[MUD-Dev] Blog about GDC implies changes to MMORPG population

[Michael Hartman]

Amanda Walker wrote:

> One of the things I have been greatly enjoying about WoW (and to a
> lesser extent, SWG), is that it's not so prone to "the rest of my
> guild got 10 levels ahead of me while I was away on business, and
> now I'll never have a chance to catch up ever again."  SWG and WoW
> have the most cohesive guilds I've experienced yet, mainly because
> the members can continue to play together even at different
> levels.  Now, sometimes it's with alternate characters--the low
> barrier to "leveling up" makes it a lot easier to go try different
> approaches for variety--but I don't think that ease of play
> necessarily translates to lower group cohesion.

Um........ what?

WoW is the LEAST conducive to varied level grouping of any MMO I
have ever played.

In a group, everyone earns xp based on how the mob "cons" to the
highest level person.  You cannot help a friend who is a few levels
lower than you level up, because he won't be catching up. He'll
actually fall behind.

Even if you are only a few levels apart, the heavy quest emphasis
will often result in the two characters not being able to do the
same quests at the same time because of the minimum level
requirement.

Also, if a mob is 3 or 4 levels higher than you, you'll miss like
crazy and FORGET about landing a spell. Thus, the lower level person
is almost useless.

With the way the aggro range works, bringing someone a few levels
lower than you is often a huge liability as they cause mobs to aggro
from all over the place.

And no, creating "alts" to play with your friends is not a game that
is conducive to varied level grouping.  The hyper fast advancement
system just allows for a kludge workaround.

--
Michael Hartman
President and CEO, Threshold Virtual Environments, Inc.
http://www.thresholdrpg.com
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