I feel a little like a traitor

Ya, I've still been playing - but I am playing on the side of the enemy. My playtime lately has been occupied by a Draenei Shaman on a PvE server. I'm leveling as enhancement this time and sitting at level 38, almost to dual wielding and wearing mail. I'm having fun learning the enhancement playstyle and going through the alliance quests, after leveling the Taurens for most of my WoW time, it's a welcome change.

I still miss the guys in Limited Warranty and hop over there every once in a while to do some dailies and chat with whoever is there, but I'm pretty much maxed out on what I can do unless I try to get into raiding again and I just can't invest that much time right now.

So...I'm still playing, but very casually and on the "other side".

Guess what....

I didn't quit playing after all. Nope, I am still a Warcraft addict and I'm okay with admitting it.

As it turns out, I actually still do enjoy playing and I missed it for the few days that I let my account lapse. So, no matter what anyone says to make me feel bad about it, I am still going to do what ever the heck I want to do.

A lot of my real life friends have quit playing, but for me it's still a good escape from the day to day boredom that always seems to set in. There are only a few shows on TV that I enjoy watching, and after that TV seems like a waste of my time...or an equal waste that WoW provides. There is the draw of neighbors and outside work, and I will still be doing that, WoW has never really interferred with that part of my life anyway.

I will be playing my mains, and I have started an Alliance toon as well, until I am ready to quit on my own terms.

The Good and the Bad

First - the Good. I got my flight form back on Bumwaller, makes herbing soo much easier.

Now - the Bad. Well, kinda Bad. A number of Limited Warranty members have moved along to more progression minded guilds. They did so with my blessing and on good terms. As I stated in the guild forums:

Unfortunatley, I think this might be when the warranty runs out for a number of players. Chances are good that my playtime is going to be dropping significantly over the next few months and I don't want you guys to be held back. In a few weeks I will be turning 40 years old, spring is coming and I have other commitments that are more important to me than the game right now. I appreciate the fact that you are discussing this on the guild forums and I have really enjoyed playing with you guys. It was a good run and we had a great guild full of awesome professional players. I encourage you to leave alts here and stay in touch with those who do not move on.

I really do wish them all the luck in the world, they are skilled players who take time to learn fights and get geared and ready to go. The guild they are moving to, ONSLAUGHT, has a lot of great people as well and I think it's going to be a good fit for them. I did some raids with them recently as an additional healer and it was a well run raid.

I guess I knew this was a possibility when I named the guild Limited Warranty, it was for me and my friends to have a place to chat and hang out in game. Now, many of the founding members of the guild are contemplating quitting the game.

As for me...the autobilling is turned off, April 29 is the expiration date. The problem now is, what do I do with my time after my projects are over? Any suggestions?

State of the Toons update

To help with my burnout and the massive time sink this game has become, I have tried to casually level my old main -Bumwaller, the Resto Druid, who is now specced as a Moonkin.

So far it has been pretty easy going and I have him up to 75 and I'm about halfway to 76. I can't wait to get the ability to fly again - I miss Flight Form herbalism. Being able to swoop in and pick what I need and get the hell out, without fighting anything if I don't want to, is awesome.

Okole - the Resto Shammy has been filling in as a raid healer in Naxx 25 and OS 25. I have gotten some nice gear upgrades and had fun running with ONSLAUGHT. They are a great bunch of guys and run the raids professionally. My problem is that I'm not sure I am cut out to be a raider, or at least a progression raider. Time will tell on this one - if I miss raiding, thne I will know.

Namenivob - the Hunter, just doing some randon DE work, no leveling at all.

Badhoof - the DK, just can't seem to get the hang of playing a DK. I may delete him and be done with it.

So that's it. I'm feeling kinda burned out still, but I like the game and I'm trying to find the balance that keeps me playing, but not feeling burned out. Can I find the balance?

Still undecided

I still don't know exactly what to do as far as my account goes. Over the past week I PUGged OS and Naxx 25 and had a lot of fun, even though the Naxx group couldn't get past Patchwerk and was kinda disorganized. The chaos was kinda nice and it passed the time well.

I have a feeling that I will continue the account but limit the playtime to times when everyone else is watching TV or projects are finished. I have a number of projects planned for the outside of the house and yard, so that should keep me busy for a while.

My future game direction is probably achievements, 5 man guild runs and PUGging raids when I am needed and have the time to commit. Right now I am leaning that way - but that is still subject to change.

What to do?

I recently found out that one of guildies is quitting in a few days and another quit a few days ago. I don't mean "quit the guild", I mean "quit playing WoW". This has lead me to ponder my Warcrafting future.

I like hanging out with the guys and chatting it up, the guild is having issues fielding 10 toons for Naxx raiding, and with 2 quitting that is not going to get better anytime soon. I have not had a lot of luck with recruiting and I don't want to give up the guild I have. As far as progression goes, we have hit a wall as a guild. Sure, we can all PuG the raids and still get some gear, but that is not a guild event. I am not really sure if I enjoy playing the game anymore or if I just enjoy the people. So I am making a step, still reversible, that will somehow alter my future in this game.

My current subscription is paid through April 29, and I have canceled the recurring billing renewal on the account. So, in effect, my account is currently canceled.

Not what I had hoped for

We did a guild run of Heroic Nexus - easy mode right? Not so much, we wiped on the Mage chick 3 times...3 freaking times. I hadn't wiped on her since we did it the first time. And then she didn't even drop the bracers that I keep running that place to get. I was just not on my game, and neither was the tank. We seemed to be fighting our instincts and thinking too much about what to do next. That is not the way I usually play, I am much more instinctive.

The good news, though, is our newest 80 Mage got a couple upgrades while we were in there, so it's not all bad.