The Daily Grind: What's the rush?

by Matt Warner Nov 26th 2007 at 8:30AM

Somebody always does it. Shortly after any expansion launches you can expect someone to plow through all those levels and reach the maximum cap in less than a few days. This recently happened again in Rise of Kunark, 36 hours after the EverQuest 2 expansion hit desktops, Monk Taucher from the guild Second Dawn leveled from 70-80 netting a 100 dollar prize and their claim to short-lived leveling fame.

I can understand the achievement aspect of wanting to level as fast as possible, reach the end and be done with it, but even so in an expansion hardcore players who raid won't be able to raid until their guild catches up. Doesn't this defeat the whole purpose of relishing content instead of whining about how there is nothing to do on the forums? Or the all-to-common argument amongst the core hardcores that their guild is slow because they slack and can't play 12 hours a day? I know we all enjoy different things about a MMOG, but leveling up and waiting for your guild to catch-up isn't very enjoyable -- I've been there myself.

At least it took more than a few people to achieve this goal when World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade launched. Gullerbone, a mage leveled from 60 to 70 in a matter of 28 hours with the help of some friends using area effect spells to grind out the levels faster. I'm a firm believer that everyone should enjoy the game how they see fit as long as they aren't breaking the rules (dupes, gold-farming, etc.) but I still think leveling this fast is a bit over the top. I think at some point we all power-level and wish we would reach a certain level already. That's understandable, but as soon as an expansion launches? If you could, would you skip to the end after an expansion launched or do you prefer to take it in small chunks and get there when you get there?

Tags: discussion, eq2, everquest-2, everquest2, grind, level-cap, power-leveling, rise-of-kunark, the-burning-crusade, the-daily-grind, world-of-warcraft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Spars said on 8:51AM 11-26-2007

The way I see it, mainly with the people who race to the finish ASAP, is that they're the types that have tons of extra time to do that. That being said, they will have the extra time to level up their other character at "normal" speed later on. I did the WoW BC rush, but started the new race BE and then raced to 70. Needless to say it was much longer than 60-70. I was in the top 10 of my server, but it was very short lived fame. Though I did get invited to an end-game raiding guild....looking back....if you have the extra time/no life, sure go for it, you'll probably still have that extra time to level "normally" later on. :P

Matt Warner said on 2:41PM 11-26-2007

Thank you for your honesty and taking the time to comment. I tried not to criticize the lifestyle behind the people whom choose to power-level, only their motivations for doing so aside from the obvious because we can. Hopefully, that guild wasn't too hard on yar backbone. If you don't raid everyday, get out! ;)

Krystalle Voecks said on 12:39PM 11-26-2007

That picture is just... scary. O.o

But I feel much better about how messy -my- desk is!

Matt Warner said on 2:25PM 11-26-2007

Yea, it is. I use it as a reminder to know that ugh, yea, there really is a deep end and I never want to see it. ) It probably would have went better with an addiction post. Ah well, I thought the joke was funny. Maybe the picture is scaring people from commenting.

Esri said on 4:48PM 11-26-2007

Well, my EQ2 main (created launch day) is level 42, so I wouldn't know whether racing to get to the end game and bypassing all the content is worth it, but for me I'd say it wouldn't be. I've come and gone to EQ2 a few times in the last three years, but it keeps calling me back. If I was still doing the same things I was doing three years ago, I doubt that would be the case.

On the other hand, it is no skin off my nose if people want to race to the cap and then raid 24/7. It's their $15/month.

Matt Warner said on 10:59AM 11-29-2007

And I think most players feel this way, well, the quiet ones anyway that don't comment.

Gr1zz said on 1:10PM 11-26-2007

Anyone know where the origional for that photo is?

Matt Warner said on 2:28PM 11-26-2007

I came across that picture years ago on some non-MMOG forums., I can't remember which one. The story behind it is this was supposedly some guy's college roommate who became heavily immersed into EQ and basically blew everything off including personal hygiene to play all day long.

Gr1zz said on 2:43PM 11-26-2007

He should bag up all the bottles in that room, and use the money from the recycling center to buy a bigger chair.

Spars said on 3:24PM 11-26-2007

It truly reminds me of my college friend that was/is addicted to EQ. His room wasn't as messy, but that's mainly because he didn't go outside to gather that much. The only real difference I see from the guy in the pic and my friend....guy in the pic wears shoes while gaming.

JPN said on 2:26PM 11-26-2007

oh my god i want the original of that picture!

Matt Warner said on 11:00AM 11-29-2007

I will trade you one jacked up picture for another. ;)

Errantdreams said on 3:12PM 11-26-2007

I can understand the ambition & drive behind wanting to achieve a goal like the highest level as quickly as possible. That said, it's always seemed to me like it's the same people who rush to level as quickly as possible who then complain that they're bored, there wasn't enough new content in the expansion, and they have nothing to do. I can't help thinking that if they stopped to smell the roses a bit they might not get bored so quickly.

Coherent said on 3:43PM 11-26-2007

People who zoom to the level cap are completely missing the point of an MMO, which is to interact with the content. Grinding to 80 in the first day of the expansion release means bypassing virtually the entire game.

There are several motivations for playing an MMO. Unfortunately, a very strong motivation appears to be the "LOOK AT ME, I'M UBERZ!!!" mentality. For these people, the strongest motivation for playing the game is to simply become more powerful and "ELITE" than other players so that they can feel superior to them.

For these people, quest content and lore is a simply a trap to slow down lesser players. They ignore everything but the most difficult monsters and lairs and struggle to be "FIRST!" at everything. Storytelling and quest depth is completely lost on them.

This mentality is an error caused by poor experience balance. In real life, connections and insight form the foundation of strength. But in a current generation MMO, simply killing monsters endlessly by rote leads to power and wealth.

In a better game, quests and exploration and crafting and martial strength would interact to allow the character to form associative webs that determine overall influence and power within the game (and thus, "experience level"). Doing quests would unlock fame, fortune, and favors that would allow players to access to high level content and rewards.

Let's be real: Killing 10,000 progressively stronger orcs one at a time doesn't make you an invincible killing machine any more than learning baking from cupcakes to wedding cakes makes you a master chef. CONTEXT is what makes both master chef and invincible killing machines.

When "experience levels" reflect the overall context of a character in the game world, mindless grinding will be nothing more than worthless butchery, and leveling will be a lot more interesting.

Matt Warner said on 10:58AM 11-29-2007

Thanks for the great comment. We pretty much see eye-to-eye on this so I couldn't help but smiling slyly when reading it. But I do say my good chap that baking scrumptious cup cakes does indeed make me a master pastry chef.