I think its silly that all the 'defenders of the grind' act like it requires talent. "You dont like the grind? You suck , your a carebear"

or "You just want to have things handed to you" lol. What? First off, it takes 0 skill to do the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over again. Secondly, is this supposed to be a job or a game? Now, I understand the whole 'to each his own' concept, but all im doing is calling a spade a spade. Or, asking a spade to admit that it is a spade. So what is it?

Grinding was never hard just tedious and boring.

 Something a bot can do better than you is not hard

Just boring. Some sort of grind can by found in any game, if it isn´t exp then it is arena points, honor points, or gold/ credits/ Isk.

Worst is it if the game is easy but it takes a long time to lvl, you will get bored. If it is a game with step learning curve you might need the time of slow lvling to manage to learn the game step by step, that I wouldn´t call grinding.

Grinding is the reason why goldsellers exists, people want to play not do another job.

I've kinda stalled out at 33 with one toon and 23 with another.  The go here, kill this quests are most likely going to cause me to spontaneously implode, then explode all over my desk.   The game has plenty of really cool things about it but damn I already hate questing/leveling up as it is and the completely uninteresting quests and repeatables are beginning to drive me nukin futz.  I've had to take some time off of the game just to ensure that I don't end up loosing all interest (sadly).   Just hope I can hang in there till 40ish when there are a ton more instances.

Originally posted by Fraugnutz

 I think its silly that all the 'defenders of the grind' act like it requires talent. "You dont like the grind? You suck , your a carebear"

or "You just want to have things handed to you" lol. What? First off, it takes 0 skill to do the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over again. Secondly, is this supposed to be a job or a game? Now, I understand the whole 'to each his own' concept, but all im doing is calling a spade a spade. Or, asking a spade to admit that it is a spade. So what is it?

Mindlessly grindind off simple mobs, no, that's not hard...

Running through content like Mist Mane with a group that doesn't work great together is a huge bitch.

Originally posted by Fraugnutz

 I think its silly that all the 'defenders of the grind' act like it requires talent. "You dont like the grind? You suck , your a carebear"

or "You just want to have things handed to you" lol. What? First off, it takes 0 skill to do the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over again. Secondly, is this supposed to be a job or a game? Now, I understand the whole 'to each his own' concept, but all im doing is calling a spade a spade. Or, asking a spade to admit that it is a spade. So what is it?

HAha maybe in cheap games you have played.Ever play FFXI?you can kill the same mobs a hundred times and still die.There is so many ways to ide in normal xp parties in FFXI it is not funny.Some mobs just like players have spiked damage or TP moves,witch are again the spike damage.Heck i can't tell you how many times i died playing a Ranger as a Tarutaru. and that is in a game that is all grouped,i'd have no chance solo.Instead of asking if grind is hard,ask if fetch me quest from NPC's are hard?IMO there is no comparison,the fetch me quests are almost always super easy and many times,you don't do anything other than go from one npc to another.

So you need to decide witch is more fun ,actual killing things ,combat,or just running back and forth to npc's?I think for me it is a no brainer.Npc interaction is not only boring but offers me ZERO challenge,so basically there is no gaming there,i choose gaming ,witch is killing things,unless your playing Myst or a game like that.

I think the OP here needs to read everything he asks and apply to the alternative and it ends up being worse,so he answers his own question.I did not even mention the ridiculous idea of doing Dailies.

For the record, I cast my vote for "a bedpan and lots of cheetos", but there also seems to be lots of people with delusions of grandeur.

