WoW Phases

canuckgamer

Phase 5 - A Recovering WoW Addict



If WoW were a phenomenon and it were to consume lives what would the phases be? I think Vari the ultimate gamer girl sums it up. Actually come to think of it, I'm at Phase 5 - A recovering addict. To quote from her:

"Phase 5: Real Life FTW
WoW is completely gone from your daily thoughts..."

Check out all the phases on her blog ... wish she had pictures to go with every phase.

frisko54

I'm def at stage 3

urahonky

That's incredible.... That's exactly what the phases are like. Haha!

Although after the last phase, it seems repeating them lasts a much shorter amount of time than initially. Currently at Phase 5 and hope that I NEVER go back to Phase 6.

canuckgamer

I haven't played it long enough but you think it just cycles back to something like phase 1? It's so true tho i tried to stop and I went back. Vari has got it down with her WoW phases

urahonky

Yeah. I've done all the phases at least 3 times in my WoW career. I'm putting up good resistance now, but I know I'll be weak later.

Septus

The first time I quit, I still avidly read the boards and thought about WoW when not playing it, I just didn't want to actually log on. The second time I quit I didn't even check these boards for like 3 months, but slowly the interest came trickling back.

Fucking WoW.

canuckgamer

Septus wrote: »

The first time I quit, I still avidly read the boards and thought about WoW when not playing it, I just didn't want to actually log on. The second time I quit I didn't even check these boards for like 3 months, but slowly the interest came trickling back.

Fucking WoW.

you check the updates and then just get hooked again? lol ... dang that sounds harsh

That Dave Fella

I quit twice, but I kept in contact with all my old guildies and friends and then when I started getting bored and couldn't afford new games I'd play WoW. I started a new character and I'm gearing up my old warrior too.

mastman

I quit WoW after 2 years, came back again in July to play with RL friends, we all just quit a couple weeks ago. Definitely for good now.

Lunatic Clam

I finally think I've gotten it out of my system after fits and starts, although I've been playing a bit of LOTRO here and there to supplement my 360 gaming. Hopefully I'm done for good.

Halfmex

See you all back for the expansion.

Kalkino

I like her phases - but for me it wasn't so much a boredom thing, it was just that I thought I needed to do other things. I've kept off it for nearly 9 months, but I still keep with the game.

I have to say though, after playing a feral for a year and a half it was fucking nice not having to care about buff/nerf cycles or guild politics. (druids can't raid tank my fucking ass)

MayGodHaveMercy

Goddamnit, I think I'm making the transition from Phase 1 to 2 right now. I just came back earlier this week, and jumped on levelling an alt. He was already 56 though, so still no low-level tomfoolery. I hit 60 with him last night.

It's those goddamn patches. My roommate goes "Man, they just made hunters bad ass," and so begins the downward spiral. For the third time, now.

Bigity

Maybe it's just me but I didn't find those that amusing.

urahonky

Bigity wrote: »

Maybe it's just me but I didn't find those that amusing.

Definitely just you.

Bigity

Mgcw

I disagree, it is not just you.

Rodent242

Where's the "WoW is a great game but I sometimes log out to play CoH or drink massive amounts of beer while playing my 360" phase? Because that's the current phase of my WoW addiction. And that was a nice change of pace from my "Guildies harrassing me to raid? Meh, I'll roll an alt" phase of the game.

urahonky

Bigity wrote: »

It's okay Bigity. *hugs* It happens.

INeedNoSalt

Almost eight months now, and I'm in Phase 6.

Murphy

Where the hell is her phase 3? Is it the secret phase?

INeedNoSalt

Man, there is no phase 3.

You just kind of go from being overwhelmed with the game to realizing you're not touching it at all.

Murphy

Totally.

leaf

Does it count if phase 1 lasts for the length of your trial, and then you immiedetly go to phase 5, only phase 5 lasts forever?

marty_0001

Man I'm really worried about playing WoW, having never played it before. I think if I played it I would become an addict. I played Diablo II for the whole summer last year, I was surprised that I could spend an entire weekend in my room and not be bored to death. Eventually I got tired of it though and uni semester started again. But if I play WoW, it'll be like some sort of super Diablo II, and it'll consume me. I've read some real horror stories about addiction to this game.

ttvp

I find this as incredibly amusing as it is accurate. I've played since beta but as of May I ended stage 4 and started on stage 5 and haven't given up the fight yet. I think my phase cycle has become abnormal, though, as I am actually some kind of "Super 5" and actively show hostility/resentment towards those of my friends still playing. Usually in one of those "lol we're friends so I can afford to mess around like this, I don't really hate you" ways. I really don't hate them, but as soon as the game comes up in conversation I just either zone out or feel the need to express the fact that I don't give a flip and/or how they're terrible for still supporting it. I am willing to bet that 4chan exposure has only augmented this facet.

