[GW] Kicking the Habit: Moving from Needs to Wants

My life in Guild Wars over the past few years has been defined two parallel, but often converging, lines of action.

On the one hand there is the line which contains all that I want to do. I want to explore the world, I want to obtain all the titles, I want to complete all the quests, I want to finish the Underworld Elite Mission. They aren't things which necessarily lead to any kind of reward (although most of them certainly do) rather they are things which I want to achieve and experience before I move on with the game.

On the other hand there is the line which contains all that I feel I need to do. This line mainly comes from a sense of urgency I've felt with the impending release of the new game. They aren't needs like how I need to breathe, or I need to go to work to earn a living, but they are actions which I will put above all other actions in the game in order to get done quickly - even if they might be unpleasant or boring.

I understand the pathological connotations of having needs which stem from a video game, it seems rather backward and childish, even anti-social or damaging. But everyone who has worked hard for their titles knows how addictive it can be, and how infuriating it is to leave some of them unfinished when you're SO close.

Over the past year or two the game has seen a divergence between the two lines. I felt that what I wanted to do was slipping further and further away from what I needed to do before Guild Wars 2 comes out. I have wanted to complete the Guild Wars Beyond storyline for a while now, but the need to glug down hundreds of tonics, endlessly zoning between the Guild Hall and Zaishen Menagerie, has somewhat taken precedence and even before that my focus on not losing my Survivor title was my primary objective.

Thankfully, having now completed GWAMM I can feel the two lines converging again. I can say to myself; "I don't really need to do anything", I've achieved most of what I need to achieve to maximise my enjoyment of the new game. I can finally ask myself "what do I want to do". At the moment the answer is "not play Guild Wars" at least for a few weeks. After that, who knows? I still need to complete Underworld (in both Normal and Hard Mode), I'd quite like to buy some obsidian armour and gather a few more minis.

I suppose the title of this post is rather misleading: I haven't kicked the habit at all. I'm like a drug addict who has found the perfect drug and achieved the perfect high. For now there is no need to start injecting myself with anything else (there is nothing else above GWAMM to compare) but as soon as there is you know I'll be right back on the wagon.