I thought the painfully long levelling system in mmorpg's was there to make us buy subscriptions month after month before we reach the end game content?
Could be wrong though.
No, that's not the point of them.
The whole "end game is what MMOs are all about" is a mentality concocted largely by the population of players who came to the genre with WoW and afterwards. For some reason, they developed this idea that if you're not "level cap" then you're missing out on "the best content"..
And of course, when they get there, they race through everything, run every raid ad nauseum (*after* complaining about how they hate grind. Irony!)... and then are complaining about a lack of content. After blaming the developer for not catering only to them, these poor "disenfranchised" players then set their focus on the next MMO that they're certain will "get it right". So they join this new, better MMO where they proceed to race through the content to get to end game.. race through the end-game, get bored, complain of not enough content and how the developers have "failed"... They then move on to the next game... wash, rinse, repeat... It's like watching an army of enraged lemmings run face-first into a wall, get up... scowl at the wall for being there before proceeding to run face first into it again.... wash, rinse, repeat.
Somewhere along the line, they decided *they* had it all figured out and *they* knew how MMORPGs are *supposed* to be. They decided (and have often declared) that those who have been with the genre since the start - and even more so those who played the MUDS and such that they grew out of - somehow were "out of touch". Of course... the people playing the game as intended, taking their time, enjoying *all* the content - not only the parts that "level them faster" - are "out of touch", meanwhile it's the "end-game" types who keep running face first into wall after wall after wall... blaming the devs every time for "failing to develop the game right".
One wonders if they'll ever figure out that maybe *they're* the ones who've got it all wrong?
At one point, I was optmistic that they would get it. However, I'm not holding my breath.
I still say it's symptomatic of what I call a "console gamer mentality". In console games, the objective is to "win"; to "beat the game". There is no "beating" a MMO which goes on indefinitely so, but apparently they needed some kind of "finish line" to strive for, so they found a surrogate in the "end game" or "level cap" and decided it was the single most important part of the game.
Put bluntly... The people who think MMOs are 'all about end game" and that developers are "doing it wrong" by not eliminating leveling and making the games start at "end-game" simply *don't understand the genre*.
Those who think quests and all that other content along the way from 1 to level cap are just there as "filler to keep you playing longer so they can milk you" *don't understand the genre*.
Now... certainly, the genre has split off into smaller sub-genres... we're seeing the whole FPS area slowly expanding.. sandbox versus themepark, and so on. That's fine. The more options the better. The Massively Multiplayer part can apply to anything so long as it has enough people co-existing in some manner of virtual world.
The RPG part, however, is about ongoing adventures, developing a character, exploring a world, fighting off creatures, and so on... RPGs have never been about "starting at the end game". And anyone playing a MMORPG who would argue for all the lower and mid-level content to be eliminated in the name of "getting to end game faster" does not understand the genre.
And please, spare the challenges of "where does it say RPGs have to be about progression and levels?". There's something called "precedent". And the precedent set by literally *decades* of RPGs, from table-top to computer has been about long, on-going adventures and development of characters... *not* short runs to the "end" to grind for "wondrous treasures" 'til you're sick of it.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I thought the painfully long levelling system in mmorpg's was there to make us buy subscriptions month after month before we reach the end game content?
Could be wrong though.
No, that's not the point of them.
The whole "end game is what MMOs are all about" is a mentality concocted largely by the population of players who came to the genre with WoW and afterwards. For some reason, they developed this idea that if you're not "level cap" then you're missing out on "the best content"..
And of course, when they get there, they race through everything, run every raid ad nauseum (*after* complaining about how they hate grind. Irony!)... and then are complaining about a lack of content. After blaming the developer for not catering only to them, these poor "disenfranchised" players then set their focus on the next MMO that they're certain will "get it right". So they join this new, better MMO where they proceed to race through the content to get to end game.. race through the end-game, get bored, complain of not enough content and how the developers have "failed"... They then move on to the next game... wash, rinse, repeat... It's like watching an army of enraged lemmings run face-first into a wall, get up... scowl at the wall for being there before proceeding to run face first into it again.... wash, rinse, repeat.
Somewhere along the line, they decided *they* had it all figured out and *they* knew how MMORPGs are *supposed* to be. They decided (and have often declared) that those who have been with the genre since the start - and even more so those who played the MUDS and such that they grew out of - somehow were "out of touch". Of course... the people playing the game as intended, taking their time, enjoying *all* the content - not only the parts that "level them faster" - are "out of touch", meanwhile it's the "end-game" types who keep running face first into wall after wall after wall... blaming the devs every time for "failing to develop the game right".
One wonders if they'll ever figure out that maybe *they're* the ones who've got it all wrong?
At one point, I was optmistic that they would get it. However, I'm not holding my breath.
I still say it's symptomatic of what I call a "console gamer mentality". In console games, the objective is to "win"; to "beat the game". There is no "beating" a MMO which goes on indefinitely so, but apparently they needed some kind of "finish line" to strive for, so they found a surrogate in the "end game" or "level cap" and decided it was the single most important part of the game.
