Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Getting tired of leveling
JGMIII
Member Posts: 1,282
I can only level up so many times, From grinding XP to quest stacking to Skill grinding after a while I get so sick of all of it.
I'm sure you guys know what i'm talking about. Ever start playing a game and after a 10+ levels you do nothing but stare at that level number next to your character portrait or your melee/magic skill number in your skill tree.
The game quickly goes from exploration and having a good time to Needing to get that next level and nothing else.
I've been playing MMOs a longtime and if you leveled to max level in one it doesnt matter how unique the next MMO is it's still that same bullshit leveling/skilling that i've done a hundred freaking times.
I've tried to get around this, I tried to just stick with straight up sandbox games like Ryzom but that god damn game is the same shit, I need to grind this melee skill then my magic skill then my digging then my crafting and I never stop........ Levels,skills its the same shit.
I've found only two games that took the act of leveling and skill grinding basically out of the equation Eve (I can just play) and Guild Wars (Quest stacking for 2-3 days to 20 is painless). Eve isnt for everyone and I want a on foot fantasy type game like Eve And GW is actually not a MMO at all, its player base is very anti-social so it kills the game after a while.
Certain people pointed me toward DF and I'm sorry but having to macro skills or use my sword a million times to gain melee skill is the same old BS i've been doing since UO.... it's nothing new.
I guess i'll never get around it, I could either just stick to eve and give up on any on foot fantasy MMOs or hopefully CCP will create a non-spaceship MMO with a similar skill system that just lets me inject skills overtime so I wont have to use a sword a billion times and I wont have to macro a Crafting skill over and over.
I want my MMO experience to feel more natural, Looking up at a level and saying "today im going to ge tthat level" is not a natural gameplay experience for me.
Playing: EvE, Ryzom
Comments
Maybe play single player games...to offset the grind comitment that mmorpgs require? I know thats what helped me.
I would like to add that eve is just as much of a time sink as other mmorpgs. All mmorps are timesinks. People want to be rewarded for playing longer then their counterparts. Not to bash, but if you are sick of the system then switch to single player games, or my personal favorite, first person shooters like counterstrike or team fortress 2. I play them regularly and it DEFINETLY helps me not get too caught up in the ridiculous nature of mmorpg players.
I very much agree. I would love to see a new system, mybe something similar to perks in online shooters but worked into the RPG formula. When you play CoD you don't really get levels, but you do get acces to new weapons, classes and more options to play the game.
The main diference is that even though you get new stuff, all oyu really get is more diverse pallete of playstyles for you to use, but you can be as usefull as a noob as you can when you're max rank.
Ofcourse that would mean that the whole progression would have to be built in a lot less linear fashion and maybe focused around PVP and teritorial combat. PVE can have it's place there too, I see no reason for one to exclude the other, I just want more options as means of progression, rather than more limitations.
I know there were smiliar attempts of this in the past, all that means is that there still isn't a winning formula. Untill we see something like this working I guess we'll hack away.
What other options do you see?
No offense, and honesly no flame intended, but the problem isnt with the games, it is with you.
Stop looking at that 'little number'. It dosent matter what level you are to have fun in a game, so stop pushing it.
Start enjoying the stories, environment, your fellow players. Start to enjoy just hanging out.
Get out of the rat race, declare to yourself and the world that levelling dosent matter. Realise that the only person that you are in competition with is yourself, and that you get to set the own rules of what defines 'success'.
Let levels come as they will, when they will. Level as you play, rather then playing to level.
I know these games feature character development, thats what makes them RPGs in a large part, but once you free yourself from the artificial drive to level you really change how you enjoy them.
If you really can't do any of these things, wait for APB
It's not me trying to hit maxx level quick or making it a competion at all. It's the flaw of todays MMos that leveling takes away the natural feel and flow of a game.
This natural flow and gameplay experience is usually at the beginning if the game whne a New player is first introducted to a game world. they enter a new zone and start exploring, they meet up with NPCs and start doing quests, dealing with conflicts and storyline and maybe a bit of pvp conflict. Before the new player knows it they are in the next zone continuing on their adventure.
Sadly that natural playstyle/experience doesn't last forever in any mmo. Once you get to a high level you hit a zone, explore everything in said zone, complete every quest and still find yourself needing more levels before you could naturally progress into another zone. This is when the game goes sour for me. Having to be a prisoner in a particular zone because im not the right level for the next. Now I have to stop progressing and I need to camp mobs or run a dungeon a 100 times or queue up for instanced pvp for 5 days to hit the required level to goto a zone that I should have already been in.
I want to natural adventure in my game world of choice. How much sense does it make that my big bad barbarian has basically saved an entire village, finished main and side quest yet still needs to grind thousands of wolves before he could run off and help the next set of NPCs and continue on his storyline.
Playing: EvE, Ryzom
BINGO!!! Stop playing MMOs to LEVEL and start playing them just to have fun. Its amazing what happens once you untie that noose that somehow forces people to obsess over the numbers and forget theres an actual GAME there.
Or, just play FPSs. No levels. ALL skill. I can't imagine playing just one type of game day after day UNLESS you're really having fun. If not, adventure games, action games, RTS and shooters fit the bill. Theres so many out there and plenty at a discount if you haven't been keeping up.
