Will AoC have grinds for drops / gear / items?

Shiroken

I have been searching for an MMORPG that can meet my desires for over a decade, and have played nearly every MMORPG that has released in the last 2 decades. One of the key desires I have from MMO's that have essentially died out over time is the grinding of enemies over and over for rare or in some cases extremely rare drops. Likewise the same could be said about mindlessly grinding enemies for xp in the open world, preferably with tab targeting, and action skills on number keys.

Archlord was one of the first MMORPG's to actually hook me, and despite all the issues it went through, I played it for 7 years, which I have not done since in any other MMORPG since, and the only reason I am not playing it now is cause it shut down. It had amazingly fulfilling grinds that brought recognition from others long after you have acquired them. Unique rings could drop from rare enemies as low as level 7, be unobtainable when you hit 17+, and were useful even when you were 100+ in level grinding for a better unique ring or amulet. They had different realms in the game, you could grind for realm armor sets, and as you obtained rare items, rare gear, and recognition from other players as someone to be feared on the battle field. With enough time investment and luck, you had the potential to be unkillable, and eventually become the Archlord yourself, with a unique appearance, unique skills, and a title only 1 can hold. It was really amazing in my opinion.

The next game was Corum Online. I played this one for several years as well, At the time on my server I was one of the top 3 players on the server, with the highest level as a Summoner. The xp grind was long, and I enjoyed simply having access to skills no one else had. I enjoyed having access to drops, and locations no one else could simply because they were not strong enough. I enjoyed the ability to upgrade full sets of gear to +7 and higher, and getting a glow effect around my character, which instantly shows everyone who sees you that your gear is all upgraded.

None of these games would do well today, as their graphics are outdated. Likewise I think people simply can not enjoy games with grind without short term dopamine hits consistently.

Will I have to potentially keep waiting for an old school MMORPG or will AoC offer something like this. I am really not a fan of today's MMO's which just carry you through it, and quite frankly nearly all of the ones released in the last decade are not very good IMO in terms of what I am looking for.

fabula

You want your open world dungeons to be populated and the reward must be good otherwise people won't do it. I don't see how AoC can have open world dungeons without some sort type of grind for gear/materials or skill/stat points.

Shiroken

fabula wrote: »

You want your open world dungeons to be populated and the reward must be good otherwise people won't do it. I don't see how AoC can have open world dungeons without some sort type of grind for gear/materials or skill/stat points.

Its tough to say. Back in the day good gear and drops came from specific enemies, with high respawn rates, at specific locations, and you could grind them infinitely, unless the enemies stopped giving you loot when your are so many levels above them. That loot would have potential to be relevant even as you level higher and progress.

These days grinding is not the same. You can "grind" dungeons, in almost any recent MMO, you can get random loot from said dungeons, but that loot is only relevant temporarily. Eventually you will out level said gear, until you reach end game where the next content update will likely make it irrelevant. Likewise I like all enemies dropping stuff, not the main loot coming from some chest at the end of a dungeon.

Archlord for example was an Open World MMORPG, and had 0 dungeons. If you wanted to farm x item, you needed to go to where that enemy is on the map, and kill that 1 enemy till you out level it, or the item drops, and if it didn't drop you need to make a new character to try again, or trade with other players to get it, which required buying a scroll with real money to trade Bound on Pickup items, as uniques were all bound on pickup.

All MMO's have a grind, but probably not the kind of grind I want.

ShadonSol

There are currently no plans to make grinding necessary for leveling. Note that this Info is from 2017, so it might be a good question for the next development update stream!
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Leveling#Grinding
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Legendary_items

I'm closing this thread now, but please feel free to reach out again if you have any more questions!