I think we very active players understand the all-consuming amount of time we spend on the game. Iāve often thought about what the end, or gradual withdrawal from the game will look like.
If I were to just stop, there would be a huge vacuum to fill. What would I do with all that time I devoted to it? For me, until I come up with another hobby that will fill the void, Iāll just have to figure out how to avoid burning out.
The ascepts of the game that I donāt enjoy are the raids and raid tourneys. They just seem so tedious to me. The fact that Iām not ready to cut them out means Iām not ready to go casual. If casual means not caring about titan and war flags (mine or others), then I know Iām certainly not there yet.
The only thing I know for sure is that I donāt want to play in the top alliances, stringing 13/14 star titans.
I am an active casual player. Up until recent months I did everything offered in the game. All quests no matter how menial. Farm to use WE up. Raid to fill chests. Wars. Tournaments. Challenge Quests and Class trials. And so on ā¦
Now they have added so much I find I am just letting half of it go. I still fill two or three chests per day. I still use all war flags and every titan hit I can. But my farming has dropped precipitously. I go whole days now without bothering. And I find more and more I am ignoring the menial quests (Gather food, mine iron, gain experience, etc). The only ones I make sure to do are the gem quest ones. And Recruits II. Others I may do if I feel like it.
My alliance is also quite casual. I could skip wars (opting out) or titans if I wanted and that would be fine. I donāt because of me, not them.
I still havenāt bothered trying Ursena hard yet. Last stage to finish S2. Eventually. I know I should for the AM.
BUT I seem to spend as much time on the forums here as I do in the game.
Lol and a good start for me would be to stop coming on the forum tooā¦
In answer to Zephyrās post the only way around this really is to have the discipline to log in only twice a day for example and be content if the chests are only filled once a day instead of twice a dayā¦
LOL with being in self-isolating mode (when not at work, grumble grumble) I think my forum participation has gone up as my game participation has gone down. Of course I also sneak on here when at work too ā¦
Recently passed my 3 year anniversary in the game and feeling the burnout a little and definitely feeling the impossibility of staying with a top 100-250 alliance. I recently left a very competitive, always pushing alliance and I have joined a small alliance where the leader had it blow up complete with kicking people from alliance and Line. Definitely easing up and somewhat enjoying it but its too quiet and not enough in game and Line chat about the game and new heroes. Iām rtrying to adjust to that, but may move on to a more chatty but still not pushing so much alliance.
I need a retirement home for very experienced players who want to stay active but not push so much.
If anyone has burnout and wants a chatty but Zero stress alliance jump in mine. Ministry Of Silly Orcs will help you calm downā¦until the total lack of war tactics annoys you enough to want to get back into it
Hitting 7* and 8* titans so itās easy mode for a few people Iām sure but If anyone needs a Vacation come and say hi.
Thereās so much content now, that Iāve felt overwhelmed at times. When I feel that way, I go without raiding unless I need the victories for POV. We have a lot more choices now, so I feel itās best to pick and choose what to play rather than feel compelled to do everything. I havenāt gone casual, but by choosing what I play and how much, I feel like Iām staying in control, rather than letting the game control my life.
I also remind myself that my reason for playing is for fun and an escape from real life stresses and worries. Iām not a semi-professional gamer, so I donāt need to put undue pressure on myself. If Iām to be a semi-pro at something, Iād like it to be something like being a semi-pro at keeping my home organized.
I must admit my thought when the new POV popped up was āsighā¦here we go againā
But itās nice to have some goals and this POV Iām going to try to do it differently and not claim anything until the end and see the windfall. Just to see how it looks really.
I have now completely blown off s3 for 2 months. I canāt ignore AR since it is the best use of my WE and flasks, but that might become the only time i donāt limit my time in game.
Iāve pretty much stopped farming, and my only WE use seems to be rare quests and events.
All of that and logging into the came still seems to be a chore. Iām still hoping to find balance, but Iām not sure itās out there.
I was VERY ACTIVE when I first started playing. First alliance I joined had minimum requirements: use at least 3 flags on EVERY TITAN, use ALL 6 flags in EVERY WAR. They didnāt really care so much what you did in your spare time, raid and monster chest wise, but I did most of those too.
