I came across this conspicuous sale. One of my game retailers has a big inventory purge, and there sits Mists of Pandaria for 25$ on the virtual shelf - 50% off. Now I might have said I'm past World of Warcraft, and I definitely do no longer play games with as fiery and all-consuming a passion as I did WoW during its heyday (for me that was the Burning Crusade-era) - but just because I'm over WoW, does that mean I shouldn't play Pandaria?

It's been amongst my favorite things in gaming, to explore and discover a new continent in WoW, and do the full 5-man dungeon progression - everything before hitting the raiding circuit really. Raiding's great fun too... until it's not. For plenty of reasons, I no longer want to dedicate my time to a raiding party and its time schedule, nor do I want to show up anymore if I'm not in the mood for it - which just isn't an option when playing with commited and competent players, and that's what it takes for me to enjoy the raiding part of the game.

Regardless, I loved Star Craft 2 Heart of the Swarm, but I never really was into the game itself beyond its campaign - it didn't make a difference - I wouldn't want to have missed it for the world. So I decided that I won't rob myself of a great Blizzard experience, just because I don't really want to play WoW like others have a hobby - I'll just play it as a game, level a character, see most of the new content, and call it quits after 60 days.

I said the same thing when Cataclysm came around, and I still ended up staying for over a 100 days and clearing most the available raiding content, including hardmodes, against my better judgment. My attachment to my Troll Hunter, and the plentiful acquaintances I made on my home server, made it all but impossible not to.

It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, since game releases look rather slim and boring up until GTA V hits in mid-September (outside of Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen - which is a mighty sweet deal for me, as I am purchase procrastinator in regards to its initial release). Here's me hoping WoW won't swallow me whole, and that I'll quit it while I'm still having a good time - because a good time is what I'll have, it's a Blizzard game after all. Wish me luck!

P.S. Picked up a supercheap copy of the PC-version of Binary Domain too. Looking forward to dismembering robots, and checking out the validity of all the *Secret GotY 2012* hearsay floating about the GiantBomb forums.