Item Farming, Why?
We've all done it, doing the same raid over and over again hoping to get that kick ass item everyone is desperately trying to get. My questions is not why we do it, that's pretty simple, it's because we want that damn item. The question is why are MMORPGs setup like this to begin with? The whole point of a quest, raid or big boss fight is the challenge of completing it. Finally completing a raid or killing a boss that's challenging is a great feeling, but only seconds after victory you're presented with a slap in the face as the item you were hoping to get wasn't dropped or worse yet someone else got it. So what now? Well we all know what's next, time to run it again and again and again until hopefully one day we're lucky enough to finally get the item.
No matter what quest your doing, after running it a dozen or so times you can't help but start hating it. And lets hope you're not in a small guild and have to run it with a random group, cause you know there's going to be one guy that f@cks it up wasting 2 hrs of your time.
What I'd like to see are raids that are meant to only be completed once. Once completed everyone in the group gets the item they wanted, preferably class specific. I think this would help put a stop to item farming, which you know you hate doing and puts more emphasis on the challenge of the game. I know when I complete a raid or big boss fight, even if I don't get the item I was looking for, I don't want to have to do it again. Why should I? I already beat it, there's no replay value in fighting the same guy again. Sure if someone in my guild hasn't completed it yet, I'll help out, but aside from that I don't want to have to do it again. I want to move on to the next challenge.
Consider a MMORPG where there are 12 (arbitrary number) raids. Each raid is extremely challenging and in order to get all your epic items you need to complete all 12 raids. Compare that to most MMORPGS today where you first find out which raids/areas drop the item you want, then run those 5-6 raids over and over again until you have all the items. I'd much rather have to do 12 where once I complete it I'm done and can move on, instead of doing the same 5-6, completing each one a dozen times hoping to get a favorable drop.
For me I'd like to see the repetative aspects of MMORPGs removed and concentrate more on the challenge of the game. The fact that item farming is such a big part of MMOs is one of the main reasons why I end up quiting a game once I reach the level cap. There's only so much I can take and when that time comes I'd rather quit playing then have to do the same quest/raid again.