I apologize if someone has already complained about this - I just need to know I'm not the only one.

 

I get what Bioware did in going after the MMO market, and honestly it was a smart move - but I think they may have lost some of their original appeal in the process.

 

I like that everything is voiced, but when I get a hundred "go over hear and interact with 5 objects" quests I tend not to care about any of the quest givers, even if they are voiced...Moreover I don't think these quests have any impact on the story later on, again a big disappointment considering most Bioware RPGs do this in some respect. I enjoyed Bioware games because quests were intelligent and well-crafted, having so many grinding quests just seems lazy (if not misguided...I think WoW fans still would have liked the game without the grinding)

 

Normally I wouldn't mind - I would just not take the quest if it didn't interest me - but do that and your player is handicapped due to lack of xp later on...It would have been better to have fewer quests that are a little more well thought out/deeper, with larger rewards. Would have cost less too because then they wouldn't need as much voice acting and writing.

 

Part of the reason I'm posting this is so Bioware knows this sort of sentiment is out there. Honestly I'm not even sure if I want to re-sub...at least I can take solace in the fact that Mass Effect 3 will uphold Bioware's story-driven heritage.

So you bought a MMO... expecting it to be like a singleplayer game?

I sort of feel the same way, since only the class missions and the main planet missions seem to serve any importance, and sometimes even the planet missions seem one dimensional.

 

If they did add a good couple of non-main story, but still interesting quests, that would be pretty cool. Not a lot, that would spoil the feel, but a few every now and then, like helping the villagers on Taris in the first KotOR find the Promised Lands; It didn't really deal with your current situation, but it felt like you were actually doing something, and making a difference in the universe, whether good or bad.

 

And constantly fixing some guy's farming equipment 'cause he's too busy sitting in his house, and clearing out the local pests make it feel more like I'm a janitor.

 

Still, it's an MMO. There's gonna be it's fair share of grinding. Hell, KotOR had it too. You gotta take the good with the bad.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Skatehead

So you bought a MMO... expecting it to be like a singleplayer game?

 

No, I bought a Bioware MMO, expecting it to be like a Bioware MMO.

No, I bought a Bioware MMO, expecting it to be like a Bioware MMO.

 

But Bioware hasn't released a MMO afaik prior to ToR.

 

Now if you mean you bought a MMO expecting it to be like a Bioware RPG... that's just faulty thinking. A MMORPG is vastly different from a regular RPG. Granted, Bioware has done an excellent job of blurring the lines, but the grinding quests are a necessary evil.

 

Be glad of the fact the grinding quests generally offer bonus quests to go along with them.. Makes the whole thing less tedious and more rewarding.

But Bioware hasn't released a MMO afaik prior to ToR.

 

Now if you mean you bought a MMO expecting it to be like a Bioware RPG... that's just faulty thinking. A MMORPG is vastly different from a regular RPG. Granted, Bioware has done an excellent job of blurring the lines, but the grinding quests are a necessary evil.

 

Be glad of the fact the grinding quests generally offer bonus quests to go along with them.. Makes the whole thing less tedious and more rewarding.

 

Less tedious? Hardly. The majority of the time the bonus quests are just "kill 20 of these guys".

So you bought a MMO... expecting it to be like a singleplayer game?

 

Imagine my surprise when I bought an MMO only to find a single-player game in the box.

No matter what they do there will be those who are unhappy.

 

I personally agree with the OP though

So you bought a MMO... expecting it to be like a singleplayer game?

 

I don't see how less grindy quests would make this game any less of a MMO.

 

Runescape didn't have grind quests and I'm pretty sure it was a MMO.

Edited January 7, 2012 by hauk

i am level 32 and have never had to "grind', i just do most of the quests and i am always well on the right level for the next planet.

I don't see how less grindy quests would make this game any less of a MMO.

 

Runescape didn't have grind quests and I'm pretty sure it was a MMO.

 

Don't remind me of Runescape.

 

And to be quite honest, none of the quests I've done that have been grind quests have seemed unimportant. Or exceedingly tedious/long/painful. Yes they don't connect to the main storyline, but none of the quests do.

 

The only grind quests I ever have a complaint with are when you have to kill 15, then 45 or similar numbers of the same enemy you've been fighting.

 

Even then, it's experience, chance at loot, and money.

Yes, because it's not like runescape has anything else it might require you to grind...

 

Lets face it, the grind is a necessary part of an mmo, if anything it feels like theres to little grind here!!

I dunno the "Kill" bonus quests usually make sense to me. I mean, they're in the way, and you're usually there to mess up something they own, or steal something so... why not also cripple their manpower by taking some more down?

