Tradeskill Burnout

[Faymar]

Maybe it's a sign of a short attention span, but I regularly "burn out" on some part of EQ and end up feeling like I'd rather have my teeth pulled than do X.

This may be exping, farming, raiding or tradeskilling. I effectively end up with one of them (currently actually two: exping and raiding both) just completely unpalatable. I used to think it was that I was overdoing some activity, losing a balance, but now I think the cause and effect aren't that clear cut.

So there will be weeks on end where I'm almost exclusively tradeskilling and then later weeks where I shop/vendor mine like crazy but can't stand to do a single combine. I sometimes spend weeks playing low level characters and not touching my two main characters at all. When Stromm came out, though, I found myself really enjoying playing Tay and put next to no time into my newbie character there (although at another time I probably would have enjoyed it a lot).

I don't worry about it ... EQ for me is about time off, having fun. Sometimes it means putting in a lot of work / sitting at boring camps / clicking mindlessly to achieve a goal. Sometimes I find I enjoy the journey more than the destination. I do what I feel like doing at that moment (within limits of course ... my guild would not be well pleased with me refusing to raid for a month at a time every 3 months so I try to keep attendence "decent") and I still really enjoy the game after almost 3 years of playing.

[Reflan]

Cendorly, I love reading your writing. You're probably the only person who could have a chance to convince me that anyone could REALLY like farming the same mobs thousands of times and is not just trying to put a bright face on things to make themselves feel that they are more upbeat about something and satisfied with it than they really are.

To me, the idea that I would like farming yet another Hollowshade mob -- that I would find one of those mob's deaths I slaughter by the thousands somehow interesting or rewarding or non-mechanical -- is incomprehensible. There's nothing to it. No stimulus whatsoever. And when you said you regret that tradeskill skill-ups might end when you master fletching, that struck me as utterly absurd. Laughably bizarre. The end of skill-ups is what I pray for! Well, actually I may have achieved that already, being stuck on other 140 sickle combines at 215 smithing without moving up a point yet. But what I really mean is the end of skill-ups AFTER I've maxed out my skill, not before. And 240 is more than fine for me. Your point of view seems utterly weird to me.

But, I believe you're sincere in it. We're just different people. I always enjoy seeing your point of view, even if I sometimes wonder what you're smoking.

Me, I think if I could trade a few tradeskill points for a few toes, I'd do it. Clicking and farming greenies is the exact opposite of my idea of fun. It's a job, without even a minimum wage. But at least there's no inbred boss's son hanging over my shoulder and getting in everyone's way while giving me snotty looks and "managing" me.

[Alyxia]

I loved reading everyone's posts, very interesting comments

First, regarding the burnout issue. Yes, people do burn out, but for me, the burnout I had 2 years ago had NOTHING to do with tradeskills. I was so into tradeskilling, that a friend of mine, zoomed to 50, and I was still stuck at 45. So I wanted to get to at least 50 so I could be more even with her level. As a result, all my tradeskilling came to a halt while I worked on levelling. BAD idea...I completely burned out and quit the game, for a year.

Then I came back and with all the new changes, started my tradeskilling again. First goal was 250 Tailoring, and looking back, I can't imagine myself having had the patience to sit through a WHOLE Sunday of tradeskilling on one particular weekend...I'm not kidding...I must have done at LEAST 8 runs that day. And I was just tired, but not burnt out. I came back the next Monday evening ready to do 3 more runs, lol.

But if I had to farm all the stuff I needed, I'm not sure how long I could have lasted. I was lucky that I had the skills and talents needed to sell my successes to finance my skillup sessions, therefore being able to buy everything I needed from PCs or NPCs. I know some think that the people who don't farm are not TRUE tradeskillers, but I disagree. If you can afford to cut your time and increase productivity by using what you've earned, I see nothing wrong with it. If a very talented shoemaker can harvest/make his own leather soles, but he has the ability/funds to pay someone else to mass produce them, so that he can concentrate on what makes more money for him (making shoes), wouldn't he do so?

In the end, if it comes to the day that I will burn out, it will be EQ in general, not tradeskills I'm at a point where I have no tradeskills to work on, and that's a bit disappointing, hehe.

While I do understand that people can burn out on tradeskills, it's a highly unlikely possibility for me personally =D