How to avoid getting "Burnt Out"

We all know that feeling. The hesitance of logging in. The feeling that your WoW activities are starting to become lack-luster. It's a slippery slope no doubt. Once burn out starts to set in there's no going back, at least not for a bit. However there are ways to slow your descent into getting burnt out. I have played WoW for about four years or so and I have only taken one short break from the game (was like a month) and have never canceled my subscription. How do I stay playing and not tire of the game? Gather round, friends, and let me help.

If you feel you're starting to grow tired of the game but still want to play, follow these tips to help combat the burning. However the best way to beat getting burnt out I find is to just play something else, don't force yourself to play. That's the simplest advice I can give. Don't force it.

Play Some Alts!

 If you have fun playing your goblin shaman alt play it! Who cares if it doesn't get your Therazane rep up, do it anyway! This is another very simple yet key way to prevent getting bored. Mix up your game play. Doing dailies every day may be productive but it will make you hate the game. The endless grind of raiding can also do this. Am I encouraging you to skip raids to play alts? No, not at all, just play them in your spare time if you happen to be in a guild that has organized raids.

Play How You Want To!

I'll tell you a quick story first. A couple months ago, back when ICC was in it's stage of giving a 30% buff and everything was steam roll and puggable, I ran a raid with the most peculiar paladin I had ever met. He was technically protection talented but his play style matched a tri-spec player. No joke this guy, as I watched him on boss fights, would at one point run up and start doing DPS on a boss then after a minute or so would run out of melee and start healing people. After healing for a bit he then went back in melee range and started going at it again, doing more DPS. On fights with adds he would be our off off tank, randomly taunting adds when he wanted to. This happened with every boss. He ignored boss mechanics, and just did what he wanted to that moment. Needless to say, it was his first character.

Despite his play style being not very helpful to the raid, I can guarantee you one thing about that paladin. He had more fun than any one of us in the raid. And that is the point of my story. Play how you want to. With the new talents and glyphs there's more opportunities to play how you want to. Unless you're in a top world guild you don't need to min/max, I promise you this. If you're a disco priest and love reflective shields even though you're a raider then spec into them!

(For the record I don't encourage hybrid play like the paladin in my story, it doesn't help the raid. I encourage playing how you want to... as long as it's still helpful to the raid =P)

Whenever my old guild did the Saurfang fight in ICC I would always build a fort of vanity items since we didn't move in that fight. My way of fighting the monotony of ICC.

Ignore Productivity! Do What's Fun!

People get stuck in this rut where they feel that they must be doing dailies or getting gold, anything that furthers their character in that way. I don't get this. I understand getting gold is fun for some and if that's so that's awesome. Doing dailies is boring however and will make this game feel like a job instead of a game. This is a game after all. Play it to have fun! Who cares if you're not making gold or chain running heroics, if you're having fun you're doing it right!

A good example of this is my friend and I the other night flew to Orgrimmar on my touring rocket and tried to find a troll death knight to kill since it was the last class/race combination for one of our guild achievements. We could find one but then got distracted by playing a game where I'd drop him out of my rocket and try to catch him before he'd plummet to the auction house where all the hungry hungry Horde were waiting. Then after doing that for a while we tried to race from the western entrance of Org to the main entrance on land mounts and see who could get there first/alive. This went on for an hour or so. Did doing this make us gold? No. Did this get us rep? No. Did we have a ton of fun? Absolutely. Don't forget to take some time from the daily grind to have fun! If you need some ideas for fun, I have a few suggestions.

Try Something New!

I always make sure there's at least one thing I haven't done or done in a while so that I have something refreshing to do when I'm feeling burnt out. For example all through Burning Crusade and Wrath I did a lot of PvE. In Cataclysm I'm focusing more on PvP since I never really focused on it before. This is keeping me interested in the game, it's new territory for me. Another good idea of something new is to try role playing. Get past the mentality of "lolRP" and just immerse yourself. You might surprise yourself by how much you enjoy it.

Don't Force Yourself to Play
Let me suggest a game to play while you are waiting for your interest in WoW to reappear:
League of Legends (My names Asilwen on there if anyone else plays, add me on there!)

These four tips are simple yet effective. The most important of them is to remember to always have fun. This game is not a job, it's a game! I can't stress this enough.