The OP should really not be so focused on endgame and actually try to enjoy the leveling process. Leveling a new character in WoW is a hoot and I never can understand how people just want to speed level to 80. From time to time leveling will get boring so then you switch to somethign else or take a break from the game.
My main problem with 'end game' is not that it exists but rather how narrow it becomes. I love how Blizzard is finally realising after all these years that raiding is nothing special and there are plenty of other viable endgame options to explore. However, they are still in the 'baby steps' stage.
If you make the focus of the leveling process you get a boring leveling process. If you make the focus of the endgame too narrow, you get a boring endgame. The trick is to spread out what the game is about and give peopel options. The devs need to focus on content and not on gear or flashy raids.
The OP should really not be so focused on endgame and actually try to enjoy the leveling process. Leveling a new character in WoW is a hoot and I never can understand how people just want to speed level to 80. From time to time leveling will get boring so then you switch to somethign else or take a break from the game. My main problem with 'end game' is not that it exists but rather how narrow it becomes. I love how Blizzard is finally realising after all these years that raiding is nothing special and there are plenty of other viable endgame options to explore. However, they are still in the 'baby steps' stage. If you make the focus of the leveling process you get a boring leveling process. If you make the focus of the endgame too narrow, you get a boring endgame. The trick is to spread out what the game is about and give peopel options. The devs need to focus on content and not on gear or flashy raids.
i can tell you right now the feature that stop your leveling
will be huge
imagine say you get deadmine quest at lowest lvl
hell they re often all red now those dungeon can literally become epic
witch in a lot of people mind was the biggest issue
it sound trivial but alot of people like to have chanllenge and the way they made it easy to reach 60
made a lot of great place obsolete
and a lot of title can only be gotten trough specific ways
hell i found a group doing brs just because they were farming the title leroy lol
yep being able to lock level when you get a quest and its still red will be way more enjoyable
then powerleveling trough wow ever been in the past year and a half
I have to say that from what i've seen of MMORPG's these days it is ALL about "end game", take expansions for example, they are aimed at the end game players majority of the time purely to try and keep people who have done everything playing the the game. It's depressing really as after thinking for a while about it thats just how things are in online games, you can't stay mid or low level forever so you'll eventually reach end game content. I'm not a fan of raiding or PvP'ing unless i'm in the mood for it but unfortunately thats all there is left to do at the end of the day, i spend a very long time levelling characters in games cause i try to experience ALL the content in the entire game. A lot of the time once i reach end game content and play it for a while i'l either concentrate of crafting with that character or create a new character thats a pure crafter (depending on the game as i'm an long time player of SWG), i usually keep the high level character for helping others out through things or PvP'ing if i'm in the mood but once i've leveled my first character he's hardly used cause i spend my time doing other things on a different character.
i don't think the "end game" trend can be changed though as what could any game possibly add in order to keep people interested once that point is reached? so far there's raiding and PvP'ing in almost all games, not everyone enjoys doing that kind of thing all the time and they'll either leave the game for another or do as i have said above. In the end it's a trend thats been set in almost every possible MMO and until someone designs content other than Raiding or PvP'ing there will always be people that try to pass the time doing other things or leaving the game.
As a note to those that enjoy Raiding and PvP'ing thats fair enough and you have what you enjoy, but there are many people out there that would like a break from the norm.
Come on game devs, use that creative side and design something for everyone to enjoy.
MMORPG just a tag, like someone said its just multiplayer games, MMORPG is IMO much more.. player controlled areas with solid game system is going far. WoW is nice till you realise its just same stuff expansion to expansion no "endgame" there.
First of all, all parts of the game should be fun.
I never liked WoW because I'm an altoholic. I created many chars and never got to 40 in the year or so that I played. To me the game was boring as hell. It was ok when there was still world pvp (pre tbc).
But I like a game where people can find a group or solo at any level (CoH/CoV). To me the WoW system of solo until you hit max level, then do nothing but raid is just stupid.
Actually its only stupid thinking you could only solo. Really, REALLY stupid;) Its also stupid playing a game for a year then claiming its "boring as hell". Seriously, a YEAR paying a fee to be bored?
