I think this is a question that needs to be looked at a bit more closely in every game. Take Warcraft or Wildstar and their End/Elder game respectively. That's the main reason people play them. Most of the loud dedicated players want raids and dungeons. People constantly skip leveling content, they power level, buy guides, skip quest text, fly over mobs, avoid as much unnecessary work as they can and find the path of least resistance.
Yet every expansion needs more leveling content, with better questing, and larger areas...
To what end?
Don't get me wrong, the vast majority of players will love going through it....the first time. And then we're back at 'end game.'
Part of me thinks we should stop dividing our MMOs into two separate game, leveling and end, to create a more constant experiance.
But then I guess that's what sandboxes are for.
-McJigg
Me, I want leveling content to stay relevant to max level players by making sure they can't just steamroll through it (eg. downleveling, or say, the option to put it to hard mode for better rewards) and offering something of value to go back and revisit it.
ReplyDeleteI've been doing decently just roaming through the mid-level zones in GW2 harvesting herbs and ore to sell on the TP because the demand's a little higher than the number of players willing to go back and do that.
In GW1, there was vanquishing, which turned the whole leveling game into New Game Plus on a harder difficulty. I believe ESO has something like that also, but don't play it, so can't comment further on it.
The dirty secret to vertical progression games like WoW or Wildstar is that they need the leveling content every expansion to keep drawing back the casuals, so that the hardcore have someone to speed by and feel superior to.
All developers really need to do is make an account-based meta-achievement based on the number of characters you level up. Even better, attach unique and desirable rewards to every max level character completed. No need for an end-game at all. It'll be the same as doing repeated dungeon runs or raids only you'll be leveling up characters.
ReplyDeleteI'd play it. Oh, wait...I already do...