There is nothing wrong with instant gratification

[Daragust]

In addition to what has been said, instant gratification causes you to want the next thing even faster and easier. This means that over time you get less and less out of each gain and need either larger gains or more of them to be happy. Many MMO's have burned out because they simply can't keep up with the gratification cycle they have instantiated and people get bored/numb. There have been studies, not gonna go find one but there have been several, that prove that people take better care of and feel more pride in objects they worked for than those they were given. I agree there is a tedium point where the reward isn't worth the effort, but little to no effort means a worthless reward. Aim for the middle of that curve and you'll be a much happier person.

[FAVisceglia]

Fun is subjective. Personally? I have fun working hard for something and then being rewarded. This doesn't mean the game doesn't need changes, but those will come–some may even be coming in the next hotfix.

MMOs are dynamic and evolving constantly. If you're not willing to wait and see, as you are so quick to dismiss, then MMOs are, perhaps, not for you.

[killergerms]

Also this game just came out, wait till 2.1

[Supersomething]

Running an instance 60 times is not about instant gratification, its just terrible design that is not fun.

This is something that I think most will agree on, but again the end game was unfortunately not fleshed out which is becoming the trend of late for most MMO developers. At this point it becomes a decision for the individual as to whether or not they want to stick it out and wait for additional content to be added in the next patch, or leave the game and come back at a later time. However things like adding more content immediately after the game has been released is not feasible unless you're EA selling release day DLC for a nominal fee haha. Believe me I am right there with you on not enjoying the umpteenth time of running CM for my Darklight gear, but when I get to that point I just work on something else heh.

[Iskander]

1. all MMOs are time sinks. This is an undeniable fact. An MMO has no ending (until they turn the game off) so the content is meant to be a time sink that players invest their time into.

The fact that people want to rush to 50 is not the fault of the company, but the player. If content is meant to last until next patch, and players want to zerg through it in half the time, then that's there fault and they will have to wait for the next patch like everyone else while grinding endgame stuff. SE said content would be released every 3 months. Not their fault you wanted to blitz through it in 1.5 months. Have fun with your endgame.

2. The main "sin" is the entitlement of players that think that the company needs to run on the player's schedule. This couldn't be further from the truth, and it irritates elitists and those with entitlement issues. "I cleared the content already, I shouldn't have to be left grinding until there's more content. Give me more."

3. Grinding is a part of every single MMO ever in existence. There has never been endgame where they say "here, enjoy getting into the hardest content right off the bat." NO. You have to grind through easier content to make yourself useful in harder content so you don't get thrown around like a ragdoll and hurt your team.

4. The summary of OP's "instant gratification":

[killergerms]

Personally i wish they made it harder to get our relics

[MomoOG]

Running an instance 60 times is not about instant gratification, its just terrible design that is not fun.

Bad design has nothing to do with instant gratification vs working for something.

[Altera]

I think spending a lot of time to reach a goal in a MMO and finally obtaining said goal is WAY more rewarding than getting things instantly

I remember that time when my guild managed to get server first on Heroic Lich King 25man in WOW after spending about 500+ attempts on him prenerfs. The awesome experience of hearing everybody on Ventrilo going nuts and shouting YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH WOOOOOOOT OOOMG WE DID IT, was WAY more greater experience than the loot we received afterwards.

I hope I get similar experiences when my FC gets to clear Bahamuts raid and finally getting Relic +1 and AFs+1s etc. I dont care if it takes months, when we finally get it done, it will be worth it as I have a ton of fun goofing around with my friends in FC and LS

[Freakiie]

In addition to what has been said, instant gratification causes you to want the next thing even faster and easier. This means that over time you get less and less out of each gain and need either larger gains or more of them to be happy. Many MMO's have burned out because they simply can't keep up with the gratification cycle they have instantiated and people get bored/numb. There have been studies, not gonna go find one but there have been several, that prove that people take better care of and feel more pride in objects they worked for than those they were given. I agree there is a tedium point where the reward isn't worth the effort, but little to no effort means a worthless reward. Aim for the middle of that curve and you'll be a much happier person.

This is a very good point I've seen in F2P games over and over. The people that didn't spend thousand of dollars (myself included) to get high lvl, well geared characters have a lot more attachment to those characters than the ones that just smack thousands of dollars at the game, sit around instantly in top gear and then go like "so what should I actually do in this game?". A lot of those super heavy cashshoppers quit just as fast as they got their gear and give their accounts away, while the people that worked hard are a lot more attached to their characters and you wouldn't see them part with them anywhere near as fast. Unfortunately with how easy some games become you don't really get that attachment to your characters anymore since it just feels way too easy and there's no sense of accomplishment. Your character isn't something you poured hours of work in anymore, it's just there and it seems almost logical it's max lvl and everything.

Now people will go on about skinner boxes and how that's bad etc, but lets face it, working towards a goal is a lot more fun than just sitting around and instantly getting your top gear. It's why so many people don't like private servers, there's just no sense of accomplishment. While I can't deny having to run the same dungeon over and over isn't very good design, especially when there's a lot of potential dungeons SE could make viable, instant gratification is even worse.

Getting endgame gear should feel like an accomplishment, but the journey towards that gear should be fun too. Unfortunately too many people nowadays can't see the journey anymore and just want the goal right now, which considering how straightforward the journey SE has made is, isn't such a big surprise. With the rebalancing of tome drops with the next hotfix I hope this changes and we actually get multiple viable dungeons to run. That way there doesn't need to be an instant gratification, but the journey isn't the same dungeon over and over either.

[Rumpelstiltzkin]

I want there to be different kinds of goals. Like I want the journey to max level to take some time, but be really fun because there are a lot of short term small goals while leveling. After that I want there to be long term goals as well as short term goals so that while I do get "instant gratification" I still have larger things to work for instead of just wait for the next patch. I don't really ever want to have everything, because that is the moment I get bored and quit. That is why I dislike tiered progression only, because it only leaves people waiting for patches, there should be horizontal progression as well, meaning not everything is made useless each patch.