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Breakfast Topic: Have you ever taken time off from WoW?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Sometimes people need a break from Azeroth. There are various reasons for it -- real-life issues, lack of new content, boredom, another game you have to try -- but despite the reasons, most of the time people come back. Something about the world or the people in it draws players back to see what is new since the last time they logged in. Sometimes it almost seems that WoW has a pull that is hard to escape, and you find yourself launching the game and putting in your account and password without even realizing you are doing it. I have never taken a long break from WoW, and I have played since launch. I have taken a week or two off from time to time, but never any of these extended multiple month or year breaks from the game. Perhaps it is being a pretty serious raider that makes me log in nearly every day. Perhaps it is my penchant for being an achievement junkie or the fact I am an altaholic. But for some reason, I cannot seem to avoid the game for any major length of time. My latest break was right before Cataclysm launched, in which I caught up on some other great video games I missed -- but even then, I logged on to check mail and the AH and chat with some friends. And that is what I realized keeps me coming back: the people in my guild and on my friends list; it isn't the raids or the chance at shiny purples, even though I do enjoy that aspect. So have you taken time off from WoW? How long was your break? What brought you back?
Breakfast Topic: WoW as rehab
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. When my fiancée and I first met, we exchanged stories, talked about our career choices and what we've gone through over the years. After some time, WoW came up in our discussion. I explained to her how I first got started in WoW and how it has actually helped me quite a bit over the years. When I first started playing, I was recovering from a major surgery and was mostly confined to my house. You can only watch the same movies and read the same books so many times before you're bored with nothing to do. Enter WoW -- and everything changed. All of a sudden, I had a connection to the outside world. Not only was I talking to people from all over the country, but I was also making myself think. Every move I made had a consequence to some degree, and much like everyone else, I learned early on that murlocs are not your friend. Fast-forward nine months and I was cleared for work and school. I went back to work and started my fall quarter refreshed and eager to learn. People were asking if I had really had surgery, because they couldn't tell a difference. Unfortunately, I fell ill a year ago and was off work yet again. WoW was my saving grace (next to my fiancée, of course), and it helped me keep my head above water. I had a connection to the outside world, was able to talk to friends that lived hours away and wasn't sitting around the house bored out of my mind.
Apple introduces iPhone developer RSS news feed, takes time off from iTunes Connect
Late yesterday, Apple introduced a RSS feed for news from the App Store Resource Center, which was introduced a few months ago, and gives iPhone developers news about what's going on with the App Store for developers. Apple promises to deliver current turnaround time for app reviews (kind of a hot topic), program updates, development and testing techniques, and much more. Add it to your reader of choice. In related news, iTunes Connect will be unavailable from December 23rd to December 28th. You'll remember that Apple did the same thing last year. You'll won't be able to access anything in iTunes Connect in that time, which includes, sales reports, app submission, generating promo codes and more. Hey, even geeks need a holiday break, right? Make sure your pertinent business is concluded before then and enjoy the break!
We Have a Tabard: Gone but not forgotten
Looking for a guild? Well, you can join ours! We have a tabard and everything! Check back for Amanda Dean talking about guilds and guild leadership in We Have a Tabard.Over the last several weeks, we've talked about everything that guild leaders need to do to try to maintain peace, order, and progress amongst your ranks. I'm going to let the rest of your guild in on a little secret: it's like a job, except you don't get paid.Theoretically it should be a job that your GMs and officers love. Your leadership has less flexibility when it comes to scheduling than rank and file members. When it comes to raiding or other activities, your leadership doesn't have the opportunity to slack off. They are working hard to make sure things run smoothly and to set a good example for their members.Is it better to burn out than to fade away? I am currently on a wee bit of a leadership hiatus. After struggling to fill raids and going over the same fights countless times, I kind of snapped. I told my team I needed a break. I have to admit that while I feel a little bit guilty, it's been blissful. I've slept more, had fewer migraines, and generally enjoyed WoW more for the last couple of weeks than I have over the last several months. It won't last though. Let me offer you a few suggestions to avoid getting to the place where I was:
Breakfast Topic: The holiday raiding blues, Part I
It's that time of the year again. Holidays are upon us and suddenly millions of players realize that real life > WoW. Thanksgiving dinner left overs or some 25-man Naxxramas?An official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle or a dead Sartharion?Clearly the answer is the BB Gun for for most us. But there are a few out there that are experience the holiday raiding blues. And they just had their first taste of them.The simple fact of the mater is that during this time of year it's increasingly hard for players to find raids of any size to run with. It leaves guild leader's heads in knots as they try to make everyone happy, and saddens the hard core raider as they can't work on progression content (especially with a new expansion).Of course the flip side to this is that in a little over a month everyone will return wanting to raid even more than before. That's a good thing for everyone who enjoys that aspect of the game.Do you have the holiday raiding blues?
Breakfast topic: Vacation to Northrend
Hooray! After months of speculation, we finally have a release date for Wrath of the Lich King. The World (of Warcraft) will soon be chock full of Death Knights and Inscriptionists. There are so many things to look forward to. I can't decide which character to level first. I'll have some time. As promised, I put in my Paid Time Off request for a few days after the release. I'm very surprised at Thursday release date, but I'm not complaining. I'm taking the twelfth through the sixteenth of November off work. I beat the release-request rush at work, so my time is approved. See you in Northrend. Are you rearranging your schedule for the coming of Wrath?
Merry Christmas and happy holidays from WoW Insider!
It's Christmas Day, and so from all of us here at WoW Insider, we wish you and yours a happy holidays! Here's hoping that however you're celebrating (or have celebrated) the holidays, you had more fun than a Mechanical Yeti running around Gadgetzan (and hopefully your relatives didn't run away from you asking why?! why you torment them so). It may be a slow day here on the site -- many of our writers and their families are also celebrating the holiday and taking some much deserved time off. So if you don't see too many articles this afternoon, don't worry too much -- head into Azeroth, go get your gifts underneath the trees in the capital cities, and we'll see you tomorrow with all the WoW news and commentary that you expect from us every day.And as always, thanks for reading, visiting, and commenting here as much as you do. Letting us have the chance to keep putting this site together for you every day is one of the best gifts we could find under the tree this year. Right next to the Wii and the shiny new Bulwark of Azzinoth, of course.
