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.