Are we grinding for the sake of faster grinding?

[Buckets]

My goal for grinding is pretty much minimizing my time(TAs) and finding the content wall. Yesterday I did XH Dark Arms(Or at least tried too.) Solo. A friend of mine also gave it a try, after seeing how far along I got in it I realized what I was lacking and how to improve myself in the game. So I'm currently working to revise & improve.

[NoobSpectre]

Taking Dead Frontier Player's greatest quotes for the ultimate meaning of Online RPG games.

That's all gentlemen.

[MidCap]

In regards to this thread, the hopelessness one feels when trying to optimize PSO2 gear in the face of it immediately becoming obsolete is one reason why PSO1's endgame was much better.

In PSO1, the endgame was long (120 levels worth of playing), so there was plenty to do, but the end goal remained static. The rug would not likely be pulled out from under your progress, so it was comforting and motivating at the same time. Also, all areas remained relevant thanks to the Section ID system.

PSO2 fails in all of these regards, which is why it feels hopeless, empty, and meaningless to progress beyond that which requires a mediocre effort.

The game should have been built with a clearly defined endgame and a long road to it. Instead they released a 1/4 finished game with 3 areas and slowly added on over time. It's an economic success, to be sure, but a huge failure from a gameplay standpoint.

Really a shame, because PSO2 has such a good combat system...

[Zorafim]

Really a shame, because PSO2 has such a good combat system...

People seem to forget this. Under all the horrible decisions the development team has made for this game, there's some honest good work put into it. But then the terrible balance hits, and it's all lost.

[nguuuquaaa]

Yeah, PSO2 definitely has good combat/class system, I would've quit a long time ago if not for this.
What I wonder is the non-existence of contents that rewards endgame players. Seriously, there's nothing to do anymore.

[Asuka~]

I just need an extremely difficult dungeon for a fairly good reward..... *sigh*

Yeah :C
Bearing that in mind... Is probably why I picked up Fate/Grand Order recently lol. I don't get much time to play PSO these days either unfortunately. :v

[[Ayumi]]

You grind for money, grind for exp, grind for affix fodders, grind for weapons, grind for units, grind for... grinding material..... literally grind for everything.

What to do outside of grinding?

You grind for money
For items to help with things, for meseta tickets to get more money, for sometimes mag food (when I'm low on photon drops or weapons or furniture), and of course newer costumes and accessories I might like/want (and colour passes). The latter is usually very very rarely as I hate looking like a whore which is majority of the PSO2 clothing.

Grind for exp
This is what kind of got me into RPGs since I was little. I like grinding exp. As long as it's not super tedious.

Grind for affix fodders
This one, I don't do.

Grind for weapons
Either because I want to be stronger or because my current weapon is "okay" in power yet I find it ugly and want a newer/better/less uglier weapon.
Then comes the grinding itself which... goes back to the "Grind For Money" part.

Grind for units
Other than to get them to +10...
This one, I don't do.
At the moment I got the units I like that isn't super tedious to go after.

Grind for... grinding material
This one is a no for me as well.
Grinders and Synthesizers drop like candy. Zeig orders once a week gives me the Lambda Grinders which one a week (per char, but still) isn't really a grindfest.

LEVELING PETS THOUGH... any pets that's the rarity of 6 to 12 isn't really grinding too bad as the eggs drop rather easily (especially if you're on Summoner). 13s though... gtting them to level 120, yeah it's a hassle, but I'm not grinding this either as I just feed pets when I come around eggs. I'm not in a rush as I can play other classes until then.


What to do outside of grinding?
What I do outside of grinding is... have random fun in levels or just listening to idiots talk on block 1.
Or I go and grind exp as I find grinding exp fun.

[Zorua]

Yeah, PSO2 definitely has good combat/class system, I would've quit a long time ago if not for this.
What I wonder is the non-existence of contents that rewards endgame players. Seriously, there's nothing to do anymore.

I really hate how unique PSO2's combat is. Every "action" MMO that I've seen just ends up being WoW with aiming. I haven't been able to play another game without getting fucking bored. Vindictus was the only game I tried with good action combat, but it still managed to suck more than PSO2 at other aspects. Even if I wanted to leave (I kinda do), I'm stuck here.

[AlphaBlob]

There's always the possibility of helping other people out get to end game, and by that I don't mean carrying leechers. Basically teaching those who shows interest in PSO2.

[Neith]

Seems like a lot of people (myself included sometimes) just spam whatever is the newest contest, inevitably get sick of it, stop playing for a while until the next update and repeat the cycle.

If we had meaningful long-term goals it might change but there's no point hunting something that'll be obsolete in a month or two. Might be another reason people pile money into cosmetics...

Still, the grind in PSO2 is nothing compared to some other games. Lineage II uugggghhhhh