Staycation Azeroth – The Climb #639

Sunday 22^nd November 2020

You’d think that playing a game solidly for a couple of weeks was pretty simple. But one of the things I love about a Warcraft expansion launch is the amount of prep it takes. It helps build the anticipation, and makes for any expansion launch to be an event.

I’ve always taken time off for expansion launches. I’ll play through the night, sometimes trying to reach max level as quickly as possible. Sometimes just to play the game. Then over the following days I’ll settle into the new endgame and effectively burn myself out so I’m ready to return to the real world and carry on with my normal day-to-day life.

With the lockdown this year, I’ve found myself playing a lot of Warcraft as a means of escape. I might not be able to travel physically, but I can virtually, and for the time I play, I’m somewhere else, away from any stresses and real-life hassles.

So I’ve approached this expansion launch a bit like it’s a holiday. Ordinarily, over the couple of weeks I typically take off, I find myself playing less and less as I burn out. As a result I normally couple this with writing projects. I play a bit, I write a bit, I play a bit more and so on. I’ve historically been quite productive doing this.

But this year, with the delayed release and the alt army, coupled with the lack of a real vacation, I’m going all in. The writing stuff is being packed away for a couple of weeks, The Climb will get notes, but won’t be published until I’m back.

I’m on vacation, albeit virtually.

With that comes some physical requirements.

I went shopping today: both for launch night, and beyond. The game launches at 11pm tomorrow, and I intend to play until at least 4am. Given the number of characters I need to level I’ve decided that my first play through will be slow, reading all the quest text. That means it’ll take me a few days. But it’ll mean that going forwards, there’s going to be no guilt about speed leveling alts.

So today, I went and got food for launch night as well as the subsequent days. I’ve decided that I will take a break each evening and visit my support bubble, if only to rest my eyes and give me a break. It’ll also ensure I eat at least one proper meal a day.

So I got healthy snacks for launch, nuts and fruit and the like. For lunches, I just got something to last me the rest of the week that I can bung in a microwave.

I’ve also tried to adjust my sleeping patterns, staying up later in the hope that it will allow me to play for as long as possible after launch without half-falling asleep. Heck, there’s some launches where I remember very little about going through some zones.

I plan to stream the launch. And I’ve done a lot of work in recent weeks to get my stream set up to the point where it works well.

I feel prepared, probably the most prepared I have for any launch. I also feel guilt-free. This isn’t a vacation where I also need to get a book edit done, or get something done around the house. No, it’s a proper virtual holiday where I’ve absolved myself of any other responsibilities.

I’m ready and looking forward to it.