Suggestions to get my pet battle fix elsewhere?

[Dwillmer]

I'm struggling right now to figure out how to replace the void that WoW leaves in my enjoyment/entertainment. I have a lot of trouble keeping it to reasonable number of hours and Wow occupies too much of my attention and thoughts even when I'm not playing.

That being said, I really enjoy doing the pet collection and battling and I would like to find some way to replace that fix in real life (not other games). I know I could start collecting things like coins or stamps, but there are two factors:

1. Cost - My wife and I are working hard to get rid of our debt so spending money on a collection doesn't make much sense. WoW was relatively cheap (or free with tokens) except it took up a lot of my time.

2. Actually using your collection - aka battling pets. I would like to use my collection in some way. As a kid, I always loved TCGs like pokemon and magic but I had no one to play with. I would organize my collection, put together decks, and battle myself, but I had trouble finding others to play with.


So do any of you have current hobbies or collections that I could check out to get my pet battle/collecting fix?

[Vakeetah]

As a cheap hobby, I would suggest something my cousin does. She gathers stones with odd shapes and colors, and then paints them.

I don't have any pictures over here, but the results have become truly astounding over the years. Plus, they keep her mind busy, make for a nice decoration; and in your case, it can also involve your wife, certainly become a collection, give a sense of accomplishment and even a chance of showing something nice to your children and whatnot.

Don't know if it compares to pet collecting, but hobbies don't get much cheaper than grabbing stones.