Comments on: So why do you still do it…? (Part 1)

By: Inhibit

Inhibit — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 06:19:42 +0000

Funny… but I dont recall any 40 man raids in UO. Matter of fact, I dont recall any at all. I seem to remember being able to solo every bit of the content, once I was of sufficient skill/equipment.

Hmmm

By: Rand 'al Thor

Rand 'al Thor — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 01:56:35 +0000

I really enjoyed the communtiy of AO. I was part of a corp there that I had fun with and that I consider friends. However we were a small group and unable to get to alot of the endgame portion of AO due to that. What finally killed AO for me was just the sheer amount of time that would be involved from 205-220. I am much closer to a casual player than I ever will be to a hardcore player. I have my bursts of extreme play but more often it’s along the lines of casual.

I would really love to see a sequel made to AO with all the lessons learned since it’s release. Sadly I don’t think that will ever happen.

By: LilBish

LilBish — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 01:43:59 +0000

Grinding hecklers day in and day out, or doing missions in Shadowlands can get mundane to say the least at times. However, this is where I go back to the concept of community in the game. Just being with game friends while grinding, or breaking it up for community raids, is what keeps me coming back for more. I am usually in a 6 man team with at least 4 people I would consider friends. When I am sick of teaming for xp/sk, I will find out who needs what, and take a raidforce into a dungeon, or do something special like “Spawning Mercs” which require a large amount of team work, and provide some of the best loot in game. It’s not all about the mundane grinding….it’s about community coming together for accomplishment either in the leveling of characters, or large tasks. To me, this is fun. I can easily balance between the two, and it has kept me coming back for 3 years. I would understand the angst of anyone that has not found this type of community within Anarchy.

By: Rand 'al Thor

Rand 'al Thor — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 19:19:33 +0000

“And you’re right, too, Rand; the post-200 game in AO is nothing but a huge grind. AO has gone the way of EQ:”

If only it were the older games that were stuck in the grind mentality.

But look at WoW one of the games that was lauded for it’s easing of the grind (you might still be grinding but it’s fun). Yet they have forgotten that for the end game. look at the latest instance they are wanting to put in the game. If you don’t grind AD rep you have to pay a rather large amount of g PLUS crystals. Now for the hardcore player that probably doesn’t sound like alot. For everyone else you are either going to have to grind the gold or you will have to grind the faction. Neither of which is remotely fun.

I fail to grasp why ever single MMO which implements reputation of any sort immediately turn it in to a grind. You should gain more than suffecitent rep with the various people just by doing their questlines. yet inevitabely you have to either:

A) Kill the same types of mobs over and over and over or

B) Have to do a turn in over and over and over.

By: Fat

Fat — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 03:55:53 +0000

You’re right, Rand. AO does lock you into a system since they keep on breaking the game’s mechanics across the board. And you’re also right about the 40+ man raids that every game has. AO’s end game may as well be non-existent, which is why I’m loathe to ever really see it. In any MMO I’ve ever played, I’ve only come close to the level cap, but never met it. In WoW I had a 47 Warlock, in EQ2 I have a 53 SK, AO I have a 211 Adv, 193 Enf. Sure, the Adv and Enf are “end game” toons in the sense of levels, but I don’t consider them end game because I’m not camping raid zones like the Alien Playfield (which I loathe.. more on that another time) and Pandemonium in the Shadowlands.

I’ll never see those areas, even though all I have to do is join a bot. It’s not fun to do. Getting an obscene number of DKP in order to get an item is just senseless. I play these games for my friends and being able to explore the game. Twinking is another way of exploring the game without the need to level up my toons or grind that much more.

And you’re right, too, Rand; the post-200 game in AO is nothing but a huge grind. AO has gone the way of EQ: Add in more and more content which can only be accessed by some sort of grind. Alien Invasion introduced Alien Levels which give players the ability to get some more perks… you just have to kill green-skinned mobs instead of grey rocks like you did in SL. And with the newest expansion pack coming up, Lost Eden, AO is introducing even more perks to grind! Yes, that’s right folks! You know those grey rocks and transparent, or black/brown mobs you grew to loathe so much on your slow treadmill to 220? Now you can kill those same mobs again in order to get global research for your faction! Yes, that’s right! Kill more of the same mobs.

AO is borked to hell. I gave up on ever even thinking I could or would see the end of this game - because it doesn’t end. If I want Alien Level 30, I need to kill roughly 54,000 mobs. And no, that is not an exaggeration, 54,000 mobs if you want Alien Level 30. What does that get you? A few perks that may or may not be worth your wasted time.

Grind, grind, grind. It’s not the way any game should be based around, but it is. So it’s up to the player to find different things to do when that grind gets to be too much. And that’s when I say hello to twinking.

By: LilBish

LilBish — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 02:50:48 +0000

Twinking in AO…..Right now I should level up my chosen pants, but then I would have to do some twinking to get the back on. Twinking is definitely not my stronghold in the game….I want to be the best I can be, but I would rather level and get where I need to be rather than the headache of trying to be much better than I should be at a lower level. My joy of the game, for 3 years now, has been community. Since I play with Fat in AO, I know how he is about twinking….and I wish he would just do it and bring his adventurer back to life for more adventures with Phoebis.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 23:55:25 +0000

Mostly what keeps me coming back is a lack of other good options and the memory of what was. I think WOW has one of the best level 1 to 30 character advancements systems. Unfortunately, it degrades rapidly right on up until level 60. As Rand said, please lets kill the designers who thought 40-man dungeons was all people wanted to be able to do at 60. Sure they threw in a couple of 20-mans, but the loot is laughable and can be discounted if you can do 40-mans for loot.

I cant find anything to give me that same sense of excitement and adventure as my first toon did to 35 or so. But I keep coming back in the hopes that something will kick in eventually.

By: Rand 'al Thor

Rand 'al Thor — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 19:29:18 +0000

Bah hit submit before I meant to.

What draws me to WoW is probably because it is about as different from AO as possible though. While I do miss the extreme flexibility of the IP system (too bad the weapons available paint you in one path…but thats a post for a different subject), it is nice to be able to go ok I want to wear that now and not having to worry about finding 3,000 buffs and items to do so. It also helps that “camping” is not anywhere near as prevalent as it is in AO. Now AO was one of first MMO’s to have insances (their missions) the loot that tends to drop in missions is laughable, and the XP was subpar as compared to doing outdoor mobs in the Shadowlands (the XP bit is semi fixed..loot in missions still sucks though). Whereas in WoW If I go in to an instance odds are good that I am going to get something atleast decent out of it, AND get good XP.

Of course I think both games have busted end games(and on top of the busted end game AO throws a huge grind in there after level 200 ).

Whatever idiot thought making almost every end game dungeon available require you to have a bunch of other people to do them should be shot. Can they be fun..yes, but they should not be the focus of your entire gaming existence once you max out.