Breaks from wow

[suicidesspyder]

After having the last 2 weeks off and playing wow like non stop 15+ hrs a day i was getting so worn out of trying to get to 80 on my dk's. First day away from wow i found myself missing it and was like why i was so tired of it. Second day dont miss it so much but still want to play it. The funny thing is as long as i get my 3 days away from wow a week it makes me want to play more n more. I dont know if anyone else has run into this. You work and play wow then you get a lot of time away and vacation so you play tons. To the point you get sick of playing it. Then you take time away and its like why was i sick of it i MISS it lol. Man i cant wait to get back on this weekend maybe get 76 boy i hope i can.

[Bena]

.... pssst hey kid.. come here... here.. your first toon is on the house.. lol... warcrack buwhahaha!

I've had times where I couldn't wait to play and times where I was just totally bored with the game (almost stopped but then found the joys of dual-boxing and well....). My limit also seems to be around 2 weeks.. last year spent part of my vacation on wow. Though lately I've been making a conscious effort not to burn all my free time with wow after work.

I think wow game designers got the perfect play/reward ratio.. it's what makes games addictive.. our brains get that 'happy' feeling and it keeps us coming back.. ding new level.. ding mob's dead.. ding loot!.. ding new talent.

ding!.. oooooh what's this .. PURPLE!! (now that's scary.. seeing purple letters makes you happy.. dang Bliz is brainwashing us 8| )

[Zub]

There's a reason why they call wow an addiction :-)

Ever found yourself not wanting to play, so you just wander aimlessly in the world for hours, or sit in dalaran/shattrah doind nothing and reading chat etc?
All those hours of sleep missed lol - scary isnt it

[Duese]

For me, it was always when I stopped really caring about the goals I had set or I would stalemate after completing my goals. I would generally get bored after that. My outlet has always been FFXI. I've taken two breaks from WoW, both times for about 3 month stretches to play FFXI. After playing that game for 3 months, I am begging and pleading to get back into WoW.

People always ask me why I'm jumping all the time, I tell them that I have a lot of jumping to make for after playing FFXI. ;)

[Tonuss]

I stopped playing for about 2.5 months and didn't miss it, but that's because it had gotten kind of boring. Our small casual guild was waiting for WotLK and we'd farmed Karazhan to death, and there wasn't enough enthusiasm for ZA. So I would just log in for daily quests and the occasional heroic or normal group run. And after a while I just stopped logging in. I cancelled my accounts and figured I'd wait until the expansion to come back. I wound up waiting until a month after that before I started logging in again.

As long as you are taking care of the things you need to take care of (health, job, school, family, etc) then you should be okay. If you find that time spent in WoW is taking the place of time you should be spending on those other things, that's when you want to step back and re-prioritize and/or set yourself a schedule.

[Hachoo]

I quit wow all the time for 6-12 months before coming back. People that play 4 years without ever taking a break are hopeless addicts.

Also, why play 15.5 hours a day? I don't care what you do, if you do it 15.5 hours a day you will hate it. WoW is not a job, its a game to enjoy, if you're not enjoying it don't play it. Come back after your brain tells you you actually want to play it again :)

I only get to play a couple hours a day, sometimes none for 2-3 days at a time, so its hard to get burnt out.

[-silencer-]

I stopped playing for about 2.5 months and didn't miss it, but that's because it had gotten kind of boring. Our small casual guild was waiting for WotLK and we'd farmed Karazhan to death, and there wasn't enough enthusiasm for ZA. So I would just log in for daily quests and the occasional heroic or normal group run. And after a while I just stopped logging in. I cancelled my accounts and figured I'd wait until the expansion to come back. I wound up waiting until a month after that before I started logging in again.

As long as you are taking care of the things you need to take care of (health, job, school, family, etc) then you should be okay. If you find that time spent in WoW is taking the place of time you should be spending on those other things, that's when you want to step back and re-prioritize and/or set yourself a schedule.
This.

WoW shouldn't ever feel like a job. If you don't feel like playing, take a break. Also, don't let it run your life for you. I make a point to never break plans, leave a RL event early, or avoid making plans in the future with friends/family for WoW time. Big deal if you miss a few days of dailies or cooldowns. It's a game, and it'll be there when you're ready to come back. I've been playing since about 7 months before the release in Nov of 2004, and I've taken at least half a dozen breaks of at least 2 months within that time. The game is actually quite fun to come back to once you do something else for an extended time.

[welwyn]

i had that same feeling of being burnt out of wow but i was not doing anything set. atm my goal is mining to 325 and skinning inline with my DK level so i can make gold while leveling. simple goals like that keep you acheiving things and keep you coming back for more.

[Tasty]

I can't wait to get back on wow. Its been four weeks and while it hasn't been painful not playing I'm looking forward to getting back on. But I can't cause my laptops STILL BROKEN RARRRRRRRRRR