Ask Massively: Solve all your problems with chainsaws edition
We don't really want to solve all our problems with violence. It's just that violence solves problems so quickly and efficiently that it's kind of silly. With a sufficiently large lever, Aristotle believed he could move the world, but I say with a sufficiently large chainsaw you could probably solve all of your problems in such a way that they would never need to be solved again. Although most state and local authorities might take some issue with this approach. And it's hard to feel a sense of fulfillment just by chainsawing everything in your path.
So maybe we can't solve everything with violence after all. This week's questions both speak to problems that don't allow the option -- the persistent bugbears of gear grinds and slow connections. Click past the break for this week's answers, and if you have your own questions, you can leave them in the comments or send them to ask@massively.com. Or chainsaw them into a tree and send us a picture. Chainsaws are pretty awesome.
Robert asked: I am stationed in Iraq and only have access to a 128K internet connection. I was able to level alts and run quests in WoW until the 4.0.1 patch dropped. That patch is too big for me to download. Are there any small-but-good MMOs that I could download and play with a slow connection?
Sadly, as time and connection speeds have evolved, support for slower connection speeds has dried up steadily. Luckily, you do have a number of options, and several of them just require a touch of hindsight. Older games such as Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Final Fantasy XI were designed when slower connections were far more common, and I can vouch personally that Final Fantasy XI remains entirely playable on a 56k connection. The only downside is that the games have a somewhat smaller community and presence due to their age.
Fortunately, another option is the old standby of streaming client downloads. Guild Wars is a gem of a game for many reasons, one of which is the fact that the game downloads only the parts of the patch it needs as it needs them. As a result, instead of waiting for one immense patch to download when you start the game, you can jump right in as the game only downloads several smaller patches as you travel from place to place. Dungeons and Dragons Online has a similar streaming download, albeit not quite as streamlined. While neither will totally remove the horror of patch day or large downloads, both will certainly ease the pain.
Fienemannia asked: What do you do in a game when you're done with the gear grind?
Not every game has a gear grind, but many games that you might think to be exempt have one by another name. You might not be collecting shiny bits of armor, but City of Heroes has a gear grind just as surely as Lord of the Rings Online. But by definition, the point at which you no longer need to try to improve your character's gear (or whatever) is the point at which your character has obtained the apex of available power. So what do you do?
The first option is always to retire until the next major content update, but that's too easy. Achievement farming is popular in games that allow it, and you can always figure out insane challenges to undertake for your own amusement. Roleplaying, community events, and trying to explore every inch of the world are also definite options. And if you still want to play but can't see anything more for a character to do, you can start a new character and run through content differently.
Ultimately, it comes down to what's fun for you. If climbing the power ladder is what you found fun, then reaching the top means you're done for a while. The bright side is that reaching the top is usually just one ending, not a total conclusion.
jmmo said: Yeah. You say that now. You haven't been given your quest yet. Then it'll be, OK, where do I find the other nine?
Oh, like you can't think all 10 rats are adorable while you kill them. You need to multitask!
Looking for some advice on which class is best for soloing in Aion? Not sure who this Raph Koster fellow is? Curious about the release date of NCsoft's newest MMO? You've come to the right place! No one knows MMOs like we do. If there's anything you'd like to know about the MMO genre or the site itself, Ask Massively is here to help every Thursday afternoon. Just ask!
