[Ronald]

I have noticed after reading the forums alot of people are hoping that there is not much grinding. I am actually hoping that aion requires a bit of time to lvl from 1-50, I hate games that alow you to lvl too fast.
It helps seperate the "noobs" from the people who are serious about the game. It also makes you feel like you really earn't the strength of your lvl 50 character. Would be no where near as fun if you could lvl incredibly quickly :( What do you think?

[Elphaba's Devout]

Grinding makes me sad and bored ^.^
That's what I think :P

[jameinkaiser]

they can make it require a bit of time, but that doesn't necessarily mean leveling should only be done through grinding. the word 'grinding' usually makes me think a long, boring, repetitive work like that of lineage 2. they can make the game FUN and take it a while to get to the max level without having to grind so much.

[Ronald]

It's not as though I want to spend weeks on one lvl, maybe the same as 1-70 for wow would be good

[Cynthe]

Ronald said:

It helps seperate the "noobs" from the people who are serious about the game.

I have no grasp of this concept. You can be serious about a game and also feel like ripping your hair out because leveling just takes too darn long. However I do like mob grinding when I just want to chill and relax, for me a repetitive action that grants me a level is fun when I don't really want to think or do anything hard. But most of the time I want to be doing something interesting and somewhat challenging, I don't qualify endless mob grinding as interesting. :D

[Ronald]

Cynthe said:

I have no grasp of this concept.. :D

What I ment was I don't want to be plaing against some noob 13 year old world of warcraft player at the same level as me. The games I enjoy the most are games like uo with a mature community, it is so hard to filter through the 13 year old immature gamers on games such as wow. It is not as though I physically enjoy the grinding, but enjoy that obtaining the max lvl is not easily obtainable more so when I actually reach the max level. I just wish there was a way to seperate the mature community from the immature community.

[Dokebi]

I don't mind grinding as long as there is some friends to grind with or a particular goal that your trying to aim for, such as getting an item.

[Aeterna]

Cynthe said:

I have no grasp of this concept. You can be serious about a game and also feel like ripping your hair out because leveling just takes too darn long. However I do like mob grinding when I just want to chill and relax, for me a repetitive action that grants me a level is fun when I don't really want to think or do anything hard. But most of the time I want to be doing something interesting and somewhat challenging, I don't qualify endless mob grinding as interesting. :D

As Cynthe says: grinding can be nice when you're just chilling and relaxing, alt-tabbing to chat/browse some forums and kill some mobs meanwhile. I do this quite often alongside the actual questing. It's not something bad; but there shouldn't be too much of it.

[sonicwhip]

i think guild wars 2 might have better graphics than this game.
i kinda lost interest in aion since i decided its dumb to pay 15 bucks a month for a game so im gonna patiently wait for guild wars 2.
though i might buy at least 1 month subscription for this game.

[Psychedelic]

I absolutely love grinding!:) Its pleasent to grind for a long time and achieve big goals.

[Anuxinamoon]

I like to grind sometimes, if it allows me to use skills a lot. Flyff and guild wars were pleasant grinds, mainly cause I was always looking for that next drop and what it might be. Rappelz grind was boring. My skills were to few and far between with the cool down and the mana depleting at alarming rates. It was just boring and SLOW! Fast grinding is fun. If the combat is fast paced and keeps me on my toes, then yes I love grinding :D

After a day at work, getting home and doing something mindless but advancing you is relaxing. Well, until you loose the 5% exp that you just spent and hour getting :p

[Meleoffs]

sonicwhip said:

i think guild wars 2 might have better graphics than this game.
i kinda lost interest in aion since i decided its dumb to pay 15 bucks a month for a game so im gonna patiently wait for guild wars 2.
though i might buy at least 1 month subscription for this game.

Why are you still here then? Cheap monkey, the more you pay monthly for a game the more it ensures the quality is good!


I had enough grinding on FFXI, I don't think I'll be doing that again anytime soon.

[Midgarsormr]

We've had a lot of threads based off of this topic, and everytime I have to add my 2 cents by saying: FFXI's insane grinding made me have so much fun, and it wouldn't be the same experience in any other video because 1) FFXI had it's own battle music that was very intense in a good way, 2) -Having- to grind with a group of people usually made it impossible for you to be bored 3) Working together to survive a harsh fight (because each monster is insanely strong in that game), using Magic bursts, timing weapon skills, skillchains.....god it was the most fun grinding experience. And unless the fighting is similar to FFXI's style, then, IMO, grinding will not be remotely fun. It'll be like WoW's grinding, which bored the **** out of me all the way to lv.70

Edit: I'm even currently listening to FFXI's battle music -.-.

