In any MMO, the content with the highest rewards will be consistently replayed.
That's basic MMO law right there, stemming back from Everquest. You can't stop farming. You simply live with it. Without "farmers", there would be no in-game economy where you could BUY the things you wanted/needed. If you had to lace up your bootstraps and "hunt" (for lack of better word) down the items that you specifically required (you being 1 of X class/race combinations), you would be paying $15 a month for 28 years, since that's how long it'd likely take you to gear up and move along.
I'm a newb to CoV, but a vet of MMOs in general. I just recently discovered the MA, and I'm finding leveling my guy up through the teens while using the MA to get myself DOs - or whatever other random junk tickles my whimsy - to be a BLAST. I get to move at a pace that *I* want - not dictated artificially by whatever content the devs have created - and I get to experience new powers and be able to do new things at a rate that I find enjoyable.
I jumped on CoV because I thought, "Man, I'm tired of fantasy, and I want to play a cool villain with super powers." I'm invested in the character and I want to see him grow stronger and stronger. Like I said, I'm an old MMO vet...I realize that MMOs really aren't the medium through which one enjoys storylines - for however good they are, they're still too disconnected and disjointed for me to actually follow and care - so I play to min/max, to discover powers, to formulate tactics, to work at killing faster and faster....all of that stuff is awesomecakes to me.
So, I recently discovered the MA, and unfortunately, my mind gravitated immediately towards figuring out how to use it to level faster. I created maps with 19 boss fights. Sue me. I enjoy ripping through them with my Brute. Each fight has its own permutations...I've gotten killed a few times...but when I'm done, I go and delete the mission I just ran, then create a brand new one and go rampage on some new enemies.
Am I creating deep storylines? Nah. I don't care to. Although most of my stories are, "Hey, these people hate marijuana, go kill them!" - just to throw something of myself into them. Speaking of which, the AE is excellent for those of us who like to take a few tokes, then go virtually destroy things.
Post-edit: Just wanted to add one more thing. I ALREADY made up all of the RPing that I was looking to do - I created my character, chose his powers, made his costume (which is awesome, btw, and has gotten several compliments), then wrote up his background. While I'm technically NOT an RPer, I've fleshed out this character in ways that are important to ME. It's sad that people are so fascist that they want to force me to play a game the way that THEY want instead of how *I* want. The draw of MMOs is the ability to fuel your OWN adventure, instead of playing a game-on-rails, which is what most single-player games offer. Basically, I play an MMO in the way that I'd play the game if no one else was around...it's a purely selfish act for which I pay $15.
