Well, I’ve finally cancelled my subscription to World of Warcraft. I beat my way to level 43, got my horse, but see little point in continuing. At least at the prices Blizzard are demanding.

There are three main reasons. First is game design – at level forty you get your mount, some character bonuses (plate for paladins for example) and access to the upper crafting levels, but then that leaves you nothing until level sixty. While the aim for a steed kept me going through the slog that was levels 30 to 40, I’m left with nothing to aim for in the short term.

Which brings me to the second point – it’s not focused at casual gamers. Each level takes longer to achieve than the last and as you get higher you find most of the good gear in either the Battlegrounds (PvP play) or instances. Both take huge amounts of time. Further, the Battlegrounds require constant effort each week. Should you survive until level sixty the main game play revolves around raids, some taking more than five hours. And given you pay a flat rate monthly this really ties it to being a game for those with lots of free time. Those of us who play it a couple of times a week, or maybe on a rainy Sunday, soon run into problems with these game-play elements and, indeed, with the fact we’re subsidising the buggers who are playing eight hours a day.

But lastly, it’s the community, or rather the lack of. I’m fed up with rude people. I want to have fun when I play, not be spammed by fools who get abusive when it’s pointed out they shouldn’t be using the global LFG channel for talking bollocks. And as for people who message me asking for gold, or demand help (not ask) or try to form a group without even a greeting first – frankly, it’s just a turn off. Having said that, this isn’t a problem unique to WoW – CounterStrike, Day of Defeat, in fact most online games seems to suffer from it. Some more than others, mind…

So I’m off, back to my offline and private network games. X3: Reunion is now cheap and on Steam, so I’m giving that a spin; I’ve finished HL2: Episode One and I’m getting into WebWork 2, Spring and Hibernate. So I’ve even scored some extra productivity. At least until Diablo III appears…