked around on as well.
The Problem
Starting over from scratch in a brand new game requires a certain level of commitment and determination. The levelling process, especially in SWTOR where each quest giver speaks the quest text to you in glorious detail, requires concentration and attention.
At the end of a long day, when I'm back working in a job I'm not particularly enjoying where I'm away from my Sproutling for five days of the week and I've finally got him to go to sleep, I must admit that the last thing I feel like doing is sitting down to learn to play a new character and concentrate for a few more hours. A few times in the last couple of weeks I've sat down at the computer and thought about playing, but then fired up Skyrim and pootled around looking at the mountains instead.
That my main character only made it to level 16 in one month should tell you how long I've been able to actually spend playing the game (that is, very little), but from what I saw, it looks like a very detailed Galaxy and the Sorcerer gameplay and starting quests were very enjoyable (if you're into the dark side stuff, of course). I hope to go back to it at some stage once I can devote some more time to it, but at the moment, I'm just not playing it enough to justify staying subscribed.
 |
| But Skyrim is so pretty... |
The Alternatives
So what to do instead? Skyrim is still holding my attention, but I may well resub to Wow sooner rather than later. The Wow-withdrawal didn't hit me hard this time at first, probably because I had other toys to play with. Now I find I'm really missing the small goal driven super-casual play I had been enjoying around Christmas time. Perhaps that's all I need at the moment - my attention span has shrunk and I need the small-project approach with a toon I already know how to play. I'll also admit that the prospect of running an old-school raid with a bunch of Twitter-folk sounds like a right knees-up. I'll keep you posted on that, internets.
A Small Yet Shameless Plug
The other diversion I've been working on gradually is a product of my new-found commute reading time - I've started another blog for Fantasy and Sci-fi book reviews at oakenbookcase.wordpress.com. Stop by and say hi if you're interested in that sort of thing!
So, what will I decide to do? I suppose I'll give myself a week or two of MMO-free spare time before I decide. Unless anyone wants to help Aoifen become a Kingslayer, that is. Aaaanyone?
