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Which grind did you actually enjoy the most? And Why?
elocke
Member UncommonPosts: 4,335
We've heard it stated over and over through various people and forums, that MMORPGs ALL have a grind of some type. My question is this. Which grind did you actually ENJOY the most? Was it Lord of the Rings, WoW, Aion, Lineage 2, EQ1, or one of the many others? And why did you enjoy it?
Personally, as much as I kick myself for not playing this game still(mostly due to other games grabbing my attention and the control scheme being a hassle) FFXI is probaby my most favorite game that has a ton of grind to it. Something about knocking out those levels in a sweet party, skillchaining through them, etc. Still gives me good memories.
Comments
I know you all don't prefer grind, but life revolves around a grind of some type or another, so which game has the grind you never noticed or thought was more fun than tedious?
Ultima online was the only game where i did not mind the grinding it was somehow fun.
I've heard that from a lot of friends who enjoyed Ultima. Wish I had come on board MMOs at that time, but I didn't until SWG.
Despite it having the largest level grind of all the games I've played, FFXI is the one I've enjoyed the most.
Pretty sure it's because of the forced grouping, complex party mechanics and actively social community.
the complex party mechanics(and the UI /shudder) is what turned me off of FFXI. I never could get the hang the renkei thing or the reliance on macroing.
EQ would be my favorite. I loved it back in the day when youd get a group together and find a spot to camp and someone would pull. We would sit there for hours pull, kill, talk ...
Hehe fair enough, the UI issues were the unfortunate result of being a console port.
As for the renkei/skillchain thing, yeah the game had a huge reliance on players using online resources to learn all the intricacies of the systems... it might be counter productive in terms of actual gameplay but it forced the entire community to work together to figure things out and teach each other which is something I think a lot of modern MMOs could learn from in terms of how to build a strong community.
It's funny though because ultimately it comes down to the same thing in FFXI as you describe doing in EQ; camping, killing and socialising.
quake 3 arena
It was a grind practicing up to play well enough to raise my frag count to a respectable number. But it was a pleasant grind because it was not hard-coded into the software. It was instead a natural progression of me learning how to play better. That's one of the few aspects of real life I don't mind creeping up in my games.
In an mmorpg where players can sell goods for any price they want, gold farming is a good grind. The amount of money you gain per kill or quest turn in or vendor sale is hard-coded. The good part is player-to-player transactions are not, so you can buy or sell for good or bad prices based on luck and your real negotiation skill. Getting good at this can be a grind but a natural one not dependent on arbitrary hard-coded points.
Guild Wars 2 is my religion
enjoy and grind in the same sentence doesn't exist imho
Agreed. One mans grind is another mans content.
If you enjoy it, it's not a grind.
Playing: EVE, Final Fantasy 13, Uncharted 2, Need for Speed: Shift
Dark Age of Camelot: Realm points - by a MILE
I played that game since the beta and thus ended up on the US servers despite being at GMT+1.
The sense of community that was not only created by the players but also the mechanics of the game itself kept me playing for years even tho prime time was at around 3am for me.
I was younger and had a lot of time back then - much of it spent in daoc. I was a member of Anam na Eireann, an RP guild on Percival but the RvR was always a big focus for me.
Playing my druid i managed to make a name for myself as a good (great?) healer and not being bound to any of the gank guilds "by name" I had the luxury of playing with most if not all the best people on the server.
I got to play with melee setups, bomb squads, tower ganks, caster heavy setups and everything inbetween all at the top of their game. Technically we were grinding realm points day in and out but the nature of PvP (or RvR in this case), both small scale and the gank group scenarios coupled with the close knit community and the emotional investment in how your realm was doing made these some of my very best years in gaming.
Since the invention of the internet the worlds rotation has been solely propelled by English teachers rolling over in their graves.
MMO player since Meridian 59
World of Warcraft, Timbermaw reputation.
There's an area where you just work your way arouind a circle. Must have done it a hundred times with my main to get his leatherworking patterns. Great fun.
World of warcraft, i think i knwo the reason as well.
I was born 1991, and ever since i can remember being on the computer, i was playing warcraft 1 or 2, and eventually 3.
Seeings these games released in a 3D world.. I couldn't get tired of it, never, it just didn't cross my mind.
Now however.. When i start a new character I'm bored instantly, and i regret paying the subscription fee.
Next to that, Diablo II battle net.
I could do the grind to level 80+ over and over again, and I'll always enjoy it.
Well, the only game I reached the level cap in was WoW. For SOME reason, I really enjoy grinding to 80. But once I reach 80, I don't like playing anymore... But I always enjoy starting a new character, and playing again, no matter how many times I've done the areas. But, again, that's it... I lose interest in WoW's end game. Strange to probably almost everyone, but that's me.
I probably enjoyed the ones that I didnt recognize as grind. So I have no clue which one
I enjoy grind in Darkfall most. It's because of the combat system that's being fun and having a challenging AI. On top of that, every now and than you get a skillgain as a motivator.
Nevertheless.. there are things being more fun than grinding. Only that Darkfall has the most interesting grinding doesn't mean I love to do it.
I enjoyed Asheron's Call grind the most.
Why -- Because the world was immense enough that you could choose how you engaged yourself, be it in PvP or PvE, without ever losing the possiblity that you could be surprised either way. The PvP combat was not level dependent, indeed a level 30 could square off against a level 126 and win given the right circumstances and player skill level.
Every game since AC I have found to be not interesting. This includes Darkfall.
Laudanum - Romance. Revenge. Revolution.
Crappy, petty people breed and raise crappy, petty kids.
WOW, although I never considered leveling up a grind at all. It was always well paced and fun with the right amount of danger & exploration. You were always on the move. As soon as you were about to grow tired of a certain area, you were on to the next one. That contrasted GREATLY against EQ or DAOC, where you were sitting in one spot for weeks because there was no where else to go.
WOW did't become a grind until you hit level cap when all you could do were dungeons or BGs over and over again. THAT was a grind and the reason I would quit until the next expansion. After 10 times through the same dungeon, I've basically had enough, although being able to mix up the different dungeons each night made for some variety. Eventually you just hit a wall and it became too time consuming.
Star Wars Galaxies, Lineage II, EVE, FFXI, and the original Everquest. Most of the recent releases have bored me to tears or just lacked too many elements I find fun to keep me playing.
Anything I enjoy doing, I don't consider a grind at all. It only becomes a grind when it becomes painfully obvious that it's repetitive and boring. Therefore, I don't enjoy any grind and when a game becomes absurdly grindy, I go find a better game.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
This might sound dumb because it's a F2p but grinding on Grand Fantasia beta was awesome as an assassin. Especially during the double exp saturdays, with some friends to talk to. Just going out into the middle of no where to kill and talk in guild chat. Paradise.
Past: Can never go back to Wow.
Present: Nothing interesting out.
Future: Looking forward to GW2.
FFXI, nothing comes close. I miss sitting around waiting for a party to manifest
It built a great, close-knit community.
The only games I truly enjoyed the progression from start to end game would be EQ and SWG. Since then each game I play I feel like I am really grinding just to get to the end game.
Lineage 2 because of the constant pvp no matter where you went. Made grinding risky business, and I haven't experienced that since. Not in the same way, anyway.
I enjoy grind when I know/feel like I'm surpassing someone else I know.
Point in case, whenever my older brother and I used to play WoW together I would always take the lead in gaining levels, and in massive strides, I might add. I always felt even more accomplishment knowing I was 20, 25, 30 and counting levels far above him! And that we even started at the same time! Good, greedy feeling.
If I enjoy it - it's not a grind.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2