LFGryph

I guessed correctly when I said my time is going to be short for a while, between getting ready to work the second job and rushing to take care of things like eye exams before I start. I’ve still been popping into The Secret World when I can, and had some thoughts while running – and not-running – the daily challenges over the last week.

For starters, I think I ran challenges about half the days I played. These were days I couldn’t think of something else to do, and the challenges sounded appealing. The rest of the time I was re-running Orochi Tower missions since I still need some achievements and it’s been a while since I’ve done them. I’m still working on black bullion more than Marks of Pantheon, and Tokyo gives me plenty of those as is.

I compare that to the folks who feel obligated to run all of the dailies, every day, and I’m not entirely sure why there’s so much difference. I’d like to progress my gear as much as anyone else, but I don’t feel obligated at all to run any particular content. I have an idea about part of the reason, though.

See, before the currency revamp I didn’t have much choice in my endgame play. If I wanted to progress my gear, I “needed” to either run PvP, run dungeons and raids, or run scenarios for augments. I had some interest in all three of these, but not enough to spend all of my time doing them. Rather, I’d often run old missions for the fun of it or play around trying to get achievements.

I didn’t view this set up as particularly unfair, either. I think most MMO players are used to the idea that once you hit endgame, you have to run dungeons or do PvP to make any worthwhile progression in your gear. Plus, I had no trouble doing new story content without uber perfect gear. Since story content is one of the big draws of TSW, I never felt blocked by not being able to get perfect gear super fast. Heck, in other MMO’s I’ve played, I literally couldn’t even play new content at all if my gear wasn’t high enough.

I wonder if some of the folks unhappy about the challenges are finding themselves in a similar position to the one I used to be in. Instead of having only a few ways to get bullion, there are only so many ways to get MoP’s. Only, that comparison doesn’t sit well with me since players can still get MoP’s through PvP, dungeons, etc. without ever once completing a daily or weekly challenge.

I begin to wonder if the “have to do the thing” thinking comes down to personality and gameplay style much more than anything the game itself is doing. I can’t even throw it on completionists since I generally AM one myself. It sounds flippant to say “don’t do the thing if you don’t enjoy it,” but in this case, I truly can’t see a reason to grind out challenges if that’s not fun for you. There are other avenues to get currency and progress gear even at endgame, and uber gear still isn’t required for any of the story or mission content.

I get being annoyed because you feel like you have to run certain content to get anywhere. One of the reasons I stopped trying to level even my mains in DCUO is I got tired of the dungeons, raids, and minuscule solo content for endgame players – and I couldn’t access new content without leveling high enough. I just don’t see it in this game, where players have multiple options and can experience new content through just basic gameplay. There are no Daily Challenge Police to arrest you for ignoring the challenges, and you don’t need to complete a Daily Challenge Punch Card to progress your gear, or experience the rest of the game.