Having said that, It's quite possible I'll pick up the next expansion for the hell of it. Maybe by then I'll have a job and an income.

urahonky

ttvp, I do the exact same thing to my friends. Everytime they bring up WoW, I'm like: "Oh really. I don't give a shit." Joking with them on the outside, but on the inside I really mean it.

widowson

Glad I'm not the only one who's had WoW dreams, now I feel better.

I quit WoW because it was all I played. Had a backlog of about 15 games I bought, wanted to install, but never played. STALKER, MTW:2, Civ 4, ect.

Minerva_SC

I've been in the secret phase 3 for about a year now. I've slipped into phase 4 a few times but I've never actually quit wow. Maybe it's because my guild is goddamn amazing, and I play many other games with many of them all the time, I would cry if I never played with them again, but I don't think I'll be quitting wow for a long time. And I'm not even addicted. I log on maybe 4 days out of the week to raid, pvp, talk to guildmates, and that's fine with me.

AyeJaye

I've been in phase five since this summer until just recently, though I've sold my account and such. I want something to play where I can just hang out sometimes, and I came in here looking for a free korean MMO for that purpose, but stumbled on this thread. I don't regret having sold my account as I know that within a week I'd be back to being bored as shit of WoW, but I have a huge RPG gap in my life that I've tried to fill with VTM:B and Oblivion to no avail.

Paradox Control

The phases are pretty accurate. I bought the game not long after launch. I played for a month, and then couldn't afford to actually pay to play. I came back eventually, played for a while and then stopped when more interesting things were going on. I picked it up again and played a Shaman with a bunch of RL friends. Most of them stopped playing but I bought the expantion, and went to 70.

I made the mistake though of playing with one RL friend that I don't really talk to. (hes kind of a jackass who makes bad life decisions and rides the coat tales of his parents bank accounts.) He basically drove the decision making with my character, going resto despite how much I hate it, PVPing Resto even though I found it unfun. It eventually burned me out and I stopped playing. It became apparent that he was just dragging me along for his own gain. He messaged me about a month and a half after I was done, asking if he could use my shaman for raids or something. I wasn't interested in handing out my information to him, god knows what he could have done with my account. If you want to talk about some one being addicted, it was him. Me, I'm just a sucker thinking there was still a fraction of friendship left between us.

Now I'm in phase 1 again. I'm leveling an Alliance shaman on dark iron, I'm in KoA, and I hope to get to 70. I'm not looking forward to the new expantion, I think its dumb how there tacking on 10 more levels so soon. I'm probably not going to buy it right away like I did BC, they would really have to do something awesome to make me do that.

Though I don't see whats so wrong with "quitting" for a few months and then coming back. There are some parts of the year that are just not a good time for WoW, but times like now, where there is a shortage of other games and a nice chunk of time off where you can get back in to it. I don't know how people can play it all year long though.

Dog

I have 0 addiction to any online game, especially Warcraft. If I didn't use it as a tool to interact with friends that are not within distance to physically hang out with regularly, I'd have no inclination to play it. All the PvP and raiding and fun happytime stuff is just bonus, bonus that can be easily fufilled in any online experience; poker, backgammon or warcraft.

Halfmex

Paradox Control wrote: »

Though I don't see whats so wrong with "quitting" for a few months and then coming back. There are some parts of the year that are just not a good time for WoW, but times like now, where there is a shortage of other games and a nice chunk of time off where you can get back in to it. I don't know how people can play it all year long though.

Nothing's wrong with doing that, it's just that some people like to slap a stigma on something that's considered anti-social (which is funny given how many people the average WoW player interacts with on a daily basis). It's humorous to hear someone decry this while at the same time waste god knows how many hours in front of the television.

That being said, anything taken to extremes can be detrimental. I've been playing since April '05 and I've taken two or three multiple-month breaks, but it's been damned nice to come back exactly where I left off.

Dalboz

After playing for one year, I cancelled my account last night. So I guess I'm in phase 4. I'm already having withdrawal problems, because I still didn't see or do everything I wanted to, but decided I needed to take time to do other things. My time was waning, but I still thought about and wanted to play but stopped myself. The hardest part was telling my dad, who I got to start playing several months ago, and playing it together was the most social time we'd had in a long time. He was playing constantly to catch up to my level so we could run instances together, then I dropped the bomb that I decided to quit.

I have a feeling I'm going to go through the cycles and sign up again in another six months. I'm already missing it, but I need to tell myself that I gave it up for something better.

urahonky

Paradox Control wrote: »

Though I don't see whats so wrong with "quitting" for a few months and then coming back. There are some parts of the year that are just not a good time for WoW, but times like now, where there is a shortage of other games and a nice chunk of time off where you can get back in to it. I don't know how people can play it all year long though.

What? Are you kidding me... I lay in the fetal position at night because there are TOO many good games out right now.