I’m a total veteran of ARPGs—played far too many to count. There’s the Diablo series, its spiritual successors (Titan Quest, Path of Exile, Lords of the Fallen, Last Epoch);
Older ones like Mage Knight 2, Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader, Dark Samurai, Blade of Darkness;
Domestic titles such as Hellgate, Qin Shang, Sword of the Immortals, and South Korea’s Demon Sealer—so many obscure ones you’ve probably never heard of.
I’m obsessed with top-down ARPGs, and I’ve beaten every game listed above. The first playthrough—with its exploration and character growth—is always fascinating. But after that, grinding boils down to the same loop: getting better affixes on my character’s gear, optimizing numerical builds to perfection, while the difficulty, mobs, and bosses just get their stats inflated exponentially in return.
In this case, I personally find multi-playthroughs overly repetitive. Without the drive of gear trading or a compulsive collection habit, I lack the motivation to “grind.”
Once my Build (BD) is more or less finalized, the only things keeping me going are taking down the final-difficulty boss or claiming all season rewards—and then I’m done with the game (A/FK).
Yet there are people who grind for thousands of hours: opening the game every day, repeating the same cycle, with maybe a 0.1% improvement at best each day.
It feels like they’ve turned the game into “postgraduate exam prep” or even “a 9-to-5 job,” doesn’t it?
Maxing out Paragon levels and gem tiers, forcing themselves to push Greater Rifts to Tier 150—no matter what.
While everyone else plays the “meta builds” of the patch, I dive into niche BDs. From conceptualizing to finalizing the build, then thinking, “Hey, I can share this BD now!” And seeing a flood of players in the comments asking to “copy my homework”? That gives me a secret little thrill.
Grinding for gear feels like the “next piece” is always better; crafting gear is a total crapshoot—either you get the perfect roll, or it’s a complete dud.
Then there are the “meme players” who hunt for glitches to get easy wins (“wheelchair carries”/cheese strats), and Hardcore mode players showing off their skills and chasing that adrenaline rush. It’s all about mastering the game, and it’s enough to fuel anyone’s sense of conquest.
I think I get it now! At its core, this is just the difference between choosing “casual difficulty” or “masochistic difficulty” in a game.
Some people savor the magic of the first playthrough; others get hooked on pushing the game’s systems to their limits. There’s no right or wrong—just different ways to play.
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