What keeps you coming back?
This week’s Shared Topic is from Ringo Flinthammer. What keeps you coming back?
Despite a well-publicized dip in subscriber numbers, most WoW players have stuck around. But those folks didn’t leave for no reason, so what keeps you coming back and still playing?
There sure are signs that all is not well in the World of Warcraft. For example, what’s wrong in the picture above? Yes, Whiptail, just sitting there up for grabs. I was mucking about there forever trying to get my pony in just the right position for the screen shot and nobody flew down to get it, need I say more?
I don’t really know if Cataclysm was the culprit or just 5+ years of playing WoW, whatever it is I was unhappy. Not unhappy enough to un-sub but unhappy enough to see if Rift might be a replacement. It wasn’t, I came back and I do know why. I like living here. I’ve read all the books, I keep up with the lore and I just want to keep living in Azeroth. This has happened before.
I read George R. R. Martin incredible novels when they came out. I wanted so badly to live in the Seven Kingdoms. I wanted a Dire Wolf at my side. I wanted to be crew on the Starship Enterprise, the list goes on. But no where but WoW have I been able to do this successfully.
I can’t give up Feralas, Tanaris, Nagrand, Darnassus, Ironforge, Uldum, I am just not ready to. So, I have to make my own fun. I grew up an only child so maybe it comes easy to me, that or it just doesn’t take much to entertain me.
I’ve rediscovered my Toggle Run/Walk key. I fly to out of the way places I like, use Iron Boot Flask and slowly parade around. I make money so I can see just how well dressed I can get my characters with only homemade clothes and BOEs. I took my pony to see Uldum, oh and I fish. Nothing terribly exciting but I’m just not done living here yet. And woe to anyone who pulls the plug before I’m ready to leave.
I want to thank Jaedia’s Menagerie for posting about the pony creator. I went straight over there to make my new mount and then took her to Uldum. There is some kind of a bug though, she’s not showing up in the companion pet count, I’ll have to put in a ticket about that.
Tome of the Ancient 
June 12, 2011 at 1:50 pm
I think you have hit the nail on the head for me too. Were we twins in a past life? lol George RR Martin – Starship Enterprise – I wanted to live those places too! I think that for me I yearn for a simpler life without rules or regulations, where you are free to roam and live your life in a much more back to basic, back to nature way. My mum – bless her – always wished she could have been one of the pioneer settlers crossing America in a wagon train.Danger yes – but freedom too. Wow somehow engenders that utopian, libertarian, freedom loving feel in my life too.
June 12, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Lol, maybe we were!
My husband would have loved to have been born back in the pioneer days with your Mum. I always tell him if the opportunity arises he’ll have to go alone as I wouldn’t have made it back then. I figure I wouldn’t have lived past childhood as I would have been run down by a wagon or tried to pet a bear thinking it was a horse. Without the modern technology of contact lenses I would have been a goner back then 😦
Oh, oh, and I forgot about the world I’d probably pick right after WoW, Iain Banks Culture series, I would so love to live in that world!
June 12, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Oooh I haven’t read that – thanks for the tip!
June 14, 2011 at 12:47 pm
I’m not as well read as everyone else, but I have read a lot of Warcraft books of lore and I have enjoyed many Star Trek books related to the different Trek franchises.
I remember a trip to Las Vegas with a friend during which we ran across the “Star Trek Experience” exhibit.
As a Geek, I was in heaven. I got to see props from the various shows and movies. I got to stand in the transporter room and be “sent” to the Enterprise under attack. I even got my picture taken with the crew of the Enterprise with me in uniform! It was a great “experience,” but I couldn’t LIVE there! 😦
When I was introduced to WoW around BC era, my mind was blown! The quests, the sounds, (especially after completing quest) the interaction with NPCs and players, it was all fantastic!
Then the graphics! The world is so expansive you could get lost in it! Unlike the console games I was used to. Something was always going on whether you log on or not. All the hidden little areas, sites, and NPCs that the developers have sprinkled around this world make it very interesting. I’ve been playing for at least four years and I don’t think I’ve seen all of the “world” yet.
In addition, my personal immersion into the story line with the help of various authors of WoW Lore related books has made WoW a very enjoyable game experience! I dare say that I will play WoW regardless of what MMO I may play in the future. As long as there is a server up!
June 14, 2011 at 2:46 pm
I know what you mean. As many other games I’ve tried I always come back to Azeroth and imagine I always will!
June 16, 2011 at 12:24 am
Your pony made me smile immensely. She looks so excited to be in Uldum! Or perhaps scared. Maybe a bit of both?
Outside of the people (the one thing that keeps me coming back) would also have to be the mere fact that I like living in Azeroth. It really is an incredibly diverse world filled with plenty of nooks and crannies to explore. I’ve been playing for four years now I think, and while Cataclysm may be to blame for me discovering new areas, I’m still finding many many things (hiding places/story lines) that I had simply missed in the past. How much more immersion could you possibly ask for out of a game?
June 16, 2011 at 7:02 am
I think she was looking at one of those flying stingery things and she was a little apprehensive although I told her it wouldn’t come where we were standing!