Recently at WoWInsider there was a post talking about the new endgame in Mists which got me thinking. What do I log into game to do? Sure there’s raiding which is where most roads lead to at the endgame but there has to be more than that. Mists is introducing a whole host of new activities and new ways of looking at some old ones. What is there right now?

Reputation
Recently I got my 55th exalted reputation though I’ve been told that I shouldn’t count the guild one (not sure why) so it could be my 54th I suppose. I guess this goes hand in hand with me being an achievement nut, it’s just another part of the game to complete. However, it’s more than just the 10 points the achievement as it’s a whole part of the game that gets completed. After all why do you need to run AQ20 after you’re exalted with the Cenarion Circle? There’s always transmog I suppose but aside from that there’s no need to go there. There’s two more reputations to go before Mists, Ravenholdt (which will also finish off ‘the Insane’) and Brood of Nozdormu. There’s only two other reputations in the game which are possible after that, well I say possible, I don’t think I’ll ever be that insane though I suppose I can’t rule it out.

Soloing
I love soloing, I see it is a challenge and also a way to get what I want without being beholden to other people’s schedules. Also if you’re soloing for a rare mount/pet you don’t have to be at the mercy of rng on the roll. You can solo at anytime, day or night, and it might not be very social of me but then I’m not a very social person. Plus there are some achievements which are a nightmare with a large group of people (think Do a Barrel Roll!) though whether that would be possible due to the mechanics of the encounter I don’t know.

Raiding
I do enjoy a good raid. Though I probably look on it as more of a social thing than most. I think raiding is in a good place right now as it’s accessible to casuals, super hard for progression inclined groups, hard enough for semi hardcore people and, I guess well I wouldn’t like to say really, for super hardcore groups. That’s my experience anyway and I know where I fall. I like the challenge just not too much challenge. I find it fun anyway.

Collecting
I’m a completionist and so I guess it follows that I like collecting all the mounts and pets I can get my hands on. I actually have a notepad file with a list of the ones I don’t have in it, when I get one I cross it off. There’s only so many hours in the day, and only so many consecutive days you can run argent tournament dailies, after all. Part of this is to do with the achievements (though I passed Mountain o’ Mounts a long time ago) but it’s more to do with just wanting to collect them. One day I’ll go for collecting all the profession recipes but not yet.

Achievements
The big one, the grand-daddy of all reasons to log in, what is half behind every other reason listed here. I don’t know why I love achievements so much, maybe I’ve been conditioned with the noise it makes when you get one. I don’t know I just love them and I need to get them. Maybe (to get really personal here) it’s to make up for the lack of achieving I have in real life. Maybe, it’s a goal to strive for that is actually achievable, no pun intended.

Conclusion
Mists is coming out with a ton of content at endgame and there’s nearly 450 new achievements (I do love my achievements) and raids aren’t even on the beta yet. Raiding and gearing for raiding is the focus of endgame right now but there’s a lot more out there if you look beneath the surface. Mists is bringing a lot more and I couldn’t be more excited. I’m not a very social person so a lot of what I like to do is work on things alone. However, I like that it’s a social game as while I’m working on things alone I can still talk to people. I can even talk to people on a couple of other games thanks to real ID. I like that as while I’m not social I do get lonely. Mists is bringing options galore and I love that. I’m a bit fatigued with the game right now as there’s a couple of items left on my bucket list before Mists so I feel like I should be doing those, and I’m a bit fed up with doing them. I’m also aware that it’s coming up to the end of the expansion so there’s no impetus to gear up the 6th alt, or get pvp gear which’ll be irrelevant in a few months. With more options for things to do hopefully that fatigue will be less next expansion.