BINGO!!! Stop playing MMOs to LEVEL and start playing them just to have fun. Its amazing what happens once you untie that noose that somehow forces people to obsess over the numbers and forget theres an actual GAME there.
Or, just play FPSs. No levels. ALL skill. I can't imagine playing just one type of game day after day UNLESS you're really having fun. If not, adventure games, action games, RTS and shooters fit the bill. Theres so many out there and plenty at a discount if you haven't been keeping up.
Oh i love all types of games. Im actually playing FO3 as my single player game and messing with L4D for my quick FPS stuff.
I do play my MMOs to have fun and I try my best not to think about my current level when I play but what do you do when the game it self through flawed mechanics pushes that number in your face when all you want to do is go with the flow of the game and have a goodtime?
Playing: EvE, Ryzom
Although the answer may seem obvious, I'll state it for the record here:
Maybe play MMOs that aren't EQ/WOW clones?
ATITD, Celetania, Puzzle Pirates, CitiesXL, Gods and Idols, Combat Arms, World of Pirates, vMTV... try some of the many alternatices to that are out there and see if any of them offer something you like.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
Although the answer may seem obvious, I'll state it for the record here:
Maybe play MMOs that aren't EQ/WOW clones?
ATITD, Celetania, Puzzle Pirates, CitiesXL, Gods and Idols, Combat Arms, World of Pirates, vMTV... try some of the many alternatices to that are out there and see if any of them offer something you like.
lol Lynx, Car Wars ftw
The grind will always be apart of MMOs. I actually don't mind it, if it is skill-based. Grinding levels just seems so childish and fake to me. I suppose back when I played UO I didn't mind grinding for skill or macroing. I actually kind of enjoyed it in UO because it wasn't some silly level based game. I'm like you though, I don't know how much more I can take either. But I do feel that skill based games have more to offer and don't have as much of a grind feel to them.
Well said, and I agree with you. Levels are in the way. Many times I've wondered what a fantasy MMO would be like without levels. Just go wandering the world doing whatever quests come to hand in whatever area of the world that you're in.
The fun of doing different areas would be that they were actually different. Not in the artwork and the drops, but in the behavior of the monsters and the tasks that the NPCs asked the player characters to complete. Somebody mentioned altering the player experience without advancement. That's a reasonable next step. It would be a way to keep the game interesting without having to labor through levels before doing anything new.
It would be a rather different game. It would probably begin to involve more player skill.
Some games constantly tell you, you cannot do this because you are too low level. In those games, it's awfully hard to ignore level and just play when it's jumping in your face constantly. If that bothers you (and reasonably so), then don't play those games.
You're already aware of Guild Wars, which would have been one of my recommendations. So instead, you'll have to settle for the other: Puzzle Pirates. There are experience levels in a bunch of different things, and you can obsess over them if you like. But you'll probably have a hard time figuring out what they do, as they don't make you stronger.
Well i hear ya OP and understand but like others have said play it for fun and not for the level.
I hear CCP is developing a mmo caled "World of Darkness" more like a horror fantasy mmo, so that might bring you back to what your looking for.
You know, I felt the same way. I always wondered why MMO trader sites never took off. NOt account sales, but trading characters on one game for another
YOu leveled up to 80 on WoW, Want to try WAR. You set up a post Lev 80 Warrior (WoW) looking to trade for Lev 40 Slayer (WAR), etc
Obviously there is always concern for scamming. Still, I think people would much prefer some method where they can trade into other games without having to PVE grind up in each one
Torrential: DAOC (Pendragon)
Awned: World of Warcraft (Lothar)
Torren: Warhammer Online (Praag)
This doesn't come from the games it comes from you. Players, mostly those who have played several MMOs, seem to get in a rut of picking up a new game and trying to rush to max level. If from the point you pick up a game your goal is to level as fast as possible, you won't have fun. I enjoy levels, and lots of them. To me that means more areas to get to, new things to do. But anytime I've sat there and said "I want to hit max level as fast as I can so I'm just going to blitz quests and grind mobs till I get there" then the game has lacked fun.
I'm not sure why so many people play MMOs with the sole purpose of maxing out so that then they can complain there's nothing else to do. Play the game for the experience, the landscape, the stories, the interesting quests. Enjoy the journey, don't focus on the end.
Becuase that's against the EULA or EUALA in most MMOs.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
Becuase that's against the EULA or EUALA in most MMOs.
More importantly I believe it's in the EULA because players tend to quit games where there are lots of players buying their way to the top or macroing the levels. So in order to preserve their player base companies make it against the rules.
That and companies don't like other people making money off their product.
Well said, and I agree with you. Levels are in the way. Many times I've wondered what a fantasy MMO would be like without levels. Just go wandering the world doing whatever quests come to hand in whatever area of the world that you're in.
The fun of doing different areas would be that they were actually different. Not in the artwork and the drops, but in the behavior of the monsters and the tasks that the NPCs asked the player characters to complete. Somebody mentioned altering the player experience without advancement. That's a reasonable next step. It would be a way to keep the game interesting without having to labor through levels before doing anything new.
It would be a rather different game. It would probably begin to involve more player skill.
I agree wholeheartedly. That's why I created a blog post about how levels ruin MMOs.
www.mmorpg.com/blogs/mrjimorg/032009/3524_Save-the-Dragons-The-case-for-an-MMO-without-levels