What is “Progress” to you?

In most MMOs, the ‘goal’ is progression. Whether it’s progress in a story line, a character, or progressing a world or map, it’s there. What actually counts as progression differs person to person. A lot of us set progression ‘goals’ in games, things we’d like to see, do, or accomplish. It’s no different for me in EQ2, and I’m having a lot of fun making up my own rules as far as progression goes. Most of them involve crafting. I added my 8 alts + main to my guild, and they’re slowly all reaching level 10 in their crafting profession. I don’t imagine I’ll level all of them in their adventuring class, but crafting is something that I can easily do and find incredibly relaxing.

With that being said, not all of my goals are for crafting. My ‘goal’ for my main character (that would be Stargrace, my coercer) is to try to earn at least 1 level a day. When it becomes too difficult to earn that 1 level I’ll try to lower it to 50% experience per day. That way I don’t feel incredibly pressured to keep up with everyone else who is leveling, but nor do I feel as though I am falling far behind. It does put me slightly behind the curve in the fact that every 30 days the vote for a new expansion is supposed to pop up, but I’m hoping most of the server votes no, and we unlock every 90 days instead. 30 just seems way too short a time to blow through an entire expansion.

Then there are my smaller goals. Doing dungeons, heritage quests, getting achievements. Things that don’t necessarily mean progress in ‘typical’ terms, but are a form of progression for me. Completing shiny collections, being on the lookout for player-written books. Maybe I’ll re-create my library. My goals change from game to game  – but only some of them. Others remain exactly the same (such as leveling).

Do you need progression in a game in order to enjoy it? What forms of progression do you enjoy? Is it different for every game? Let me know below in comments and as always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.