Aion is not quest grinding mmorpg. You may think it is early on but when your in the 40's get ready for hardcore grinding ala lineage 2 style. Lol

I remember back in the old days, when we old school gamers had to walk to school 10 miles in the snow up hill both ways, grinding was just a part of mmorpgs.  We grinded our asses off and liked it.  We didn't know any other  way.  You either liked it, or you quit playing mmorpgs, because they were all like that.  Now my definition of grinding is killing the same NPC mobs over and over again for xp or an item or piece of equipment that had a .00001 % chance of dropping.  It was the primary source of leveling.  Quests just aren't the same now as they were then.  I think it's better now in retrospect.  Most gamers that defend grinding are people that are new to mmorpg s and don't know any better like we were back then, or old school gamers that look back with rose colored glasses on and forget the frustration and often futile effort that was expended for little or no reward.  There's a reason that mmorpgs have evolved the way they have over the years.  Let's face it, old school mmorpgs sucked.

I have to agree with the OP, true grinding takes little talent and often times offers meger reward for time investment. Does the leveling offer up any sort of challenge beyond ones endurance or is it simply placed into the game as a time sink as a means to offer up a separation of those who have invested x amount of hours vs those who have not yet.

In all honesty I strongly feel that grinding and exp leveling has become a crouch within the industry that is used in place of any sort of innovation in regards of dishing out rewards for accomplishments. Even those who place value on the grind as a tool to teach players how to play their class are aware that even at the upper end of the level cap there are players who still fail to understand the basic game mechanics, but succeeded at the time requirements.
 

Originally posted by Bambooza

I have to agree with the OP, true grinding takes little talent and often times offers meger reward for time investment. Does the leveling offer up any sort of challenge beyond ones endurance or is it simply placed into the game as a time sink as a means to offer up a separation of those who have invested x amount of hours vs those who have not yet.

In all honesty I strongly feel that grinding and exp leveling has become a crouch within the industry that is used in place of any sort of innovation in regards of dishing out rewards for accomplishments. Even those who place value on the grind as a tool to teach players how to play their class are aware that even at the upper end of the level cap there are players who still fail to understand the basic game mechanics, but succeeded at the time requirements.
 

I think you're onto something.  I've never looked at it in those terms.  Grinding is filler for lack of content.  When players run out of things to do before endgame is reached and grinding mobs is the only alternative, then you have a problem with game content.  The problem is pure hardcore gamers don't like questing.  It doesn't fit their view of a sandbox game.  So grinding mobs, or eacheother, is their only hardcore solution.

Grinding is the same as questing;the only difference is less travel, more inventory space, and no NPC chatboxes.

Personally I'd rather be killing a particular mob because its 

a) easy and fast to kill for my class-type

b) drops something I want

c) particularly good experience

as opposed to 

d) because  a leprechaun lost his lucky charms 

Originally posted by Furor

Aion is not quest grinding mmorpg. You may think it is early on but when your in the 40's get ready for hardcore grinding ala lineage 2 style. Lol

Im level 46, it's taking me 2 days per level, guess it will go up to 3 at 49. It took me months to become level 80 in L2.

The grind is mind-numbingly repetitive, lately I've only been able to take about an hour of straight grinding before I'm tired of the game. Hence why it's taking me a week per level the past couple weeks, currently level 38.

Originally posted by leinad312

The grind is mind-numbingly repetitive, lately I've only been able to take about an hour of straight grinding before I'm tired of the game. Hence why it's taking me a week per level the past couple weeks, currently level 38.

Level 38 is the level i was at when I quit playing. After grinding in Kaidan HQ long enough to get my speed boots, I had enough of the grind by then. If I wasn't in a legion of very cool and nice people, I would have probably quit playing WAY before that.

Making a game that is tougher than average to hit the level cap is just fine, and in Aion, it's not even that hard. Look at all the level 45+ people already. But to have to grind the same mobs over..and over..to get there? It's just not for me. Oh Im sure I'll get flamed at how I'm not "hardcore" enough and you know what? You're right. I really am not hardcore enough, or have the mental willpower to do so. I got bored.

Fyi this is not an "Aion sux" post or anything, I actually think the pvp is very fun in Aion. But imo, the pve leaves a lot to be desired and I just couldn't take it anymore. It's a decent game though, if you're into that sort of thing.