Brighter Shores’ release into Early Access last week has run into some mixed reactions and questions about the decision to focus on one separate combat profession per episode of the episodic MMO.
Andrew Gower responded in a brand new blog to explain why this was the decision and to ask everyone to give the game a chance, since things will broaden. He also made sure to emphasize that whatever you work on in a particular episode, even if it's not the focus in the next episode, all the progress you've made will remain with you. Anytime you’re in Hopeport, the main hub, everything you've learned will still be useful and you can still progress in those professions.
In episode 2, there will be four new professions introduced. These are Carpenter, Gatherer, Scout, and Woodcutter. Even when you reach this next episode, Hopeforest, you're not starting from scratch (and they’ve already changed the character level you see to be total level across all profession levels). However, you’ll primarily have to rely on those professions introduced in the episode.
Why this design choice? Time. And offering something new with each episode. Brighter Shores is intended to be fun and playable whether you have 10 minutes or 10 hours. With the difference between how much someone can put in or wants to put into the game, some people will significantly outpace others and be much higher level and at a completely different place in their journey.
“However, when we introduce new episodes we want them to be fun for everyone,” and so this is looking to make sure that new content isn’t too easy and rapidly over for those with lots of time progressing and too hard and impossible for those with less time. Another part of this equation is that when developers raise level caps or impose level scaling, it results in dead content and a lot of early areas and things that never get revisited unless you are new or creating an alt.
The “breadth and depth system” in Brighter Shores intends to make exploring in new episodes easy, but also feel meaninfgful. Remember the aim to avoid dead content? they don't want to feel like you need to finish everything in episode 1 before you move on to episode 2, but there's more to do in any of the episodes you've unlocked, and you can continue leveling up, taking on side quests, and there will be more added to these episodes over time.
Gower acknowledges that some of these ideas and concepts may not have been communicated as effectively as they should have. He's asking everyone to give the free to play (no microtransactions) game a chance because they want you to feel like each episode offers something fresh and isn't something to just close the door on forever when new things unlock.
