After reading Zubon's, Suzina's and Sweet Cherrie's posts about Legendary Items, I'm reminded that one person's idea of joyful progression can be another's grind.

'Grind' is probably the biggest and most common complaint about MMORPGs. That must drive designers a bit nuts, because progression (real and illusory) are an important aspect of any RPG. An MMO without progression is likely to be criticized as a bore, but you cannot escape that someone will inevitably call your game's progression a grind.

The Legendary grind is an illusion:

That's been my subjective opinion, mostly because Turbine has dropped in a bunch of shortcuts to item leveling that almost trivializes the progress of any given weapon.

I'm not right per se, because ultimately nothing is inherently a grind, it comes down to each individual's perception. So whether the grind is as deep not as deep as people say, it's a bit moot. If it seems like a grind to them, then it is a grind for them.

I wanted serious progression in the Legendary system and I'm almost disappointed that it's too easy, too quick to almost max out the potential in the system. Part of that is due to the curve, because at some point the differences become small, making not much difference between a 'good' to 'great' Legendary.

It's also true (as noted by Zubon) that getting a great Legendary weapon is more about sorting through the trash caused by the random nature of stat generation. This part of the system disappointed anyone who was hoping to get 'One Sword to Rule Them All'. Instead of keeping a weapon as you progress, you're likely to disassemble dozens as you slowly upgrade.

Turbine is also being rather conservative on how powerful these weapons can become. Obviously they don't want Legendary Items to trump their content balancing, but at the same time, that reduces just how... Legendary these items can be.

I find myself at odds with some of the complaints though, because overall I love the Legendary system. Oh I can imagine ways it could have been better, for sure, especially with the toss-your-old upgrade paths, but this is what's in the game and rating it as-is: I'd say it's pretty good.

Just the aspect of having something to level once my character is at Endgame, that alone is a boon to me.

This sort of thing must drive MMORPG devs a bit nuts, because progression (both real and illusory) is an important aspect of any RPG.

In the 4 days since my Legendary Leveling post-of-glee, I've leveled my starter staff to 17. I've looted numerous legendary items, including one Second Age Rune-Satchel which stands out in its blueness. I've collected and mostly disassembled legendary items for every class except my own. The inevitable luck of numbers dictates some sort of justification for bitching about drops. In particular I seem to be the magnet for Rune-Keeper legendaries. Hopefully Nelgdorf will be as lucky for me as I have been for him.

My legendary staff is so ugly that I couldn't bear to name it on reforging, as if doing so would invoke some unmentionable evil. Nazrin suggested "Swab", "Canal Cleaner" and a few other names appropriate to its appearance, so I may resign myself to giving it a mocking moniker.

I'm enjoying the Legendary system immensely, which isn't a surprise, it's been less than a week. Still, I think I'll be immune to the dread of grind that others have warned me about. I've been asking for this sort of thing for awhile now: rewards granted via persistence regardless of solo or group play. I'm so tired of the XX players formula for loot rewards, where small teams get shafted and large raids have epics rained upon them.

It's unlikely you'll catch me complaining about leveling these weapons, I'm quite careful of what I wish for and this is pretty close to the mark.

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. Legendary items rock.

Hearing about it, reading about it, I was just like "hey that's pretty cool" but getting my first Legendary staff (via Volume 2 Book 1) and killing my first mob with it-- and having the item itself gain a level and then train that level-- This had an immediate and pronounced effect on me. There's a great big sheepish grin on my face, like I've just eaten a great key-lime pie and there's no way I should have enjoyed it so much.

It's perfect for me, really. I don't play alts that much and I'm happy to grind gear, rep, whatever at Endgame. More than happy to grind honestly. I just hadn't put much thought to it, but leveling up weapons with my one main character: That's incredibly satisfying.

And hell, now I can ding a whole lot. Ding, ding, ding.

I enrolled as a Tailor when the crafting guilds unlocked at 20.

