There was a certain level band in World of Warcraft where my wife and I just resigned ourselves to a lack of useful quests and would just grind elementals in the Blasted Lands whilst listening to comedy routines. (This was before it was almost impossible to finish a zone before leveling past it.) Levels 47-50 in Final Fantasy XIV have perhaps the most annoying dungeon in the game as your only on-level option along with a serious dearth of quests even on your first job to 50, much less subsequent ones. There were far too many spots in The Secret World wherein I found myself repeating a single boring mission or two for the AP to make my build and gear work before I could move on.
And none of these is the worst things I’ve heard of – the horror stories I’ve been told about relentlessly grinding up skills in Ultima Online alone could serve as a reminder that just because a game doesn’t have levels doesn’t mean it lacks a leveling grind. So what’s the worst leveling portion of a game that you’ve experienced? What was a horrible upward crawl that you wouldn’t repeat ever if you could avoid it?
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!
