Hello, my name is Dylan Hecht and I’m a World of Warcraft addict. Or at least I was until yesterday, when I cancelled my account. Now anyone that knows me, or at least listens to the podcast (where I manage to stick in a WoW story almost every week), is probably totally shocked by that last statement.

The real question though, is: why? Why after almost two years after starting have I finally decided to call it quits on the world of Azeroth?

It’s really a combination of a few different, although crucial factors. The server I was on, Darkspear, is not one known to the WoW universe as one that has a lot of PvE progression. Last time I checked, we had two guilds that have downed Illidan. Two. For a whole server. I was not in either of those guilds, either. I was busy toiling away in the ten man raids of Karazhan and Zul’Aman. Over and over and over and over and…well you get the point. I’ve done a bit of the 25 man content, but trying to keep 25 people together and running on the same page wasn’t a stress I wanted to deal with.

But really, that isn’t it. The real motivation behind quitting was that, honestly, I was just bored.

I’ve been playing since a week after The Burning Crusade as Stigma, my Draenei Shaman. I had a brief afair with a Paladin but he was a bit too judgmental. *rimshot*

That’s about a year and a half playing as one character. A year and a half leveling up all over Azeroth and the Outland. A year and a half of running 5 man dungeons until my fingers hurt. A year and a half doing things like leveling my fishing and cooking to the maximum of 375 and grinding reputation until the Night Elves consdered Stigma a god and gave me a pretty, white cat to ride around on as a reward. Can you blame me?

Now, I did try to reroll a shiny new priest and I really tried to like it. I leveled it’s tailoring to 375, and it’s enchanting to 338. I crafted all kinds of sweet gear to wear when I hit 70 and was going to be ready to jump right into raiding.

I was a killer shadow priest ready to take on anything in sight.

There was only one problem: the whole time I was leveling professions and grinding away killing X number of Y bad guy for Z piece of gear. It was the same old game that I was just trying to like, but not actually liking…no matter how much I tried.

So let me put this straight. I’m a World of Warcraft burnout. I still love MMOs though, don’t get me wrong. It’s just after all that time put in, I really didn’t see an end to grinding the same mobs to get the same rep to get the same items. It was time for something fresh. Something I hadn’t seen before.

So what’s next for me? Another MMO of course. I’ve been looking at Final Fantasy XI. It’s a group based MMO and I can play it on my PS3, which is a huge plus right there. Another one I’m checking out is Phantasy Star Universe. It’s another console MMO and it’s seems especially casual, so it’s another tempting option. The there is Guild Wars, which is free to play online…a huge bonus point. Or maybe Age of Conan, which is gory and even has a boob or two. Or maybe….well it’s not important.

There are plenty of good MMOs out there with thriving communities just waiting for me. Maybe I’ll find one with pretty graphics and a deep storyline. Or maybe one with some hardcore PvP action. Or heck, maybe even one that just has friendly people to play with. There are plenty of games to get into, so I don’t feel bad about quitting World of Warcraft.

My name is Dylan Hecht, and I was a World of Warcraft addict. Not anymore though. I’m done playing WoW and I don’t want to go back.

That is, at least until Wrath of the Lich King comes out.