A Casual Alternative to MMO End Game

Hanging with Jeeves and a new Engineering pet outside the Auction House

It is that time of year when people are looking back at the last year and forward to the year ahead.  Ocho wrote two posts, one listing the 5 games he is looking forward to and another about the 5 Games that don't interest him.  Number 1 on the list of games that don't interest him was World of Warcraft.  I find it interesting because I feel like we have some of the same interests and I can completely understand why he doesn't want to play World of Warcraft, but at the same time it is the only game I am looking forward to next year.

I used to raid on a weekly basis in both vanilla WoW and Burning Crusade.  I took a break at the beginning of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and never really raided after that.  I was never comfortable with my play style in either Wrath or Cataclysm and went searching for another game that fit my play style better.  While Ocho points to discontent with the WoW end game for his reason not to play the game, I have finally decided that my discontent with the WoW end game will cause me to play the game differently.

Godmother just today (you don't know how shocking for me that is to be able to respond to a post the same day it was released) posted about how her achievement of the 'Mount Parade' was so significant for her.  I had a similar reaction to my creation of Jeeves.  While questing in Icecrown, Kantrina found the Jeeves recipe, and though I highly doubt it will be worth the cost in components, I love having it.  For those that don't know, you can call on Jeeves to appear and he will allow anyone in your group or raid to sell things, repair or buy certain common items.

So I declare myself a proud member of Team Faff (Godmother's word for spending time doing things in game that don't serve the normal end game goals).  For me, it isn't about gear, or achievements as the game defines it, it is about setting my own goals and working towards them.  Right now since Jeeves is done, I've started working on getting my Miner, Kantro, to a high enough level so I can send bars to Kanter to transmute.  Will I ever use those bars?  Probably not many of them, but I want to be able to do it.  After that, I will either level my Mage, Kantrina, so I can work on higher level Enchanting and Engineering, or go back to leveling Archeology on Kanter so I can get the Vial of the Sands.

Because of the need to be able to drop what I am doing any time, I need goals where other people are not depending on me.  However, I love being able to help people and I've found a way I can have fun and still be able to do that.  Other people have other constraints and play the game very differently.

Godmother made the provocative statement "I reckon what Warlords should be doing, as a first priority, is actively discouraging as much solo play as it can."  I disagree with that.  I believe one of the lessons that Blizzard learned in Mists is that more options is a good thing.  If you want to raid or want to have the best gear, yes, you'll need to play nice with others.  However people can be happy working on their farm or Garrison, or battling pets, or using their professions, or competing in the Brawler's guild and pretty much do these things solo.  It benefits the players if they have multiple ways to keep busy that match different interests and time availability.  And, if it keeps people playing, Blizzard has the incentive they need to keep offering multiple ways to play their game.