Favorite game for grinding

d_20

Is there a game you enjoy grinding in? For whatever reasons: You like the combat and just find it fun, the grind pays off in some positive result, it's relaxing, it's challenging, etc.

Abuz0r

Aion was always sort of like that for me.  Unfortunately the PvP is so imbalanced I quit for that reason on 2 separate occasions.  The 2 opposing races never have a balanced population, it always 1 is outnumbered 3 to one.

DKLond

I despise grinding.

But I would imagine competing against yourself for the perfect score in Minesweeper could be the ideal grind. There's even a number to ultimately aim for (0 seconds) - which makes it somewhat less meaningless than most MMOs - where the number you're aiming for jumps about as they change and add stuff.

xyzercrime

Risk Your Life, never ever grind in high level spots without chanter or priest/cleric.

Edit: I like it because action based combat and class dependency.

Ishkal

Blade and soul was fun, even grinding : D. because of the combat system

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Shaigh

I kinda enjoy grinding for titanite in dark souls. I enjoyed doing mission after mission after mission in darkest dungeon. I generally enjoy dungeon running in mmorpg as long as its not the same place day in and day out. Didn't mind the battleground grinding.

I absolutely can't stand grinding mobs in mmorpg. Combat just isn't good enough to make it enjoyable.

ste2000

BDO for solo grinding and  EQ for group grinding.
 

cameltosis

SWG Pre-CU - I really enjoyed grinding combat classes in that game. Even though PvE combat was really basic and just about the meta-game, I loved running around tattooine killing everything in site, or getting in leveling groups and grinding missions. Mostly this was due to the aesthetics - I love star wars!


LotRO - Best combat in any game I've ever played. Group content just kicked ass so was more than happy to get together with 5 friends and grind dungeons all night. Hell, we'd grind dungeons even when we didn't need to get anything, just because we enjoyed them. 


SW:TOR (PvP) - So, 99% of SW:TOR sucked donkey balls. It was linear, boring and far too easy. However, the game started to come alive in PvP. All those useless CC skills from PvE suddenly become useful. Teamwork and tactics were suddenly important and varied from map to map. I used to spend 4 or 5 nights a week just grinding warzones with friends in a premade. Voidstar and Huttball in particular were great fun. 

beebop500

Tera and Blade & Soul are both great grinders imho, since they both have wonderful graphics and their combat systems are fun and engaging.

Unfortunately both games' "end game" content involves almost nothing besides said combat, which to me makes them fun grinders but not much else.

Distopia

SWG by far, as grinding bettered skills rather than raising levels. There were also a variety of activities grinds could entail. You could just be sitting around chatting and healing people with combat fatigue. The skill choices also lead to a far more interesting character building system than anything I've played since IMO.

Jabas

Im current playing BDO only for the grinding (solo or duo).
The combat makes the grinding very pleasure to me, brainless grinding or a bit more chalenge, depends the spot i chose to go for it.

Im taking a break from real mmorpgs (in my opinion ofc) where comunity is the most important feature and BDO is a great game to keep me entertain in my 2h daylie i have atm for online games.

Leiloni

ikcin said:

OK, as obviously here are many people who understand it, I have a question - how repetitive killing of one mob over and over again for hours could be fun?

Because the combat is fun, grinding is relaxing, and it's nice to not have to run around doing different things. Some games make you talk to too many NPC's and run around the map when all you want to do is kill stuff. It's also a great way to chill and chat with friends in Discord.

Sovrath

It used to be Lineage 2 and now it's Black Desert.

WellzyC

I loved DAOC Grinding. Pulling 3-4 mobs with a mezzer and assisting was pure fun. Each pull had to be done perfectly, took skill.


I did like Hasla grinding in Archeage, it was fun to compete for a camp. 

Asherons Call grinding was fun if you had a good group, but the best exp was solo... which kinda sucked.

Spiider

Wurm online. So rewarding and it feels good to achieve hard earned levels of crafting or combat. If you haven't made bricks in Wurm you don't know what grind is. Made 2 colossus alone. Try that!

Leiloni

ikcin said:

Leiloni said:

ikcin said:

OK, as obviously here are many people who understand it, I have a question - how repetitive killing of one mob over and over again for hours could be fun?

Because the combat is fun, grinding is relaxing, and it's nice to not have to run around doing different things. Some games make you talk to too many NPC's and run around the map when all you want to do is kill stuff. It's also a great way to chill and chat with friends in Discord.

But there is no challenge, no progression, you just hit few buttons over and over again. The grind could be evolved to something impressive. I mean one mate in L2 grinded alone with two parties controlled only by him, without any bots. I cannot do it. But still I do not understand how that is entertaining. It is like working on assembly line. Hour after hour doing the same move.

