While I played through the mudflation over the years on live and had to deal with twinks and even twinked my own alts (and enjoyed it that aspect but never managed to get my twinks up high), I do have to say that all of this is not necessarily good for the game. Buying our gear from the bazaar rather than getting it ourselves via adventuring or questing or crafting or purchasing from venders ties us up in a knot. The gear we purchase is so mudflated that we become reliant on it. We get pushed into a position where the only smart way to do it is to buy it. What this does is it limits gear progression by cutting away gear that we'd get on our own and (even) in a group. It reduces its value in terms of complete character progression. What it does is it causes us to want to level up even faster so that we can once again take part in the full gear progression.
Some people think twinking promotes grouping in the lower levels, but I don't think it does. Twinks usually twink so they can level faster. Why group with other players that will kill much slower???? It doesn't make any sense, especially considering that the group experience patch hasn't been put in yet (along with the hybrid experience penalty removal). For example, if you're in a 2-person group then the other player has to contribute at least 50% in order to break even. If that person is contributing less than that then there's a good chance you'll be better on your own. For a twink character, this issue is HUGE. If a twink is just going to group with non-twinks and thus level up slower then this is working against the very idea of twinking in the first place.
This is one of the reasons why when I started on p1999 in 2010, I chose not to twink any of my alts. I wanted to level naturally and to be a part of groups in a participatory way. By this I mean that by not being a twink I made everybody else in my group better and thus more important overall. I found it also made the game funner because I learned how to make studded leather and did more of the quests and payed more attention to upgrade my gear. I think the game was better that way since I was playing a central role.
I also chose to not go past level 15-24. I made several alts and leveled up to 7-19. Why? Because I wanted to help noobs. I also like that part of the game since it feels so homely and welcoming. I feel that in the later levels, the death penalty and the long runs and the separation from homecity is too tight for me. I was never here on p1999 to be ubber. I never intended on being tight. I wanted to be loose. But more than that, I wnated to be where the new players were. And they were between the specials level of 1-20. Besides, there's a lot of content in that level range and lots of classes to try. I never really got tired of it. I left p1999 when I finally decided that the legality of the whole thing bothered me and I couldn't stay any longer. I would rather wish that SOE would come out and officially support p1999 rather than stay hidden and mysterious.
Unfortuantely, the lessons of hte past have not been well learned and I do not think they will be remedied here on p1999. In fact, many mmorpgs do not address this well at all. It's the current paradigm. It's not about twinks or unrestricted gear, per say, it's about mudflation. Mudflation is the all devourer of mmorpgs.
|