Withdrawals?

Like any addict would experience to going cold turkey from an addiction, I am experiencing withdrawals from not playing WoW. My mind wanders to what I could be doing in game instead of sitting around doing nothing. Sometimes it's just as simple as wanting to be able to log in and say hi to my guildies, as I have no other methods of contacting them. :/ I have found myself making a to-do list of things I want to accomplish in WoW, some of which would need to happen within the next year. Example: I know beyond the shadow of doubt that there will be a server-wide event for the build-up for the Cataclysm expansion that will yield a Feat of Strength achievement for participation. I have mentally thought strongly about returning to play during that time period.

If I returned, I think I would shelve my Paladin, save for getting Feat of Strength achievements or seasonal mounts. In her place, I would likely play my Warrior, which was a tribute character to my friend Brian, who got me to play WoW on the Icecrown server, where my main characters are located. Although, I have also considered restarting my Warlock as an Orc, which I have played on my friends account at high level and it is fairly fun, albeit not since WotLK came out.

I think part of my issue is being a collector of sorts. I see armor sets that look very aesthetically pleasing and make characters to collect the sets. However, in the case of some characters, they are delegated for collecting other things. Example: My Paladin is delegated to collecting mounts. I have no intentions of attempting to attain all mounts on any character save her. My Death Knight is reserved for epic (if they are a decent looking model) and legendary weapons, like Thunderfury or Shadowmourne.

I attempted to post an excerpt from my list but Blogger seems to not support copy-paste from MS Word. To be honest, I avoid calculating the amount of time this list will likely take to complete. It seems to deter me slightly. Perhaps I should to help me destroy what tendrils still remain. Presently I have looked for a similar MMO to play, which holds my interest and I can just play casually, without becoming a hardcore advocate for it. My friends have voiced interest in Aion, which is a horrific grind from what I have read. Between Aion and Dark Ages, I am not sure which has the least pleasant feeling in terms of grinding. I would give it a trial but they lack the free trial option for Aion and that deters me from playing. There is not much point to spending $50 on a game that will just end up sitting on the shelf forever, like my beloved copy of Warhammer Online, a game I had contemplated trying to get back into but it is bleeding players like a stuck pig. :( Star Trek Online is a giant single-player game with MMO PvP in space and a lack of a crafting system, which is mind-boggling and another deterrent.

Looking forward, the games that interest me the most are Hellgate: London (yes it is getting relaunched), and Star Wars: The Old Republic. I had fun in the single-player version of Hellgate, but it lacks a healer archtype and I tend to play healers as a whole, unless I get burned out on that. Perhaps I should look into a career in the medical field, since I seem to have a draw towards healing.

Well, I will draw this session of delving into my inner self to a close. Until next time.