AFK for a little while

I still have a couple of months to go on my annual pass, and will see it out.  But I currently don't expect to be on much.

I started this blog as a fumbling wannabe gold maker, seeing blogs that I had read sign off and the community shrink.

I ended up as a fumbling gold maker, and even managed to make my way through Dragon soul normal; no small surprise to me.

I have listened to many departing players state "The game just isn't what it used to be.  Back when I started it was new, shiny and I had so much to learn.  Now it's a just little more of the same."  Every player I heard say this started raiding in the previous expansion of WoW, while also saying how great that expansion was.

What has changed is that I accomplished my goals.  I made my gold; more than I thought I could; less than I should have.  I spent most of my gold; sometimes frivolously; sometimes with deliberate forethought.

I herded cats;  the single most demanded and unappreciated role is not tank, healer or dps; but is instead the organiser; the herder of cats.  Each player has different skills, and is not always tolerant of others.  As organiser; I went grey and lost hair; but very rarely had to sit out; even when I was the weakest link.

I also spent far to much time in /trade looking for 1 more any role - you must be gemmed and enchanted; but the runs happened anyway.

And I downed pixel dragons; on two levels of difficulty.  But I was not up to the final challenge; herding 9 others through hard modes and heroics.

As such, there is still room for me to 'fail better', so I would not be entirely surprised to see myself back into WoW at some later date.

I am quietly confident that PokeWoW (otherwise known as pet battles) will not only fill /trade with even more nether region 'jokes' around downtime, but also create the raiders for the next 4 years.

It is a bold move, and will alienate older players who had to walk 20 miles to the local shops, uphill both ways, in the freezing snow without shoes.

WoW was a bold move.  It gained dominance by breaking out into new fields doing what no-one else had done.  It lost membership by doing the same thing it had always done with minor tweaks and being copied by everyone else.

However, for me currently I am failing in another game.  Things to learn and places to see.

I do however have one more post up my sleeve.