I'd have to say mudflation. It destroys old content. And then companies try to replace said content with a mediocre effort. It's usually something like 3-5 pieces of content for every 20 pieces of old content. It's also much faster experience to boot. The goal is to level up players. They also do this because they want to have updated graphics and mechanics. Since it would be a lot of work to update all of the old content, they almost always choose to just make something new. And for the same reason that it's too much to update, it's also too much to replace 1 to 1, so it's usually much less than what was previously offered. Most MMORPGs are guilty.
I could say this for every MMORPG. The answer is probably a diverse one. But the way I'd go about doing it is to prepare in advance and to have methods ready when population or dynamics change. For example, the people who designed Anarchy Online never thought it would last beyond 4 years. So their design included this expectation. Most MMORPGs make disposable content and do not intend on ever updating most of it.
And something else is when companies shift their ideas... (explained below)
Anarchy Online had a very robust design concept early on that removed a lot of grind from the gameplay. You could solo your way to max level. There was much less downtime. But then they saw how successful EQ was and decided to make the Shadowlands expansion. They wanted to pull players from EQ and have a more open world feel to things. Shadowlands depended a lot more on groups (teams) and added more downtime and did not have a grid or many of the other characteristics associated with AO in its earlier evolution. As a result, the expansion was mostly a failure. AO failed its audience and did not anticipate changing trends. This is another thing that MMORPG companies do time and time again and it usually has bad consequences.
Companies succeed when they do it right the first time. When they do it afterward it usually just fractures the community and doesn't mesh well with the rest of the game. Eve-Online is a exception. My advice to companies is KNOW WHO YOU ARE and be comfortable with your own skin. It's good to learn from others and it's good to try to attract players from elsewhere, but if you lose yourself in all the mess then you'll lose your players too. In the end, a company needs some confidence in itself. Do not look at what others do TOO MUCH. Be yourself.
I guess this is similar to what people call "vision". The problem with vision is it can be terribly wrong. While it does give a creator confidence and can keep a good idea going for a long while, it can also cause a bad idea to stubbornly stick around. So I am unsure whether to say a company or a group of developers should have a "vision". If Anarchy Online had had a vision and kept it then maybe they never would have made Shadowlands. Maybe they would have expanded on their original ideas rather than abandoning them. But it could also have turned out bad. Maybe they would have held onto something that did not work and could not persevere. Bottom line, a company should not let its vision and confidence blind it, but neither should it shift around too much.
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