[MUD-Dev] Playing catch-up with levels

[Threshold RPG]

On 21 Apr 2004, at 13:37, Byron Ellacott wrote:

> Given the cost of developing a large scale MMO, you want to be
> fairly sure that there'll be an audience for it, and the best way
> to be sure of an audience is "Like that game, but better!"  So, if
> that game has levels and power progression, so do you.  But
> better.

Have any major games ever considered time based caps on levels? By
that I mean something like this:

  For the first 3 months after release, maximum level is level 20.
  For the next three months, maximum level is 40.
  At the end of a year, maximum level is 50.
  At 18 months, maximum level is 60.
  At 24 months, maximum level is 70.
  etc.

Then you balance the game so a moderately serious gamer (lets call
that 2-3 hours a day, average of 15 hours per week) could reach that
cap in 2/3rds the alloted time.

A system like this encourages people to create "alts" that they
could play with friends. It also means even if someone is behind,
they can catch up before the next level cap increase.

Expansion packs for some MMORPGs somewhat implement this by raising
the level cap a few levels every 6-12 months.

To further improve level gap issues, at certain time points the
level advancement cost of levels significantly lower than the cap
could be cut in half. For example, assuming the arbitrary numbers I
quoted at the beginning:

At the end of year 1, the first 25 levels have half their original
cost.  At the end of year 2, the first 35 levels have half their
original cost.

I wonder how players would feel about a more consistent level cap
increase system like this that made it easier to catch up and
encouraged alternate characters.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Hartman, J.D. (http://www.threshold-rpg.com)
President & CEO, Threshold Virtual Environments, Inc.
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