My last “coming back” post has become something of a meme among my World of Warcraft friends. Almost exactly three years ago, I optimistically wrote about my impending return to hardcore raiding and regular writing. That article has remained on the front page of this website, falsely greeting my dwindling number of visitors. However, I think I can say with more certainty this time – I’m back.
My life has drastically changed since my last appearance on WoW social media. In my last post, I talked about how I had recently completed my graduate program and found a good job. Fast forward to present, and I am doing something completely different with my life, in a completely different sector, and in a completely different location. The nature of my new career does not give me a lot of room to discuss details, but life has become infinitely more interesting. With that said, several factors have aligned to allow me to dedicate more time to my former love – World of Warcraft.
As people and governments of the world started to recognize the seriousness of the threat of COVID-19 in mid-march (I’ll try to be as non-polarizing as possible here), I entered into a mandated quarantine where I was restricted to living, eating, and sleeping in a 10 by 10 foot room. Unable to partake in my normal hobbies and spending far less time working, I started to consider new ways to pass the time. I came up with plenty of productive ideas – start to break into my ever-growing stack of books which I order from Amazon but never open, take some interesting college courses online, or start playing WoW again. It should now be glowingly apparent to all my readers how little faith you should place in my advice (only half kidding).
Back to present day – it is safe to say that I am actually back. I am playing far more casually (in terms of raid rankings and hours) than previously, but I am playing as much as ever. In fact, I am currently Mythic raiding on two different characters in two different guilds. Of course, my restoration druid remains my main. However, I am also dabbling in fire mage. On my druid, I am playing with some old friends on a very casual schedule and environment. I’m enjoying myself in WoW again, even if there are certain systems and features which I despise (future post foreshadowing?).
I still have not yet decided on what my future in Shadowland’s holds. I am heavily considering making a return to top twenty raiding. My current schedule and motivation allows for a more hardcore schedule and dedication at present. However, I’m still considering where the equilibrium between my competitive drive and my desire for schedule freedom lies. At the moment, I really enjoy the company of raiding with friends – especially for only six-ish hours a week. Yet, I still long for the feeling of slamming my head into a boss, during the first few weeks of progression, and knowing that my team and I were one of the first groups of people in the world to solve that puzzle.
This is all a long-winded way to say – my future is still uncertain. However, I am most definitely back in the World of Warcraft and raiding. I want to start writing more regularly. While I no longer have the top tier qualifications for writing about the bleeding edge of progression in Battle for Azeroth, I plan to write opinion pieces about this expansion and the changes coming in Shadowlands. Then, by the time the new expansion launches, I hope to be in a better position to write authoritative guides and theorycraft for restoration druid.
Healcraft 