The longest wait

I'm tired of hearing about Warlords of Draenor.

Earlier today, Adam Holisky of WoW Insider fame shared a graphic illustrating the length of time we've had to wait in the past for new in-game content. And the verdict's out: the time between patch 5.4 and the Warlord's beta release---no matter when it happens---will be the longest since World of Warcraft has been a game. By the looks of it, 5.4 and its main content, Siege of Orgimmar, will be a year-long-plus patch. Does that fact surprise and/or disappoint anyone else?

Throughout MoP, I felt that the content pacing was just about right. And because of that fact, I'm ready for new content now. Blizzard was able to live up to its promise of faster content delivery, but at this point I can't help but wonder if we'd have been better off if each of MoP's patches lasted a month longer than they did. That would've pushed 5.4's release to December or later, meaning most guilds would still be in the midst of progressing through Siege of Orgrimmar.

Instead, here we are. The guild I'm in completed their main Siege of Orgimmar goal over three months ago (clearing Flex on a 1-night schedule). We're popping into Normals here and there, but we haven't been able to devote a regular schedule to it because it'd mean cutting out too many of our eligible raiders. Currently 11/14N, progressing the rest of the way could be an enticing goal for our group, but because our guild culture and my raid philosophy leans towards "bring everyone who's able," it's not something we're going to be focusing on.

So it really looks like there will be nothing new for players to do, save for beta content, for at least another six months. If my account wasn't renewed and paid for well past (what I hope is) the latest possible release date, I would consider unsubbing. When a game's not fun to play, I don't play it. A simple concept, and also why I take breaks from League of Legends for weeks on end. I'll be there on Day 1 of Warlords, no doubt, but for now, World of Warcraft is hands down the most boring game I own. If it weren't for my guild and raid group, I'd be long gone.

Imagine this all were a play. There were 15-minute intermissions between Acts One through Three, and now for some reason we're having to wait over an hour for the start of Act Four. During this last intermission, the director has come out on stage and is holding a Q&A, letting us in on some of the juicy tidbits we can expect to see in Act Four, even though almost everyone in the house is intimately familiar with the plot. They're bringing out costumes, set pieces, and the orchestra is playing samples of the musical accompaniment. Also, the director has artfully dodged several questions about just when the final act will start by shouting "SOON TEE-EM!" to the confusion and frustration of almost everyone in the theatre.

You look around and notice that many seats have been vacated. Several other people are no longer paying attention, distracted by (or taking refuge in) their smartphones. Others seem to be diligently trying to focus, yawning and glancing at their watches, while still others are fixated on what's happening onstage, hanging on to the director's every word.

You don't see me, because I'm at the pub down the block on my second beer parked in front of Ms. Pac-man, waiting for a text from someone at the theatre telling me the show's about to start. Where are you?