I Have Become A Farmer

Nothing has netted me more influence than RWZ farming. A bit north of the base where the raids gather there is a nice street with a couple of bends that shoots north.

There are 7-8 lvl 48-50 spawns points out there, mostly 50, that gather in tight little clumps and enjoy being herded together. Gather, AoE, wash, then run to the other end of the street. By the time you are done the first groups have respawned and you are back in business.

Funded most of my mains build out there. Boring? Oh yeah, but it gets the job done.


Wait....am I an evil farmer too?

The RWZ's kinda cool for stuff like that. There's EBs out in the open, Pylons and the RWZ challenge for powergamers to test their builds, and a base to make any SG jealous.

And given that Rikti in their natural environment are an absolute pain in the butt for most players to fight, I'm not complaining. That's the kind of farming that you need to already be good at the game for after all.

The reason I don't farm is it bores the hell out of me. I have zero desire whatsoever to spend my time playing a video game that I play for enjoyment, only to be bored while I'm playing.

Even a lot of the farmers I have talked to admit that it's boring. Apparently it's about the rewards and not about the fun you're having (or not having as the case may be).

If you truly enjoy running the same mission or killing the same spawns over and over, more power to you, far be it from me to hinder your enjoyment.

If you're just farming for the rewards and boring yourself to death, that's when I question why you're doing it.

My characters are barely IOed, in fact I only have one who's build is close to finished. I found that when I acquire things over time I appreciate them more, and I get to see my character gradually become more powerful.

I understand that I see things differently than a lot of people. I'm not even going to ask for the draw to be explained to me, I've asked before and it's been explained before and I still don't see the appeal.

I'm not an anti-farmer, or a pro-farmer, I'm just a non-farmer.

HotFlash,

The AE definitely increased my farming tendencies also, though it is not because of the farming itself. It was because I dont have to go anywhere. Basically, I'm lazy.

Prior to the AE, I usually just ran level 50 door missions over and over. I didnt even run them to farm purples or anything, I just enjoyed frying bad guys. I'm a like a latch key kid eating a fish and chips tv dinner every night: it never gets old, and I look forward to the next tv dinner every time. There was tedium and irritation though, but not from the zappin'. I would have to get another mission after each one, travel and port my team to the door, and sometimes zone-reset when I didnt like the foe types. I also got stuck with missions way far away or in caves. I hate all that crap, but for the gameplay itself, I love it and love to repeat it.

Along comes the AE. I can just do AE content over and over and over. No travel. No maps I dont like. No foes I dont like. As much or as little variety as I want. It is a dream come true. The only down side: no purples. However, the huge up side is that I earn tickets, which lets me roll on the random crap shoot of the ticket vendor for gold (and other) recipes. I love that. I never had that available to me before, so I'm happy as can be. In the last 2 weeks, I've managed to roll 3 Numina recovery IOs and a Miracle, not to mention a TON of other stuff that sold for a lot. I've never had it this good.

Now, I know you'll say I could do story arcs and task forces and earn merits. Well, actually, no I cant. I dont like doing Task Forces because I have a short attention span. I can do the same thing over and over and over for 8 hours, but I cant actually pay attention to mission details or negotiate with TF missions and zoning and traveling. Also, the inability to bail without feeling like (and being) a ********* kinda makes me dislike them. Also, I'm only in the mood to team with strangers about 10% of the time. I dont like waiting on others, and I dont like that they may have to wait on me. Also, story arc merits are out of the question, again, because I have to do a bunch of travel, fight foes and stories I dont like and have done before a million times, plus again, I feel I cant abandon them whenever I like.

So, now, I can hang out in one place, play any character I've got, earn Tickets, redeem them, and do only the thing I enjoy most, which is zapping bad dudes over and over in various configurations with various powers. It also lets me get at the heart of what I like most about gameplay: character builds (planning and implementation). When it is time to plan and implement a character, I can just make him at level 1, plan him with Mids', make a couple of other level 1 characters I like on my other accounts, and just 3-box these guys from 1 to 50. It might take a few months, but hey, thats a few months of fun, zapping, levels, tickets.

So, really, the farming aspect is totally secondary, in that farming isnt the goal or purpose, but it is a result. I effectively repeat content I like, and gain pretty good rewards from it. The only reason it might not be considered farming is that I'm not doing it to farm. I'm doing it because I am having fun. Wasnt it George Carlin who said something like, "you ever go in the kitchen at 3 am and get a bag of chips or cookies, open the thing up, stare at the clock, eat the whole *bleep bleep* bag, just stare at the clock and eat until you are done, and go back to bed?" Yeah, George. Me too. RIP!

Lewis

AE Farming, Where a kid can be a kid and farm billion of influence to sell to a company for insanely low rates.


A bit long, but remember it is a first draft.

I enjoy farming, when I am in the mood.

There are other days where I am in the mood to badge hunt.

Do you also feel bad for badge hunters?

Farmers dont farm the AE.

AE is for PowerLeveling.

??? Generic IOs ??? SO's ???

What is it with the epic loot in every MMO being purple?

There's something of an unwritten sign convention. People expect purple to be ultra-rare, so it is.

I feel guilty enough about powerleveling my new character :P

only had him about a week and I'm level 30 :/

grante it is a buff and heal focused emp def. and I have a hard time soloing him (seriously I'm level 30 and died 3 time doing th cape mission :P )

and I'm not taking to many contacts with him, so he is mostly team based. I took rick davies, the start contact. Montague, I'm taking pilgrim next. basically just contacts that introduce you to specific area or game play mechanics.