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Profile: grimmbot
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Usernamegrimmbot
Rank: 31/100Rank: 31/100Rank: 31/100Rank: 31/100Rank: 31/100
Real Name 
RankApprentice Member
JoinedFebruary 12, 2004
GenderMale
Age27
LocationJackson, NJ, United States
Last VisitAugust 30, 2008
Post Count238
Biography

MMOs Played: UO, LOTRO, DAOC, EQ, EQ2, AO, Shadowbane, Vanguard, Planetside, WoW, Horizons, EVE, Final Fantasy XI, Sword of the New World, POTBC, other games too bad to be worth mentioning.

CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Age of Conan (Doomsayer)

 
Quote

You would be surprised how few people care about what you have to say.

 

Most Recent Thread by grimmbot [more...]

Latest Blog Entry - Like Smacking Into a Wall: Age of Conan Post-45
From my blog The Casual Gamer [grimmbot]

So with my limited time, I got myself to Level 45 in Age of Conan last night. And it hit me, as if I smacked into a wall:

I'm bored with this game.

I have a thing about grinding. Granted, quests themselves involve grinding, but quests give direction and -- more importantly -- much-accelerated experience. As I marched through Field of the Dead, I ran into a rut where the quests in this Level 40-50 zone almost entirely run out at 44. At 45 I had one quest to do, and one or two others that I was too low a level for. So I head to the mountain zone next door, where mobs start at Level 50, and pounded on some of those hoping that the challenge would sustain me.

But it didn't.

When I have to essentially fend for myself for experience, whacking the same things over and over, with no quests to help speed things up, I feel like a hamster in a wheel. Even the fighting mechanics -- as great as they are -- don't save it here; I found myself using the same combos in the same order on the same mobs.

And according to many people, the entire 50+ game is like this, where zones only give you a small number of quests. Most in my guild who have gotten over 60 have done so while grinding half the time over 50. Unfortunately for me and my guild, I no longer find four-hour sits at my PC doing the same thing "fun".

And that's another thing: My guild has had hardly any reason to group up at all. Why bother? You finish the quests quicker, okay, but then you've still got to grind the rest of the way.

This wasn't a one-day decision, mind you. I had been skipping quest text for the last week because not much of it was interesting -- and the story was a big selling point for the game! It's ironic though because a story that stops for 20 levels is... not a complete story. I hadn't been truly engaged nor immersed for a while as it was. I was also extremely frustrated that I needed to hit Level 50 before I could harvest materials in the zone I was in, bashing mobs at 40.

My original plan as I approached 45 was, "Yeah, I'll have to grind... but the endgame will be worth it."

But is it? Nobody actually knows, because nobody was able to test it. That's an awful lot of time I'd waste on hamster-wheel grinding if the endgame also turns out to need too much work.

So I've made a decision: The guild I'm in can get the city up and running to Tier 3, yadda yadda, and go hit up the endgame. If it turns out to be worth it, I'll jump back in and do what I need to do to get there.

If not... no skin off my back. I'd be happy I didn't waste my time.

I've been burned far too often by far too many MMORPGs to put blind faith in any game, no matter if it's Sony, Funcom, Mythic or otherwise.

Read more from my blog [grimmbot]

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Recent Forum Posts [more...]

    • Is your Guild moving from WoW to WAR?
    • Originally posted by Thunderballs

      99% of wow players and wow guilds are no where near hardcore or challenging for top honours.


       

      Top Honors for what? Honors for having the most ownage-inducing gear?

      And what do you DO with that gear?

      You raid for more gear! To make it worthwhile though, it's got to be better than what you have.

      Then you get THAT armor. To do what?

      Raid For MORE Gear!

      When someone comes to this realization, once they know how hilarious it is that they run on a gear treadmill, they will (hopefully) be forever turned off to PvE raid grinding.

      It's this PvE "Stuff Syndrome", the addictive circle, that makes me sick. Everquest started it, WoW massively popularized it, and I've grown up out of it.

      I don't know how an entire WoW guild can continually raid and raid and raid like that.

      PvP for life. ;)

    • Posted: 8/30/08 8:32 PM
      WAR (Warhammer Online)
    • A healer who wants to HEAL
    • Originally posted by Majinash

      From what I understand the Rune priest is the order "pure healer".  I thought I would like it because I've been playing pure healers for a few years now just like you, however it just wasn't for me.

       

      the archmage was perfect for me, I loved the mechanic which can be very powerful.  5 damage spells = instant rez.  and yes, it is more aimed at people who want to be a hybrid than a pure healer, which suits me just fine.

       

      RPs can do their fair share of damage as well, and there are no hybrids in the typical sense of the term. The Archmage High Magic mechanic just makes it so that you can cast a couple of DoTs and then throw an instant big heal to help make up for the time you just spent letting your allies get creamed. ;)

      That's the problem with most Archmages too -- they give themselves the impression that they're helping their RvR group out by pretending to DPS and build High Magic. Meanwhile, an ally nearly gets killed because they weren't healing.

      I'm going to use a blasphemous term here, but it's like the problem I used to see with WoW Shadow Priests. If you really want to help your group do DPS in RvR,  you'd make sure your Bright Wizards don't blow themselves up first. ;)

      High Magic is not necessary to heal well, or DPS well (which is kind of sad -- you can totally ignore High Magic and be just fine) so when times are tough, just remember you're not a hybrid, or a backup -- they need to heal.

      Unfortunately because the RP is currently overpowered, it gives the impression that they're better overall healers.

    • Posted: 8/27/08 7:39 AM
      WAR (Warhammer Online)
    • Archmage vs Runepriest

    • http://vnboards.ign.com/warhammer_online_age_of_reckoning_general_board/b22997/108350271/p1/?15

       

      An excellent write up on both classes' healing skills in Tier 2 play. This should be all you need to read if you're confused.

      Don't worry about 1v1 -- classes are not balanced, nor should they be, for one-on-one fights.

    • Posted: 8/26/08 5:36 AM
      WAR (Warhammer Online)

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