Last night in Rift we ran Iron Tombs again both to complete some Meridian storyline quests, and also for a guildie who had never done it. We were all way above the target level for the instance, and you know what? It didn’t matter at all. It would have been the same if we were all dinking around chasing rifts, or anything else – contrary to how I approach pretty much every other MMO, I’m really enjoying the j0urney. Without grinding or effort, my Cleric is level 26, and I’m fine with that. I felt quite sorry for the first level 50 on our server, which a group of people played 24/7 to be shard first. It was such a sad accomplishment, and I sincerely hope that they went on to slowly level other characters. This game is too good, and too much fun, to just burn through.
I love that everyone isn’t focussed on “end game”. At this point, do any of us really know what end game is? People are enjoying levelling professions and solving puzzles – there isn’t that mad dash to level cap.If I want to go level an alt, I don’t feel as though I’m letting my guild down. When I was raiding in Warcraft, I levelled my main as fast as I possibly could, wary of being left behind and losing my raid spot.
I also am very much enjoying this (probably brief) honeymoon period before there are cookie-cutter specs and Gearscore clones and damage meters, before the elitist jerk mentality rules the game. Do I have an odd spec? Perhaps, but I’m enjoying it and it works for me. Am I still wearing greens? You betcha…I’m level 26 for gods sake. Can I still make a difference in instances and rifts? Yep. You really don’t have to be totally overgeared for everything that you do in game. Warcraft has gotten so bad that I saw people looking for achievement runs through old vanilla instances who were demanding a certain Gearscore level. Dude, take your epeen and **** yourself with it – Molten Core doesn’t need epic geared players just so you can get your stupid achievement.
Wiping doesn’t bother me. And I don’t want to read tactics…I am looking forward to figuring things out for ourselves. Yes, strategy guides exist for all instances already, but I want to pretend that they aren’t there. (So far, the fights haven’t been that difficult anyway.) And along with the joy of figuring things out, I am very much loving not having to group with the “Gogogogo” guy. Granted, I’ve only done guild and friend runs so far, but I think most people are more relaxed.
I am loving the journey, and I don’t feel as though I really have a destination. And that is a lovely feeling.
Exactly how I’m feeling! I’m still level 25, I see people moving a lot faster than me and I don’t really care. I’m enjoying myself, doing achievements and such. I spent 3 hours yesterdy trying to climb a bloody mountain just to loot a cairn and I didn’t feel like I’d wasted time at all! Given, I had to get the other half on his Bahmi to leap across the bits I could get up to get the sense of accomplishment but heck, that’s just how I spent a lot of my game time yesterday. Tis fun :D