MMO Gamers

I’ve played a few Asian MMO’s over the years, and I think I understand what is meant by the Asian grind. When I’m given a quest to gather 45 hammers from the Disgruntled Blacksmiths and it’s a random drop, I find spending two or three hours in the same spot killing the same mob to be a grind. Though oddly enough, today’s Asian MMO grind is not very different from 2000′s Western MMO grind, except there were fewer quests back then. I recall my days in Dark Age of Camelot where I would spend my afternoon camped on a hill or in the passageway of a dungeon just killing mobs over and over again for hours. There was no quest to do or item to gather, it was simply how you gained XP. I must admit, as fond as my memories of gaming back then are, I don’t want to go back to those days.

I’ve heard a number of complaints that Aion is an “Asian grind”. My character, after one month’s play, is level 26. My crafting is at 170 and my harvesting skills are at 150 and 110. And while I am only halfway to the level cap after one month, I can honestly say that it’s been easy, enjoyable, and not a grind at all. Perhaps it’s a grind at level 40, but I’ve heard complaints from people who are in there low 20′s.

A common complaint I’ve read on forums, and even heard from members of our guild, is running out of quests. It’s been in the zones after you leave Verteron (Elyos) and before the Abyss. There are two zones to quest in; Eltnan and Theobomos. And I’ve heard people who are level 21, 22, 23, complain that they’ve run out of quests and need to grind out levels to be able to move on.

I didn’t leave Verteron until I was level 21 and even then I had to delete two quests from my journal to be able to collect all the quests in Eltnan and Theobomos. I’ve moved onto the Abyss now but still have a dozen quests combined for Eltnan and Theobomos, and this is not even considering the Campaign quests. So I have a theory why people are running out of quests.

1. They are not bothering to harvest or craft. While I understand not everyone wants to craft, or even harvest, both these activities give you adventure XP. I’m getting nearly 600 XP for harvesting level 140 nodes. Now it’s not much compared to the 10,000 XP I’m getting for mobs around my level, but it adds up. You can get three materials out of a node, so there’s nearly 2,000 XP. Do that a few times and it adds up. Plus, you can sell the mats to the trash merchant if you’re too lazy to put them on the broker and quadruple your money (at least). There are also a number of quests that are harvesting quests, so if you’re harvesting skill is not high enough then you are missing out on these quests. And crafting; I can spend a couple of hours crafting and get a few bubbles XP out of it. Not a level, certainly, but money for jam if you ask me.

2. They’re not doing the repeatable quests. And I’ve heard people say “I don’t like doing the repeatable quests again”. Usually these quests are easy and very close to the turn in NPC. Now I wouldn’t suggest you do the repeatable quests 100 times like you can, but some of them are worth repeating, such as the Coin quests. Coin quests reward you with a Coin when you complete them, and when you’ve earned enough Coins you can turn those in for a reward. It’s usually two or four Coins and the reward is a decent random green item, which you can either use if it’s for your class, or sell, or break down for the enchantment stone. And the items usually sell for a decent price.

3. People are soloing too much. Why not run the group content again. I went through the Krall quests over and over again, helping guild mates through it even after I’d gotten everything I needed. It’s fun and it gives you good XP.

Clearly there are a number of complaints in this area, as NCsoft has addressed this very thing in their October Address.

You’ve told us that it’s difficult to advance within certain level ranges. To address this issue, we’re planning to raise quest experience, in addition to reevaluating the experience rewards characters gain for individual kills. We understand how frustrating it can be to repetitively kill enemies. Our goal is to limit the need to mindlessly “grind.”

Actually, the amount of XP you get for turning in quests is surprisingly low, when compared to the XP earned from killing mobs. Usually I find I have earned more XP for killing the mobs then I do the turn in. And sometimes I can’t be bothered going all the way back to turn in so I just stay and grind mobs. Maybe in a month’s time I’ll be writing a post about how much of a grind it is, but for now XP and levels are a piece of cake.