I'm editing my post to clarify and tidy it up a bit
Background
Have you ever felt burnt out from exp. grinding? Have you ever noticed that once you complete your newbie armor quest you feel a sense of accomplishment, only to be feeling empty inside after? Have you ever felt that the best levels are the lowest ones? Have you ever just got bored period?
I know I have.
Lately I have seen a lot of people posting on various forums about how they would like to have played the game as it was or how they think some things ruin the game now, as well as topics about just palying differently, such as the battle cleric post.
All this got me thinking. What about the game is causing me to get bored? Why is it that I sometimes feel like I just want to start over?
Here are some observations I have made of myself, and some other people.
1. At lower levels, the xp comes pretty quick. You are for the most part quickly learning new skills and spells as well.
2. Most people have their newbie armor quest as a focus for them to work on.
What does this mean - what do people need? Goals and Challenges. And not just long term ones, they also need short term goals, something to fill the void while your working towards your long term goal.
So from there I started thinking of a new way to challenge myself, a way to set goals that I will always have in mind. Ones that maybe are not already in the game.
Now this challenge requires a bit of self discipline, and the rewards are not necessarily tangible. Why would you do this then? Well for the same reason that some guy went out and played Resident Evil with only the Knife - you will leave feeling you have acheived a goal, overcoming great challenges, and have learned something new along the way.
Guidelines
1. This challenge works on the premise that you will be "locking' certain zones and/or areas of the game from yourself until you have acheived certain goals.
2. Your best bet is to start on a new server, that way you have not temptation to twink, you don't have a bunch of people to powerlevel you. I would suggest FV since its a roleplaying server and this makes for good roleplaying, but any server, works, I've started on Morden Rasp myself. Though I will list another option below!
3. This really does take a lot of self discipline - you will probably be tempted to go run up to that pok stone and click on it.
4. A note on tradeskills: You will see through my post I put a heavy ephasis on tradeskills. My personal belief is every character should master at least one tradeskills - it gives you something else to do, can help you in making a profit, and allows you to possibly help keep yourself alive. Most tradeskills are pretty cheap to raise up until 100 if your collecting your own supplies (alchemy, tinkering, and jewlery craft asside).
5. A note on Quests: You will also see that I'm trying to force myself to do quests. Why? Well, many quests do have rewards. But its the goal. If I can keep myself working on quests that are appropriate or for the most part appropriate for my level, the leveling won't go so bad as I'll be killing things to get the items anyways.
6. Everything below is how I am challenging myself - you would set goals for yourself based on your playstyle. Use my challenge only as a guide
The Challenge
Locked: anything that is "locked" I will not allow myself to use something that I have locked from myself. To "unlock" something I have to do a combination of quests, work on tradeskills, and work on other skills I never really did before.
What I have locked: the Nexus, the Magus's, Plane of Knowledge, the Bazaar, and Abysmal Sea.
Unlock - The Nexus, allowing travel through the Scions
*Minimum level of 15
*Must have completed Newbie Armor Quest
*Total sum of all tradeskills must be 150 or more
*Must have completed 10 other quests
*Alcohol Tolerance must be a minimum of 80
Unlock - Magus's, allowing you to also do Ldon's
*Minimum level of 20
*Must have unlocked the nexus
*Must have adventurer's stone
*Total sum of all tradeskills must be 200 or more
*Fishing must be a minimum of 105
Unlock - Plane of Knowledge, allowing travel via Books.
*Minimum level of 25
*Must have unlocked Magus's
*Must have a minimum of 5 adventure points
*Total Sum of all tradeskills must be 250 or more
*Fishing must be a minimum of 130
*Alcohol Tolerance must be a minimum of 130
Unlock - The Bazaar, allowing for purchases and selling of items
*Must unlock the Nexus
*Two tradeskills must be a minimum of 100
*All other tradeskills must be a minimum of 50
*Must have 100 pp in the bank saved.
Unlock - Abysmal Sea, allowing for tradeskill fun
*Must unlock the Bazaar
*Must unlock the Magus's
*Begging must be a minimum of 25.
Other Ideas as Challenges
1. Play a race/Class combination your not familar or fond of, or play a combination not normally considered good. Here is your chance to try that Gnome Warrior you've always wanted. Maybe you've never tried humans.
2. Go to a new zone Have you ever been hunting in Dagnor's Caldron? Have you ever tried going deep into runnyeye. I bet a lot of newer players haven't gone into even half the zones. I'm not that new a player and I know I haven't. Spending time in a new zone is a great way for you to learn new things and maybe get some good items.
3. Use Challenges as a alternative to twinking How does this work, perhaps you will force yourself to do something before you get something an alt has for you. Do the quest for your newbie armor but then give yourself the new item you wanted.
Edited, Sun Mar 21 11:28:37 2004 by Devilwind
Edited, Sun Mar 21 11:47:43 2004 by Devilwind