I forgot how mudflated live eq was

[rayeatts]

Originally Posted by Solonus [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

To be fair, you just described every MMO expansion ever. That's always the case with any game with any new expansion; new items with a slight increase in stats from the previous expansion, and the active player base tends to be excited about obtaining a minimal upgrade because that's the carrot on a stick to keep playing the game. That's the whole point.

Sure, EQ's has gotten to the point where the stats are getting out of hand, but that's expected in a 15 year old game. It's no different than any other game expansion, just bigger numbers.

This is why they need to expand the game horizontally, not just vertically.

New content should include new leveling zones, new leveling dungeons, with incentives to use them.

Then the new leveling content would require more players to roll new toons if they wanted to experience the new low level content. That would breathe new life into the low zones constantly, providing an enjoyable experience for new players, thus preventing the game from evolving into something for veterans only.

[Thulack]

Originally Posted by rayeatts [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This is why they need to expand the game horizontally, not just vertically.

New content should include new leveling zones, new leveling dungeons, with incentives to use them.

Then the new leveling content would require more players to roll new toons if they wanted to experience the new low level content. That would breathe new life into the low zones constantly, providing an enjoyable experience for new players, thus preventing the game from evolving into something for veterans only.

Not everyone enjoys alts or having to restart to experience "new content" People dont want to go horizontally. They want a reason to keep playing and advancing their characters.

[Solonus]

Originally Posted by rayeatts [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This is why they need to expand the game horizontally, not just vertically.

New content should include new leveling zones, new leveling dungeons, with incentives to use them.

Then the new leveling content would require more players to roll new toons if they wanted to experience the new low level content. That would breathe new life into the low zones constantly, providing an enjoyable experience for new players, thus preventing the game from evolving into something for veterans only.

True. And this is one area where i'd say EQ out did even current MMOs. When Kunark and Velious came out, they added a whole new set of leveling zones to compliment the already existing ones in the old world. (I can't speak on current EQ expansions, but I know the expansion that had the Drakkin race had some new lower level zones to exp in.) Yes, said leveling zones in Kunark/Velious were of a higher difficulty/mobs had higher hp/dps, but that was due to McQuaid being butthurt over his content being cleared too quickly.

That's something we don't even really see in current MMOs. Every WoW expansion is simply new content for going from the previous level cap to the next. Same thing for FFXIV, and almost every other MMO out there.

[rayeatts]

honestly, the very idea of "expanding" a game is that it will result in a different game than the one that people originally fell in love with. The conclusion I'm drawing now is that they simply should not release too many expansions at all. Maybe one or 2.

But the game should be much closer to a finished product when it is originally released. But then the question becomes, "What is a finished product?"

Because right not live has like 20+ expansions and it's still not finished. So I guess that idea is not possible then.

Back to the drawing board.

[Swish]

keyboard tourettes is a thing

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

Probably a game theorist could calculate how long a mmo, following the usual gear vs encounter progressions, can last before it turns into "looking for ways to milk some more out of this gameworld" mode. I thought Luclin and Pop were fine content (encounter) wise, but the AA system (gear) was weak and clearly was nerfing the game.

It is like a vicious cycle. People want new content, which means new challenges. But they also want char progression, which means more power. Add those two vectors together, you get a spiral of silly encounter mechanics and op'd chars.

mmo game design and players need to make a choice. Do we want new challenges, or new powers?

Luclin and Pop w/o aa's and lvl increases would have been awesome. Probably unbeatable. Therefore unprofitable. But I'd play it.

A note to the p99 devs.....

[rayeatts]

In my opinion, the worst thing a game creator can do is make the game too easy. If there's no challenge, there's no sense of accomplishment and it's not fun to play.

The second worse thing they can do is introduce real money purchases into the game. This is a no brainer bc all sense of accomplishment goes straight out the window.


I think "maintaining a strong sense of accomplishment" should be a primary goal of any new mmorpg coming out.

[Swish]

^ agree, but they're all at it...gotta keep those profit margins up.

[rayeatts]

Originally Posted by Swish [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

^ agree, but they're all at it...gotta keep those profit margins up.

Thank god p99 has no profit margins.

[Xaanka]

one of the most challenging moments i've had in any mmo was xfering one of my characters to the lowest pop pvp server at the time in wow & forming a pick up group to kill kael'thas. on a server where he had only been killed once, by a guild who xfered on and had left long ago. everybody in that raid hated each other and nobody on that entire server thought it could be done. there were some really good players hidden on there because the server was empty + on a good battlegroup, but that was about it at the time. no real pve progress on the whole server. they did it on the 2nd attempt after i booted some noob hunter who sent his pet in on astromancer.