Developers Corner

I have noticed in every mmorpg I have played, people seem to disregard the content at the beginning and the middle and only think about the "end game". Why do people do this? Is this a subconscious behaviour because people always feel the need to be the best or possibly need to feel the need to always be finished with something?

People diminish and the developers actually usaul diminish the quality that the beginning and middle of a game could be and only concentrate on the end of a game. Why do this? It doesn't make sense. If developers put in fun excellent content at various levels for example maybe some fun raids in the middle that provided a neat set for those levels then really what is the difference? There is none, only that you are not setting at the finish line. People seem to want to finish all the content to be finished ... yet they clamor for more content once they get there because they flew through the game. It is a very odd behaviour.

Could not every few levels have raids, dungeons, and pvp objectives as you progess through the game. Nice gear to obtained to help you with the next levels of content? Could levels not last longer than be irrelavent or is finishing the game you pay monthly for that important so you can set at the finish and then collect gear? It is still progression either way and that is what you are paying for with a mmorpg, progression so why do you want to level so fast? Think about it and ask yourself deep down that question.

It is time all levels have fun stuff to do in them. The whole game can be "end game" quality. That is what we need to be asking for not "how fast can we finish?"

If you are BURN, you remember it vividly.

Players where not caring about endgame or endcontent.  But they where burn with sucky endgame that ruins their game experience, completely.

I wouldn't think much about endgame myself, if it wasn't the fact that EQ burnt me.  I burn back any new MMO, not as a vengeance, but simply as a desesperate protection against lame-o-ness.  Many players have been burnt by raiding, RvR or PvP.  Thereby the heavy focus to make sure the new game won't burn them.  As long as devs try to find new ways to burn players, they will have this reaction from the players.  The devs choose the opposition, the players react.

Apparently, the devs didn't learn.  10 years since EQ and still hasn't learn.  Maybe soon.  Maybe not.  The players will react all the more stronger as long as the symptoms remain (sucky ending).

well i think the game designers  always talk about endgame stuff and only about endgame stuff because  i think thats what keeps players "playing" the game. they all want to get to endgame so they dont quit the game in between they play it to highest lvl which could take a whole year to do. and thats what i think they try to accomplish they coax u with endgame so you stay signed up for hoiw ever long it takes you to get  max lvl and than maybe you still play or quit, but they got a years worth of subscription from you.

Both of you make good points. Let's hope some innovation gets thrown in there some where. I am not talking about new races, graphics, or a new combat style. I am mainly speaking of the game structure. Personally I am a big fan of open ended skill based games instead of levels but that doesn't seem to be mmorpg developer's cup of tea.

Outside the box, you say?

Ok... how about no end-game? How about a development cycle that doesn't go in spurts?

I decide to play a certain game and stick to it because I get to do things that I consider fun... why do I have to stop doing those fun things at certain point and try to enjoy new things that may not be as much fun for me?

We have all become conditioned to the curent MMO business model: big release that attracts a lot of people but with only enough content to cover a limited number of months followed by expansions that, for a while, recapture the initial game dynamics/play style until you reach the end of the new content....followed by another expansion...etc.

A lot of development time and effort these days goes into inventing new, different things for level-capped players to do while awaiting the continuation of the game mechanics that attracted us to the game in the first place. That's a lot of wasted effort, imho.

Some companies (such as Turbine with LOTRO for example) try to address this, to some extent, by releasing a new set of 10 or so quests (called "books") that continue the story line for level 50 players... close but no cigar. First of all, the set of quests will keep you busy for about a day or 2 and they come once every three months and secondly, you are still capped at 50 and get no level advancement or rewards other than the usual new gear. Other than that, a level 50 player gets to participate in massive raids - if you have 8 hours to spare, or participate in a PvP system that feels like nothing more than a reluctant afterthought... despite the fact that they keep mis-channeling increasing amounts of developer time and resources into it.

Are the profits from an expansion (usually ~ 3 or 4 month's worth of monthly fees) that significant that they are willing to risk players abandoning the game due to sheer boredom while waiting for it? Why not just continue the development cycle going and add higher and higher level content at a pace that keeps up with the player population?

No end-game... what a concept! :)

Originally posted by Iselin

 Why not just continue the development cycle going and add higher and higher level content at a pace that keeps up with the player population?

No end-game... what a concept! :)

 

By adding higher and higher level content do you mean monsters with more and more hit points?  I don't see how this will add anything more than any continually contrived additions of content and will still run into the same time delays because content takes development.

If you REALLY want to get outside of the box, I say throw out levels all together, and dev created quests/content.  As we have all seen it becomes stagnate or is consumed too fast.  What is produced is more and more of the same.  Why not for once take advantage of the true potential of the genre and provide a dynamic world where players set their own goals that they can continually strive towards in cooperative and competitive ways on a variety of levels of interaction?

How about character progression being a small part of the game?  The bulk of the game is your characters life within an online massive multiplayer community.  Your toon ingame has a lifestyle to match your game playing style.