Instead of making Levels means powerlevel, levels should be a means of tracking how long you have been in game. The level of experiences playing the game.
What if levels = times played, won't that be something unique.
So if you have an player that has played from beginning, his level would be up to hundreds, and those new to the game would be in their teens
Life is a Maze, so make sure you bring your GPS incase you get lost in it.
Understandable. But wouldn't hiding the "behind the scenes" numbers give the same concrete effect with an increase in the abstract "feel" of the game?
I'm just arguing for the sake of discussion, I am a numbers person - I like stats and I like complex stat systems that require critical thinking, planning, etc.
Won't work. The theorycrafters will run experiments and reverse engineer all the numbers.
In the old days of WOW, no hp/mana numbers are displayed. Only percentages. The theorycraft made a mode to estimate those numbers. Blizz caves and show the numbers.
In fact, there is no reason not to, if a majority of the players want to see.
I mean, the idea of stats and levels is a simple way to quantify the "character growth" that is so very important and some would say critical to the story telling tool/design of the "heroes journey" but...
Growth/progression is about power. Using numbers is just an easy way to show it.
Power is really about .. today the goblin kill me easy, tomorrow i can blow him up with my fire ball.
Given we're talking about a computer, numbers are the only way to quantify character growth.
Do you have to quantify it?
Wouldn't it be the same as "gaining power" because you have more skill at playing the game and that is why "yesterday the goblin could kill me but today I defeated him?"
And isn't making a friend to help you kill the goblin also a form of growth/progression and thusly power?
Me as a person? No, that idea is just stupid for a rpg. If I am playing a mage, he is casting the fireball not me.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
I find it funny that most level based games with this pace issue are Themeparks. Based on the name alone, a real themepark doesn't even have progression. It just has TONS of content to go explore and have fun with. Now...again, I think the trick here is to make Themeparks or Sandbox or preferably to me, Hybrids of both with scaling levels or no levels at all. Oh, wait...isn't that what GW2 and TSW and possibly ArcheAge going to do? Seems like the answer is right around the corner to the OP's consternation and many others. Myself included.
Also...some games do this, but give the option to turn off XP in level based games. Rift has it now as does Vanguard and I'm sure a few others. Not sure why this isn't a staple in the genre, as it gives people more options to play the way they like. Then again, with a scaling mechanic, xp gain can keep on coming as fast or slow as it wants, as the content will always be viable at any level.
My personal preference is No Levels at all- just skill based.
But if you are going to make a game with levels, then yes... slow leveling ftw.
So the skills are 100% when you get them and you do things to "level" up the value of those skills? Also, you get all the skills you will ever have at the character creation and you don't do things to up the "level" (AKA Number) of skills?
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
Comments
Instead of making Levels means powerlevel, levels should be a means of tracking how long you have been in game. The level of experiences playing the game.
What if levels = times played, won't that be something unique.
So if you have an player that has played from beginning, his level would be up to hundreds, and those new to the game would be in their teens
Life is a Maze, so make sure you bring your GPS incase you get lost in it.
Won't work. The theorycrafters will run experiments and reverse engineer all the numbers.
In the old days of WOW, no hp/mana numbers are displayed. Only percentages. The theorycraft made a mode to estimate those numbers. Blizz caves and show the numbers.
In fact, there is no reason not to, if a majority of the players want to see.
Me as a person? No, that idea is just stupid for a rpg. If I am playing a mage, he is casting the fireball not me.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
I find it funny that most level based games with this pace issue are Themeparks. Based on the name alone, a real themepark doesn't even have progression. It just has TONS of content to go explore and have fun with. Now...again, I think the trick here is to make Themeparks or Sandbox or preferably to me, Hybrids of both with scaling levels or no levels at all. Oh, wait...isn't that what GW2 and TSW and possibly ArcheAge going to do? Seems like the answer is right around the corner to the OP's consternation and many others. Myself included.
Also...some games do this, but give the option to turn off XP in level based games. Rift has it now as does Vanguard and I'm sure a few others. Not sure why this isn't a staple in the genre, as it gives people more options to play the way they like. Then again, with a scaling mechanic, xp gain can keep on coming as fast or slow as it wants, as the content will always be viable at any level.
My personal preference is No Levels at all- just skill based.
But if you are going to make a game with levels, then yes... slow leveling ftw.
So the skills are 100% when you get them and you do things to "level" up the value of those skills? Also, you get all the skills you will ever have at the character creation and you don't do things to up the "level" (AKA Number) of skills?
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"