So you bought a MMO... expecting it to be like a singleplayer game?

 

Lol u crack me up

So you bought a MMO... expecting it to be like a singleplayer game?

 

Actually I think Biowares single player games are pretty grindy. Dragon age 1 definitely so.

Actually I think Biowares single player games are pretty grindy. Dragon age 1 definitely so.

 

QFT, KOTOR too has some of the most grindy area in the entire history of CRPG

So far (mid 30's) if I run the "level relavent instance" a time or two I've found I can skip about 15% of the quests of the planet in question.

 

Additionally, the thought of not killing mobs in an RPG to make sure you get exp..

You HAVE played Mass Effect (1&2), right?

 

Gee just HOW many geth or harvesters can you find on a given mission -

"Hhmmm three more over there - yea kill them too; its exp's"

No, I bought a Bioware MMO, expecting it to be like a Bioware MMO.

 

You're in luck. STOR is a Bioware MMO, in fact it's the only Bioware MMO on the market which means you got a Bioware MMO.

I would first like to profess my undying love for this game, it's easily the best game I've played in my ten long years of serious gaming and i have very few complaints about the game, but this is one of them.

 

I have to agree one hundred percent here, many of the devs stated this can be played as a single player RPG just like any of their other games, but then i found out you must do all the quests you can get your hands on, or risk being seriously out-leveled by your class-quests, this was quite disheartening for me, as i have to spend hours on end grinding random quests with 90% of the time having no moral options like the class quests do, they feel very unimportant.

 

It kills all immersion for me considering I'm supposed to be going somewhere ASAP in my class quest, then find out i have three levels before i should bother attempting the quest, then spend about 8 to 10 hours questing before i can get back on track finish that part then rinse and repeat, so tell me again, how is this like their single player games? I'm pretty sure in Mass Effect you could skip all those quests and continue on in the story unhindered for the entire game.

 

I came to this game being told it's KotOR 3-12 and that Story is the major part of the game, then i got told you could play it exactly like any of their other RPG games, apparently this is not as true as they would like to claim it is.

 

But again, this is just one gripe i have about the game, it doesn't make me love it any less though, although having said that, if something could be done to make this in-between class quest grind less extreme, I'd be much happier.

I would first like to profess my undying love for this game, it's easily the best game I've played in my ten long years of serious gaming and i have very few complaints about the game, but this is one of them.

 

I have to agree one hundred percent here, many of the devs stated this can be played as a single player RPG just like any of their other games, but then i found out you must do all the quests you can get your hands on, or risk being seriously out-leveled by your class-quests, this was quite disheartening for me, as i have to spend hours on end grinding random quests with 90% of the time having no moral options like the class quests do, they feel very unimportant.

 

It kills all immersion for me considering I'm supposed to be going somewhere ASAP in my class quest, then find out i have three levels before i should bother attempting the quest, then spend about 8 to 10 hours questing before i can get back on track finish that part then rinse and repeat, so tell me again, how is this like their single player games? I'm pretty sure in Mass Effect you could skip all those quests and continue on in the story unhindered for the entire game.

 

I came to this game being told it's KotOR 3-12 and that Story is the major part of the game, then i got told you could play it exactly like any of their other RPG games, apparently this is not as true as they would like to claim it is.

 

But again, this is just one gripe i have about the game, it doesn't make me love it any less though, although having said that, if something could be done to make this in-between class quest grind less extreme, I'd be much happier.

 

^

 

That's the main problem I have - they promised story driven immersion and then introduced a component that significantly took away from that promise - a component that actually wasn't even necessary in an MMO

So far I haven't found this game very grindy at all. Of course, I'm coming from LotRO, which has always been somewhat grindy, and has become more and more so over the last couple years.

 

I appreciate the bonus quests: they're optional, give good xp, and have you killing things you normally have to kill in the normal course of your questing or making through a mob area to get to a quest location. Often you have to do a little extra work to finish tier II or tier III of the bonus quest, but honestly it's really not that much. On the classes I've played so far (Sage, Gunslinger, Vanguard, Sorcerer), I've had no problem dps'ing mobs down quickly, so it's not much extra time finishing out bonus quests.

 

I've really been enjoying the non-class quests on each planet so far; they really get you involved in the history and flavor of each. The voice acting is just icing on the cake.

 

Maybe I'll eventually hit a grindy planet, or perhaps end-game will be, but so far it hasn't seemed that way to me at all.

The both KOTOR-Games were not really less grindy; difference is more to me, that TOR is just huge.

But beside some "kill 20 guys" or "get me a new ashtray"-Quests there are actually some good subquests. For example, I liked the quest of what happened to the Promised-Land-people on Taris.