Quote:
Originally Posted by Itchybottom
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I always felt that the guards in EverQuest were too high level for their areas. I understand why, I just think it defeats some of the immersion. Captain Silvermoon in Greater Faydark for example, could walk into Crushbone and get rid of the orc hordes in a matter of minutes. Deputy Budo in Misty Thicket could handle Lord Pickclaw just with dirty looks.
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If they didn't make them so strong than evil players would probably kill them constantly. The higher their level, the less likely this will happen. There're other options. They could make their loot pathetic, but that wouldn't really make sense would it? They could make their faction hurt an evil player, but that wouldn't really make sense either since evil fights good. End result is that there always needs to be guards available so that new players aren't burdened too greatly. So they have to prevent the guards from being unavailable or killed, at least on a consistent basis. It's a balancing issue and especially important for MMOs.
Immersion works best in single player RPGs. It'll never work in MMOs consistently because people are different and do not have the same tolerance. I mean, no one wants to wait for the guy that's still talking to the non-player about the quest (he wants to feel immersed in the world), so they run off and tell him to come or they'll kick him from the group and invite someone else. That's pretty much how it works. In MMOs we're all pushed to go at the same pace, and when we can go at our own, it's basically a single player RPG being re-marketed as an "MMO" and given a new face. Community > You. Sucks for immersion. This is why MMO's can sometimes feel like a job. It's not that what you're doing isn't fun, it's that you feel responsible for your community of friends and party members. It's like when we're in a group (on project1999). If your group needs you, like if you're a healer, you don't want to ditch them for minor reasons, so you often stay against your wishes. It becomes more like a job than something that's fun because you want to be there for them (but not yourself). It's a tug-of-war. And it will always remain that way if it's a true MMO.
I've been around forever so don't school me. I've never met an MMO that met my particular immersive desires. The only way I've ever truly met my immersive standards is by downloading mods for single player games and customizing the experience to ME. Sure, I can play an mmo alone (by soloing). I can even pick an MMO that's in reality a single-player game and play that. It's not the best, though. And at the end of the day, I like to sometimes play MMO's because I like to see other people. When I get tired of always being rushed and not feeling immersed, then I pick up a single player game. That's how it has happened for me.
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My addition to this "What were they thinking?" is.... what were they thinking when they made the clothspinner merchant in south qeynos move from the crows tavern to the blacksmith and when when you hail her to buy/sell she resumes moving again in about 10 seconds and the window is lost. I mean, all that needs to be done is to make her pause for a longer period after she's hailed. AS it's now, you have to hail her over and over and over every 5 or 10 seconds if she's doing her waypoints.