[Yakuzan]

I don't mind hard-core grind, I wouldn't mind if an mmorpg's level cap takes several years to attain.

[HunterX]

I don't really mind grinding it makes xp loss in pvp all the much better.

although L2's grind was a bit much, Maybe a grind as half as bad as L2 would be nice

[chaosdruid]

Most people would rather get what they want right now and minimal to no work to get it. This is why prostitution is a viable business, why steroids exist, and why credit card debt is the homewrecking plague it is today.

The purpose of grinding to max level is to teach you how to play your class so when you reach the end-game content you will be a productive member of the raid. FFXI's system of grinding with a group was most effective because it taught you how to play a singular role as you leveled. Unfortunately, it took far too long to get max level. Once you were about level 40 (about 1/5 of the way to 75 by raw xp) you knew how to play your class and the rest of the way to end-game was a long. . . repetitive. . . crab-killing festival of suck.

WoW had a good timeframe to get to max level. But because it pretty much forced you to grind alone (since the fastest xp is solo and instancing just gets you items that will be obsolete in a week) it was way boring and taught you nothing about how to play your role before endgame.

Hopefully Aion makes you grind in groups for about 1 summer's worth of time. That way you learn how to cooperate, and NCsoft doesn't insult my intelligence with a long learning period.

[Birdman]

chaosdruid said:

Most people would rather get what they want right now and minimal to no work to get it. This is why prostitution is a viable business, why steroids exist, and why credit card debt is the homewrecking plague it is today.

The purpose of grinding to max level is to teach you how to play your class so when you reach the end-game content you will be a productive member of the raid. FFXI's system of grinding with a group was most effective because it taught you how to play a singular role as you leveled. Unfortunately, it took far too long to get max level. Once you were about level 40 (about 1/5 of the way to 75 by raw xp) you knew how to play your class and the rest of the way to end-game was a long. . . repetitive. . . crab-killing festival of suck.

WoW had a good timeframe to get to max level. But because it pretty much forced you to grind alone (since the fastest xp is solo and instancing just gets you items that will be obsolete in a week) it was way boring and taught you nothing about how to play your role before endgame.

Hopefully Aion makes you grind in groups for about 1 summer's worth of time. That way you learn how to cooperate, and NCsoft doesn't insult my intelligence with a long learning period.

If it takes you a summer to learn a role then I don't think NCSoft has to insult anything to get the point across ;p.

Games can make grinding much more interesting, but they don't do it. I'm sorry, killing the same god damned monster until your max level isn't a game, it's a chore. That's why I didn't get into FFXI. I could tolerate L2's grind only because I knew that pvp was at the end of the tunnel. If a player can go from 1-60 in WoW and still be ridiculously inept, then there isn't much anyone can do.

[Night_Stalker]

I actually enjoy party grinding alot more than quests, but the trouble is you can never find a party in games that force you to do this. Party grinding froces you to learn your role, gives you a strong sense of teamwork/cooperation, and it's jsut plain fun to chat with your party while grinding some mobs.

I Hate grinding in WoW tohugh because If I simply grind mobs, I feel compelled to do quests (and rightly so, seeing as I wouldn't get any decent money or gear if I didn't).

Either way I'm happy, but I enjoy grinding for some weird reason

[Unforsaken87]

Blah grinding. I dont think that you should have to kill the same group of mobs 20 thousands times to reach one level. To me that is dull, repetitive and mindless. Its like your a zombie, and most of the time it is like a job. Chore is under rated. When you gotta play 20 to 30 hours a week to get a level or a half of a level its gotten to the piont where the game company just thinks that they have you under their control and you dont got a life outside of video games. I enjoy getting my xp solo and in groups. Depends on my mood, depends on the people who play the game. I tend to find quite a few people annoying in games. I hope that Aion lets players benefit from parties as well as solo play. In a equal manor.

[Ecronyte]

Grind on it's own isn't enjoyable. It isn't self sustaining. It is a hurdle we have to overcome to get what we want. Its not unlike a job, you may enjoy your work, but if there was no payoff at the end, the vast vast majority of us wouldn't be doing it.

Just as endless grind would be no fun. Neither would having everything handed to you instantly. The fun comes in the balance. There has to be plenty to do and plenty of ways to do it. You have to have a sense you are making some headway, and their has to be a measurable payoff at the end (L2's 60% crafts and long, unenjoyable, and often unrewarding quests ftl). Most people don't mind working for a reward. But when the work is incredibly hard, or incredibly long, most people will have a hard time finding the "fun".