Turning WoW into a grind

One of the younger guild members complained in guild chat that grinding his way to 60 was bringing him down. World of Warcraft a grind? I tried to tell him that WoW was the least grindy game I ever played, and that he should enjoy leveling instead of just trying to get to level 60 as fast as possible. To which he replied that all the guild events were for level 60 players, and guild groups of lower levels simply didn't exist. He just wanted to play with us, so he grinded. Ouch, he got me there!

Come to think of it, even the first Everquest players probably didn't grind, but just enjoyed the world of Norrath as it was. And the most fun is always grouping with people you know. But people get attached to their characters, and play them even when their friends aren't on, and the next you see is that there is such a big level difference that you can't group any more. That just happened to me on the French servers with my D&D buddies, which are all over the place, level-wise.

That outleveling friends only stops at level 60. Once everybody is 60, they can always play together. So when people claim "the fun starts at 60", they are *not* talking about the rather stupid activity of repeatedly raiding the same few places. They are talking about being able to group with friends anytime. And others who observe that want to join that fun, and get there as fast as possible.

Isn't it ironic when social cohesion and friendship turns World of Warcraft into a grind?
- posted by Tobold @ 12:01 AM Permanent Link