Another long-neglected goal achieved: Underdark campaign completion.
The reason I had stayed away from this one for so long was that I perceived it as extremely grindy, and looking at the raw numbers, having to acquire 7000 Faerzress at 18-50 units a pop certainly does add up to quite a slog. Thankfully I got a lot of mileage out of a recent double Underdark currency event.
I did realise though that all things considered, the grind wasn't really that much worse than for most campaigns; what made the difference for me were the heroic encounters. I liked them well enough as something sprinkled in among the regular quests like in Icewind Dale, but a whole campaign of nothing but grinding heroic encounters (or skirmishes I guess) was just super boring to me. I like the classic questing model. I don't think I would have much fun in Guild Wars 2.
GW2 is more than grinding; it does scratch that "what's over the next hill?" sort of exploration. Thankfully, the hearts stuff is fairly light and easy to do, so I don't notice too much about the grind.
ReplyDeleteHowever, you are most definitely right in that the GW2 model is not for everybody. I can easily see where I'd get tired of it, go away, and then come back later.
Oh, I didn't mean to imply that GW2 is grindy; I don't think it is. However, it does seem to center around the kind of dynamic event gameplay that Neverwinter tried to copy with it's heroics, and unlike seemingly a lot of people, I actually find that pretty boring. It's only fun in very small doses for me.
DeleteAnd for what it's worth, I am definitely a child of the 80s, as I read your post title and thought of this old Night Ranger song:
ReplyDeleteNight Ranger - Touch of Madness (Live 1983)