Possible to create a MMO w/o the dreaded "grind"?

So tell me, I hear a lot of complaining about MMO's and how they eventually turn into a grindfest. Fact of the matter is, developers are going to keep making repeatable quests, faction grinds, and the like because they need some sort of content to tide gamers over until the next batch of content comes into play. Personaly, I don't think its possible for any MMO to ever detatch itself from the dreaded grind, agree?

What would you give for a dynamic, grind free MMO? I'll start - my left nut.

---May comments about MMORPGs---

MMORPGs could get away from the grind, by not making level 100 the ultimate goal. Instead of making it a game of trying to get to the top (and when folks are already there they rule the server because they did, and in some cases to ugly results), make it that experience from quests (giving the illusion you're achieving a goal, without camping spawn points and trying to chop a forest to get X amount of EXP points), and creation of objects is more important.

I don't play MMORPGs or MUDs for long because everyone has PvP designed to drop items (and if you don't want to play PvP, you're tooinexperienced to finish the best quests). Items that take a lot of time (or RL money to buy), and I don't believegiving away my life literally and real money is "fun".

You should check out The Chronicles of Spellborn. It's a great game MMORPG being develeoped for the last quarter of this year. They go out of their wayto keep grinding to an absolute minimum and to be a unique game.

The character creation is made so that no-one will look that much alike. there is a unique combatsystem with aiming and spelldecks, and so much more....

Just have a look at http://www.tcos.com/, beacuse the game-info on this site is really outdated at the moment.

There still is a grind in EVE: money. You have to have money to purchase ships and equipment, to get insurance and store your clone data. Then there is the time management grind where you need to train skills in real time, but you don't need to be in the game.woolysockofdoom

That's not a grind though. Obtaining money in MMO's isn't known as grinding.

[QUOTE="woolysockofdoom"]There still is a grind in EVE: money. You have to have money to purchase ships and equipment, to get insurance and store your clone data. Then there is the time management grind where you need to train skills in real time, but you don't need to be in the game.onemic

That's not a grind though. Obtaining money in MMO's isn't known as grinding.

I played Eve Online from beta until 2005 and it can feel like a grind. Instead of wanting XP in EVE you just want money because it = power kinda like in other mmorpgs where levels = power. However the main ways of getting money when you start out feel ALOT like a grind and it's just not fun until you reach the big boys.

1. Mining *yawn*

2. Agent missions *yawn* Basic go kill or go deliver...

3. Trade routes *yawn* Just buying stuff cheap and selling for higher which takes ALOT of time and jumps...

All these 3 you do over and over and over again...


The game isn't fun until you can go out in 0.0 space and you wont enjoy the game at all if you don't like PVP lol.

There isn't a PvP grind in Guild Wars?

And yes, obtaining money is another instance of grind.

Grind = routine work that feels boring, and that includes: money making, killing monsters, PvP, quest, etc...

I think to get rid of the grind you'd need to make sure that the quests in an area offer enough XP to safely get you to whatever level you need to move on. As long as the quests are interesting that should be fine.Also, they need to make it fun and worthwhile to be the level you are so the only goal isn't just getting to the next level.

Either that or have a scaling difficulty like oblivion. But that would lead to all kinds of other balance problems due to the MMO aspect.

It is possible to create a MMO with out grinding,,, just make the MMO as real as it can get, so if your char dies, he really dies, So you have to be carefull what you will do, and slaying a monster, like a tiger is a hughe job. I think if you create a game that is as real as it can get, you will have far less grinding,, ;)

it's very possible to make a mmo without grinding, in fact it's easy

just not a mmorpg

questing and grinding are central to roleplaying games (on and offline), but affecting the world in a major way and playing a storyline is contrary to the principles of mmo gameplay

i think the only way to make a mmorpg without grinding is to make a game focused entirely on large scale player vs player environments

the mmo scene as a whole, though, has plenty of non-grind possibilities in other genres, besides planetside and WW2 online, we haven't really seen any mmofps games (at least, not any commercially popularones)- but that's starting to change, i think...and games like endwar and others may be introducing is to mmorts, finally - or at least taking steps toward that end

mmo has a bright future, but rpg games are grinding games on and offline, only offline there are storylines to back it up - can that be replicated online, players affecting events in significant ways, in evolving worlds where things change and gameplay is a result of player-driven events and interaction? i believe it is possible, but the scope of my vision is limited, and i cannot see how

No...not really for a MMORPG...i mean i didnt even grind in Wow really....i quested from 1-70. I found it really tedious on PvE servers but on PVP servers i LOVED it.

Guild Wars is a terrible example of a MMORGP its all instanced theres no real social side i found it by far the worst MMO i ever played. If its instanced all the time how can it even be classed as a MMORPG .If you dont have grinding or questing then you cant really have character progression i suppose you could make one that was like a huge FPS buthow long before that got seriously boring? 2 weeks tops. The probelm is you want to log on and be instantly as good as a player who has been playing for months...

You dont have to grind...questing at least in Wow is a far quicker way to level up. Even Guild wars has character progression if you want the best gear you have to go through all the crap pve content which is as much grinding as Wow without the same level of satisfaction and content.