Psychologically probably you feel relaxed because you win over and over again, and there is no real danger. Or the simple repetition, like the mantras of the buddhist monks, makes you feel calm. But in general it seems to me like a terribly boring thing. Well, I admit running to NPCs for pointless text dialogs is even more boring.

Well there is progression but you don't always want challenge. That gets physically and mentally tiring after a while. In short bits its fun, but for long periods of time, not at all. In most other MMO's you're still just killing easy mobs but less of them, and instead spend that time turning in quests. So there's really no difference. The only challenging part in other games is when you enter an instanced dungeon.

Sovrath

ikcin said:

OK, as obviously here are many people who understand it, I have a question - how repetitive killing of one mob over and over again for hours could be fun?

I think if that's your take on it then obviously it can't.

You could apply the same idea to fps games; how does re-killing the same monsters/players be fun?

It's more about "doing something", about the ebb and flow of combat, the rhythm of it all. I love being in areas with fast spawns that allow one to overwhelm you if you don't stay on top of it.

It's about "being active" and in some ways it can also be relaxing.

It can be very fun in a group in a dangerous, fast spawning area.

But if your take on it is "killing mobs over and over" then you aren't really appreciating the forest from the trees.

Sovrath

Leiloni said:

ikcin said:

OK, as obviously here are many people who understand it, I have a question - how repetitive killing of one mob over and over again for hours could be fun?

Because the combat is fun, grinding is relaxing, and it's nice to not have to run around doing different things. Some games make you talk to too many NPC's and run around the map when all you want to do is kill stuff. It's also a great way to chill and chat with friends in Discord.

very much this. I despise running to one glowy area on the map, doing something for 5 seconds and running to the next place.

Leiloni

ikcin said:

Leiloni said:

ikcin said:

Leiloni said:

ikcin said:

OK, as obviously here are many people who understand it, I have a question - how repetitive killing of one mob over and over again for hours could be fun?

Because the combat is fun, grinding is relaxing, and it's nice to not have to run around doing different things. Some games make you talk to too many NPC's and run around the map when all you want to do is kill stuff. It's also a great way to chill and chat with friends in Discord.

But there is no challenge, no progression, you just hit few buttons over and over again. The grind could be evolved to something impressive. I mean one mate in L2 grinded alone with two parties controlled only by him, without any bots. I cannot do it. But still I do not understand how that is entertaining. It is like working on assembly line. Hour after hour doing the same move.

Psychologically probably you feel relaxed because you win over and over again, and there is no real danger. Or the simple repetition, like the mantras of the buddhist monks, makes you feel calm. But in general it seems to me like a terribly boring thing. Well, I admit running to NPCs for pointless text dialogs is even more boring.

Well there is progression but you don't always want challenge. That gets physically and mentally tiring after a while. In short bits its fun, but for long periods of time, not at all. In most other MMO's you're still just killing easy mobs but less of them, and instead spend that time turning in quests. So there's really no difference. The only challenging part in other games is when you enter an instanced dungeon.

The lesser evil does not seem to me as a rational choice when we are talking about games.

It's not the lesser evil, it's fun. I already explained why.

cameltosis

ikcin said:

Leiloni said:

ikcin said:

OK, as obviously here are many people who understand it, I have a question - how repetitive killing of one mob over and over again for hours could be fun?

Because the combat is fun, grinding is relaxing, and it's nice to not have to run around doing different things. Some games make you talk to too many NPC's and run around the map when all you want to do is kill stuff. It's also a great way to chill and chat with friends in Discord.

But there is no challenge, no progression, you just hit few buttons over and over again. The grind could be evolved to something impressive. I mean one mate in L2 grinded alone with two parties controlled only by him, without any bots. I cannot do it. But still I do not understand how that is entertaining. It is like working on assembly line. Hour after hour doing the same move.

Psychologically probably you feel relaxed because you win over and over again, and there is no real danger. Or the simple repetition, like the mantras of the buddhist monks, makes you feel calm. But in general it seems to me like a terribly boring thing. Well, I admit running to NPCs for pointless text dialogs is even more boring.

Why is there no challenge or progression?

For me, the fun comes from the combat - I am having to think about what skills to use, then press the buttons at the right time, then get rewarded with visual effects and success. My brain is engaged, my eyes and ears are rewarded, and usually I get ingame rewards like XP/gold/gear. 

The only difference when talking about grinding compared to other activities is that it is repetitive. But, if you enjoy what you are repeating, where is the problem?