Something happens in my psyche once I've chosen a crafting profession. It's stronger than leveling my character, because I'm making stuff. They're just pixels, but they carry weight and tangibility as a proximation of real world items. A sword, pounded out on an anvil, speaks of workmanship. Not as true as a craftsman's work in the real world, but there's a semblance, a similarity. That's exactly the idea in an RPG right? Play at being a tradesman, a builder, someone who creates usable items with their bare hands, their own efforts of sweat and blood. It's a fantasy.

That all sounds a bit silly, doesn't it? But kudos to whichever game designer first added the crafter's name on virtual goods, because that little stamp amplifies pride to the player for a job well done.

Stepping out of the tailor's guildhall, I felt a new purpose and scoped the immediate area for potential materials. Expert Tailoring primarily uses Sturdy Boiled Leather, the source of which are Sturdy Hides which drop off lvl 25+ beasts. Conveniently there are lvl 25-26 Wargs around the hills of Esteldin, which I began to farm right away. That was a challenge with careful pulls and some frantically placed stuns (mostly on the spiders also roaming the hills). Naturally, I leveled up, at a pace slower than questing, but inevitably by killing daunting mobs several levels above me ("red" con = scary).

I abandoned my questing for a time, which created some gaps in the experience for sure, but I was on a quest of my own making.

My small crew planned to join an established Kinship (and we still will), but postponed partially for the sake of our crafts. There's a possibility that someone (out of the kindness of their hearts, and a bit of their own well-deserved pride) could hand us all gear that makes our own efforts look pitiful. I don't want any of our crew to feel their own efforts diminished. There's that pride again.

Yesterday I discovered critical chance on crafted items can be greatly increased with additional reagents, once 'mastery' has been achieved. Now the trick is staying ahead to master each tier so I can crit while making gear suitable for my level. They've hooked me all over again, I have a whole new set of mats to collect.

Kudos to Curse Gaming for snagging a good and thorough interview with Jeff Kaplan at the Leipzig Games Convention. It's really pleasing to hear direct and detailed questions compared to the vague drivel from most of the gaming press. The topics ranged from patch 2.3 to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

Regarding the interview itself:

• Blizzard has come to their senses and will basically unlock Deathknights to any current player upgrading with the expansion as long as you've leveled another character (which everyone has). Now if only flying mounts in Northrend could be extended the same kind of reasonable thinking.
• It's encouraging to hear that Dustwallow Marsh will get a makeover to address the level 35-45 grind problem which has plagued the game since day-one. That's been a topic of discussion within my guild and circle of friends whenever any alt gets stalled around level 40. I just hope this is just the start on revitalizing the older continents, but I'm a skeptic and more likely I think they'll call that job complete.

  The leveling grind brings up an important issue, the emphasis of Groups in the Endgame contrasting with Solo leveling to get there. Kaplan indicates they'll be accelerating leveling by converting low-level "elite" group content into "normal" solo material, with the example of the Alterac elite Ogres becoming normal mobs. It fits in with the roadmap WoW is on, but I'm unsatisfied with where that leads, because eventually leveling is going to have to be trivialized or bypassed altogether. There's already a large amount of good content in this game that's been made less meaningful, but that's a hollow complaint because I don't see how they can go back and undo what's already been discarded.

• They might be fun, but I expect Siege weapons to be limited to Battlegrounds because flying mounts would make them pointless in the outside world. I love having my own gryphon, but I think Blizzard is starting to realize the tactical reprocussions of inserting such an advanced form of personal transportation into what is otherwise a medieval world.
• Inscriptions just scare me. I understand why Blizzard would want to create a widespread and super popular profession, they're eager to have features in their expansions that appeal to everyone. But whether it's pure damage or utility, increasing existing abilities IS power creep like Kaplan described, it will feel required to get inscriptions just to keep pace with other players and the mobs that are balanced around them. Again it's too late since Blizzard already took a direction here, professions in WoW are not a sub-game, they're integral skill sets that are expected to be pursued.
• More Heroic badge loot, that's awesome. I'm a bit worried that they may extend the heroic badges into raiding with Zul'aman, I hope that Kaplan discussing them both in the same sentence doesn't indicate such a link. I love that the badge system is an alternative for small group players.

~whew~ So many multiple topics all covered at once.