Put bluntly... The people who think MMOs are 'all about end game" and that developers are "doing it wrong" by not eliminating leveling and making the games start at "end-game" simply *don't understand the genre*.
Those who think quests and all that other content along the way from 1 to level cap are just there as "filler to keep you playing longer so they can milk you" *don't understand the genre*.
Now... certainly, the genre has split off into smaller sub-genres... we're seeing the whole FPS area slowly expanding.. sandbox versus themepark, and so on. That's fine. The more options the better. The Massively Multiplayer part can apply to anything so long as it has enough people co-existing in some manner of virtual world.
The RPG part, however, is about ongoing adventures, developing a character, exploring a world, fighting off creatures, and so on... RPGs have never been about "starting at the end game". And anyone playing a MMORPG who would argue for all the lower and mid-level content to be eliminated in the name of "getting to end game faster" does not understand the genre.
And please, spare the challenges of "where does it say RPGs have to be about progression and levels?". There's something called "precedent". And the precedent set by literally *decades* of RPGs, from table-top to computer has been about long, on-going adventures and development of characters... *not* short runs to the "end" to grind for "wondrous treasures" 'til you're sick of it.
Yup. I honestly believe that the people that don't like progression, questing, and everything ELSE that you get to do before "end game" (gawd how I despise that term)....simply don't like MMORPGs. They may well like MMOs....but not MMORPGs.
The better MMO's are just as fun leveling up as doing "endgame" content. If leveling up is boring or tedious, you not only lose new players who don't want to put up with it, but old players who won't reroll. Even if the engame is The Greatest Content Ever, sooner or later someone will want to play a different type, going to melee to ranged or vice versa.
Comments
No, that's not the point of them.
The whole "end game is what MMOs are all about" is a mentality concocted largely by the population of players who came to the genre with WoW and afterwards. For some reason, they developed this idea that if you're not "level cap" then you're missing out on "the best content"..
And of course, when they get there, they race through everything, run every raid ad nauseum (*after* complaining about how they hate grind. Irony!)... and then are complaining about a lack of content. After blaming the developer for not catering only to them, these poor "disenfranchised" players then set their focus on the next MMO that they're certain will "get it right". So they join this new, better MMO where they proceed to race through the content to get to end game.. race through the end-game, get bored, complain of not enough content and how the developers have "failed"... They then move on to the next game... wash, rinse, repeat... It's like watching an army of enraged lemmings run face-first into a wall, get up... scowl at the wall for being there before proceeding to run face first into it again.... wash, rinse, repeat.
Somewhere along the line, they decided *they* had it all figured out and *they* knew how MMORPGs are *supposed* to be. They decided (and have often declared) that those who have been with the genre since the start - and even more so those who played the MUDS and such that they grew out of - somehow were "out of touch". Of course... the people playing the game as intended, taking their time, enjoying *all* the content - not only the parts that "level them faster" - are "out of touch", meanwhile it's the "end-game" types who keep running face first into wall after wall after wall... blaming the devs every time for "failing to develop the game right".
One wonders if they'll ever figure out that maybe *they're* the ones who've got it all wrong?
At one point, I was optmistic that they would get it. However, I'm not holding my breath.
I still say it's symptomatic of what I call a "console gamer mentality". In console games, the objective is to "win"; to "beat the game". There is no "beating" a MMO which goes on indefinitely so, but apparently they needed some kind of "finish line" to strive for, so they found a surrogate in the "end game" or "level cap" and decided it was the single most important part of the game.
Put bluntly... The people who think MMOs are 'all about end game" and that developers are "doing it wrong" by not eliminating leveling and making the games start at "end-game" simply *don't understand the genre*.
Those who think quests and all that other content along the way from 1 to level cap are just there as "filler to keep you playing longer so they can milk you" *don't understand the genre*.
Now... certainly, the genre has split off into smaller sub-genres... we're seeing the whole FPS area slowly expanding.. sandbox versus themepark, and so on. That's fine. The more options the better. The Massively Multiplayer part can apply to anything so long as it has enough people co-existing in some manner of virtual world.
The RPG part, however, is about ongoing adventures, developing a character, exploring a world, fighting off creatures, and so on... RPGs have never been about "starting at the end game". And anyone playing a MMORPG who would argue for all the lower and mid-level content to be eliminated in the name of "getting to end game faster" does not understand the genre.
And please, spare the challenges of "where does it say RPGs have to be about progression and levels?". There's something called "precedent". And the precedent set by literally *decades* of RPGs, from table-top to computer has been about long, on-going adventures and development of characters... *not* short runs to the "end" to grind for "wondrous treasures" 'til you're sick of it.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Yup. I honestly believe that the people that don't like progression, questing, and everything ELSE that you get to do before "end game" (gawd how I despise that term)....simply don't like MMORPGs. They may well like MMOs....but not MMORPGs.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
The better MMO's are just as fun leveling up as doing "endgame" content. If leveling up is boring or tedious, you not only lose new players who don't want to put up with it, but old players who won't reroll. Even if the engame is The Greatest Content Ever, sooner or later someone will want to play a different type, going to melee to ranged or vice versa.