MMO Burnout

tl;dr Waaah waaaaaaaaaah :P

Heya Everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone else is starting to experience this? I've played mmos on and off since WoW was at BC. I went wild when GW2 released and I could do stuff like play a mage style class and only worry about cooldowns and ignore mana and downtime. Base ele and dagger/dagger with all the attunement switching was beyond cool. Mesmer was this bizarre illusionist that could run around with butterflies and pistols and necromancer was just freaky and dark themed. I'm always maining light armor classes in rpgs/mmos.

As I get older though I'm finding I'm losing interest in RPGs and any kind of grind. My play time is limited and I got sick of WoW and spending half my play time travelling between locations trying to just arrive at the place where the fun could happen. GW2 with it's group finder and the waypoints got that right. It's basically the only RPG I play anymore. Games with 70+ hours of story bore me now because I can't play regularly and a big break between play sessions kills immersion for me or that sense of excietement with the story starts to lose its immediacy? With a lot of these games it feels like you have to spend 2 hours straight in a play sesssion to get things done. and a 20 minute hit barely lets me finish some basic events.

GW2 has plenty of content but I'm getting that MMO burnout feeling. I'm in Tier 3 fractal hell where I can't get into tier 4 cause no one plays the ones above my personal fractal level and they aren't the dailies when I do log in. I'm not sure I want to hit fractal tier 4. Map completion I find I'm not really reading the heart text much and just doing the activities. There's some big creativity in how some of these happen but they're starting to feel samey to me. I've been playing since the Angry Joe positive review.

I think I'm starting to feel like mmos are not for me anymore. GW2 is by far the most casual player friendly of games in the genre but with I can access with my time the rewards don't feel meaningful to me. I can't reliably put aside 2 hour blocks of time now to try something exciting like raiding which means for me I'm left with watching videos of that content instead of playing. I kind of want stat-swap on demand so I can more easily vary my playstyle but I will never have time to make legendary armor and trinkets as they come out. I just purposefully changed my zerker ascended using stat swap to Dire armor because I don't want to be pidgeon-holed into meta builds and condi is proving to be fun. I hadn't played it much since launch.

The way I'm rambling here kind of reflects my experience of the game. I'm starting to feel like I don't have a place here now. My guild mates are great people and I've tried that content. I tried WvW but I lack the skill for roaming and zerg play bores me. sPvP feels kind of samey now after the time I've played.

I dunno. Should I quit? I think Arena-net has made a great game here it's just arriving at a stage at my life where I'm more likely to play 10 minutes of onle chess now than 60 minutes of gw2.

I don't know.

Boh.

It's inevitable. Tastes change. Try more chess for a bit. You might go 2 months or 2 years without playing... and without missing it much. And you might come back renewed and ready for more. Or not. It's all good :)

Hardly. It's actually quite common to get burn-out over particular games. I myself experience this often which is why i made a 'rotation' of games. Play some single player or FPS or something non-mmo and non-fantasy, do that for a few weeks and come back, or move to a different game after that one. heck, take up a hobby like woodworking or instrument playing! I imagine you'll find passion to play again after you've been away for a while. :)

I think this settles it. My tastes and my time Have changed. My partner doesn't play mmos. Any time I spend staring at the screen is time I'm not spending with her. Last non chess game I played was Gunpoint which was super short and simple and had a clear end.

I had the same experience when I sold my ps4. The last game I enjoyed there was Firewatch with it's clear and well written story and its clear and satisfying end.

Yes, and I suspect Guild Wars 2 will be my last MMO. Indeed, the Golden Age of MMOs is over. But I do hope something new and exciting will one day appear on the horizon. And it'll probably be some form of virtual reality.

@Ardenwolfe.8590 said:Yes, and I suspect Guild Wars 2 will be my last MMO. Indeed, the Golden Age of MMOs is over. But I do hope something new and exciting will one day appear on the horizon. And it'll probably be some form of virtual reality.

To be truthful, I am reaching that conclusion as well. Most MMOs now I get disgusted at because of how they handle the cash shop which pushes me further away from the genre. GW2 is one of the last bastions of a good cash shop for me, but I have no hope for the future of MMOs with how things are progressing.

In general, this is up to a very personal standpoint. Literally on everything in life you can get burn out, this includes your favourite video game(s/genre).For example, I just discovered Elvis Presley. My grandma would say: "Nah, I am burnt out". That is not quite a problem of Elvis' songs, but as said, a very personal thing with my grandma.

