Dungeons and Dragons Online introduces faction grinding!

"With the launch of the Twilight Forge Module, we will be introducing a new system through which players gain favor with different groups by completing specific adventures. Favor allows you access to special items and rewards; the higher your favor, the greater the rewards. The Patron system will grow, offering the chance for new and better rewards as well as greater ties and involvement within the various patron groups."

I wonder how much more crap like this was on the table early on in development and then never implemented? They seem to have created a skeleton game and slowly are filling in organs. DDO took the classic MMORPG formula and then spiced it with bits'O'Dungoens and Dragons... creating a steaming pile of stink.

While this sort of thing has always been around in D&D in the form of guilds it is far more advanced. You can get buildings, be the leader of a guild, and eventually this earns you the right to hire henchmen. There is unlimited rewards because of how pen'n'paper roleplaying works because its you and your five buddies sitting at a table. In a persistant world with hundreds of players the idea of faction.... err sorry Patron System... equals grinding.

The truth is that Turbine can't keep up to their promises of monthly content releases... hell not even bi-monthly content releases. Coupled with the fact there is barely enough content in game to keep anyone interested they are resorting to the time sinks of MMORPGs past. Grinding sucks.

UPDATE: Reworded and filled out commentary.

JR "Razor" Sutich of Warcry seems to agree with me.