Just little background, I am not professional psychiatrist, but I did major in it back in university so I know at least something I am about to write here.
Also, everything I am saying here does NOT mean I want there to get free loot for just logging in daily, I do not want to be receive 10 legendaries for just stepping into dungeon. I dont want that you get your newest mythic tier set for just having a pulse.
We good on this? All understand what I mean? Good! Lets start.
So I, like so many, have hopped back to WoW after trying new different games. Getting back to WoW is like going back to your old home, its all nice and familiar, warm and cozy, but then you get a smell of the musky air and are hit by the mold and dust. You feel physically ill due to this. Yet you still are there because its your old home. Its familiar so you forgive few of its creaking and rotting corners.
And this is here where the issues start. WoW is indeed an abusive spouse that beats you daily, but at the end of the day it gives you a little kiss on cheek and says “tomorrow will be better, I promise”. And you believe that, because why would something that has been with you for so long ever lie to you? You are stuck here with this because you have seen what the world has to offer and its no better than your old loved one, at least this old one is safe, with all its cracks and mold, and you hope that maybe one day it will get better, just like they promise every night after beating you. They have to!
Now this is of course very, VERY, over exaggerated metaphor, but it is to paint a picture in your head how this game does treats you and how you yourself allow that to happen. You are in depressive relationship of daily repetition of beatings and humiliation.
You log in daily to see what new lottery boxes there is to open, and you get disappointed when its not something you want.
You run dungeon in hopes of that new and shiny gear, but you are instead rewarded something completely horrible and/or worse than what you already get, but tomorrow is new possibility.
You do raid with your friends and at the end of the week you do not get anything, or if you get something, it is the same old.
And to top this all, there is the Weekly Disappointment box. That is your loved one promising that next week will be better, I am going to be better, starting next week you will be treated well. You wait with bated breath that you will receive the love and care you have wanted, earned even, but it turns out to be just another empty lie in string of empty lies. You receive nothing of value from there. Another week wasted in hopes of getting something new… But there is next week, right? It will get better next week? It has to!
That is the abusive relationship loop many of us are with WoW. We keep playing week after week in hopes of getting that sweet sweet loot to improve our toons, to get that dopamine rush of getting that new shiny gear! But all this does is it feeds your mind with disappointment. You are teaching your brain to get excited and then disappointed daily/weekly. That feeds depression. Just like if you are overweight and all you do is eat fatty foods you will get more overweight and feel more bad about yourself making you eat more. It is vicious cycle and many of us are stuck in it.
But there is always the next week… It will get better…
WoW has always had this mechanic of running dungeons and hopefully getting something. Same with raids. This is nothing new or shocking that you do run and you get nothing. It is part of the game. But back in the old times it was different. There was not constant lottery tickets tossed at your face and you needing to hope you get something out of them. There were many sure ways to get that improvement in gear, and that was it. To some it was just dungeon gear turning into heroic gear turning into raid gear. Thats it. Some took to the fields of battle in PVP and geared through it. They too had clear goal in mind how to improve, and it was enough.
But then Blizzard made changes. Everything had to be more random. It had to engage players more. Gotta make them log in daily for that sweet sweet loot box opening dopamine! Mythic is not now the best when there is option for that sweet sweet Mythic 18! Oh there is still that 19 also… Well maybe just one more hit… It will get better…
I hope that long, long… LONG rant made some sense in what I am talking about all this. WoW as game is just like any mobile game. You are tasked to log in daily to open your daily loot box rewards and hope you get something out of it all. I for one am no longer a hardcore raider. I barely have touched even LFR because I do not feel the want to play it. I do my dailies and kill few rares in hopes of nice transmog or that I have gotten item I can transform into new tier piece. I am very much at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to playing the game. My opinion means little to nothing in the grand scheme of WoW. But this has also made me realize how bad WoW is to your mind when comparing to FF14 for example.
I do not say FF14 is the better game, thats whole different topic.
But there are things that game does so well. It treats you like player that does not have to be there every day to check if you get something new and shiny. You have clear goal to aim toward and you know you will receive the prize when you have put the work needed towards it. There are no weekly boxes that will disappoint you. There are no dailies that will make you feel that another day has been wasted. Your time there is meaningful and rewarding and you can spend all day there and feel like you had fun, playing the game. It is not perfect game, but it is fun. It is not constant run towards carrot on a stick that keeps going further and further. It is not hope that the next week will be better because it has to be…
For WoW to improve as game, the game needs to stop making you be disappointed every day. It is the small things that will stick with your mind, poisoning it all the time more and more. You will feel bad for every week you “waste” on not getting new items because of bad RNG and the weekly box just wont give you anything new because you have to come back next week… It will get better…
WoW needs to stop trying to be mobile game disguised as MMO you pay monthly. It needs to go back to more determinist ways of getting gear. Give the player clear goals to aim, and once that is done, so be it, it is done. Let the players go away for few months and come back with new energy to see what new you have to offer.
“But you said you did not want free epics!!!” I hear you shout. Yes I did say that and I stand by that. I do NOT want to get free loot by just having a monthly sub. I want a way to earn my gear weekly, other than relying on casino math that is always against me. I guarantee you that if you would have way to get your gear weekly you would be more happy… Oh what, there is already way to get it? And people enjoy it! Well would you look at that!!! Its almost like people hate being disappointed every week.
Blizzard need to start value players time and reward them accordingly. Treat the players as players and once the players are not depressed and disappointed, they will be happier to hop back to the game week after week to have fun and actually play the game and not just come and open the weekly box that disappoints them… But there is always next week, it will get better.