They were good rules! For alliances that are trying to be competitive, at least. Not all of our members were fully on board with thatā¦ I tried to create an alt alliance for some of our āless activeā friends to hang out in, but mehā¦ wasnāt very popular. Because they were, by definition, āless activeā. There were days where my alt was the only one hitting the titan, killing 1* titans by myself.
I had fully intended on remaining a āvery activeā, very dedicated player. I wasnāt the biggest spender, but I bought a few small deals here and there (which yielded me a lot of free S1 3* heroes and not much else)ā¦ meh, whatever, itās okay, I donāt spend the most, but I do play a lot. And every time I had used up my flags, I spent my spare time casually chatting with my alliance mates, helping newbies with newbie questions, that sort of thing. Got promoted up to leadership, tried to help grow and encourage the team, et cetera. I enjoyed it for the most part.
The parts I didnāt enjoy. Having to kick people for not being active enough. Good people. Sometimes good people who had good reasons for not being active. We had a firefighter in our alliance who was volunteering his time, traveling across the country to fight crazy wildfires that were consuming thousands of acres of land. āMajorityā of alliance leadership voted to kick him out for missing too many titan and war flags. Likeā¦ ā ā ā ā ā ā ā seriously? I couldnāt bring myself to do it. I made one of my other ruthless co-leaders kick him. She did it without hesitation. Verdict: guilty. Bye bye.
That was just one instance I saw of otherwise good players getting āvoted off the islandā. Until eventually one dayā¦ I decided I had seen enough. And voted myself off the island. Bye bye.
Created my own private island, where I make all of the rules, but rarely enforce them as long as everyone is chill. You can call it Casual Island (actual alliance name is different, but itās a private island, so real name is really NOYB unless youāve been invited). In my alliance, the chat is quiet, the alcohol flows freely, and nobody really gives a damn about wars or cups or titans or much of anything else.
Zero regrets.
I have decided to skip the majority of my raid chests (went from trying to fill two a day to maybe only finishing them once or twice a week).
Skipped raid tournaments altogether.
Majority of my alliance voted to skip wars, so we opted out (I might try to go in and do some on my own later, if nobody else is up to it).
We usually try to kill our titans, but it depends on the titan level, and the overall alliance motivation level on a given day. Nobody is going to get punished for skipping.
I try to finish at least one monster chest every day and keep my TCs and builders busy. Donāt care what my other members do in those regards.
PoV? Eh. If the requirements are easy, i.e. something I was probably going to do anyway? Sure.
Rare quests and such that have good rewards? I make sure everyone in my alliance knows about them (yo! compass and Damascus blade hereā¦ or yo! ETT for Recruits II, etc.). I usually do all of those.
So yeah. Iām pretty casual now.
SIDE DISCUSSION:
I thought the point was reducing stress?
Fixed.
(kidding! please excuse my occasionally dark sense of humor)
It really is a mindset of not thinking you have to use every flag and do every activity, whether or not you only log in twice a day.
For instance, PoVā¦ just seeing how much you complete with normal activity instead of thinking you must do everything
Being in / finding an alliance that has flexibility about warsā¦ either allowing opt outs or accepting that not everyone can hit at the preferred times also helps
Looks up from feeding roster to Aifeā¦ āThereās ANOTHER way?ā
To be serious. I recently opted out of Wars and itās helped a lot. Iām in a mid level alliance, so it isnāt an issue. Iāll pop back in from time to time, but without having high expectations of myself.
Youāre not going to like this one, but I also found stepping back from the Forum took a lot of pressure away. I was moved by @JonahTheBard post when he took a break, and decided to do the same. I still lurk and occasionally comment, but not daily like I used to.
Iām seeing this come up repeatedly ā opting out of War was one of my original strategies for taking a break, but Path of Valor keeps necessitating coming back to it, whether Iām ready or not.
This is my first PoV since doing it. Iāve accepted that I wonāt get it completed. As long as I get to level 48, Iām good. Should be able to achieve that with normal game play.
I may hop back in for a few War hits, but probably wonāt make it beyond the first level or two.