I Beat The Game And I Liked It

I have beaten the World of Warcraft! OK, so I used the raid finder. But, I still killed Deathwing. I watched the cut scenes. I got the loot, Vishanka, Jaws of the Earth. I have the achievements.

I never intended to raid seriously before the raid finder was introduced. I don't like raid schedules and dealing with guild politics. I never had ambitions of defeating Deathwing. Blizzard gave me an early Christmas present with the implementation of the raid finder.

I spent all last week gearing up my Paladin tanking the Hour of Twilight Heroics, and then spent the weekend running them with my Hunter. I still do not have all the gear available, I am shy 2-3 pieces with my Hunter; however, I was able to get into the raid finder queue and not be the last guy on the Recount meters.

The group I was in wiped several times on Ultraxion before most of the group left and were replaced by some pretty competent players, who subsequently one shot Ultraxion.

One of Blizzards gimmicks in Dragon Soul is the new, creatively named, "extra action bar". This adds a single button in the middle of your screen for certain fights, like the Madness of Deathwing or Ultraxion. During these fights, the boss starts to cast an ability and you just have to hit your extra button. I was pretty surprised how difficult that is for so many players in the raid finder groups.

Even though the raid finder bosses are very easy, hardly a shadow of their normal or heroic versions, I had an absolute blast raiding. The fights still manage to feel epic and fun. As an individual player, the challenge in the raid finder is dealing with the unfortunate people you come into contact with. There are the Hunters rolling on strength gear and the Warriors rolling on agility gear. Another issue, is the players that are compelled to talk to the NPC's and start the encounters while the group is still explaining the fight and buffing. Let's not forget the tanks that don't even have taunt on their action bars.

As much as I love the new raid finder, after killing Deathwing I had a sudden and terrible realization: Do I have a reason to keep playing World of Warcraft until the next expansion?

Like I said, I never expected to raid let alone down Deathwing, so I have already accomplished more than I ever hoped to do during this patch. I am really sick of the new Heroics, which were very fun, the first couple times I ran them; I think I am pushing 40 now total. I have not made up my mind, but I am at least contemplating my goals for the remainder of the Cataclysm expansion.

I never expected to feel like I beat the game and I am sure I am not the only one having these thoughts. I wonder if Blizzard considered this or if this is something that is sneaking up on all of us.

I did completely miss Firelands. I might join one of the pugs that are still forming and see what all the fuss is about "the dance".