Blizzard games have been perhaps the single biggest companions in my decades of video game playing. They're fun, they're addictive and they are utter, utter timesinks. There was once a time when I would not blink at spend all day questing through Azeroth, leveling, grinding, raiding. I always felt like I was making progress towards something. These were the best of times.
Yesterday, I was playing Hearthstone and was facing down yet another Northshire Cleric Priest deck - the one that doubles its health, then gets Inner Fire cast on it and then eats your face for about 18 damage - this was the third one of the day, the second in a row I had fought and, naturally, I lost. My current streak was 0 and 'I lost track' for the past...two weeks. All I need is one more win with a Warrior or Shaman and I can buy another pack. It's not that I'm against spending money on games - far from it - I simply have little extra money to spend.
Clearly, I am not good at Hearthstone. But more than that, I do not have the time nor desire any longer to sink into a video game to get better. Gone are the days of all night raids. There's school, there's work - and you would think writing about video games would make me play more, the opposite actually - and a hundred other deadlines and commitments to uphold. Two weeks of casual play and I had no progress to show for it besides a slight uptick in my level for this or that hero.
So like many gamers before me, I /ragequit.
The road towards advancement in Heroes is slow, for sure, but it is ever moving forward. I will gladly walk it, day in and day out. Whether you're with some friends, a PUG or just in practice mode by yourself trying out one of the week's heroes, you always know that you'll get something at the end - progress in a quest, gold or both.
Perhaps I am just old and tired. Whatever competitive edge or desire I once possessed has been stripped away by time, worn down like rocks against waves. Games have become less about winning and more about enjoying the experience - with (and especially) without other people. Maybe I'll see you out there in Nexus one day. Until then, I'll be hanging back, and win or lose, I know that I'll be having fun.
I might also start getting decent at it, too.
