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Grinding
Occultimate
Member Posts: 7
This is not a pissing contest thread. This is on the subject of grinding. Grinding takes focus, something a lot of people don't have the ability to do for too long. The problem is that I use to be good at grinding and maxed a world of warcraft character in less then a month, but, lately I have been off. I haven't been able to focus at all on grinding and keep prioritizing my thoughts around things that don't really matter as much at the moment, but, eventually do matter, because my subconscious is telling me they are more important. They are more important, but, the thoughts even get in my way when there's nothing I can do about them and just want to forget. I don't want to get drunk just to play video games. I need a way to refocus my thoughts on grinding when I want to grind.
What do you do to keep focused when you grind?
Comments
Take breaks every couple of hours for one thing is essential, just focus in short bursts till you get tired and take another break, at least every couple of hours just for health and longevity reasons.
Other than that good whole grain foods that satisfy hunger such as rice and pasta, also water, lots of water and mountain dew "not too many" of course.
Btw, Ramen Noodles should not be considered an acceptable form of pasta, just sayin'.
The problem is that I take breaks now Braindome. My breaks last the rest of the day because my brain won't stop thinking of what it thinks is important despite me being consciously aware that it isn't important. It is like having a chip in my brain telling me what to do or like, but, I don't. I want to focus, not take breaks. Water doesn't help, pasta doesn't help, mountain dew doesn't help, and energy drinks no longer help because the problem isn't that I get tired, the problem is that my mind literally derails itself. I will be in the middle of thinking of something I actually give a fuck about when suddently my brain decides to give me a thought relating to something that had bothered me that I cannot fix so I ignored it, but, because I cannot fix it and its still there, my brain keeps telling me and theres nothing I can do to get rid of the thought.
i could never grind without a clear goal.
needing rare mats from a certain mobtype i could grind that.
grinding to get exp i can do that.
grinding at max level just to get money? that did not work out for me ever.
i need a clear goal or my focus goes out of the window.
I just try to focus on the end goal, and take little breaks here and there to pursue other interests in the game to stave off burnout. Other than that, just try to get a system or pattern going so you can essentially just shut a good chunk of your brain off; almost like purposely inducing a state similar to highway hypnosis or even a partial seizure.
Grinding out deeds in vanilla LOTRO is one of the most tedious things I've ever done, and because of it I've gotten pretty good at grinding for hours, provided I'm not really tired (in which case I just fall asleep).
It's just a matter of finding a 'system' which works for you.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
Have a party do make you more focus when grind.
Also break time between mobs spawn .
Strong mobs that drive you to dangerous situation will make you more focus ... 1 mistake and good bye hours of grind lol.
The Rules of Conduct prevent me from giving advise at this time.
At least though...I'll bite, What are these other things that your brain thinks is so much more important then the grind?
I actually enjoy grinding. I find it very relaxing. I used to pour myself a glass of wine or a good beer and just "have at it".
I find quest grinding rather tiresome as it feels like a relay race. At least the way some games have them. Last night in LOTRO I spoke to an npc, he had me run up a hill to the meadhall to speak to another npc for a few lines and then I ran back only to send me elsewehre.
Surely there was a better way to do that.
Lineage 2 used to have the worst quests. I only ever did the quests that you needed for progression as they were ALWAYS running around.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
A lobotomy works well here.
Once upon a time....
Once upon a time....
One of the big attractions for me to crafting and gathering is the low intensity grind. It needs variables though. Two examples,
LotRO farmer, Gatherer. You have the first and obvious crop or main material. You then have a few purple crit drops. You then have rare blue crit drops. I can sit there and do that for hours, just calculating the various percentages on the purple and blue crit drops. It's a low intensity, diversion.
FF14 Gathering, there is no thought to it. You farm what you click on the node. Insert Key 4 or 5 times, every time. HQ comes 15-20% like clock work. It gets tedious very fast and I don't enjoy it.
Both games have a decent beast mat system but again with LotRO there are deeds to monitor, always the chance for that rare blue crit to drop. They also have vendor stacks or task board loot that can be arranged and deleted according to worth. There is often in a good grind, depth that can keep the mind busy when it's repetitive. Or it can be button mashing.
The worst form of grinding I've ever made is solo-questing through meaningless levels (leveling fast, they don't matter) just to reach the "end game".
Best form of grinding (that I actually enjoyed) is grouping in LGuk farming nameds. That kind of grinding (the EQ part) was fun because gear came from named monsters and not quest rewards or gift-booths by giving out game-tokens. It was an adventure trying to crawl in a complex dungeon and settle in a spot with a goal to kill the named NPC for their unique loot.
I think the abundance of items and how fast you level up made "leveling" redundant. I doubt anyone wants to solo-quest anymore. Evey time I try a new MMOPRG I just wish they'd just leave me alone where I can just decide whether if I want to solo a little, duo with a friend or group to do more challenging places.
Having tried many MMORPGs I can clearly say Quest-Grind (Quest Hubs) is by far the most boring thing to do in a game.
I have never really had a problem with so called "grinding" but like others I need to set goals aka do I need xx level do I need xx item do I need xx gold to buy item or house etc.
What I do find frustrating is time gated content. Dailies and Dungeon lock outs.
