Calling max level "completion" is a laughably bad definition.
If you haven't completed a game (done everything) then how can you claim you completed the game?
Why are people so fixated on level? ...many of whom are the same people accusing modern gamers of being fixated on the destination instead of the journey (while they're ironically the ones fixating on one destination (max level) while being blind to the rest of the journey.)
I am using the word "completion" as shorthand for "reaching level cap"; you can replace the word with "aardvark" for all I care. I do not care if people have "done everything" in an mmo; it is really of no interest to me. Frankly I would find it incredibly odd if anyone other than a rather obsessive and tiny minority of mmo players had "done everything".
I am merely using level cap as a measure of how much of the content people actually play in MMOs, and since level cap is an easily identifiable target it make far more sense to use this than some airy reference to gaining some silly sparkly gear or repeating some endgame dungeon x number of times.
You are getting a little pointlessly hung up on semantics.
Reaching level cap is not the same, you can do that and still have relatively little knowledge of the game, and certainly does not give any indication of how much of the games content has been explored, and gives absolutely not indication of anything the character in the game might have achieved, assuming achieved anything other than reached level cap.
In short, reaching level cap means that they reached max level, it does not mean they experienced the game in any meaningful fashion nor mean that they have even played the game that much, not these days, that much is certain.
A more 'meaningful' statement would have been, they had played x amount of hours or days etc playing a game, as it would give more of an indication as to what they had actually done, far more so in an MMO than whether they had reached max level or not, just as an example you could easily reach max levels in WoW, SW;TOR, FFXIV;ARR etc, and have barely touched the game, levelling is that easy, doesn't mean they played much of the game though, and this really is not a matter of semantics.
Then go and make a thread on that subject. Seriously, there are a small minority of people on this site who will just take a bit of a fun thread designed to see if people reach a given target in the games they play and analyse it to the point of utter tedium. Go and make another thread with the wording you are so keen to see.
You wouldn't be able to "complete" a real MMO. MMO's should never have an end game. But I am old fashioned and havent caught up on the console themepark rts lobby games now being called MMO's.
Originally posted by Onomas You wouldn't be able to "complete" a real MMO. MMO's should never have an end game. But I am old fashioned and havent caught up on the console themepark rts lobby games now being called MMO's.
Oh? What is your mythical title with unlimited content, where the two-percenters can't consume faster than the developers can create?
Please tell us, a lot of folks are seeking endless entertainment from a single title, so they don't have to ever, ever change.
I define "completed" for the purposes of this thread as "reached level cap". I am excluding endgame, rinse and repeat, gear grinds; however, I would include a continuing story post level-cap (eg. GW1) as part of the pre-end-game experience.
I was thinking of all the mmo's I have tried over the years and how few of them I have actually completed (and by "complete" I mean "reached level cap"). As a bit of background I spend probably an hour or so most days gaming and I have tried the vast majority of AAA mmos (and several sub-AAAs) released since 2004, and I have reached cap in the following (in no particular order): -
WOW vanilla and TBC with one character,
GW1 many times with many characters plus a lot of time spent capping and in pvp,
SWTOR with two characters,
Neverwinter with one character,
Rift with one character (pre-expansion),
AOC with one character,
Defiance (at least I have completed the rather short story several times).
Pirate 101 with one character.
And despite all the mmos I have played for varying periods of time, that is the full list of mmos in which I have reached level cap (I may have forgotten a couple). That is eight out of a very conservative estimate of thirty- a hit rate of less than one in three.
As for end game I have only played it in vanilla WOW and GW1 (in the latter, end game was essentially capping skills, aesthetic items, achievements, and pvp). This is at least in part due to having more free-time when these games were in their prime.
This realisation led me to wonder whether I just have an incredibly short attention span, but then I thought of all the single player games I have happily completed over the same period. They are far, far too numerous to list, but the list would contain all the usual suspects and a lot of smaller indie games. On top of this I have spent many hours in online pvp shooters, pvp racing and the like.
