The Daily Grind: What makes you feel epic?

I enjoyed more of the SWG example above. I enjoyed making a name for myself and knowing that if I did well enough I would become peoples go-to for equipment or other goods. So for me, being 'Epic' means being part of a living breathing persistent world that revolve around the player, not around a static environment.

The one thing that makes me feel epic in games is blue glowy stuff. Blue glowy spells, blue glowy weapons, blue glowy mounts... to me, glowy and blue is ALWAYS epic, even if it's level 1! I just love blue glowy stuff!!

I always felt really good in FFXI being able to save random lowbies from getting slaughtered while soloing. It was always a great feeling hopping off of a chocobo to throw a cure or two to keep some one alive.

Pre-CU SWG I felt VERY epic in the PVP/PVE mixed battles: First, because the NPC vs. NPC fights actually made it feel like an actual WAR was going on; and second, because my involvement in killing other (Rebel) players and NPCs meant I was turning the tide in that epic struggle.

And since these were NPC deployments by players/the game and not just theme park scripted events, it felt WAAAY more real that the WOW Cataclysm quests that try to make you the hero in a psuedo-action movie.

I disagree with the statement that feeling epic is equivalent to feeling big and important. To me, feeling epic means feeling like you are a small part of something grand. Pre-Wotlk WoW was pretty epic. Remember opening the gates of AQ? That was pretty freaking epic. Participating in the war effort, gathering up in the hundreads at the gates, not being "the chosen one" but just a member of the free races of Azeroth ready to die for your freedom. The Wrath hit and everyone was "the chosen one". It just kinda killed my epicness. You meet the Lich King at every turn and in the end you were supposed to be his secret weapon or some crap. Lulz.

This works fine in a single player game but in an MMO I prefer being a grunt, getting sweeped up in the massive unfolding events.

What's more epic than killing gods? Or emperor-slayers? Guild Wars has it all! And now in GW2, fighting against mountain-sized dragons, will be beyond epic.

WoW also has its moments. Who doesn't love beating Onyxia? And when Deathwing comes? Giant dragons ftw.

City of Heroes -- prior to "Enhancement Diversification" (virtual ED which was pretty much equivalent to physical ED). We were obviously too powerful so Cryptic had to nerf. 3/4 of my guild dropped never to return to the game when it went live.

"Epic" to me is akin to scoring the winning touchdown or three-point basket in the final second of the forth quarter (I probably screwed up my sports analogies there, but hey I'm a nerd not a jock).

It's something that should happen routinely enough that it doesn't just feel like wild chance or dumb luck, but shouldn't happen so routinely that it feels like I could just faceroll my keyboard and garner the same results. Ideally there needs to be some element of strategy and/or hand-eye coordination in the mix (once again, so I don't feel like I'm just at the mercy of virtual dice rolls) and the risk of failure.

As for how that translates to MMO gameplay in general, well that's a bit harder to nail down. Sometimes it's a group effort… like beating that super-crazy-hard raid boss after a dozen full party wipes. Other times it might be more of a personal accomplishment, like discovering a great character build that really synergizes with my playstyle.

Imagine succeeding at a game of tug-of-war while walking a tightrope. That would make me feel pretty darn epic.

Finding some way to differentiate myself makes me feel epic. It's easy to be faceless in an MMO, even if you're at the top of the raiding or PvP totem pole. I like to be the person who finished the impossible rep grind, tamed the unique pet, finished the obscure quest line, camped the rarest spawn, can craft the hardest-to-find item, ect. It may not make me more powerful or important (in fact, it usually ends up making me something of a woodland-dwelling shunner of civilization), but ferreting out the things that nobody else bothers to do makes me feel like my character is more part of the world than just an extension of me, the player.

Beating seemingly impossible odds, while having to actually work for it.

Unfortunately, I don't get this kind of feeling from raid content at all. In a raid, I feel like I'm ganging up on some hapless boss, and even wipes feel more like someone was stupid than like the boss is actually such a worthy opponent to require plenty of players.

I guess it's the fact that raid gameplay, for each individual player, needs to be quite easy, otherwise the raid wipe rate rapidly goes from challenging to frustrating.

(On the other hand, I wouldn't be able to stand raid content where each player's part was actually challenging enough for me to get that epic feeling. I can't take many wipes if I either feel like someone else is making me wipe, or, worse yet, if I feel like I failed the group - so, in a group setting, I can't stand many wipes at all.)

Questing for 5 hours to get my lvl 20 warrior armour in World of Warcraft. First blue item I had ever gotten at that point. Felt pretty epic at the time.

Forget killing monsters or bosses -- after all, there is always someone else who has done it before me. What makes a game feel epic, truly epic, to me is travel. Large spaces, grand vistas, all that.

If it takes me 3 hours to get around in the game (if I choose to, of course) then that feels epic. I like the sense of travel.

Beau

Maxing my engineering and mining skills in WoW with my first character, or finally gathering the 5000 gold to unlock Artisan flying made me feel pretty epic.

Or maybe the first time I crafted Jeeves. Popping that out in a dungeon made me feel epic. every. time.

Then cataclysm launched and I no longer felt epic. Sad face.

@Tempes Magus I agree totally on the customization. What makes me feel epic is being able to have a cool, unique look from level 1. I don't want to have to wait 50, 70, 80 however many levels it takes to make end game just to get gear that doesn't look like rags or stuff I picked up at the second hand robe store.

I love games that separate stats from look. If I like the look of X set, but the stats of Y, I should be able to take the look I want!