Channel Massive's most recent podcast and listener comments got me thinking about RMT some more...
I'm done grinding gear. I'm done grinding gear that is a cock-block to content. I'm done grinding content because you've hidden the gear in there so I'll do it over and over, until you release new content which invariably, devalues the gear you just had me grind to get. I'm done grinding gear that gets completely outclassed and replaced by expansions. That's it. It's over. I'm done grinding gear so that I can be competitive against someone who can't play their class half as good as I play mine but because he/she has superior gear, they have the gear win button.
In fact, not only am I done grinding gear, I'm done playing games where the promise of new gear is all you have to offer. It's a new world and a new economy. You're going to have to bring me compelling content, exciting encounters and storyline for my subscription dollars. The free ride for slow or uninspired content development is OVER. And I do mean IT IS OVER! The "gear greater all" train pulled full-stop into the station and I disembarked.
I didn't step into my first virtual world wondering how I was going to get phat loots. I wanted to exist in a fantasy universe - use magic, fight mystical beasts, play cooperatively with others, craft, explore and write about my adventures. What I wanted was the RPG experience but with other people. I'd like to ask again how we got from the RPG in MMORPG, to this massive loot grind and why are so many people okay with it?
I'm not a lazy player. I don't need things handed to me. I don't need the best of the best. Grinding in and of itself doesn't bother me in the least. Grinding is usually how I level, as I haven't been a fan of many of the MMO questing systems I've encountered. But that's a different type of grind. Grinding your levels, grinding your crafting, grinding for a rare spawn or unique items has value. It provides a means to an end which will never be diminished. Achievement systems share the same value. The title earned never changes even if you choose to wear a different one. Getting to level 60 will always mean level 60. It can't be taken away from you. It doesn't get swapped for something else, you progress past it.
I don't veiw gear in the same way. Gear should be a tool like your character's abilities. Gear helps you achieve your goals which in my mind, is to experience the content. Gear is like a hammer and nails. I wouldn't spend a lot of time or a huge sum of money getting a hammer or a box of nails. I need one that is of reasonable quality compared to the task at hand. I'll spend the time or the money to get what's reasonable for the purpose. I view gear in this same light.
My goal is see Illidan, fight Arthas, make it to Marleybone, hit Tier 4, be an arena champian, etc. My goal is to experience the content I paid for when I subscribed. *Smile* Explain to me the value add of farming x number of instances x times to get x pieces of gear to get past thie intentional content cock-block to Illidan. Especially when once I get to Illidan, there will be very specific strategies needed which might not resemble any of the x number of encounters I've already done x times to get here. Where is the value add for my time spent?
Grinding a dungeon 20 times until you get your uber-goober sword doesn't make you any better than someone who was lucky enough to get it to drop for them the second time they did it. Are you more special because it took you fifteen times or just unlucky? *Smile* There is no skill required to do the same content x number of times. I'm sorry if you think it's skillful, it isn't. It's luck and persistence. If you'd gotten it the first time you'd have been happy as all fuk and gone about your business. When the two of you walk by me, guy who got it in one try and guy who it took 20 tries, you both look the same. Took-20-times guy isn't more special or glowy than took-1-time guy. That being the case, why are we even okay with it taking that many times in the first place??
In Wizard101, I've gotten several of the rare pet drops on my first try at the boss that drops them. Being able to solo the boss is what speaks to my competence. Having the items drop is pure luck. Which brings me to a point that doing something repeatedly doesn't make you a great player either. Some players master their classes quickly, some slowly and some never. Let's eliminate the argument that repeating content is to teach. That's complete horse-shit. Leveling your character teaches you, if you're capable of learning it anyway, how to play your character.
So if farming an item and being lucky enough for it to drop, is only luck and persistence, and no indication of your prowess or specialness, why would you care if someone chooses to buy that item? They don't have the time or the inclination to wait on luck. If it's a one time quest reward then that's a whole different story. Everyone who wants it, is gauranteed to get it, by completing the quest chain. Cool, I'm fine with that. What I'm not okay with is the random drop go grind it by repeating the same instance until you get lucky crap. That's dice luck, not skill and not entitlement.
If your personal goal in the game is to acquire gear and that's how you measure yourself, you're free to grind until your head bursts. What do I care? However, if you're like me and you want to see lots of content and not the inside of the same instances until you vomit, you might be inclined to buy a few things that help you make it to the content at your desired pace. I don't care how you got to see the content. I don't care what you were wearing when you saw the content. How you saw it or what you were wearing, has zero bearing on what I was wearing and how I saw it. I don't care about your how. Why do you care about someone else's?
For the first time in any game EVER, I'm heading off to the last content zone in an MMO having seen every single piece of content with no exceptions. I've completed every single quest - no exceptions. I've seen it all. I DID IT ALL. I started the zones in purchased gear that was occasionally upgraded by drops and quest rewards. More importantly, I did every quest and instance never worrying about what was dropping or not dropping. I didn't examine the loot after each boss was killed and end up being happy or disappointed based on what dropped. I never bothered to look until it was time to make space in my backpack. I was happy when I got something cool. I was elated when I got a rare drop, took pictures and posted about it. I was doing the content for the sake of doing the content. Isn't the content what I paid for anyway? To see it and do it?
For each encounter I was there, in the moment, experiencing and enjoying the content itself. The creativeness of the encounter, what the dungeon looked like, the lore characters, questions answered and new mysteries revealed. This is what I paid for - to be part of an epic journey. I'm done with grinding crap purely for the sake of stretching deployed assets. I'm over and done with that model. I'm not doing the boring part to get to the "good stuff". I paid for the game so the whole experience should be the "good stuff". Who sold us on paying dues in a damn game anyway? This is entertainment.
Do you force yourself to watch 10 hours of boring television programming before allowing yourself to turn on the shows you actually like? Do you purposefully put in two movies you didn't enjoy too much, as the warm up before putting in the movie you want to see? I don't understand why people put MMOs in this special "okay to be marginal" category compared to other forms of entertainment. "It's okay for them to release crap to me early and at full price because...it's an MMO and that happens." "It's okay for core mechanics to be broken while I'm paying full price because...it's an MMO shit happens." "It's okay to do 4 hours of grind to get to the 1 hour of fun because... it's an MMO that's the way it works." "It's okay to create artificial blocks and force a grind to stretch the game because..." Screw that, I'm over it.
New Rules:
1. Not doing pointless grinds
2. Not grinding cock-block gear
3. Not paying for poor quality game play
4. Gives normal consideration now to games with RMT
5. Don't care if you bought your gear
6. I might buy mine if I'm so inclined
I'm a consumer that will always have more money than time. That's my life. I don't need to apologize for it. And if your pleasure in playing a game is derived by how you got your stuff versus how I got mine, so you can feel better about yourself on the inside, you lost when you bought the box. And further more, you should quickly and without delay, start seeking other methods of self affirmation.
If you don't believe in RMT for whatever reasons, that's perfectly fine. I don't believe in vanilla icecream. That doesn't make me right or you wrong. It just makes us different. I am now open to RMT. That doesn't make me a bad player, lazy player or the devil, no more than people who are opposed to RMT better players, more skilled or holy, it just makes our motivations and philosphies different. Different is fine. We're all paying to play these games.