The mmos I have played to cap generally have the following in common: They either have/had a strong solo story element and/or a strong community at the time I played and/or a very swift levelling curve. I can discount the latter (swift levelling curve) as it is not something that would compel me to play but it is something that would deliver me swiftly to level cap even without any intention to commit to the game.
When I consider my reasons for leaving mmos they are several, but I would list the top three as:
Weak/ rude/ selfish/ disinterested communities,
Anti-social gameplay mechanics and particularly solo-centric levelling and hub-towns where you queue for zerg-dungeons. I would caveat this point to the effect that anti-social gameplay can often be tempered by a strong solo story. i.e. I can play an anti-social mmo if the story is strong enough to distract from the fact it is a poor "mmo".
A lack of immersion created by invasive cash shops, excessive fast travel, limited character customization etc.
The problem with an anti-social mmo is that if you are essentially completing it as a solo game- well- single-player games tend to have a better solo experience so I am likely to shut down the mmo and go play one of those instead.
Alternatively, if I am playing it as a hub-town based dungeon zerg or pvp arena... well I generally find that those experiences are also better served by online co-op modes or online arena shooters (which importantly tend not to have the unfair gear advantage which turn me off any mmo pvp). So, again, I shut down the mmo and go play those instead.
I am not intending to reach any particular conclusion here, I am just sharing my experience of mmos and the reason why I am inclined to walk away from them rather swiftly if they do not meet my expectations.
TL:DR I have played significantly less than 1/3 of the, mostly AAA, mmos I have tried through to level cap; I go on to muse as to why and meander about a bit before failing to reach a conclusion.
Anyway, I am wondering if this is the norm, are other people as quick to discard a game that does not suit them. What is your hit rate with reaching level cap in mmos?
Sandboxes....no level cap/story cap/ content cap for me.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
I counted 4 which is very very few given the number I've tried. I actually looked through the game list because I thought I was forgetting some.
They were all mmorpg's that I played within the first few years I started with this genre too. Apparently I've lost interest in grinding levels and gear over the years.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own. -- Herman Melville
I am using the word "completion" as shorthand for "reaching level cap"; you can replace the word with "aardvark" for all I care. I do not care if people have "done everything" in an mmo; it is really of no interest to me. Frankly I would find it incredibly odd if anyone other than a rather obsessive and tiny minority of mmo players had "done everything".
I am merely using level cap as a measure of how much of the content people actually play in MMOs, and since level cap is an easily identifiable target it make far more sense to use this than some airy reference to gaining some silly sparkly gear or repeating some endgame dungeon x number of times.
You are getting a little pointlessly hung up on semantics.
Well aardvark is worthless.
As the name attached to the accomplishment implies, reaching aardvark is an incredibly arbitrary point along progression.
It's like measuring whether someone completed the tutorial or completed level 15. Level 15 might be trivially easy or it might be like one game I'm currently playing where it's taken 2 full months of play to get there.
So aardvark really tells you little about the experience someone had, and seems a little silly to discuss.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Let's see: I reached aardvark in WoW. Took me me nine years, nearly countless $USD, 5 expansions and 1 vanilla.
In Eve, I hit aardvark very, very early in my 2 hours of the free trial.
On a $/hour or $-to-aardvark basis, Eve is (mathematically) infinitely superior!
- - -
Working full time on the Lost Raven MMO, a PVP sandbox for Space Pirates, Alien Hunters, Rock Jocks, and Fleet Commanders. The server is nearly feature-complete with client code to start soon.
Maxed all 4 classes in Rift, all 8 classes in GW2, 1 in Daoc, 1 in UO, 4 in Warhammer Online, 3 in AoC. That's a lot of gaming, but I feel like I am missing some lol.
