I played wow for a large part of my life and have been both happier and more successful since I stopped playing. (It also was how I didn't go insane boymoding for all of college though so take that for what it's worth)

Play path of exile or something free.

Will they give you a free month? The last time I had the MMO shakes, all I had to do to cure them was login to ESO and try to do literally anything - all the popups about new "opportunities" that were just loot boxes and micro-transactions gave me the ick, and I logged right back out.

I feel you I was contemplating getting into WoW classic due to nostalgia for WoTLK but I already lost over two entire years of my life to that game. And no, I didn't just play it for a couple years seriously. I mean my main character had nearly 700 days played time ~15,000 hours. 100 entire days of my life, every year, for 6 years.

Go ahead and resubscribe. Right now.

Your entire quest log is going to be filled up with disjointed story quests that in no way interact with each other.

If you manage to navigate through that slop, enjoy literally nobody willing to invite you to anything, because the last raid of the expansion is already over, and if you aren't Ahead of the Curve, you're trash.

You're welcome.

wow sucks and always has. go find a LARP group

Many indie games that are much better, play Outer wilds or Disco Elysium.

Not worth to play a subscription based game.

Gross, the company that did this to its own employee on a business retreat?

CW: Bullying, extreme sexual harrassment, suicide. https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/03/04/activision-blizzard-employee-suicide-lawsuit/

I play sometimes for old times sake in a free pirate server. I'll never give them another dime.

“A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered. You are speaking, Hmán, as if pleasure were one thing and the memory another. It is all one thing.” - CS Lewis’ Sci-fi Trilogy

Your nostalgia for the game is just as much a part of your experience of the game as when you originally played it. Enjoy feeling the good memories and that desire to go back to them, but know that you can never go back. Remembering good times is just those good times becoming “fully mature”.

WoW is a shit game that is definitely not worth your you spending a monthly fee for

WOW sucks, Runescape sucks, Star Wars Galaxies sucks, Black Desert sucks, they all suck. we deserve games that respect our limited time on this plane

Remember: the only thing worse than a disappointing video game is a disappointing video game you have to pay a monthly fee for.

I just an unsociable amount of time in WoW in the first month and only month despite the warnings of my friend who did the same in WotLK Classic. Let me tell you something, GenderIsOpSec, he was right and I'm right in that you have better things to do. There are better games to play. My friend is somehow a mastermind of ingratiating himself into communities and does it during his leisure time. He used that to get into a top tier raiding guild, getting glad titles, etc. He still called it a waste. My ass was anxious to join a discord to talk to people having a laugh. The game by itself is a flood of text you probably won't read, cutscenes you end up skipping, and a gameplay loop that isn't that bad. You heard me right, it's not that bad. Killing shit in WoW is kinda fun. But there are other ways you can spend that time that rocks. If you're going to be alone, you can play a single player game. If you can socialize well, play lethal company, or do cold calls or whatever extroverts do in their free time.

It's cheap entertainment. It's stimulating, but not engaging. The best part of it would be the community building and you're better off building that community over something that isn't fucking WoW.

WoW is a shit game that is definitely not worth spending a monthly fee. You'll waste so much time doing dailies or queueing for raids and dungeons that could be spent actually playing other games. You're blinded by nostalgia and trying to recapture the time you played your first MMO all over again but you never will.

Think of all the drugs you could buy with the monthly fee

It's not much, but probably better for you

let's pick a private server to all start playing on together and make a Hexbear guild

It could be worse. I've gotten the shakes for EVE Online again

Why play WoW when you could simply play Noita, ~~the only good video game~~?

edit damn i forgot disco elysium existed. ~~one of the two only good video games~~

edit wait, outer wilds exists as well. one of three only good video games

Depends on what specifically you desire from the mmo. If you were primarily endgame its all shit, everyone is toxic asshats and you get kicked for not rushing at maximum speed. No one will let you enjoy the gane at pace its grind grind grind max ilevel.

If its questing you enjoyed and playing slow (like me) currently leveling in retail wow has been completely destroyed. You can max level in 2 hours, the content barely exists its just so cut back.

It might actually be worth instead playing guild wars 1? Has the mmo vibe but its pay once. Good story and not run by a shit company afaik. Can get a lot of playtime out of it.

Just get a second job. It's as soul crushing as an MMO and you get paid. (At least that's how I see MMO's of any form, including Pokemon and Animal Crossing these days.)

Play Kenshi, Bg3, Grim Dawn, or Zomboid instead. Not sure what you're looking for in wow but anytime I think about leveling skills or progressing a character in Runescape I just go to Kenshi or Zomboid. Also just looking at all the things I'd actually need to do in rs usually dissuades me too, most of it is literally just time-wasting chores.

mimicry produces an inferior image and the virtual is as inescapably shallow as nostalgia is stagnant; novelty declines inexorably, as does all pleasure derived: only mind-forged memory satisfies the creative artificer of desire and its reminescence

i will bookmark this for future reference, thank you everyone. i knew hexbear would got me

I'm in a similar boat, I kicked osrs when I restarted school last September. I was tempted to play over Christmas break but then I though about how my entire break would just be consumed by it. I appreciate the time I've spent with it, and osrs helped me through some really terrible times (though maybe not the healthiest grief coping mechanism), but moving forward I just can't dedicate hundreds of hours to grinding on an MMO

If I wanted to do chores every day, I would simply do work around the house

The game is designed to get you hooked and make it harder to let go. You are the cow and your money is the milk. Don't make Blizzard richer by proving they were right. You are more than just a wallet.

Just play on a private server. There are a ton with different focuses and every one is better than retail.

Low key I've been having a blast playing classic SoD. If you do end up resubbing, I'm playing on wild growth horde with my brother and partner. We're trying to raid BFD in a couple weeks once my partner hits 25. The rune system is very satisfying.

Just buy the newest expansion man, and also 6 months of subs for that awesome mount that's better than anything you can earn in-game. Also don't forget about paying to transfer your favorite characters to a populated server. Oh but maybe you want to play a new toon? Don't forget to get that level boost too! Max level? Buy that WoW token to get you up to speed on gold!