Cortyn from MeinMMO feels burnt out regarding World of Warcraft. The reason is that the big goal has been reached. Do you know this feeling too?
My raid group and I have finally defeated Denathrius in Castle Nathria on heroic difficulty. I know many of you have accomplished this in World of Warcraft.
For “my group” and me, this was something quite special because some of our teammates had never properly raided before Shadowlands and were basically complete newbies. The only raids they knew so far were “old raids” farmed for transmog.
I could also understand the tank’s concerns well. Suddenly being “the idiot” who has wiped the entire group due to a mistake is not a pleasant thought. What can still be tolerated in a small guild group is more difficult in a raid group with many unfamiliar players. Not everyone has this “it’s just a game” attitude, and for some, it takes overcoming.
Our second tank was such a bundle of nerves before the first raid night that one could practically hear his pulse in Discord, as if his body was imitating some hardstyle techno beat.
To see that this overcoming was successful and that a solid raid core slowly formed from the groups that kept improving was wonderful.
From Nappel group to a reliable raid
Meanwhile, this uncertainty has faded, and the whole group functions well as a cohesive team. The first 9 bosses fall in Nathria on heroic almost effortlessly.
Working our way through the raid on “normal” first, only then to defeat the bosses on heroic – honestly, that was more than I had hoped for in the beginning.
Defeating Denathrius on Heroic was our big goal since the launch of Shadowlands. On one hand, we wanted to find our footing in raiding again, and on the other hand, show some raid refusers that raids can be a lot of fun.
I want to be honest: I really didn’t believe in the success of our group at the beginning. Even though the official goal was to defeat Denathrius on heroic, I didn’t believe it. Secretly, I thought: “Okay, we can manage normal with a lot of luck, but after the first 3 bosses on heroic, it will be over and the group will scatter.”
That this was not the case made me happy. Not a little happy like “I got a cool item,” but really happy like “raid nights are the absolute highlights of my week.”
After nearly 100 attempts at the final boss, our core group of 11 people finally achieved the kill on Denathrius on heroic.
It was arduous. It was exhausting. But it was exactly the challenge I wanted to have in WoW again.
But along with Denathrius, something else died:
My motivation.
The fight against Denathrius had given me such a high that I had long missed in WoW.
A quick dive into the old times
Back in the days of Vanilla and Burning Crusade, I still had a lot of time. I raided 3-4 days a week, and it was perfectly normal for me to fail 100, 200, or 300 attempts or more on a hard final boss. The weeks we spent trying Illidan Stormrage are etched forever in my memory. So much so that I still get traumatic flashbacks when I hear Illidan say, “Akama … your duplicity is hardly surprising …”
For me, there is this magical threshold of attempts per boss, beyond which I no longer need to actively participate and think, but my body just reacts. The boss mechanics become so ingrained that I don’t have to think about what I’m actually pressing or clicking.
In the first 50 attempts, it’s all still a learning phase. Mistakes happen to everyone, you wait for mechanics, look at the timers from the boss mod addon, and act accordingly. Since you often don’t experience all phases of a fight, you always learn something new when it transitions into an unknown phase.
But starting from the 60th or 70th attempt, that fades. It’s like a song whose melody you have internalized and which continues to play in your head on its own, without you being able to prevent it. Like a rehearsed dance that your body performs automatically after a while when it hears the right music.
What probably sounds like “boring memorization” to many was a high for me. This magical threshold, beyond which a boss fight requires no more thinking and everything happens automatically – that I had missed. I had missed dying so often on a boss.
I had missed working my way slowly through a difficult fight, piece by piece and percentage by percentage. With a group that doesn’t give up, fights through, and improves.
Before the last raid night, we had Denathrius at 0.7%. So it was clear that the good gentleman from Revendreth would kick the bucket next time.
And that’s exactly what happened. For us, it was the 99th attempt of the fight, which was finally rewarded with the kill and success.
It was the absolute highlight of my playing experience in Shadowlands so far. The best moment with the guild and the whole raid group, the best that there has been in this expansion so far. A jubilant atmosphere, everyone was happy and celebrated. We had proven something to ourselves, our characters now forever united by a shared success.
Burnt out after success
But suddenly I felt burnt out. In the blink of an eye, all the joy and satisfaction had vanished.
Even that same evening, I felt like the cliché anime protagonist who, after a heavy blow of fate, loses the shine in his eyes and collapses apathetically.
With the difference that the hard blow of fate is missing.
I still had so many goals for Shadowlands that I wanted to pursue in the coming weeks:
Yes, I wanted to farm every single reward with Anima that exists.
Yes, I still have a lot to catch up on in pet battles and complete the collection.
Yes, I still have to play the Necrolord campaign before Patch 9.1 continues.
Yes, I want to complete all dungeons on M+15 before Patch 9.1.
But all of that suddenly moved in my thoughts to the status: “I will do this … someday.”
Is WoW to blame? Or am I?
I consider World of Warcraft to be a good game. I always have, even during the controversial corruption items or during Cataclysm. I like change and can adapt to almost anything, even if some things are less or more fun.
But this feeling of “staring at the login screen and then rather turning it off again,” I haven’t experienced in a long time.
However, I find it difficult to pinpoint what exactly causes this. Unlike some other players, I don’t think there’s nothing to do in WoW. Quite the opposite. Looking at my mental list of goals, I have more to do than ever before.
The individual things are also fun for me, each in its own right. Once I start with pet battles, it will definitely occupy me for two hours. The same goes for playing through a campaign or completing M+ dungeons. Once I’m in it, I’m entertained.
But I hardly get that far right now. The emptiness that the Denathrius kill has left in me catches me at the login screen already.
Honestly, it comes in handy for me that Patch 9.1 Chains of Domination is still a long way off. Also, the fact that my vacation is about to start and I won’t have to deal with WoW for a few weeks fits perfectly with this.
A few evenings building my own farm in Stardew Valley or slaughtering annoying survivors in Dead by Daylight suddenly all seems much more appealing.
Have you also had moments when you suddenly feel burnt out in an MMORPG, where all motivation evaporates due to a sudden success?