Everquest (Didn't get close to having a ton of AA's though)
World of Warcraft
Final Fantasy XI
Guild Wars
Guild Wars 2
Star Wars - The Old Republic
DC Universe Online
City of Heroes
Lord of the Rings Online
May be some I am missing. Had to quickly run through the games list. The only game, on that list, I really went out of my way to hit cap in was the original Guild Wars. I liked skill hunting and you needed to be high level for a few. The rest I just dicked around in, had fun, and hit cap as a side note.
I am using the word "completion" as shorthand for "reaching level cap"; you can replace the word with "aardvark" for all I care. I do not care if people have "done everything" in an mmo; it is really of no interest to me. Frankly I would find it incredibly odd if anyone other than a rather obsessive and tiny minority of mmo players had "done everything".
I am merely using level cap as a measure of how much of the content people actually play in MMOs, and since level cap is an easily identifiable target it make far more sense to use this than some airy reference to gaining some silly sparkly gear or repeating some endgame dungeon x number of times.
You are getting a little pointlessly hung up on semantics.
Well aardvark is worthless.
As the name attached to the accomplishment implies, reaching aardvark is an incredibly arbitrary point along progression.
It's like measuring whether someone completed the tutorial or completed level 15. Level 15 might be trivially easy or it might be like one game I'm currently playing where it's taken 2 full months of play to get there.
So aardvark really tells you little about the experience someone had, and seems a little silly to discuss.
Here's an idea, instead of needlessly splitting hairs, since you understand exactly what definition the OP was going with, why not tell us how many MMORPG's you've hit level cap on, since it's pointless and easy to do so.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Calling max level "completion" is a laughably bad definition.
If you haven't completed a game (done everything) then how can you claim you completed the game?
Why are people so fixated on level? ...many of whom are the same people accusing modern gamers of being fixated on the destination instead of the journey (while they're ironically the ones fixating on one destination (max level) while being blind to the rest of the journey.)
Did you even bother to read the first paragraph of the OP ...
can only be either you didnt bother or didnt understand the spirit of his thread..
or
Did you see it as another oppurtunity to derail a thread and grace this community with more of your self-massaging regurgitated BS..
Hmph really thought there was more , i max lvl in .. i know AC and AO i got over lvl 100 sure felt like it , but i know its not ...would love to see those 2 remade properly ... list also made me realize i really dont do alts much .. Aside from UO which was my first MMO and 4 of those are crafters , i really dont play alts ...
Games I've reached a level cap in at some point...
EverQuest
Star Wars Galaxies
Lord of the Rings Online
Anarchy Online
City of Heroes / Villains
Age of Conan
Dark Age of Camelot
TERA
EverQuest 2
World of Warcraft
ArcheAge
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Auto Assault
Earth and Beyond
Shadowbane
The Elder Scrolls Online
Guild Wars
Guild Wars 2
Aion
Firefall
Fallen Earth
Global Agenda
Planetside
Planetside 2
The Matrix Online
Warhammer Online
Probably a couple I'm missing, but that's 26 different MMO's over the span of nearly 2 decades. Not including any MuDs that I played, specifically Gemstone 3, now called Gemstone 4 which actually began back in 1993 and dialup modems with AOHell as my ISP.
aww man forgot about Matrix online what agreat game in its time.. truly deserves a remake ..
I have 16 level 100 characters in EQ2 (not counting crafter's,have 11 of those) I got a disciple and Paladin to 55 in Vanguard but all other games I have tried I just don't like enough.
I don't think ive ever hit level cap on any MMO (I don't play any the game starts at level cap theme parks)
I just build a PVP character and I'm good to go.
My situation, too. UO, WOW, AoC and GW2 are the only ones I think I hit cap in, but that was never a goal of mine in an MMO. Since my affinity is more for the sandbox side of MMO, it actually seems like an odd goal to me.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Comments
Then go and make a thread on that subject. Seriously, there are a small minority of people on this site who will just take a bit of a fun thread designed to see if people reach a given target in the games they play and analyse it to the point of utter tedium. Go and make another thread with the wording you are so keen to see.
Reached level cap in.
