[MUD-Dev] Removing the almighty experience point...

[Kiztent Hatepriest]

On Mon, 01 Nov 2004 13:57:32 +1000, Byron Ellacott <bje at apnic.net> wrote:
> asteroid at rocketmail.com wrote:

>> That said, I think what most long-term players likes even less
>> then grinding is advancing too fast. There are a lot of
>> complaints about WoW's 10-15 days to level 60 journey, atleast
>> among the more "hardcore" players. At the end of the day, it is
>> all about the journey there, not the final level.

> There's nothing forcing players to level in 10-15 days.  From what
> I've read of World of Warcraft, there's plenty of content to enjoy
> at all level ranges.  So if the journey is what it's all about,
> the only person responsible for a player's journey being too short
> is that player.

But for the hardcore player, the goal isn't the journey to level,
it's reaching the end and attacking endgame content.

To the 'real' hardcore player, anything that is deemed necessary to
attack endgame content is 'required' and getting these
'requirements' is an impediment to doing what they really want to
do.

Conversely, if the requirements are too low (you level too fast),
then 'anyone' can attack endgame content, and there's no sense of
achievement in being in that so-called elite.  Making the game more
accessable to all lowers the gratification of 'beating' the content.

Of course, I'd question the wisdom in catering to the hardcore
gamer. I pay the same subscription fees.  I probably consume less
bandwidth and other resources (server memory and CPU), so why is
what I want less important?  The logic seems to be that hardcore
players and their accomplishments serve as advertisers for the game
(look at Furor, he's so cool, if you work hard you can be like him).

Looking at the release of Gates of Discord (Everquest) and the
player drain it engendered (Sony stopped releasing subscriber
numbers after the release, so I'll assume the worst) by catering to
only the top players and failing as an expansion, I wonder if
catering to the hardcore gamer is a viable (maybe 'smart' is a
better word) strategy.

> In EverQuest, it is a considerable achievement to reach the top
> level.  It represents thousands of hours of invested time,

No it isn't, and no it doesn't.

It took 3-4 days for the first level 70s to appear (from level 65)
after the release of Omens of War.  I've brought characters to level
65 in under 42 days played (1008 hours) - admittedly, it's not the
highest level any more, but I'm not on that treadmill any more
either.

Levelling is hard because the 'casual' player tries to force the EQ
paradigm to work in a way the designers did not intend it to.

I have a lot of thoughts about the differences between casual
players and hardcore, but that's another thought for another time.
Suffice to say, the MMORPGs represent reality well.
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