Camp and Grinding in a new-age MMO

schrollbach · March 2011

I have been warming up to the idea of a playing a sandbox mmo or any kind of mmo where you can just grind and camp named mobs. I am tired of wasting my time with running quests for NPCs that I don't care about. I'd rather just grind some mobs that can drop things I could find useful or just for monetary gains.

Back in guild wars, i enjoyed farming for money so i could buy awesome armor, but I have beaten all the campaigns and I would like to try a new game. The only problem seems to be that all the new games are focused on a themepark playstyle. So I guess what I'm trying to ask is, in which of the newer MMOs can I just go out, kill some mobs to level up or skill up, farm for some money, and buy/make sweet armors or wear armor from the mobs I grind? I don't mind playing a themepark, as long as I can still do some of the farming I would like to do and level without having to ONLY do quests.

I tried playing EQ1 and it's just too old for me, I didn't start MMOs until late, so I never got to enjoy the "good ol' days"

Quicksand · March 2011

I remember zoning into the commonlands in EQ1 and shouting "Camp Check!!" and hoping that Orc 1 was open... Those were the days. I still dont understand why people hate that type of gamiung now. I hate running around non stop trying to level doing quest.

schrollbach · March 2011

I enjoyed it in Guild Wars a ton! I liked finding a big group of mobs to try to farm. I always liked being able to take on a pack of mobs by myself while creating a cool build to farm them. The rewards were nice and I had a fun time trying to beat a challenge like that.

At least with guild wars you could do this along with the other theme park aspects of the missions and quests, I'm wondering if there are any other games out there were doing just grinding or just the quests is just as rewarding. I hate how in other mmos the reward for killing a mob is a couple of copper and some tattered cloth and a sliver of experience.

Garvon3 · March 2011

Yes please. Quest hubs are awful and they make the game so much more anti social. At least with camp grinding I was free to go to any camp I wanted and kill what I wanted and still be able to level up in a timely manner, and I could do it with other people, talking while I did so, getting to know eachother, getting better and better at pulling lots of monsters all at once.

Pro-Pain · March 2011

ya i miss good old fashioned ffxi camp grinding. closest i've come is in aion in the late 30's range of levels. 3 and 4 manning khq for hours on end trying to get molars with some legion mates was actually some of my favorite moments of aion.

for the op try aion maybe, it is quest driven but you can grind if you want. if you make a concentrated effort to skill up your crafting and harvesting and get sorta lucky on flux drops you can be self sufficient in making your own armor and weapons ( for the most part).

another option maybe would try lotro and skip alot of the quests. concentrate on grinding out the deeds. i always enjoyed finding an area of goblins or orcs for example and killing till my bags were full, trying to knock out a slayer deed for the titles and virtues traits. You can be relatively self sufficient in either weapons or armor for yourself if you actively farm for mats to keep your skills up.

other than that try out ffxi, to me the king of camping games. it's old, has a ui that is almost alien to most mmo'ers, and i have heard it has somewhat changed for the worse ( my assumption of this coming from wsimike's posts, who always seemed to me to shoot straight about the game and enjoy the same aspects of it that i did). but basically till endgame all you do is find a party, get a good spot, and grind away. i did not care for the crafting in the game but i used to make a ton of gil fishing and playing the auction houses.

by the way these are all my personal opinions and experiences so take them with a grain of salt..

schrollbach · March 2011

I have yet to try Aion, but I have heard from MANY people that it is grindy, which is okay with me. I never thought about trying to play LOTRO has a grindy kind of game, seemed to me as a very story driven themepark. As for FFXI...I tried it, I even bought it, but the controls and the UI were so foreign that I just could not get into it. If more people recommend it I may give it another try.

Feather5 · March 2011

also want a game like this, quest hubs are stupid and its the only thing stopping me from playing rift / theme park games, i want a game as you described, with a high population, good graphics, without flashing lights above important npcs and hand holding.

