Hi All, bit of an odd one. I’ve left and returned to this game so many times, each time rolling a new character and enjoying the levelling experience. Then I will grow bored around level 80ish (pre SL) then decide to quit. Then I’ll reseubscrive a few months later and start over. Vicious cycle!
Although many will probably say the game isn’t for me, I just wanted to get an idea of what the majority of players do once they hit that end cap and how much more enjoyable they find the game.
I’m tempted to give myself one more chance of taking this char up to 60 and seeing what else the game has to offer. I wouldn’t mind what i did, if I got good I think I’d love PvP but I also don’t mind the idea of grouping up with others and doing PvM.
Welcome back
I don’t think this is an odd question. WoW as a game has been around for over 17 years at this stage, so it has a lot to offer and while, as you mentioned, you never stuck around, there clearly does seem to be something about it that pulls you back in.
I’m trying to keep this as concise as possible, since there are obviously too many things to go into detail for, but feel free to respond should you want to know more about one specific activity.
One thing right off the bat, no matter what you decide to do at endgame, joining a likeminded guild or community is usually a big reason for retention, since enjoying the game with others adds a lot of value (it is an MMO after all), and even though it isn’t 100% necessary and some people do enjoy the game solo, I always felt like playing with likeminded people helps the motivation to continue playing.
I’ll group the things you can do up for you, so it’s a little easier to digest:
Group PvE: The main thing most of the playerbase does at endgame revolves around Dungeons or Raids of varying difficulty. Raiding particularly probably takes the top spot here, since the fights and environments are generally really well designed and enjoyable.
Solo PvE: Generally considered anything you do in the open world, ranging from finishing the current expansion storyline, worldquests, reputation farming, or any other feature the respective current expansion has to offer. In SL for example they introduced Thorghast, a procedurally generated instance that gives you various random powers based on your class where you ascend through different floors (I find this really fun to do, although the rewards are a little lacking).
PvP: Probably coming in at a close second to PvE are Battlegrounds, Arena and Warmode. I honestly never got into it in all the years I played, so I don’t know too much about it, unfortunately.
Now the above shouldn’t be a surprise, but I wanted to add a few things here on a personal note that can fall into any of the main categories above:
Alts: Playing many characters besides your main is something I enjoy a lot, especially since I find that it keeps the game fresh. I started this with the introduction of allied races, since they even have a little reward for leveling characters up in the form of a cosmetic set, and I usually always have at least one character that I’m leveling on my account, just because I think it’s fun and offers a different perspective and playstyle. I also really enjoyed playing through old content with all of the classes i leveld up (specifically Legion), to unlock artifcat weapons, class specific storylines and class mounts for each of them.
Transmogs: Collecting armor and weapon appearances is also something I really enjoy, because what does it help to have a full roster of characters if they don’t look all shiny and fancy? Running old raids and dungeons, either solo or in small groups, and especially filling up tier sets from previous expansions (I really miss them!) in your wardrobe can be really fun, not to mention that you get to experience old raids.
Achievements: Kinda self explanatory, but achievement hunting is also pretty fun, especially for those achievements that offer mounts, titles, toys or pets as rewards. Obviously they fall into any of the previously mentioned categories, but I’ve had situations before where I found myself not knowing what to do, and looking at achievements I had almost finished to figure out what to do next.
Pet Battles: Now this really isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but out of boredom I stumbled across this massive part of the game a few years back (actually through achievements, like mentioned before) and was pleasantly surprised about how much the system offered, even if it’s just running through old zones and trying to find rare versions of pets, or doing one of the pet battle dungeons.
Mount Collecting: This one can be an incredible time sink, and I never really actively went on the hunt for mounts, but I know some people enjoy it quite a lot, especially since there are some really nice looking mounts out there that can feel very rewarding to get after weeks of farming!
These are the main things top of mind for me, but I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting quite a few things here and am only scratching the surface. As mentioned at the start, the game has a lot to offer, and what’s enjoyable or not is very much down to personal preference. If anything here sounds interesting to you and you wanna know more, feel free to respond, happy to elaborate.
Let me ask you some questions that may help others to suggest things.
You say “PvM”, a term used in other MMOs but not in WoW. Which other MMOs do you play? What do you like about them? What kind of content do you like in them? What classes/playstyle do you like?
When was the last time you played WoW? What expansion?
What is it about WoW that brings you back?
How many classes have you tried? What’s your favourite?
Have you ever tried soloing old dungeons and raids?
Have you ever trid queueing for a random battleground?
Have you tried the dungeon finder LFD queue? What did you think of the experience?
Hi Kerrosh, thanks so much for your well detailed and informative response. I can see why people say you open up a whole new game once you hit cap! What do you enjoy mostly doing?
Well, I’m one of those who finds leveling the inconvenient and annoying thing you have to do before you can reach cap. If boosts weren’t so expensive, I’d never level another character.
I’m a PvE player, and my main things are mythic plus (timed and more difficult) dungeons and raiding. There are also a lot of story questlines that you don’t discover until you reach cap and those flesh out the world in a big way.
Glad to hear this helped.
I myself mostly enjoy playing/leveling alts, collecting transmogs and doing old raids, as well as the occasional battle pet leveling spree or collection achievement.
At the moment anyways, but that is mostly due to our current patch cycle coming to an end. If a fresh patch/expac comes out I take a lot of time exploring new zones and experiencing the stories there (I’m horribly slow as I like reading quest texts), but for the current patch I’m kinda done with all of that, so I mostly keep myself busy with the odd time sink above.
I will say however, that I know I’m not part of the broad playerbase that enjoys dungeons and raids, so my experience with the game might not be the “standard” way to play, if there even is such a thing. I’m not driven by better gear or becoming stronger, but rather the experience of the game itself, and usually once I reached the itemlevel cap for what’s available in open world, I move away from end-game content. That’s just how I like to play the game, and I appreciate a lot people find gear progression fun and engaging, which keeps them interested in the game (like Tyssera above mentioned) so it’s all down to preference.
Like Gráinne mentioned above, answering the questions might help really zero in on what you yourself would enjoy most.