Now I got no issue with mob respawns or epic monster hunter part of the fun is seeing if the monster is up but to be told "you cant go in that dungeon for 24 hours"
It basically turns the game from a game to a second job.
Focus?
If the "grind" is fun, i will play .. and no "focus" is needed. If not, i will pass.
I personally love grinding, I know its a bit of a taboo subject but I think that is why Lineage II Xtreme (C3/C4/C5 generation) did so well. The servers population rivaled that of a retail server and in some cases later on even overtook it. You got to the end game/metagame quick because of the increased experience rate but that wasn't the ultimate goal. After you got to maximum level got your subclasses and nobelesse (If you really wanted it, not really needed), your objective was to grind out gold and as much of it as possible...
You could NEVER have enough gold, gold bought you your weapons your armor, enchant scrolls. If you had enough of it you could buy someone elses enchanted items, hats and etc. Enchanted Items had the most value however because people too afraid to enchant their weapon past a certain point would actually be willing to trade for two or more weapons underneath its value, if you worked a little you could even get those EVIL donation items from people with all the money in the world.
Because of this NEED for gold, people were always OUTSIDE OF TOWN getting it! People outside of town hmm, that means there are a TON people to PvP with! They aren't sulking in private dungeons trying to get EPIC gear no they are out in the wild trying to EARN that gear instead of getting LUCKY with drops. Because of this people would seek protection under guilds, forming communities getting on vent, Teaming up in the wild. As your guilds got bigger and bigger, rivalries started forming and you would end up with huge standoffs fighting over prime territory in the higher level zones. Honestly my favorite PvP experience to date...
Unfortunately you won't find this ever again other servers eventually started making lame grinding zones that some were PvP safe for leveling and others were just plain boring, same monster everywhere and only one zone.
________________Derailed not about grinding anymore_____________
L2's flagging system helped created tension in PvP too, because PvP wasn't about just murdering your opponent with no retaliation or consequences (By all means this didn't stop a few people). If you did you became a Player Killer and were flagged red until you worked off your karma. While you had Karma you had a chance of dropping items so just running around like a rampant murderer in the best gear was a huge risk. (They eventually updated weapons with special enchants so you couldn't trade or drop them but I quit playing after that)
Which comes to another point in my mind that games should take off the importance of dungeons, private instances and bound loot is probably the worst thing to happen to MMORPG's in my opinion. I sit in mumble listening to my friends play these safe games and just shake my head, all they do is argue with one another while watching long boring videos on "How to fight the boss". There is no comradery when your enemy is yourself and the fault is you not following the dungeon designers perfect script. It's like acting in a play, no intuition involved.
______________Back to grinding for a brief closing statement____________________
Grinding is mindless, and for a good reason... so you can chill and talk with your mates and be prepared for that adrenaline rush as your enemy waits to stab you in the back.
So I guess if the MMO is focused on a World of Warcraft theme with PvE and Private Plays to be a part of, grinding won't be much fun... there isn't anything to be afraid of and it feels like work. With the focus on PvP however, grinding is good it gets people out and about with something to fight over.
My opinion is that grinding is just a synonym for gameplay. All games have repetitive aspects to them.If you are having fun it isn't grind, when you stop having fun it becomes grind.
Like I used to really enjoy mining in EVE Online. It wasn't grindy to me at first but then gradually I just got bored with it and it became very grindy. The gameplay didn't change, my attitude towards it did.
I agree with this comment on a whole.
Relay race quest grinding is a killer and is not fun and lacks any true substance. You don't get to enjoy your character hardly till you are max level, hence the hamster wheel effect of many modern MMO's.
Variation is key, give quest but seldom and make them involved, interesting and rewarding from a gameplay standpoint. I would rather grind mobs for 24 hours than do a 30 minute 10 chain fetch quest in WoW.
it's odd, but i feel the same way. i love story and progression in any game i play, but to be honest, i spend my most relaxing time grinding. i usually mix it up with harvesting and exploring new areas to grind.
one thing that has helped me with focus lately has been audiobooks. amazing. i haven't had someone really read to me since i was a child. perhaps that's part of the attraction this time around. either way it helps with focus by keeping a portion of my brain occupied while another part is busy with repetitive grinding.
i will add that over the years actually pausing and reflecting on /why/ my brain is pushing in another direction has often led to important little sign posts. for instance, you might simply be done with mmo's for now and need to find a different hobby for a little while. just a thought.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Listen to music.
Watch a movie.
Or if you need more drastic messures.
( only to be used by professionals and under supervision)
Sit on pins.
Every 5 minutes burn your hands with fire.
Stick your toes into the computer fan .
Smack your head with a heavy book.
Eat alot of coffe.
If your in desperate need of a break, remember that the
keyboard can be moved to make room for a pillow.
Merry grinding!
Khm... if you have really honest thoughts about Wow and this is not just another wow bashing thread ... why then to put as example of grind game with more quests then any other probably?
I'm not normally into grinding but I also find it relaxing sometimes. It's a rewarding, low-focus, low maintenance activity. Lineage 2 was my favorite game for some mindless grinding.
As for your comment about LOTRO and questing, I think you'd appreciate this comic.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Go play Eldevin - you'll be in paradise there. You and the other 100-150 people who play it that love grinding.....