I guess the OP is a little oxymoronic as grind implies that it isn't enjoyable. But, essentially he's just asking if you enjoy any repetitive tasks in game. For me, if the combat system is enjoyable and there are challenging things to kill with some reward, I'll grind it for hours! I would also much rather grind mobs for xp than grind quests, the only reason I don't is it takes forever to level up. 


But, the core of it is the actual activity itself is fun and thus repetition isn't a problem. 

rensta

grinding is a type of escape... for the next few hours nothing matters,just killing those easy mobs,getting loot ect.. all your troubles in the real life go away... now you might say that happens when you just play... but when you grind you get into this some sort of trance.. anyway... talking to friends,listening to favorite music while grinding + the randome rare loot or asshole pvp scumbag, sounds like the perfect night for me. 

Talonsin

I still jump into Tera every now and then because dodging the BAM attacks can be so much fun. 

GladDog

SURPRISE!  To no one that reads my posts!  CoH was my all time favorite grinding game.  I could go for hours.  I'd invite random new players to a team and help them get 7-8 levels in a half hour.

Some of my favorite stories are from grinding in CoH. 

I took my invul tanker into Perez Park, pulled 110 bad guys (the maximum possible) and then called newbs to take em out.  Taunt cast an unbreakable agro at the time, and since I was 20 levels above the bad guys they never broke away.  As they swung helplessly at me (defense and damage resistance all at 90%, and the rare time I was hit it was only 2-3 points) I laughed and laughed as the newbs leveled like popcorn on the stove.

I was using my Fire/Energy  melee tank in a mission helping some friends level.  I had to be careful though, my big hitter power drew health when I used it, per enemy hit.  Not a huge deal for a single target strike, but at that time it was bugged and struck with a narrow cone.  I gathered about 70 +2 Freakshow and got em stuck behind a dumpster, and that target was so damn tempting... So I used Energy Transfer, and killed like 55 of them in one hit!  I died too, of course,  What was funny was that when I rezzed, I had no XP debt!  The health is taken, you die, and then you swing.  So all of that XP debt was also eliminated in one blow!
***ADDED AS AN EDIT*** One of the new players I was helping to level went from 2 to 17 on that one swing!

I laughed so hard that I had to do it again!  And I did!

sunandshadow

Dofus if I want to grind combat, because it has turn-based tactical combat.  A Tale In The Desert if I want to grind crafting.  I haven't yet found a good MMO for grinding reputation/relationship with NPCs, nor for grinding pet monster levels, so for those I have to settle for single-player games.

Sovrath

ikcin said:

Leiloni said:

ikcin said:

Leiloni said:

ikcin said:

Leiloni said:

ikcin said:

OK, as obviously here are many people who understand it, I have a question - how repetitive killing of one mob over and over again for hours could be fun?

Because the combat is fun, grinding is relaxing, and it's nice to not have to run around doing different things. Some games make you talk to too many NPC's and run around the map when all you want to do is kill stuff. It's also a great way to chill and chat with friends in Discord.

But there is no challenge, no progression, you just hit few buttons over and over again. The grind could be evolved to something impressive. I mean one mate in L2 grinded alone with two parties controlled only by him, without any bots. I cannot do it. But still I do not understand how that is entertaining. It is like working on assembly line. Hour after hour doing the same move.

Psychologically probably you feel relaxed because you win over and over again, and there is no real danger. Or the simple repetition, like the mantras of the buddhist monks, makes you feel calm. But in general it seems to me like a terribly boring thing. Well, I admit running to NPCs for pointless text dialogs is even more boring.

Well there is progression but you don't always want challenge. That gets physically and mentally tiring after a while. In short bits its fun, but for long periods of time, not at all. In most other MMO's you're still just killing easy mobs but less of them, and instead spend that time turning in quests. So there's really no difference. The only challenging part in other games is when you enter an instanced dungeon.

The lesser evil does not seem to me as a rational choice when we are talking about games.

It's not the lesser evil, it's fun. I already explained why.

So the grind is better than the challenge? Because the repetitiveness is equal to lack of challenge. I mean, I understand how the combat system may be fun. But what is the point to fight, when there is no challenge?

I think you are coming into this with a predefined idea of x, y and z and when given an answer that doesn't fit, you are getting a "does not compute".

I would say that grinding mobs is its own thing. There could be challenge or not. But the enjoyment of it is not predicated on whether it has challenge.

There is no challenge to taking a walk, wading in a pool, sitting on a park bench and watching the birds, they are attractive based on their own merits.

"But what is the point to fight, when there is no challenge?"

maybe you can let that go and accept that there is another axis for which to base things on. I get that you want a challenge, and maybe you only find fun with challenge. That's great.

But you asked how it is enjoyable and you need to take the answers at face value and not apply your own conditions. Just understand that there are reasons and those reasons don't align with what you find enjoyable.