Imagine a boy getting his first PC and plays his first MMORPG - he would have a blast. It's his first. Saying the genre is dying just because you personally don't like it is a very narrow-minded way of thinking. The "Golden Age" might be over, but again, the new player don't know it differently.Some "golden age is over" from different viewpoints:

• My grandparents bought their house and married in the 60s. Best decade even though the 60s in the GDR were not so funny.
• My mom loved the 80s, she enjoyed that decade. Despite the GDR going downhill and 80s problems, such as nuclear/cold war, AIDS, etc.
• For me, it's the late 90s, because that's when I grew up.
• The Millenials will like the 201x years. Despite the terrorism problems, several economical crisis, etc.

Time is changing, and with the times, the attitudes do as well. Glorifying a certain time span of it and bashing the times to come due to that personal view is not helpful.

Excelsior.

take a break if you have to and return when you feel like it. if that time is never so be it

It's hard to let go of a game you feel you've invested a lot in, especially if you are in a social guild you like. But everyone finds a time to move on. This may be your time. If the game feels like work to you, once you make the decision to leave, you will probably have no real regrets. Good luck in the future! Maybe come back and visit Tyria some time! ^^

Happens to us all. Might be best to take a few weeks off if there isnt anything else in game that interests you. As someone that played WoW for years, various other mmos and GW2 since beta I completely get it. There are a ton of other games on console or pc out there to try . Hopefully you can get your spark for GW2 again some day.

@Khailyn.6248 said:Happens to us all. Might be best to take a few weeks off if there isnt anything else in game that interests you. As someone that played WoW for years, various other mmos and GW2 since beta I completely get it. There are a ton of other games on console or pc out there to try . Hopefully you can get your spark for GW2 again some day.

The problem is I take a month break every other month because of burnout which I think points to a bigger issue of me never finding my perfect MMO, or I do find one I like and it's ruined by the cash shop which is the direction MMOs are heading now a days. They are all heading to greedy cash shops with whales lining up behind them not thinking that spending 32$ for an outfit is a bad idea.

For some, the Golden Age is dying because of bad business practices becoming more and more common.

The next MMO innovation will be VR headsets, and it will either be glorious or make you puke.

I'm also waiting for 'dynamic' environments and NPC reactions ... Like, you can break down walls semi-permanently or have NPC's change their behaviour based on your gear, attack patterns, etc... No more 'rotations' and more being prepared for situations and reacting to them.

@Doctor Hide.6345 said:

@Khailyn.6248 said:Happens to us all. Might be best to take a few weeks off if there isnt anything else in game that interests you. As someone that played WoW for years, various other mmos and GW2 since beta I completely get it. There are a ton of other games on console or pc out there to try . Hopefully you can get your spark for GW2 again some day.

Makes sense. I've found myself lately playing less and less, if bothering to log in at all. That aside, I consider GW2 to be my favorite mmo, and quite possibly my last one. I considered trying Destiny 2 but have been getting mixed opinions on it. As far as greedy cash shops, I agree to a point. The whole fiasco with the random mount box wasnt all that long ago. The prices that Blizzard wants for their website/in game items and services have always been on the high side as well (35 dollars for a mount, 25 for a server transfer etc). Long as neither are pay to win I guess. I commented on another tread not long ago about perfect MMO. Unfortunately my view is that such a thing doesnt exist. You just hope to find one thats close enough to what youre looking for.

take a break thats what mmos are for.

@Khailyn.6248 said:

@Doctor Hide.6345 said:

@Khailyn.6248 said:Happens to us all. Might be best to take a few weeks off if there isnt anything else in game that interests you. As someone that played WoW for years, various other mmos and GW2 since beta I completely get it. There are a ton of other games on console or pc out there to try . Hopefully you can get your spark for GW2 again some day.

I know I will never find a perfect one, and getting close is as good as it gets. Just the fact that all the ones I think I found turn into money grabs makes me a little aggravated at the current state and all future MMOs.

@Doctor Hide.6345 said:

@Khailyn.6248 said:

@Doctor Hide.6345 said:

@Khailyn.6248 said:Happens to us all. Might be best to take a few weeks off if there isnt anything else in game that interests you. As someone that played WoW for years, various other mmos and GW2 since beta I completely get it. There are a ton of other games on console or pc out there to try . Hopefully you can get your spark for GW2 again some day.

Yea.. hopefully it doesnt turn into a slippy slope. I think the main reason why I deal with the gemstore prices in GW2 is that because there is no sub fee unlike in WoW, that it helps support future game development. Long as it isnt pay to win, it is what it is. What I truly hate is the randomness. Specifically the black lion chests (and the mount box i mentioned prior).

@Khailyn.6248 said:

@Doctor Hide.6345 said:

@Khailyn.6248 said:

@Doctor Hide.6345 said:

@Khailyn.6248 said:Happens to us all. Might be best to take a few weeks off if there isnt anything else in game that interests you. As someone that played WoW for years, various other mmos and GW2 since beta I completely get it. There are a ton of other games on console or pc out there to try . Hopefully you can get your spark for GW2 again some day.

