Grind is not a thing people generally love in MMORPGs, but what’s actually considered to be grind varies wildly from player to player. You might be OK with leveling that takes months but find wandering around harvesting flowers and ore too grindy. You might not mind working your way up a PvP ladder but draw the line at running the same raid every week on a gear treadmill. Some people don’t want to grind mobs; other people see quests, even quests that aren’t dailies, as a unforgivable rote thing that they will avoid at all costs.
I tend to be better at handling grinds when they aren’t so opaque that I can’t help but see and ponder them. World of Warcraft’s questing grind, for example, didn’t bother me much because the leveling was so quick. The same was true of Star Wars Galaxies’ grindy missions, especially post-NGE, because they were so lucrative in terms of experience and resources. I find myself getting into comfortable grinds in clickers like Diablo III and Marvel Heroes because they keep me moving from place to place.
I think it’s the “hell levels” of grinds that can make me give up, not the grind itself; my favorite type of grind is a grind that’s repetitive with rewards — be they in-game or mental — that aren’t. How about you? What’s your favorite type of grind in an MMORPG?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
