The neural pathways that reward me for incremental bar upgrades interspersed by wilderness constitutionals have almost been burned completely out. Independent of market saturation or any other thing, millions of people have undergone a similarly focused lobotomy. That, more than any other thing, necessitates expansion. When World of Warcraft came out, it could succeed by being the best version of its experience. The eight and a half years since have seen frenzied experimentation, much of it spawned by and caustic to the game’s fundamental model.

When I heard that Blizzard’s still secretive Project Titan was going back to the drawing board, or being taken out behind the woodshed, or whichever colloquial phrase best describes its quantum state, I wasn’t too surprised. I wasn’t expecting it anytime soon, anyway. Given the weight of their task, it’s no surprise that it might be unwieldy.