IMHO Guild Wars is the only game in which you can have fun from the beginning.
The best part is that reaching level cap hardly takes anytime and most of the game is played at level cap. Reaching level cap is so easy that the first time I played it I didn't even realize I had reached level cap(I started with Factions).
Only if Guild Wars not a completely instanced game I would have continued playing, I still do PVP occasionaly.
I hope the developers follow the same formula in Guild Wars 2.
I am one of those who really despise the end game content. When character progession stops - the game stops. Its that simple. (and no, getting new gear is not character progession in my book)
I wish a game company would borrow the AC2 quest system. It had a soft level cap around level 80 with an unreachable end level of 150. The where a large amout of big, meaningful and repeatable group quests, ranging from level 42 - 75 (call them raids if you have to label them, but without gear rewards), spread around the game world. Here is the genius part; the xp reward was based on % what you needed to level, so a lvl 60, 70 or 80 could join a lvl 45 quest and still be rewarded. And if the group was full, you could just start a new group and tag along. This created a awsome community with groups containing all kinds of levels, which quested because it was fun and for xp, not because we needed a piece of gear; which too often creates egotism. And, with always a level to look forward to, or using your xp to advance skills, or even buying perks and hero skills with hero points, the character progession never stopped.
I would like to see this version of a quest system someday in a new mmo.
With a well thought out, Bioware-quality story to follow as you level, it could be the end of this "force you to level if you want to enjoy this game that all your friends are playing so you have to pay longer for a subscription with little to no effort on our part" crap that Blizzard put into the market.
Now, I'm not dawging on WoW, I spent a lot of good years of my life enjoying the game with my friends.... after the unbearable months of leveling.
I'm not calling TOR the WoW killer, because in all honesty, the only thing that will kill WoW is Blizzard with something like a World of Warcraft 2 or time itself.
However, I'm just gonna throw down a wait-and-see approach towards TOR, could be a dream MMO if they pull it off.
Until then, Eve Online and various f2p mmos will keep me occupied!
Playing: *sigh* back to WoW -------- Waiting for: SW:TOR, APB, WoD --------- Played and loved: Eve and WoW -------- Played and hated: WoW:WotLK, Warhammer, every single F2P
Comments
The OP should really not be so focused on endgame and actually try to enjoy the leveling process. Leveling a new character in WoW is a hoot and I never can understand how people just want to speed level to 80. From time to time leveling will get boring so then you switch to somethign else or take a break from the game.
My main problem with 'end game' is not that it exists but rather how narrow it becomes. I love how Blizzard is finally realising after all these years that raiding is nothing special and there are plenty of other viable endgame options to explore. However, they are still in the 'baby steps' stage.
If you make the focus of the leveling process you get a boring leveling process. If you make the focus of the endgame too narrow, you get a boring endgame. The trick is to spread out what the game is about and give peopel options. The devs need to focus on content and not on gear or flashy raids.
i can tell you right now the feature that stop your leveling
will be huge
imagine say you get deadmine quest at lowest lvl
hell they re often all red now those dungeon can literally become epic
witch in a lot of people mind was the biggest issue
it sound trivial but alot of people like to have chanllenge and the way they made it easy to reach 60
made a lot of great place obsolete
and a lot of title can only be gotten trough specific ways
hell i found a group doing brs just because they were farming the title leroy lol
yep being able to lock level when you get a quest and its still red will be way more enjoyable
then powerleveling trough wow ever been in the past year and a half
I have to say that from what i've seen of MMORPG's these days it is ALL about "end game", take expansions for example, they are aimed at the end game players majority of the time purely to try and keep people who have done everything playing the the game. It's depressing really as after thinking for a while about it thats just how things are in online games, you can't stay mid or low level forever so you'll eventually reach end game content. I'm not a fan of raiding or PvP'ing unless i'm in the mood for it but unfortunately thats all there is left to do at the end of the day, i spend a very long time levelling characters in games cause i try to experience ALL the content in the entire game. A lot of the time once i reach end game content and play it for a while i'l either concentrate of crafting with that character or create a new character thats a pure crafter (depending on the game as i'm an long time player of SWG), i usually keep the high level character for helping others out through things or PvP'ing if i'm in the mood but once i've leveled my first character he's hardly used cause i spend my time doing other things on a different character.
