Hello, everyone.
It is with mixed emotion that I write this post today, announcing that I will no longer be playing World of Warcraft on a regular basis.
There are many reasons behind this final decision. The first of these, and the most important, is that I no longer have fun within the game. I don’t like the direction WoW is going, and haven’t truly enjoyed myself since before the release of Wrath of the Lich King. I’ve been playing this game for many years, and I think I’ve finally burnt out. I no longer enjoy raiding, dailies are a chore, and leveling is mind-numbing for me. Too many changes have been made which I believe are for the wrong reasons. It has slowly corrupted the game for me, and has leached my enjoyment from it, not to mention the fact that very little has changed in regards to visual aspects or in-game mechanics – two things which are imperative for keeping my interest. I feel, at this point, that WoW is a dying game, something Blizzard is simply trying to keep alive long enough to bring all the old players into their latest, greatest, next-gen MMO. This latest-greatest is where they’re putting all the effort now, and it’s become apparent by the lack of attention being payed to the parts of WoW which need that attention the most. This is, of course, my personal opinion, so please take it only for what it is.
Secondly, as most of you know, I’ve been attending college again full-time. I simply don’t have the extra time to spend on WoW when I should be improving upon my classwork. As an art major, it’s incredibly difficult to make everything fit into regular time slots, and many of my projects span across days until completion. I simply cannot justify spending over 20 hours a week playing and writing about WoW when I have so many other things to accomplish.
After contemplating these things for several months now, I’ve finally made the decision and have told my guild, <Explicit>, about this decision. I love each and every one of them and will miss them dearly, even if we still stay in touch. There is nothing quite like a beloved guild in your life, and it will be difficult for me to make this transition, but I do believe it is for the best.
I also have a special love for this site and its readers. All of you have engaged me for many months (almost a year!) and kept my interest from waning far longer than it should have, and for that, I’m very grateful to you. I love the community I’ve met here online, and I do intend to stay within it.
On that note, I announce my future plans.
I am, very tentatively, dabbling with the idea of an Aion website. I’ve been slowly leveling a Ranger and am enjoying the fresh gameplay and new sights, as well as the ability to play at my own pace in a peaceful leveling environment. It is possible that during Winter Break and over the summer, I’ll be releasing an Aion website for the enjoyment of the public and myself, as well as to keep my career skills fresh.
I will, for certain, be setting up a personal website, where I will have a personal blog and biography, as well as a small Graphic Design business. I’ll be freelancing projects online, hopefully within the next four months. All information regarding my services will be listed on this new website. I urge you to keep checking back here once in a while for these new websites.
As far as DoaMH goes, no worries – I will be keeping it here, untouched, for anyone to read, comment, and reference.
I want to thank you all so much for your comments and questions and general love of the game which has been such a big part of my life. You’re all wonderful people.
Tags: announcement
The Sunreavers
Venomhide Ravasaur
1000 Stone Keeper's Shards
Boned (10 player)
Epic
Awww
Well, I certainly look forward to hearing about your Aion endeavors if you choose to post about ‘em.
Good luck on all of your endeavors, Nass! It’s been great blogging with you. Have fun with Aion and school. And thanks for having a new Virginian over for the day
<3 Neg
You will be missed Nass
Thank you for all the advice you have brought to the Hunter community.
I wish you well in all your endeavors in life.
/salute
Myte
You are, by no means, the only person who feels this. Ferocity is completely dead now with most of our raiders leaving to play Aion (although I heard the downfall of the guild was due to me, in part, which was nice!)
You know I support whatever you do as long as you enjoy it. I won’t be playing WoW much soon. I think Forza 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 are coming out just at the right time.
Keep me posted <3
Klin’s out, now you. Bad day for Hunters all around.
“I’ve been playing this game for many years, and I think I’ve finally burnt out.”
Yup, that’s the key bit there. That happened to me once, back in Burning Crusade, and I only returned after I forgot how dull some things are, a full year. To this day, I never grind rep, I only do fun dailies and I never do more than five of them a day. WoW is a social thing for me now and I’m in an awesome RP guild, so it’s unlikely I’ll burn out so soon.
Still, sad. I really like your work here. I don’t even play my Hunter so much anymore (running OOM after every two pulls -sucks-, I’m on a Warrior and a ‘Lock now), but reading commentary on tactics I could explain to other people and checking out related tips (like how to read those online reports) is always interesting.
Either way, here’s hoping your burn-out is only temporary (who knows?) and that you have an enjoyable time on Aion.
Good luck out there! =D
Well phooey.
I was fairly late to the Marksman party and thus late to finding your blog, Nass, but I have enjoyed it immensely and found it tremendously useful in my short time here.
You are definitely making the correct choice however, there is no point in sacrificing your school work for a game you no longer enjoy. That would be silly.
