The Daily Grind: What bad habits stick with you every game?
by Eliot Lefebvre 
Oct 5th 2009 at 8:00AM
Filed under: Tips and tricks, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Humor
So you've done it yet again. You landed straight in a huge cluster of enemies, who are now going to mob and kill you. The real problem here isn't that you've got Death right around the corner marking down Yes in the column asking Is It A Shame, it's that you really should have learned this lesson back when you had a flying hero in Champions Online. Or when you had your flying mount in World of Warcraft. Or when you had that other flying hero in City of Heroes. Or, for that matter, back when you were still playing Everquest and kept running around the corner before anyone had a chance to tell you that the boss was right there.
Sometimes, even though we ought to know better -- and have had multiple games worth of experience to tell us this -- we just keep doing the same thing. Maybe it's not landing in the wrong place - it could be arranging your bars with a crucial spell next to a very different spell, or you think you can take on more things than you can, or you stock way too many healing items on your characters. Still, even though you've had every chance to learn from it, what bad habits can you not kick?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Garmr said on 8:18AM 10-05-2009
Definitely going to have to be ALTAHOLISM. Remember, kids: Altaholism is a disease.
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kasapina said on 8:25AM 10-05-2009
^^ That too.
noamraz05 said on 8:20AM 10-05-2009
I allwayes put the summoing/calling mount on 1, in the hotbars
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kasapina said on 8:24AM 10-05-2009
Ahh, yes. Landing among 5 - 10 mobs at once is a common thing I do. Mostly I do it to skip the fighting, landing in the middle of the camp trying to take the quest item, but half of the time it is counterproductive, forcing me to ressurect (and after that, do the same mistake about 2 - 3 more) and do it the hard way.
Another mistake I do, although not ingame, is reading guides. After reading everything interesting in the guides section of a game before I even have a character, I'd sometimes force myself to choose a class that is considered most OP, instead of the one that suits my playstyle. Or I would burden myself with having the best build/stats/etc, and turn the game into a grind, ditching it after a while.
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Ninevah said on 12:48PM 10-05-2009
I agree on the guides thing. I check around on the web and read the articles on which class/race/ship/powerset combo is the most effective and feel compelled to play that rather than what I'd like to play. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's not. For example, in CoH, I jumped on the electricity brute as soon as it came out and got my ass kicked every time. I read all the stuff on the willpower set being VERY effective and finally switched to it and man was that a LOT more enjoyable.
Epocrates said on 8:48AM 10-05-2009
Yeah I'm along with the group that has altaholism, However I've gottten better. I tell myself to play each one I'm interested in to a reasonable level to see if I can stomach the class through the end. In Aion the open beta was perfect to check it out; by launch it was clear The only class I was going to be completely happy with was Sorceror.
But In Any game I've told myself to STICK TO ONE until Max level - Just keep pushing b/c it's all new Content you need to see it. Plus you can always go back After You've got it under your belt.
Otherwise I find myself playing the same exact 10 levels 10 times, Gets rough.
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Ghede said on 9:14AM 10-05-2009
Basically, I suffer from target vision. I see my target, nothing else, including the other mobs I wander into aggro range of. Not just in MMO's either. FPSes too. I am too busy trying to shoot the guy that I don't notice the wall next to me. WHAM BLAM I'm dead.
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HexDSL said on 9:30AM 10-05-2009
i explore, i love to look around and that means, little to no XP for me, so i level really slowly.
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nekoali said on 9:50AM 10-05-2009
I'm also a horrible altaholic. I also suffer from self dependence. I try to fix it so that I don't have to rely on others to get a job done or an item made, which ties into the altoholism somewhat. My biggest thing though is being to much of a packrat and scrooge. I hate to throw out anything because I might need it later, and I hate to use any of the things I've hoarded because I might need it MORE later. Usually winding up with a bank full of things I'll never use and a bag full of potions I've outleveled.
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Carrie said on 10:40AM 10-05-2009
This is pretty much me to a T. I always want to be able to solo everything in an MMO, which sometimes gets me flak from people for some reason ("the first M stands for massively lololol" - unfortunately it's usually massively full of massive idiots).
PCR said on 10:01AM 10-05-2009
No matter the MMO, my bags are always stuffed with clutter, my bank space looks like Fibber Magee's closet, stuffed full with mementos from quests, crafting items I may or may not ever need, and pretty armor and weapons I don't want to get rid of. My mailbox becomes a nightmare of returned auctions, gifts from friends, returned mail from alts mailboxes I forgot to empty. I'm usually the guy leaning over a dead enemies body desperately trying to figure out what I can get rid of before he shows up again and beats me up as I try to loot his body.
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Suzanne said on 10:03AM 10-05-2009
Often when I'm done with a quest, rather than killing my way through the rest of the mobs in my way, I decide I'll run past them or try to dodge them. Just killing them would be much faster than the corpse run I inevitably end up doing. :)
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myr said on 10:03AM 10-05-2009
Choo choo....
Sometimes I get away, sometimes I don't, but it's always incredibly fun. Can't shake the habit of making trains when it's convenient.
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Lagwolf said on 10:29AM 10-05-2009
Terrible 20s: I always get bored/angst around level 20. If I get through it, I tend to play to level cap, if not I either start an alt and try again or give up.
Other thing is that I tend to carry around too much rubbish and forever having to empty my bag.
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popowrx said on 10:55AM 10-05-2009
Jumping...jumping when I run quests, instances, raids, etc. I have a need to jump in every MMO.
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Pingles said on 11:34AM 10-05-2009
1. Stockpiling Money: What good is having lots of money if you don't spend it. But I do it every time. I leave a game a millionaire with all crap gear.
2. Not watching my back. Fight my way into a place way too casually and then not watch for the inevitable repop behind me as I slowly fight/rest/fight/rest so I don't have to use potions.
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Ashre said on 12:22PM 10-05-2009
I'm a huge packrat. Money, armor, weapons, crafting stuff, random items. They take up all my space in storage.
I sometimes land right in the middle of a mob or 2ft away. I end up panicking and attack the strongest guy there...which dies the slowest..leaving me with 1/4 of my hp.
Used to be an altaholic but I've stuck to 1 char in Champs. I have 3 more, but I don't play them. Lvling again and again is just not fun.
Last thing, when I reach lvl 20, I tend to just slack off...more...I think it's because I'm used of GW's lvl cap >
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danarchy said on 12:29PM 10-05-2009
Er sort of off topic but what is that screenshot from at the top? That looks really nice!
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Darthkirby707 said on 5:28PM 10-05-2009
Think it's Aion...
In any case, I am a major altaholic, and a packrat as well. Not with money though. I buy all the cool stuff on the AH, craft a lot, and end up very poor. With lots of useless junk. And like 5 level 20 characters.
Matt said on 1:04PM 10-05-2009
playing a healer and trying to solo elite mobs and trying to tank. Epic fail.
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