GW2
Star Trek Online
Came close to cap in.
Anarchy Online
Earth & Beyond
Oh? What is your mythical title with unlimited content, where the two-percenters can't consume faster than the developers can create?
Please tell us, a lot of folks are seeking endless entertainment from a single title, so they don't have to ever, ever change.
Sandboxes....no level cap/story cap/ content cap for me.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
I self identify as a monkey.
WoW (WoD) & FFXIV
I'm working on Tera and ESO now tho.
I counted 4 which is very very few given the number I've tried. I actually looked through the game list because I thought I was forgetting some.
They were all mmorpg's that I played within the first few years I started with this genre too. Apparently I've lost interest in grinding levels and gear over the years.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
Well aardvark is worthless.
As the name attached to the accomplishment implies, reaching aardvark is an incredibly arbitrary point along progression.
It's like measuring whether someone completed the tutorial or completed level 15. Level 15 might be trivially easy or it might be like one game I'm currently playing where it's taken 2 full months of play to get there.
So aardvark really tells you little about the experience someone had, and seems a little silly to discuss.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
DAOC - 11
WOW - 4
SB - 1
Rift - 1
SWTOR - 1
TERA - 1
Fallen Earth - 1
GW1 - 1
City of Heroes - 1
Aion - 1
EVE - no level cap, but I have two characters with over 100M SPs, representing over 5 YRS game time.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Aion: 2 characters (excluding the Upheaval expansion)
TERA: 3 characters
WoW: 1 character (excluding the WoD xpac)
Tetris: 1......oh wait
Let's see: I reached aardvark in WoW. Took me me nine years, nearly countless $USD, 5 expansions and 1 vanilla.
In Eve, I hit aardvark very, very early in my 2 hours of the free trial.
On a $/hour or $-to-aardvark basis, Eve is (mathematically) infinitely superior!
- - -
Working full time on the Lost Raven MMO, a PVP sandbox for Space Pirates, Alien Hunters, Rock Jocks, and Fleet Commanders. The server is nearly feature-complete with client code to start soon.
200 days and counting on Runescape, loving my 10y cape /nerd
i'll never be finished.
I guess I completed Firefall but that'll be over as soon as ArenaPvP comes around
Sway all day, butterfly flaps all the way!
Hitting level cap, I have completed:
Here's an idea, instead of needlessly splitting hairs, since you understand exactly what definition the OP was going with, why not tell us how many MMORPG's you've hit level cap on, since it's pointless and easy to do so.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Did you even bother to read the first paragraph of the OP ...
can only be either you didnt bother or didnt understand the spirit of his thread..
or
Did you see it as another oppurtunity to derail a thread and grace this community with more of your self-massaging regurgitated BS..
1. Dark Age of Camelot
2. Star Wars Galaxies - had a pre cu jedi
3. World of Warcraft - multiple level 100's
4. Vanguard
5. SWTOR
6. Rift
7. Everquest 2
8. Final Fantasy 11 and 14
9. Age of Conan
10. Guild Wars 1 and 2
11. Lord of the Rings Online
12. Warhammer Online (almost forgot!)
I played too many games through the years
Wow , this is gonna take a bit of thought ..
but UO 5 5x Rift -1
DAoC -1 Vanguard -1
EQ 2-1
AC2-1
LoTro -1
FF14-1
Wow -1
SWtoR -1
Warhammer -1
Hmph really thought there was more , i max lvl in .. i know AC and AO i got over lvl 100 sure felt like it , but i know its not ...would love to see those 2 remade properly ... list also made me realize i really dont do alts much .. Aside from UO which was my first MMO and 4 of those are crafters , i really dont play alts ...
aww man forgot about Matrix online what agreat game in its time.. truly deserves a remake ..
My situation, too. UO, WOW, AoC and GW2 are the only ones I think I hit cap in, but that was never a goal of mine in an MMO. Since my affinity is more for the sandbox side of MMO, it actually seems like an odd goal to me.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre