Originally posted by eddieg50

 Actually I would like to see lvl speed increased, games should give you a choice.  I loved thee fact in Guild Wars you only had to get to lvl 20.  As one of the other peoeple said EQ2 gives you a choice somewhat by allowing you to turn off experience,  I love it when i hear that ding and a nw lvl comes with its new powers and such, as someone who plays 2 hours a day lvling quicker would be great for me

I think I might be one of those people that enjoys the journey more than just reaching the final lvl. When I started playing GW I had help from friends, and once I got to 20 I quit a few days later. With the lvling being so fast I was able to get to 20 within a week. Thats with also jumping to 20 once I hit 17, because of the assention thing where you battle a copy of yourself. So GW really doesn't have much lvling in it at all to hold those that like seeing that type of progression.

I still prefer the system GW uses for spells and combat. Takes a lot more planing then other games, and allows people to have more unique skill sets.

Originally posted by Vrazule

Originally posted by ilydamdris

Originally posted by Vrazule

There is no problem.  There are games that level slowly and some that are fast, just play the ones that level slowly and you're set.  Stop trying to make everyone else play the way you think they should.

 

Just out of curriousity, who's trying to make everyone else play the way they think others should?

Shouldn't that be obvious?  The ones who keep bitching about fast leveling in fast leveling games.  Either deal with it or move to a game that doesn't level quickly for crying out loud. 

Especially those people who want to force everyone else to play the way they want to play.  I agree with you, people who want fast leveling should play fast leveling games, people who want slow leveling should play slow leveling games.  Sitting in a fast leveling game and whining about how fast people level is really ridiculous.

             The OP has some good arguments....The leveling curve is too fast and you are correct about whats the point in buying stuff if you outgrow it so quickly anyway??........Problem is the game companies dont know who to please anymore......Heck if the player base had its way there wouldnt be any levels at all, you'd be max level on login........You'd think though that fast leveling hurts the game maker itself though as players hit max so quickly anymore that it seems like players are leaving sooner than they normally would........If games like WAr and AoC slowed down their leveling then maybe more people wouldnt cancel before their first month was over......The problem is though that slow leveling is more old school thinking and companies are appealing to the "WoW" generation now.......Everything is instant gratification and almost everything is made so easy that a 5 year old can do it.

Originally posted by revslave

Just a quick note , in EQ2 you can turn off all exp , all combat exp ,all quest exp, and any bonus exp fomr exp weekends or having a max char.  Plenty of people turn these off in order to experance all of the quests in there lvl range or to get AA.

Kinda of allows the player to decide how fast they will go, and when they want to lvl lock for a certain tier they can. Hell some guilds lvl lock so they can see each raid tier at that xpac lvl cap. 

Same is true in Anarchy Online, you can turn off XP and take as long as you want to level, a lot of people set up characters specifically for certain tasks or areas and turn off XP permanently.

I get a chuckle out the folks who say levelling is too  fast in todays MMOs... "Well, back in my day....."

Its obvious you folks didnt play Neverwinter Nights or UO, you could level in both much faster than todays MMOs. I mean since we are going back, and saying how tough it was way back in the day. 

Both games relied more on content, than grinds and gear. Granted, the genre' was still in its infancy, and the amount of content was much smaller than todays MMOs. Though, in my opinion, there was more to do, as they were sandbox MMOs, as opposed to being led by the nose to the next axe that was only going to last you a level or two ; )

edit: these games weren't actually level based, but, imo, getting to "end game" or maxxing your character  = levelling.

Originally posted by KaitarBesh

FFXI had the same core "goal" as WoW, which all the fan-kids (Of both games) seem to not realize as they scream their loyalty and kudos for their chosen game.

 

WoW and FFXI and every other game focuses around: Leveling to cap. Then getting uber gear.  The only "end game" in any game out there at this point must be reached by that formula.

 

And it's old and boring.

You're right every MMORPG main goal is to get to level cap but  at least some games made it interestng on the way to cap.

In FFXI you did go for uber gear but there was other things to do.  In WoW thats all it was about, most of the crafting in WoW was pointless, you'd get better armor and weapons in dungeons and in like. When you got  that gear it was obsolete in a few days because you leveled so fast.

FFXI had interesting quests, that unlocked things like Subjob, new areas you can go, New jobs to master, level caps raised. Crafting actually had a purpose, I could breed my own chocobo's and race them and gamble. You had other things to do than just grind a way for gear till max level.

In WoW everything was handed to you and there is nothing else to really do except solo quests then do a dungeon run and craft a few things that were actually useful. Now thats what I all boring.

Originally posted by DukeTyrion

I am struggling to enjoy MMOs at the moment, and I think the reason is, the levels fly past too quickly. You might argue this allows me to get to the end game quicker, but do I really want to get there quicker.

 

I think part of the reason that I am for the end game, is that I know the items I am collecting and using along the way are only temporary, so the items I collect in the end game will at least last. But when I used to play DAoC and even EQ2 on first release, it seemed that levels were so few and far between that a new axe at level 32 would serve me well for weeks in real terms. Added to that a new axe at 32 was perhaps not upgradable until level 35 or later, so it was a delight to collect it.

 

Perhaps that is also the issue, not only are the levels flying by so quickly that a level 32 axe in WoW or such might only last me a day, but there are axes for every level, 33, 34, 35, 36 ... the non-end game items no longer have any meaning, because you know the replacement is just around the corner.

 

So, is there an MMO out there, where the levelling is slower and where an upgrade really means something to your character?

 

Perhaps I am searching for something that does not exist, or even need a break from MMOs, but at the moment re-painting the outside of the house even seems like a more interesting adventure.

Those games are too slow and progression is not noticeable.

Take WOW as an example. Just leveling from 1-80 can easily take 10 days played or even longer. That is 240 hrs, and if you play like 3 hrs a day, it takes 80 days .. with diong some other stuff, it easily take 3 months.

(Just as a point of comparison, it took me like 4+ months to level my main to L70 .. that is before WOTLK).

3-4 months is a LONG time for a game. Plus you can always grind for gear that last AFTER your leveling.

Originally posted by cukimunga

Originally posted by KaitarBesh

FFXI had the same core "goal" as WoW, which all the fan-kids (Of both games) seem to not realize as they scream their loyalty and kudos for their chosen game.

 

WoW and FFXI and every other game focuses around: Leveling to cap. Then getting uber gear.  The only "end game" in any game out there at this point must be reached by that formula.

 

And it's old and boring.

You're right every MMORPG main goal is to get to level cap but  at least some games made it interestng on the way to cap.

In FFXI you did go for uber gear but there was other things to do.  In WoW thats all it was about, most of the crafting in WoW was pointless, you'd get better armor and weapons in dungeons and in like. When you got  that gear it was obsolete in a few days because you leveled so fast.

FFXI had interesting quests, that unlocked things like Subjob, new areas you can go, New jobs to master, level caps raised. Crafting actually had a purpose, I could breed my own chocobo's and race them and gamble. You had other things to do than just grind a way for gear till max level.

In WoW everything was handed to you and there is nothing else to really do except solo quests then do a dungeon run and craft a few things that were actually useful. Now thats what I all boring.

  Sorry, FFXI's "unlocking" quests were tedious and awful and did not play enough of a part in that game to "add extra things to do". Firstly, the main quests were only do-able every "so many" levels.  Then there were the IDIOTIC genkai quests which were just the most inane thing I've ever witnessed. The crafting wasn't in depth - it was a pain and the only "in depth" part about it was how much of a timesink farming for the materials was. And most of the mats for anything decent came from over-camped rare NM spawns that.......*gasp* you could only do at endgame and were one of the few things TO DO at end game.

WoW isn't much better. They've added an achievement system but even that is just another way to cover up a grind - a few of the achievements give you something like a special tabard, title or mount but there's no point to most of them and they aren't particularly fun to grind out. As for new jobs to master? In FFXI you had subjobs. In WoW you rolled an alt. Same damned thing, different way of doing it.

Both games follow the same simple, old, boring formula of grind grind end game loot grind grind grind.

I'd like to see some devs with some imagination for once and have a game designed with something actually innovative and new. If you're happy grinding out the timesink that is FFXI that's great - I'm personally bored of level/loot grind games.

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

It's because games cater to solo players these days.

Bring back the grouping game, and make it take a long, long, long time to solo.

It has nothing to do with catering to solo players, and everything to do with "rate of reward", and the pacing of character advancement rewards and decisions.

Even the OP's concern of having an axe (or whatever item) last forever is sort of separate from how fast you level.

Although my impression is that players enjoy collecting minor upgrades pretty frequently while they play the game (gold from this monster, an item from another mob, a useable item from a quest reward, a level up providing new abilities and increasing your character's strength, etc.)

Really the further you stretch the period between upgrades, the more repetitive and tedious a game feels - as you're probably doing many similar tasks without advancement systems spicing things up periodically.

I could see a developer choosing a type of item and making single items of that type last particularly long.  For example, perhaps a variety of axes (2h weapons) exist, but you only find axes of item level 15, 30, 45, and so on (at least until endgame where the pattern changes a bit.)   But in the levels between 15-30, the axe itself can be improved upon at various stages to further customize it - this would be something better than the axe merely being socketed (because you'd put a gem in immediately at level 15 if that were the case) but rather some way the character interacts with the item, perhaps themed by class (ie the Runemaster class may etch a rune into a weapon he's used for 5 levels, and a better one at 10 levels.)

(Having not played LOTRO since they implemented their fancy-sounding item feature a while back, I'm not familiar with whether I've just described the same exact system they used; I got the impression they did something to make you stick with weapons extra long, which seems to be the sort of thing the OP really cares about.)

Originally posted by Marcus-

I get a chuckle out the folks who say levelling is too  fast in todays MMOs... "Well, back in my day....."

 

Its obvious you folks didnt play Neverwinter Nights or UO, you could level in both much faster than todays MMOs. I mean since we are going back, and saying how tough it was way back in the day. 

Both games relied more on content, than grinds and gear. Granted, the genre' was still in its infancy, and the amount of content was much smaller than todays MMOs. Though, in my opinion, there was more to do, as they were sandbox MMOs, as opposed to being led by the nose to the next axe that was only going to last you a level or two ; )

 

edit: these games weren't actually level based, but, imo, getting to "end game" or maxxing your character  = levelling.

Exactly! For Christ's sake, spending week doing the same thing just to level up is simply not fun. I don't even get what those people are whinning about, because there are a plenty of games around with terribly slow grind. So in the end it just becomes a matter of who has the most time available/who is the most lifeless person in the game. People should  have given up on this competitive idea already! Developers should add something to actually entertain players instead of relying on their obsessions of reaching the highest level and overlooking other people. Why the heck should it matter if one has to share the highest level in the server with other people? This is utterly ridiculous.

Originally posted by nariusseldon 

3-4 months is a LONG time for a game. Plus you can always grind for gear that last AFTER your leveling.

 

3-4 months to get to end game in an MMO should be considered VERY quick. The whole point of these games is to 'live' and grow in a world over many months and even years. It should take a casual person playing 3-4 hours a week many months to get to max level.

Obviously there should be enough quality content to fill this time, but I agree with the OP when I say I would love to play an MMO where I just forgot about leveling because it was slow and I was enjoying myself too much to even care about numbers.

Originally posted by KaitarBesh

Originally posted by cukimunga

Originally posted by KaitarBesh

FFXI had the same core "goal" as WoW, which all the fan-kids (Of both games) seem to not realize as they scream their loyalty and kudos for their chosen game.

 

WoW and FFXI and every other game focuses around: Leveling to cap. Then getting uber gear.  The only "end game" in any game out there at this point must be reached by that formula.

 

And it's old and boring.

You're right every MMORPG main goal is to get to level cap but  at least some games made it interestng on the way to cap.

In FFXI you did go for uber gear but there was other things to do.  In WoW thats all it was about, most of the crafting in WoW was pointless, you'd get better armor and weapons in dungeons and in like. When you got  that gear it was obsolete in a few days because you leveled so fast.

FFXI had interesting quests, that unlocked things like Subjob, new areas you can go, New jobs to master, level caps raised. Crafting actually had a purpose, I could breed my own chocobo's and race them and gamble. You had other things to do than just grind a way for gear till max level.

In WoW everything was handed to you and there is nothing else to really do except solo quests then do a dungeon run and craft a few things that were actually useful. Now thats what I all boring.

 

  Sorry, FFXI's "unlocking" quests were tedious and awful and did not play enough of a part in that game to "add extra things to do". Firstly, the main quests were only do-able every "so many" levels.  Then there were the IDIOTIC genkai quests which were just the most inane thing I've ever witnessed. The crafting wasn't in depth - it was a pain and the only "in depth" part about it was how much of a timesink farming for the materials was. And most of the mats for anything decent came from over-camped rare NM spawns that.......*gasp* you could only do at endgame and were one of the few things TO DO at end game.

 

WoW isn't much better. They've added an achievement system but even that is just another way to cover up a grind - a few of the achievements give you something like a special tabard, title or mount but there's no point to most of them and they aren't particularly fun to grind out. As for new jobs to master? In FFXI you had subjobs. In WoW you rolled an alt. Same damned thing, different way of doing it.

 

Both games follow the same simple, old, boring formula of grind grind end game loot grind grind grind.

 

I'd like to see some devs with some imagination for once and have a game designed with something actually innovative and new. If you're happy grinding out the timesink that is FFXI that's great - I'm personally bored of level/loot grind games.

Well I guess we don't have the same tastes..... I enjoyed all those things that you called timesinks and tedious.    FF subjob was just more than adding an alt  you could combine different jobs to have different style of playing that main job.

Id say the quests game me something else to do in the game. If I need a break from adventuring and fighting Id go quest or maybe unlock a job for the fun of it.  And then with SMN when you had to fight the avatars and got them you had a sense of accomplishment.

Other people respected you for actually taking time and putting in hard work to unlock and get these things.Now getting to max level in games don't matter because everyone and there Mom can do it. Same goes with games giving  you new Classes for doing nothing. 

But hey I respect your opinions.  We all can't think alike because that would be lame.

They don't have a choice.  If they slow you down on your leveling, you will start to look behind the curtain and realise what a treadmill you are on.  The levels and the loot are the carrot dangling before you.  These newer theme-park games don't offer open, living worlds for you to forge your own character and your own open ended adventure, so they have to shove levels down your throat a rate that will keep you enticed until the next expansion rolls out. If you go to fast, you will just do what everyone playing WoW does.  Continuosly re-roll until you fill up all your slots.

Remember when you only had one or two slots in older games?  No way in hell they could get away with that now because there simply is not enough to do in these games.

Actually, before any Developer can start trying to break the mold and offer something different, they would have to find a way to educate and properly instruct the playerbase BEFOREHAND, otherwise the game is pretty much over when it releases, and everyone and their dog rushes in with preconceptions how things "ought to work" and what they "are forced to do" and so on. I can, from scratch, come up with at least 3 different ways of handling content, progression, even level-based gameplay that is nonstandard, but the problem is not coming up with a system that works.... the problem is selling that to the bosses, the investors and then to the masses of players who start up a game already looking at the endgame.

So many players pick the point at which your character has maxed out its progression in terms of character stats (be that level, or skillcap, or whatever else) and you no longer play to advance vertically as the primary goal, its hard to get players to even consider a different playstyle. Its a ratrace for too many.

Leveling is the worst part of any MMORPG... geez why on earth would you want leveling to be slower than it already is? there's no "skill" involved hitting max level, shit, any unemployed bum living with his parents could hit max level easily... but for those of us with social lives and you know.. jobs? it takes a while..

Originally posted by Khaunshar

Actually, before any Developer can start trying to break the mold and offer something different, they would have to find a way to educate and properly instruct the playerbase BEFOREHAND, otherwise the game is pretty much over when it releases, and everyone and their dog rushes in with preconceptions how things "ought to work" and what they "are forced to do" and so on. I can, from scratch, come up with at least 3 different ways of handling content, progression, even level-based gameplay that is nonstandard, but the problem is not coming up with a system that works.... the problem is selling that to the bosses, the investors and then to the masses of players who start up a game already looking at the endgame.

So many players pick the point at which your character has maxed out its progression in terms of character stats (be that level, or skillcap, or whatever else) and you no longer play to advance vertically as the primary goal, its hard to get players to even consider a different playstyle. Its a ratrace for too many.

This is why the salvation of this genre will be small dev houses with niche games willing to take a chance.  The AAA companies will do no such thing, nor would their corporate suits or publishers allow them to.  If you want this genre to change, you should be supporting the small games coming down the road. Earthrise, Mortal Online and Fallen Earth are a few good examples of companies that are breaking out of the arch-class theme park designs.

 Hmm... if you're leveling too fast you're probably playing too much.

The problem with slow leveling is it would require INTERESTING gameplay to keep it worth playing something pretty much no mmo has... maybe SWG had it for a while to begin but no mmo has enough lasting interesting content to explore to make taking your time actually FUN. Take a non mmo RPG like Mass Effect or Fallout 3 - these games make it worthwhile to take your time.

If you are worrying about levelling,  you are not enjoying the game.  When I was having fun in the beach, I won't say, hey I am approaching the shore too fast.  I am busy swimming, or watching the bikinis or ... whatever.

Originally posted by Jumper2k

 Hmm... if you're leveling too fast you're probably playing too much.

The problem with slow leveling is it would require INTERESTING gameplay to keep it worth playing something pretty much no mmo has... maybe SWG had it for a while to begin but no mmo has enough lasting interesting content to explore to make taking your time actually FUN. Take a non mmo RPG like Mass Effect or Fallout 3 - these games make it worthwhile to take your time.

I do love these replaies that suggest I play too much. I have a job, a house to maintain, a wife and kids, play sports, but I do not watch television, so when I play it tends to be for a couple of hours at a time. But if I reach another level in just those couple of hours, and I have yet another new weapon, it just feels a little cheap, at least to me.

The slower levelling is not about impressing people with my levelling speed, or lack of, it's about being part of the world and enjoying the interesting game play, but not feeling like I am expected to be at cap in a month then grind raids. It's about the journey being more important that 'getting there'. Some people in this thread seem to understand me, others seem to struggle with the different perspective than their own.

It's interesting that you mention Fallout 3, as I am playing it while searching for the right MMO. In that I never worry about he levels, and I find myself needing to be quite careful with items, as my other items may soon be too damaged to use. Perhaps an MMO along a similar line could work very well, as I do feel very much a part of the game, but as a single player RPG it's missing the ability to play with friends.

The reason it is too short is because people play video games waaaay too much :/

Originally posted by Faitu

Are you kidding me? Do you actually enjoy spending months repeating the same crap just to increase a number on your screen by one? Well, if you do, just click on "Game List". Pick a random MMO, the chances are that it will be like that. It'll obviously be faster at lower levels, but as you progress it gets much harder, it's pretty much like that in every F2P game.

Yet you actually enjoy doing the same repetitive endgame tasks for a random chance at a single item that may or may not drop.

Originally posted by MindTrigger

Originally posted by Khaunshar

Actually, before any Developer can start trying to break the mold and offer something different, they would have to find a way to educate and properly instruct the playerbase BEFOREHAND, otherwise the game is pretty much over when it releases, and everyone and their dog rushes in with preconceptions how things "ought to work" and what they "are forced to do" and so on. I can, from scratch, come up with at least 3 different ways of handling content, progression, even level-based gameplay that is nonstandard, but the problem is not coming up with a system that works.... the problem is selling that to the bosses, the investors and then to the masses of players who start up a game already looking at the endgame.

So many players pick the point at which your character has maxed out its progression in terms of character stats (be that level, or skillcap, or whatever else) and you no longer play to advance vertically as the primary goal, its hard to get players to even consider a different playstyle. Its a ratrace for too many.

 

This is why the salvation of this genre will be small dev houses with niche games willing to take a chance.  The AAA companies will do no such thing, nor would their corporate suits or publishers allow them to.  If you want this genre to change, you should be supporting the small games coming down the road. Earthrise, Mortal Online and Fallen Earth are a few good examples of companies that are breaking out of the arch-class theme park designs.

Support indie games folks.  : )

Originally posted by MindTrigger

They don't have a choice.  If they slow you down on your leveling, you will start to look behind the curtain and realise what a treadmill you are on.  The levels and the loot are the carrot dangling before you.  These newer theme-park games don't offer open, living worlds for you to forge your own character and your own open ended adventure, so they have to shove levels down your throat a rate that will keep you enticed until the next expansion rolls out. If you go to fast, you will just do what everyone playing WoW does.  Continuosly re-roll until you fill up all your slots.

Remember when you only had one or two slots in older games?  No way in hell they could get away with that now because there simply is not enough to do in these games.

no your post is flawed

they put grinder because asian love those 

annoying ?hell yes

dont think its gona go away 

unless some genious find another way to make game 

asian thinking is, i made it to the end trough hard work

but honestly if it was pvp quest instead of pve it would be better 

but like people say before releasing a game like that you dont post picture no nothing

but you explain clearly how the game works

if say the system is a pvp and the guy doing the quest get a buff because hes on that quest and other player need to die it as to be said 

that way if say z player you try to kill decide to fight back , it just get fun because he know that your on the quest and your buffed

so fo him its fun and for you as we ll

right now its easy cheack any mmo 

pve till end then switch game because your done 

if you add pvp in the equation the possibilities are limitless 

might be a rogue have to steal say that warrior weapon or the priest robe 

etc 

can you imagine you just got stolen say your weapon your max level it end up in mayhem fast 

now its, go kill dear till you got 10 dear skin bewrk

if game maker find a way to make pvp questing a reality 

with a good mood(music+effec ,soul of any game)

hell they can even play with this !

you will say what?

yes say your a rogue or whatever and its very silent suddenly opposing player saw you and he do x thing to make noise can you say you wouldnt jump out of your skin

hell they use that in horror movie all the time 

like when the bad is just about to attack they add a sound that literally make you jump out of your skin

the game maker that will do this kind of game will probably be the next big game in mmo

cause sorry to say but pve without a soul have been overdone .its a dying breed

the only reason its still works is theres nothing else in mmorpg

Originally posted by DukeTyrion

Originally posted by Jumper2k

 Hmm... if you're leveling too fast you're probably playing too much.

The problem with slow leveling is it would require INTERESTING gameplay to keep it worth playing something pretty much no mmo has... maybe SWG had it for a while to begin but no mmo has enough lasting interesting content to explore to make taking your time actually FUN. Take a non mmo RPG like Mass Effect or Fallout 3 - these games make it worthwhile to take your time.

 ... 

It's interesting that you mention Fallout 3, as I am playing it while searching for the right MMO. In that I never worry about he levels, and I find myself needing to be quite careful with items, as my other items may soon be too damaged to use. Perhaps an MMO along a similar line could work very well, as I do feel very much a part of the game, but as a single player RPG it's missing the ability to play with friends.

This is a good point...

We take our time with single player games, because once you're done you're done.   If you're not enjoying yourself, you quit.  You don't play faster.  You KNOW there's an end and nobody gives a crap how quickly you finish.  Other people really don't care anymore.  But with MMOs, some people have this need to rush through everything, partly because you can SHOW OFF how fast you can level.  Nobody really cares either, but good luck convincing these people=)  Its also due to how boring leveling was in early MMOs and how the "good" parts were always at the the "end" and rushing made it all bearable.  The end game was coined in the 90s well before WOW, so good luck to those who want to blame newer MMOs;)   Newer MMOs are trying really hard to put the good parts everywhere, but many players are still stuck in the old ways of wanting to get to the end parts, forgetting that everything is supposed to be fun...not just the end.

Most people don't rush.  Many do but they bring any misery on themselves.  Complaining that a game isn't long enough while admitting that you're playing 6 hrs a day 7 days a week doesn't help that person's case.  ALso admitting that they didnt' bother doing the dungeons or the quests or any socializing, because thats all a waste of time doesn't help either.  Sorry, but cry me a river.  Try doing something else and suddenly the game doesn't feel like such a chore.

Every MMO since WOW hasn't done the leveling game any better, at least for me.  The worlds haven't been as interesting, the quests was no better and the pacing hasn't been tweaked as well.   So someone is going to have to do better than WOW to get me to play for more than a couple of months.  Slowing down the leveling will NOT make the experience any better.  It'll just make me quit even faster if I can sense whats going on.  WAR is a perfect example.  In your 30s your leveling speed goes into the toilet and because of that, I never made it to level cap and I didn't care at all.  Mythic just ran out of content.

Originally posted by Rekuja

Leveling is the worst part of any MMORPG... geez why on earth would you want leveling to be slower than it already is? there's no "skill" involved hitting max level, shit, any unemployed bum living with his parents could hit max level easily... but for those of us with social lives and you know.. jobs? it takes a while..

To add to this, and I do agree with it, in part.....there's also the matter of the myriads of people that totally blow by the content.  They scream for content, but their definition of "content," is what is at question. 

For instance, how many of you ever even bother to READ quests?  Do you know the game lore of whatever MMO you're playing?  Do you care?  Do you follow the unfolding of the STORY throughout a game?  Do you ever stop to wonder just who that NPC is that you just spoke to and what their "motives" are in the situation?  Do you gather with guildmates for "parties," plans of attack on opposing factions?  Do you roleplay (no, I don't mean in the MAJOR sense of what's done on pure RP type servers, but just playing around)?  Do you, while questing, ever go wandering off to explore some area you see far away that looks interesting?

I would guess most people would answer no to MOST of that.  Why?  Because everyone is so fracking hell-fired up to just GRIND quests and mobs to reach the "ultimate goal" of max level.  Why?  Why is that?  When did people start expecting MMORPGs to play like FPS games?  I don't get that at all.

If you don't like stories, questing, and having your own imaginary role in the unfolding of said stories....why are you playing an MMORPG?  Why not play...oh, I don't know....an online FPS?  No worries with quests, levels, stories, etc. Plus, you can still work on upgrading your gear (since that seems pretty important) and focus on just whoopin' ass without having to be bothered with READING and following stories or anything "lame" like that.  If players would just slow down and enjoy the JOURNEY and actually play the content that is IN most of these games.....you wouldn't level QUITE so damn fast.

I'm just sayin'..........