Playing alone is almost always never fun. Mindless grinding alone is usually not fun either. Do you guys think guilds are an essential factor of your motivation?
I don't think guilds are essential to quelling boredom, especially seeing as most guilds I've seen here seem to be very clique-oriented, with very few friendly, sociable people. I would say that it's easier to find certain friends and talk with them, rather than finding a guild. This way, you can pick and choose each name you can add to your buddy list, whereas unless you're the leader/officer of a guild, you have no control over who's in your guild. Aside from that, listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks, as well as watching YouTube videos or TV are all things that you can do to keep yourself from getting bored. Right now, the US Presidential election is more of a circus show than anything else so that could provide for some lulzy, entertaining subject matter to keep you occupied As a general observation, what I've noticed is that it's easier to get bored when listening to simpler music and less dynamic videos/television programs. I have a lot easier time grinding for extended periods of time when I'm listening to something like Chris Poland, Miles Davis, Judas Priest, or King's X for example, than I do when I listen to The Rolling Stones or Ratt. Your mileage may vary, but I'm just talking from experience. Anyway good luck with the grind and I hope you find some motivation eventually.
I'd say being in a guild can be a big factor, but try and get connected with people you can relate to and talk to them about other stuff not relating to Royals. I've made a bunch of really good friends like that and it's one of the biggest motivation to continue playing and contribute to the community.
Did you leave a message or a note that you'd be gone for 2 weeks? I know some guilds are more strict about activity, but I also know they're willing to be lenient if you let them know ahead of time. Personally I think guilds are a great place to meet others and find other people for boss runs etc. In fact, my first real friends came from meeting guild members and their friends. It's all a network of people. While you can meet a few people by pqing and grinding, it's hard to develop a large network of people who you can learn from, who are at the same stage as you, or just starting. Then again, I know people who don't have guilds, but do such fine. This is because they have a large buddy network instead and people to talk to. Ultimately, I feel like maplestory was made to be played with others for the most part which is what keeps me playing a lot too. I know I wouldn't have gotten this far if I didn't have friends I wanted to play with. I can also grind with tv like others have mentioned when I want some alone time too, so you don't have to feel obligated to socialize either. So while maybe not a necessity, the socializing aspect is a huge factor for me and most of my friends
I believe guilds are a huge part of having fun in maplestory. When I first started this server I was too drowned in the nostalgia to care about anyone! However, as time passed I started getting quite bored so I started trying to make friends. I made a few friends in the early days in wolf spider parties with my Bishop, just chatting while HSing. However, I still didn't feel like I got very close. I then got into a guild for the first time and it was a huge change! That guild is sadly dead now but one of my good friends invited me to the current guild I'm in and I absolutely love everyone! We also got allied recently so I'd say guild + alliance = maximum fun! My guild, alliance, and great friends have also extended beyond just maple. I have lots of my new friends on facebook, snapchat, Instagram, and Skype! I've also made quite a few friends on various HT runs. Overall I definitely recommend giving a guild a try. Check out the guild forum and apply for one you like . Happy Mapling!
To be fair, when i joined royals i didn't get any deep connections. Sure everyone was nice until the 90+ range where many are more aggressive than a rabid squirrel for maps. Everyone is so loose with making bonds to where there are people in multiple guild, which is different from the server i come from where you are really tight with your guild and their basically fam. Ultimately i did make some solid friends, which helped with boredom a bit when my group that came here werent on. To say they kept me motivated though isn't so true as i already knew what i wanted and had no drive to be competitive as the server already accomplished everything.
Skype calls with friends, music playlists, chatting with buddies and stuff. It was how I grinded for hours when I actually bothered to grind. lol