i don't think the "end game" trend can be changed though as what could any game possibly add in order to keep people interested once that point is reached? so far there's raiding and PvP'ing in almost all games, not everyone enjoys doing that kind of thing all the time and they'll either leave the game for another or do as i have said above. In the end it's a trend thats been set in almost every possible MMO and until someone designs content other than Raiding or PvP'ing there will always be people that try to pass the time doing other things or leaving the game.
As a note to those that enjoy Raiding and PvP'ing thats fair enough and you have what you enjoy, but there are many people out there that would like a break from the norm.
Come on game devs, use that creative side and design something for everyone to enjoy.
For me leveling IS the game. Endgame is just that - end of the game.
My only problem is that I enjoy leveling so much I usually come to end of my games too soon /shrug
MMORPG just a tag, like someone said its just multiplayer games, MMORPG is IMO much more.. player controlled areas with solid game system is going far. WoW is nice till you realise its just same stuff expansion to expansion no "endgame" there.
First of all, all parts of the game should be fun.
I never liked WoW because I'm an altoholic. I created many chars and never got to 40 in the year or so that I played. To me the game was boring as hell. It was ok when there was still world pvp (pre tbc).
But I like a game where people can find a group or solo at any level (CoH/CoV). To me the WoW system of solo until you hit max level, then do nothing but raid is just stupid.
Actually its only stupid thinking you could only solo. Really, REALLY stupid;) Its also stupid playing a game for a year then claiming its "boring as hell". Seriously, a YEAR paying a fee to be bored?
IMHO Guild Wars is the only game in which you can have fun from the beginning.
The best part is that reaching level cap hardly takes anytime and most of the game is played at level cap. Reaching level cap is so easy that the first time I played it I didn't even realize I had reached level cap(I started with Factions).
Only if Guild Wars not a completely instanced game I would have continued playing, I still do PVP occasionaly.
I hope the developers follow the same formula in Guild Wars 2.
I am one of those who really despise the end game content. When character progession stops - the game stops. Its that simple. (and no, getting new gear is not character progession in my book)
I wish a game company would borrow the AC2 quest system. It had a soft level cap around level 80 with an unreachable end level of 150. The where a large amout of big, meaningful and repeatable group quests, ranging from level 42 - 75 (call them raids if you have to label them, but without gear rewards), spread around the game world. Here is the genius part; the xp reward was based on % what you needed to level, so a lvl 60, 70 or 80 could join a lvl 45 quest and still be rewarded. And if the group was full, you could just start a new group and tag along. This created a awsome community with groups containing all kinds of levels, which quested because it was fun and for xp, not because we needed a piece of gear; which too often creates egotism. And, with always a level to look forward to, or using your xp to advance skills, or even buying perks and hero skills with hero points, the character progession never stopped.
I would like to see this version of a quest system someday in a new mmo.
This is why I have really high hopes for TOR.
With a well thought out, Bioware-quality story to follow as you level, it could be the end of this "force you to level if you want to enjoy this game that all your friends are playing so you have to pay longer for a subscription with little to no effort on our part" crap that Blizzard put into the market.
Now, I'm not dawging on WoW, I spent a lot of good years of my life enjoying the game with my friends.... after the unbearable months of leveling.
I'm not calling TOR the WoW killer, because in all honesty, the only thing that will kill WoW is Blizzard with something like a World of Warcraft 2 or time itself.
However, I'm just gonna throw down a wait-and-see approach towards TOR, could be a dream MMO if they pull it off.
Until then, Eve Online and various f2p mmos will keep me occupied!
Playing: *sigh* back to WoW
--------
Waiting for: SW:TOR, APB, WoD
---------
Played and loved: Eve and WoW
--------
Played and hated: WoW:WotLK, Warhammer, every single F2P