Shame that we seem to be the niche market though, only gme on offer is darkfall and thats got rubbish population... xyson would be a possiblilty but everquest 1 almost looks better.

schrollbach · March 2011

What would you guys suggest I try? So far EQ1, Aion, and FFXI have been suggested. I would like to try Aion, but there doesn't seem to be a free trial >:( I tried EQ1, but I would like to play something newer, but I did like the gameplay. I tried playing FFXI a while ago, but the interface was so...foreign that I had a hard time trying to play it.

If the games are what I'm looking for, I will try them again and try to ignore the "graphics" and UI since I want to focus on the gameplay more than anything.

dajabba · March 2011

Darkfall does not have a rubbish population, though it would be nice to see more newer players around the easier spawns. It's a huge world, and most people pve in groups in dungeons or on the island continents, so you won't find a whole lot of people just wandering around agon unless you raid a city or hamlet. Alfar lands have been pretty busy lately, I'd say it's the best place for a new player to start. There are mob spawns scattered all over the world of variying difficulty, so you can move around anywhere and usually find something around your level to kill, and the ai is pretty damn good in most cases. There are few quests, which are not always your typical kill 10 mobs, except for the somewhat useless title quests which have you kill an insane ammount of mobs. I usually grind some gold, then spend it on regs for my magic grind, or to go out and pvp. Check out the free trial, and the game is on sale right now. $10 to buy with one month play time, and $25 for a 3 month sub. I would suggest joining a solid clan, even if you are a solo player. It will help a lot to have some support. If you don't like pvp though...you might want to stay away :P

Gigget · March 2011

Aion is not a grind. If you want a game that has very few quests and where you can stay in an area for days camping mobs, give Lineage 2 a try.

Leoghan · March 2011

You can do this in Vanguard, though not a ton of soloable named mobs (unless they are lower level).

When I first read the title I was expecting something about a MMO that was "new-age" like holisitic or about Gaia or something... :-p

Sid_Vicious · March 2011

Originally posted by dajabba
Darkfall does not have a rubbish population, though it would be nice to see more newer players around the easier spawns. It's a huge world, and most people pve in groups in dungeons or on the island continents, so you won't find a whole lot of people just wandering around agon unless you raid a city or hamlet. Alfar lands have been pretty busy lately, I'd say it's the best place for a new player to start. There are mob spawns scattered all over the world of variying difficulty, so you can move around anywhere and usually find something around your level to kill, and the ai is pretty damn good in most cases. There are few quests, which are not always your typical kill 10 mobs, except for the somewhat useless title quests which have you kill an insane ammount of mobs. I usually grind some gold, then spend it on regs for my magic grind, or to go out and pvp. Check out the free trial, and the game is on sale right now. $10 to buy with one month play time, and $25 for a 3 month sub. I would suggest joining a solid clan, even if you are a solo player. It will help a lot to have some support. If you don't like pvp though...you might want to stay away :P

QFT

Trying out the trial usually lets people see how people do not use the chat system in the game (unless its clan chat which they wouldnt find out until wayyy later on) and the starter towns are usually dead ever since player cities were created.

If you want instant PVP, it is not going to be your cup of tea, and I would recommend Guildwars for that.

PVE is my favorite, handsdown! the mobs drop what they carry. Its the most realistic feeling combat and interaction with the mobs. Their skins can be used to enchant customized items with your name on it.

I have been playing for 2+ years and have only seen 70% of the map, about 1/3rd of the quests available to me are almost done, about 90% of the mobs, half of the dungeons (those are awesome fun imo), and about 1/6th of the epic PVE raid content.

When you feel like PVP there is always somewhere that you can go get it instantly but you must take a risk and it is more dangerous than it used to be unless you are not alone.

Its my favorite PVE and PVP game by far! Send me a tell in game and I'll show you when I get my new computer setup (this weekend probably! woot I cannot waittt!!! holy crap#$!@%#$!)

Howdy, Stranger!

Camp and Grinding in a new-age MMO

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Camp and Grinding in a new-age MMO

Comments