Currently, it feels like grinding is just boring. There are several reason for why this is the case:
- Dropped items have limited usage and/or do not vendor for much
- Item values are too predictable/static
- Silver dropped needs to be much higher
- Both mob density AND spawn rate are low in many areas, meaning the wait time between monsters is too high
- Aside from flashing mobs, there are no random events that occur that make grinding more fun
- Elite monsters do not feel very rewarding to kill. They just feel like a nuisance that you need to get rid of so you can continue killing non-elite monsters
Dropped items have limited usage and/or do not vendor for much
The uncommon drop may or may not sell for much on the Market, because the value could be low due to the demand of the item/material being low (no recipes that utilize tons of the material, and even then the recipe would need to be useful enough to warrant a high demand of the materialâŚetc).
So basically, what ends up happening is the player is killing the mobs and doesnât feel much reward for doing so when they see useless uncommon drops too often.
The best way to fix this is to make the uncommon drops vendor for significant amounts (maybe x2 the average amount of silver of the highest level mob it drops from, as an example) so they feel somewhat significant even if the recipes related to them become outdated/useless⌠OR make sure they remain relevant by making them required for end-game recipes, but this requires more effort and a larger amount of items in the database, so the former option is much more reasonable as a quick fix.
Item values are too predictable/static
This is the #1 reason as to why grinding feels boring. When I grind in a Hunting Ground, as an example, I know the mobs have a few uncommon drops, and rare drops (a cube, or in the future cube fragments), and silver. Thatâs all.
But this isnât the only issue. The next issue is that even if I do get an item, the item will have the same exact stats every single time. Thereâs no variability aside from Identification slots (which is a good implementation and differentiates similar items by value of socket count and potential). There needs to be more variety in stats for similar items.
As an example, suppose I drop 2 Hunting Ground cubes from the 270 HG. They are both Cloth Armor pants. Maybe after identifying one, I get a random stat and a random value range of the stat on one armor, and then a different stat on the other? For example, Magic Amplification +22 on one, and CON +5 on the other.
I know that the argument against this idea will likely be âawakeningâ but Awakening can be repurposed and extended to ârerollâ a randomized stat on an item. This will make Awakening incredibly useful if someone feels like they got a bad roll on an item drop. This would also encourage people to farm more because they would seek out the same item, but with different randomized stats upon drop.
Silver dropped needs to be much higher
Silver dropped needs to be much higher, considering the amount of silver needed for attributes for a rank close to the average level a player would be for that rank (so in the example of 270 HG where mobs are 281-285, the mobs should be dropping 2k-4k silver each so the player can gain a healthy amount of silver to apply to Rank 8 attributes).
Both mob density AND spawn rate are low in many areas, meaning the wait time between monsters is too high
This is self-explanatory. We shouldnât need to wait more than 20 seconds for a mob to respawn in the same general area, yet somehow we have 5 minute+ wait times for mobs to respawn in the majority of areas available. Itâs very boring and forces players into zones with higher spawn rates, lowering the variety of places to grind.
Aside from flashing mobs, there are no random events that occur that make grinding more fun
An example of a fun event that occurs randomly could be a sword falling to the ground randomly, taunting mobs towards it. You have to kill the mobs before the sword is destroyed, and if you do, you get an experience and silver drop increase buff (x1.1 or 10% increase) for 2 hours. This buff stacks up to 5 times if another sword drops nearby and you fulfill the same conditions. And just like that, players are more interested in grinding for extended periods of time because of the stacking bonus.
Elite monsters do not feel very rewarding to kill. They just feel like a nuisance that you need to get rid of so you can continue killing non-elite monsters
Pretty self-explanatory. Elite monsters just feel like a nuisance most of the time due to their excessive CC and mediocre rewards.
Killing an Elite mob should be the equivalent of killing 50-100 normal mobs of the same type, in terms of exp and silver. This way, Elites feel more rewarding to take down.
@staff Tagging for awareness