Well, loot boxes are also an issue game companies have, but GW2 is not bad compared to some which is why I can deal with it. I just think I am too old for this stuff now, but that is my issue to deal with. /shrug

@Ardenwolfe.8590 said:Yes, and I suspect Guild Wars 2 will be my last MMO. Indeed, the Golden Age of MMOs is over. But I do hope something new and exciting will one day appear on the horizon. And it'll probably be some form of virtual reality.Same for me, I dislike the way MMOs get montetized (after seeing GW2 and other f2p games I dearly want subfees back) nowadays. And there do not seem to be any interesting new MMOs on the horizon. Star Citizen and other crowdfunded games? Seems like a scam to me.The problem with MMOs is that they need huge funding and have high risk of failure. A mobile game can be made for a million and ranke in billions. See Pokemon Go or Angry Birds.

Sounds like you have time for sprints, but not long-distance running. MMO's are the marathons of the gaming industry. While GW2 is better than most MMO's in terms of being playable by people who don't play a lot, a lot of the goals it offers require lengthy play because that is the nature of MMO's.

I can understand ya OP like the vibe of mmorpg aren't strong anymore because we've gotten used to it. If anything this is the era of competitive gaming which is why Moba and other games are hitting the spotlight than mmorpgs. Mmorpgs will still have their spot, but unless they change their formula to something better. I don't see any excitement going strong with mmorpgs as you can tell with WoW previous expansion. They totally took a big hit with bad results for not listening to their community well and also for rushing it expecting the community to do the job for them when it goes live. WoW maybe my most played mmorpg even to this day, but they will never top GW2, ESO and FFXIV atmosphere on how a mmorpg should be played. However other than that take a break once in awhile and then come back, but that pattern is always repeated until you put it to rest.

@Smiggles.6823 said:The last game I enjoyed there was Firewatch with it's clear and well written story and its clear and satisfying end.

If there's any reason to set the MMOs down for a while, it's this. Sometimes, it's nice to just have something finish.

Fortunately, GW2 is a game you can set aside for a month or more and not really lose anything.

@Smiggles.6823 said:I think this settles it. My tastes and my time Have changed. My partner doesn't play mmos. Any time I spend staring at the screen is time I'm not spending with her. Last non chess game I played was Gunpoint which was super short and simple and had a clear end.

I had the same experience when I sold my ps4. The last game I enjoyed there was Firewatch with it's clear and well written story and its clear and satisfying end.

Any good partnership should understand that people all need time for the individual as well. If you are making that choice then that is healthy, just don't feel compelled to out of some possibly misplaced need to make someone else 100% of your time. It generally isn't healthy and leads to failure. We all need time for us too :)

My marriage is far healthier when we have time for us together and time for each of us for ourselves. Thankfully my wife agrees and we are happy :)

I can relate, though MMORPGs in general got tiresome for me for a different reason. Ultimately, every single MMORPG seems to butcher the genres biggest strength which is the social multiplayer-aspect. Besides that, stuff like predatory monetization or increasing "efficiency"-bs (which turns games more and more into a (second) job and which kills diversity) only make it worse.

It seems like games become more and more casual to appeal to a larger audience. While being casual-friendly isn't a bad thing, games shouldn't be so casual that people aren't forced to play together anymore. And that's what I feel currently when I play the MMOs I currently play. Couple that with the mentality that people rather play for loot than for fun... I wish MMOs weren't as comfortable as they currently are so people are forced to play and communicate together again. I mean, even in stuff like fractals or raids, you kinda don't play together but rather besides each other. No wonder companies like Activision Blizzard have to give in and set up Vanilla-servers.

Take breaks from the game whenever you like.

Living World, new PvP balance and map changes, raid wings and fractal adjustments, and expansion packs are all done to add new or refreshed content to draw players who may be tiring of the grind back into the game.

You can argue all of that is for revenue or to satisfy current players but that is splitting hairs. Game content gets stale for those who have completed it so new or refreshed content keeps people interested. When that formula stops working, well, you can guess the result.

I've been playing them for 13 years or so and this is a regular occurrence. While it comes and goes I haven't really noticed any pattern to it really.

Play some other online games, or perhaps re-mod Fallout 4 / Skyrim for a different play experience.

Personally, I usually end up doing something more tangible. I've painted miniatures, learned the very basics of knitting, gone back to tabletop rpg's, or, gahds forfend, read a book or two.

Basically, the first step is to not worry about it. Just take steps to pay attention to what your mind/body might be suggesting as temporary alternatives.

Doing this I can almost assure you, my fellow longtime gamer, that you will pick hobby up again eventually.