leveling-game
Latest
The Daily Grind: Are there games you would play if you could skip to the end?
Most of the time I can't really recommend starting new in Final Fantasy XI, which is a shame. It's not that the game is bad, nor is it lacking in things to do once you're at the level cap. No, it's just painful to get to the level cap. If you could somehow skip months of tedious leveling and just get straight to the broad and varied endgame, you would be set. Which sounds dangerously close to an endorsement for leveling services, but that's not the point. We all have games that we like, but not enough to fully commit to in terms of leveling. Some of these are games that are great at the cap, but we'll never see them. Of course, some would argue that if you're not willing to put in the work to level, you're not going to be willing to play the game at the top either. So are there games you would play if you could skip straight to the end of the leveling game? Or would that defeat some of your attraction to MMOs? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Mog Log: We all live in a community submarine
This week, like the week before, has seen an explosion of controversy about Final Fantasy XIV. I have not really taken part, as I have been far too busy playing Final Fantasy XIV to care one way or the other. But after a month of people's impressions, it seems like the perfect time to dive back into the meat of the community topics -- much like we did last month around the same time, as a matter of fact. Sadly, Final Fantasy XI has been fairly quiet, both due to the anger generation systems its successor features and due to a general sense of community burnout. After all, we're about two months away from another version update, and thus far we've heard nothing about what's due for December. Still, jump on past the cut for discussions about Final Fantasy XI as well as FFXIV, with the usual dosage of commentary to accompany each.
The Daily Grind: Are you a devotee of the endgame?
"The game begins at the level cap." That's the mantra of many an endgame player, with the ironclad belief that all of the leveling and learning and gearing you did along the way to the highest level was nothing but a warm-up. Whether the cap is at 99 or even just 9, or if indeed there's even a hard cap of levels, what ultimately matters is that you've reached the state of power from which you will only grow laterally, not vertically. And from every corner of MMOs comes the less-catchy but equally frequent mantra of the non-endgame player: "Screw that." For every player who sees the leveling game as a race to the end, there is one who believes that the important thing is enjoying the journey. Maybe you dislike the endgame because you don't like the content available, or maybe you like it because that's the one part of the game where content isn't outgrown in a short matter of time. Whatever your reasons, do you consider the endgame the "real" game or just a fragment of the overall game? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of our readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's The Daily Grind!
