General Discussion

Has raiding gone too far?

The thought of grouping many people together with a common desire in mind seems fine on the surface. But what about the side-effects?

-Loot driven progression.

-Gaming becomes work.

-Clicks that form up.

-Sleepless nights of players staying up for a raid when they should be in bed.

-Server drama.

I'm sure many more examples can be found. Do you think raiding has gone too far?

Shouldn't the game be about the story and fun, instead of about loot? I think it should, I try to avoid games that have raiding. What do you think?

I believe it all depends on they type of guild you join when it comes to raiding. Casual guilds are more focused on a relaxed and fun environment. Hardcore guilds do seem to house a lot more of the loot hungry folk and encompass the negative things you listed.

Cliques form up in every type of guild though and they are unavoidable. From my experience casual guilds are more open to newer players just joining their guild.

Originally posted by spinach8puff

I believe it all depends on they type of guild you join when it comes to raiding. Casual guilds are more focused on a relaxed and fun environment. Hardcore guilds do seem to house a lot more of the loot hungry folk and encompass the negative things you listed.

Cliques form up in every type of guild though and they are unavoidable. From my experience casual guilds are more open to newer players just joining their guild.

I have a strange feeling you are missing the point of the OP's thread in a quick attempt for more posts.

Anyways, in my opinion I DO think that raids tend to lean towards being a lot like a job. Players suffer from lack of sleep, but it is up to them to stay up that late or not. Raids can become an addiction, just like any other drug. You feel like you NEED to do it, to be that much better the next day, and to be able to say you achieved that goal of downing said boss for said loot. You blow off your pals just to stay home at a chance of getting that chest piece, then you end up rolling lower than one of your gulidies which just makes you so angry that you want to come back until you get it. That is why parents will create the argument that MMO's aren't good for children. I personally rather see myself slaving at a game than going out and partying (though I drink and all that while playing anyways, so I get two in one).

I'm on both sides of this argument. In one side I see it as ridiculous that some "company" is telling ME what is best for MY character that THEY created. I'm doing all this crap for some company that disguised all this "money making" as an achievement for me.

Then again, on the other side I feel that raids are amazing. I miss the raiding in World of Warcraft just because it was all strategy. You can invite some guy that bought his character to your guild all you want, but his gear and his play skill is what decides if you're going to invite him the next week to your raid or not. The gear that is rewarded from spending countless hours raiding is what makes you feel like you've really achieved something in certain MMO's these days. 

Can I say that raiding has gone too far? Heck no, I love raiding and spending weeks trying to figure out the strategy for one boss fight. It's that much more amazing when we finally get that boss on farm mode.

I think raids have their place, but the fact that almost every game since EQ1 has catered to it at the end game rather than offering more options, including raiding, bothers me in that it smacks of laziness on the businesses that do produce and maintain MMOs. Anyone with some sort of profit margin in the business should put some of that to market research so they can find out whether or not players want more options. More options does mean more cost, but that's the price of a free market. Being lazy simply offers a chance for their competition 1-up them in one thing they don't have at all and they can lose big.


-- Brede

well raiding is fun. imo and im sure its fun for people who like to raid aswell.

if you think raiding is bad now you should have seen eq classic

I'm not sure how I missed the OP's point. Care to explain?

Originally posted by spinach8puff

I'm not sure how I missed the OP's point. Care to explain?

Yes, of course. If you read the OP's post you will see that he is interested on if raiding has gone too far. He is not asking what type of guilds take it too far, he is more so asking that if in YOUR opinion when you see those "raiding guilds" in game, do you feel that they take it too far (or so it looks that way). Such as, staying in doors on a weekend night for the chance at a piece of gear, or maybe skipping a date because of that first attempt at a new raid boss.

When I look at your post you're describing the type of guilds and on what level of seriousness they take raiding. That wasn't exactly what he was asking for (once again, or so it looked that way). Maybe it was just me that saw it as a case of mistaken identity as far as the replies he was looking for when it came to the specific topic of raiding, and why/how it's gone too far.

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Originally posted by SgtFrog
well raiding is fun. imo and im sure its fun for people who like to raid aswell.

if you think raiding is bad now you should have seen eq classic

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raiding is the perfect time sink/carrot on a stick for an MMO.  Because then people don't blame the game they blame their lack of social skills.