Quit grinding. Go explore. Elanthia is filled with neat little nooks and crannies.

Have you visited the guild library? A few nice books in there.

Been to the Dark Hand, yet?

Maybe visit with the various player orders and see what they are up to.

Even if you're on a free account, there's plenty to explore in Zoluren.

I play because it's a sandbox, and I like to build things up in it. As others have said, don't treat this as a job. If you start getting bored in one area of the game, go do something else. Here's what I like to do:

1. Grind. I like to set goals and achieve those goals. Sometimes they're as arbitrary as circle x or stat y, sometimes they're specific goals like skill x so I can go to y territory. Sometimes it's getting to the next tier of abilities. You can't do this non-stop. Well, I can't. That's part of the reason I split up my time across all characters.

2. Experiment. I like to learn new things about the game. I like to try out different combinations of skills. I'll try a craft I haven't tried before. I like to see how far I can push things and which action is the most efficient. It's unfortunately harder to do this with the spell library change. I wish that would be reverted or made a little more accessible, but there are still lots of things that can be done.

3. Socialize. I'll try to join some of the event nights. I'll pop into one of the gathering spots and just chat or join in someone else's RP. I recently tried siegery and had a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to trying jousting one of these days.

4. Scripting. I like to hone my scripts to make them more efficient. I like to see how many skills I can push into them or lock or get those spells just right so that I don't run out of mana or add new features.

6. Change my look. I like to change up my look. Streamline it by hunting down the right item hiders or finding that one piece that reads just right. It's unlikely that anyone else would see it, but I do. Some people extend this to collecting. They want a wall of text when you see them or look around their house. That's fine too.

7. Explore. I'll go to distant places and explore them. There are parts of Therengia that I've never seen in all of these years, quite a bit of the islands, and most of P5. I'm saving that one for a longer exploration.

8. Treasure hunt. I'll try mining or gathering (looking forward to trying logging) in search of that rare material. I'll buy a map and do some searching. I'll go to a few places I know of that drop a lot of coin at reasonably low levels and save up.

9. Reroll. I deactivate (don't delete!) my character and try a new guild. Some for a second or third time. Lowbies are fantastic. Rapid advancement, and a stark difference in ranks. They all have their own niche too. Cleric quests are fun the first time. Moon mages are fun to learn how to play. Bards are fun in their support roles. Traders are fun (really!) figuring out the caravans (just get a gweth). Thieves are fun trying to get into the guild (don't cheat). Necros are more sadistic fun, but they still have that freshness. The other benefit is that most of these early guilds have quests and challenges as part of their leveling. Yes, you can look them up, but try them without first. It's harder than you'd think, and a lot of fun.

10. While I've accepted that the power creep puts this beyond my characters and play style, a lot of people enjoy PvP. (One of my favorite moments in game was a 10 day PvP challenge in the fallen. Everyone rolled up a level 0 character. We scripted for 10 days, and we had an arena style bracket. There were worthwhile prizes (mirror blades, polo cloaks, wall shields, etc..). It was a lot of fun, even if there was a bit of cheese. (Winner: stealth/bow ranger without armor, followed by Mind Blast/Burn Moon Mage also without armor). It was a lot of fun. You could theoretically do something like that in prime. You just need to get the word out first. You could even do it with explorer accounts to not take time away from your main.

In short: Don't just grind. That's an easy way to burn out on a game that has more to offer

I like watching the numbers go up, so for me the grind is part of it. As others have said though, if you start to get bored grinding then go socialize or explore the game. There is something like 25,000+ rooms in DR with a lot of cool content and lore.

Check the calendar on the home page for events that are going on and attend some. You will meet a lot more people at them that are willing to interact and RP. I spent the first 7 years I played this game socializing and never made it past 20th circle, and I've spent the last 7 do nothing but grinding skills. There is something for everybody in this game if you are open-minded and willing to try new things.

Many reasons!

Character development, for me, is huge. While it's by no means the ONLY way to RP, the most rewarding way I've found is to create a character with depth, with individual goals and talents and fears and flaws, and their own history and beliefs, and just see what happens, how they grow and change in response to the events in their lives. This isn't really an 'active' thing, so much as the broad appeal over time for RP in general.

In a more immediate sense, tying into that first point, I like the random interactions I've had with fellow players, and even with the game itself. The Cleric Guild's quests are a good example of the latter - you don't HAVE to just look up a quest's step by step guide and breeze through the mechanics, you can create little events for yourself (even solo) to make it a more interesting and memorable experience.

Perhaps the most important bit to keep in mind with those two points is that RP is not a strictly defined thing, it doesn't require an event or planning or prior interaction or even direct interaction with another person. It's playing the role of your character within the setting, and that gives you quite a broad canvas to work with.

But that said, I also enjoy the mechanics side of things quite a bit. For me, gaining news abilities and moving to new hunting grounds are really fun milestones to strive for, and tie into the character development side of things fairly directly. Like character development, I'd consider this a 'long term appeal' kind of thing.

For shorter term enjoyment I turn to writing scripts; there is something very appealing about starting with a complex problem and building a simple, effective solution that works. TF would probably give me more freedom to write long-term automation scripts, but I'm perfectly happy sacrificing that to focus on ATK scripting in order to get the benefits of Prime's RP and population.

That's what comes to mind off the top of my head, at least. As with any RPG, there's no single way to play it and enjoy it.

I do nothing but train on one character. I think I've spoken to others or gwethed less than 10 times total. That is my srs business character. I also have a heavily social character. On which I do nothing but be as incredibly ridiculous as possible to see what I can get away with. I also re-roll that one occasionally to retry different guilds.

I am one of those people who have been playing since the beginning. I take breaks sometimes but always come back for more. This is one of those games where you can do anything and be anyone. If you don't enjoy grinding, don't do it. There is so much more to enjoy than just the gaining of skills or circles.

My best advice is to spend some time talking to other players. Find a few or even one, that you like playing with or even can't stand. Loving or abhorring the other people playing around you, and the resulting interactions, are what makes this game so addictive and give you drive.

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aim: the_sly_fox