As for your thoughts on the state of the game, I agree and disagree. I do not believe WoW is a dying game by any stretch, but I do believe that Blizzard have their A-talent on their next MMO. WoW is their cash-cow that is funding the company so the game is being pushed more and more towards greater accessibility so as to generate more revenue to finance the talent and operating expenses on the new games (the next-gen MMO included – I doubt people working on that game come cheap).
WoW isn’t the game it used to be, but I’m still having a great time with it, though the absence of your Marksman analysis and commentary will be a bit tricky to navigate around!
Thanks for all your efforts, Nass. Best to you in the future!
-Noah
Good for you, Nass! You sound like you are making the right decisions for the right reasons. I am enjoying the heck out of WoW at the moment, but I’ve only been playing for about 18 months and may be immune to major burnout. I wanted to take the opportunity to say how much I have LOVED your contributions to the WoW community. I will definitely follow your future exploits.
All the best!
Aww…
Well, I always said if it isn’t fun, go do something else. Wish you the very best, and I will continue to read whatever it is you have to say.
Bummer. I respectfully disagree with your assessment of WoW’s current state of affairs. Saying your burnt out is understandable, seems to be something that happens to a lot of players. However, saying WoW is dying and that they are just keeping it on life-support until their next MMO comes out seems way off base. Blizzcon was extremely impressive hearing the devs talk and it showed (at least to me personally) their commitment to keeping WoW fresh and Cataclysm is radically changing the existing game. Again though, if that’s not what you’re into then that’s perfectly understandable; I just wouldn’t write off WoW that easily. Maybe after Cataclysm you’ll find your way back- maybe not. Either way good luck with everything and it’s never fun to see a part of the community drop-off.
Nass,
I’ve been reading Diaries for a good while now, and I’m sad to say this is my first post. But I just wanted to thank you for all the hard work you’ve put into theory-crafting. It was because of you I switched my hunter, Disque, to MM months ago and because of you, I think, that I’m still playing WoW. I too was burnt out for a long time, first from the way Beastmastery allows you to zone out while your pet chomps away at any and everything, and then later to the utter boredom of spamming Explosive Shot (satisfying as those ticks might be) and reapplying SS and BA again, and again, and again. I agree wholly with your assessment of WoW– I’ve been playing since just before the release of BC and I feel like things are really going downhill. I am, in fact, completely disheartened by the announced changes built into Cataclysm and fear, as you do, this game is already broken because of it. But, all that aside, I just wanted to wish you the very best. From what glimpses you’ve let through of your everyday life I think you’re on a fine path. Good luck and thanks again. Really.
-Disque, Lighbringer
Nass,
You know I love ya sweetheart and hate to see you leave the community this way.
But life has a funny way of running back into itself. I’m sure this isn’t goodbye but only the turning of a new chapter.
I wish you the best in all you do. I’ll miss your witty take on WoW. But school and life come first.
hey there nass,
Been lurking around here and gleaning what I could. Would have loved you to hang long enough to take on the LK but as with all decisions this has to be yours. Whatever your choice I’d have to say thank you. Your blogs and BRK are my favs. Good luck in school and will look forward to you posting those personal sites. I still enjoy airman howell’s personal posts and I’m sure I will enjoy yours as well.
I’ve been reading your blog since the podcast you did with BRK, and it’s become a must read for me. I’m very sad to see you go, but if the game is no longer any fun (and games are supposed to be fun aren’t they), then it’s the right decision.
I wish you the best of luck in whatever you do, and have fun, allways have fun.
Wanted to say thanks for all the posts and good luck in school and all that you do
Hey Nass
Sad to see you leaving but at the end of the day you gotta do what makes you happy, noone can question that as a justification for your decisions.
Take care hon and remember if you ever leave your Edinboro for the real one here in Scotland then let me know and I will be your tour guide lol
Thanks for everything Nass, and good luck in the future!!
I’ve never posted a reply here before, but as a fellow Marksman I’ve really loved your site.
Congratulations on going back to school. That’s hard, and much more worthy of your attention than a game you don’t enjoy anymore.
Nass, sad to see you go.
You will be missed! But if the game is no longer fun for you, then it’s best to stop. I wish you only the best of luck in school, and life. I’ve been playing Aion myself. I’m quite interested to hear your take/opinion on it. I’ll be looking forward to it!
<3 Tygir
You’re all amazing. Thanks, guys. =)
Well, what can i say….first of all, i would like to thank you for all the help you gave me to improve my little hunter. I thank you for the podcasts, they were a huge fun to participate in, and most of all, thank you for all the work you did for the hunter community. I wish you good luck and everything you wish in your life as a student, and more. I think i can say it out loud, that we are all going to miss you.
