Every so often in WoW, I hit a plateau where I don't really feel like playing anymore. Coincidentally, I've noticed, it always happens to be at points where:
- My quest log is full
Having my quest log full does two things -- it reminds me that I've got quests I need to accomplish, but it also reins in my explorer tendencies to map the world, because I know that if I continue exploring, I've got to turn down quests. I've found that I enjoy playing most when I have no more than 5 or 6 quests located in a central area.
- My inventory is full
Nothing slows me down from leveling more than a full backpack. This isn't even like EQ where the items one carries takes up weight, but rather because I feel bad not being able to loot or destroying items in my bag for higher value drops. Destroying virtual gold makes me sad.
- My level can be evenly divided 5.
For some reason, these levels feel like natural stopping points. Part of this, I'm sure, is that while we were making and testing World of Warcraft, the level caps were set in 5 level increments. The level caps were 20, then 30, then 40.
- Quests are not connected
There's two types of quests in Everquest -- quests that are basically one-shot quests, and quests that are storyline quests. One shot quests are great for designers who just want to crank out quests -- kill X number of monsters and return to me for your reward, while storyline quests are a pain for a designer because it just involves a lot more work in the dialogue and the event scripting system. But they are definitely more fun to work through, and having that little piece of storyline there makes you feel less like you're on a level treadmill.
- My Tradeskills have just been upgraded
Every so often, there are points in learning tradeskills where you need to see a new trainer to receive a new limit on your skill points. When I receive a new limit, I just want to grind to the new limit.
What happens when I hit these burn out points is pretty much one of two things -- either I take a break or I suck it up and continue. Inevitably, I end up returning at some point after the break.
COOL
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