Sincerely
Shadowin
Wow… As soon as I make a post saying WoW is headed in a good direction for the future and all the people that complain about how crappy it is are not quitting, I come across this… It sucks to see a site I liked go, but an education is important and I hope Aion fills the WoW void for you.
The only other thing I could ask is that you post one more time explaining what all WoW has done exactly that turned you off from the game. A lot of what you said was really general.
another hunter burnt out im feeling like im doing the same thing every week, which i am, i kept saying if i was ever going to quit it would have to be after i see the Lich King dead, now not so much. Im going to have to thank you and BRK for really making me relize that i need to spen more time in my life while im young and free before i get older and relize once WoW ends it brought me nowhere for playing 5 hours a day, I feel like ive wasted enough of my life already in WoW. Im probably not going to start playing another mmo, and most likely wont cancel my subscription because i still want to say hi to my guildies every once in a while, but anyways thank you Nass for giving me a blog i looked forward to reading and sorry i got to carried away there, I definately think blizzard deserves to give you a horde bow in the ToC tribute as the alternate for the BRK 3000, you deserve it.
Sincerely and Thank You,
Markluzz of Icecrown
*Insert Character Avatar Here*
I’ve recently switched my Hunter blog to a more General blog, including some Aion
Still have WoW semi on the go and I plan to add the class guides when I get the chance to traipse through site after site.
But I entirely don’t blame you, have been feeling the same burnout, except I don’t want to quit, I really really hope Cataclysm and Icecrown are as good as they look, and I’m trying to hold out… but I can’t do dailies while there’s Aion, I can’t raid when, well, it sucks so hard, and I hate PvP.
Definitely a dying game indeed, most people play because they just do and either haven’t thought of quitting or have nothing else to spend their time on.
Good luck with your course and I look forward to seeing more Nass blogs
Best of luck with all you do Nass. Thanks for the great blogs, podcasts and theorycrafting. You will be missed – even if you are a Blood Elf. ^_~
<3
-Wulf
You will be sorely missed. Best of luck in your writing and travels.
Having recently rolled a Hunter I have found your site to be helpful, informative, and friendly. I am sad that you will be leaving but I wanted to thank you for the help you have provided to those such as myself. Best of luck in your endeavors.
Good luck Nass : ) A horde bow would be awsome idea even though i play a dwarf, i thought it was kinda of a shame the BRK 3,000 was allience only so now blizard has an oprotunity to make a hord only bow.
I was burnt out awile back took a month off i played maybe 4 hours in that month thought about letting my subscription run out, but decided to come back as an extereme casuall i wasnt going to worry about raiding badges any of that stuff, i was going to get the best soloable gear and do some heroics with friends on occasion but that was all. So far it worked out well i only play when i have nothing better to do or when id be watch TV anyway. My gear is not uber but im having fun with the game again actually im turning my old gear and some of the old pvp gear i had into a pet tanking set for my Beloved BM spec its a blast to challenge your self in soloing and fun as all get out.
From what i can tell your not necessarily quitting all together maybe you should take my philosophy and do what ever you feel like in the game no more raid night to be tied to no more feeling like if you dont have uber gear your a noob blah in the end its the player not the gear enyway.
Good luck nass : )
Similar to others, I have been a reader (ok, lurker) for a while but not posted many commnents. I wanted to take a minute to thank you for the interesting, insightful and well written blog that helped me improve my hunter. You nicely filled a void left by when BRK quit blogging.
I think that this is one of the real sign of WoW’s decline. Many of the better bloggers are quitting the game.
Good luck with your school work and have fun in the RL.
Taconite of Thrall-US
While sad, it sounds like you are making the correct decision. If you aren’t having fun any more, it’s certainly not worth your time to play a video game. Especially when you have school work to do.
I’m curious what specific things you are unhappy about with WoW. I have no interest at all in debating if you are right or wrong, I’m just curious which things you feel need changed/improved or have been lost over time.
Regardless, best of luck to you!
[...] regret to inform that Nassira of Diaries of a Marksman Hunter is closing shop. Stop by and wish her [...]
I would like to thank you for everything that you have done for this community and I hope you will find as much joy in Aion like you have in WoW. To be honest I can’t really blame you for breaking away. (To be honest I am shopping around also)
Best of success in Real Life.
Cellwinn ( Cruentus, Baelgun )
Yeah. After 4 years playing Hunter I am also pretty much burnt out and given up on the state of the game and my playstyle. I didn’t go out with a bang, but with a whimper. Slowly realizing I didn’t miss playing anymore. Took my character one last time to her spawning grounds with my favorite pet and called it rather spontaneously. Like you I will be trying Aion quite shortly. It was the wonder, beauty and exploration of Azeroth that hooked me to the game originally, and it’s time to explore new frontiers. Thanks for sharing, will look forward to your Aion site.