Kano has already told you how he and his mates plan of blasting through Pantheon the same way they blast through BDO. And they will do this simply because they will know what to do and what works since that is their motivation for playing alphas and betas: to learn how to go zoom.
Now you may think that he is the exception but in fact he's not. The reality will be that as you become more and more familiar with the game's canned AI behaviors your need to go slow and strategize will disappear.
Regardless whether the pacing of combat or the tab-target RNG skill style is appealing, you and Kano nailed how MMO gamers play now. At least that is my experience with Rift Prime. I went in expecting people to take their time and really chew on the content this time, not chew through it like drive-thru fast food.
It was a serious WTF moment for me. I don't know why I assumed people would want to take the slow path. Maybe because "the sub" and the opportunity to enjoy a fresh server let me delude myself that people still enjoy playing that way. I can't blame people for wanting to play that way or Rift for accommodating, but it's sort of a deal breaker for me.
I don't blame the people who want downtime or slow-paced "molasses in December" combat in their old school. I think it's a bad direction to take because it's niche-within-a-niche feature. I'd like to play another PvE centric MMO so I give my feedback regarding those features even if the EQ fans hate it. I have Project Gorgon which isn't as pretty but has rock-solid gameplay and an MMORPG community.
Rift was a fast food MMO to begin with though. It was about the fast path from the start. The last game I can think of that wasnt designed to rush to max level to start the end game grind was, ironically, WoW.
Vanilla servers will be interesting. The game that now caters to the go go go crowd had its root in a much slower paced game. WotLK is where WoW really started catering to a different style of player.
No. That's just a bullshit narrative the gaming community has invented to explain away what they don't like and aren't willing to understand. Players are the dynamic that drives design. No matter how much players don't want to hear or accept that, it's true.
Good point.
Rift Prime lost me for the same reasons you mentioned. It still seemed as if leveling was merely one, long tutorial for the endgame, where the "real" game was. It was as much about the player mentality as it was the design. You literally saw folks in general chat bitching about how they were done with leveling and wanted to get to the real game already. I laughed; the irony was simply too much.
XP rates were adjusted by player request. People grind Rift trains, dungeons, and battle grounds to hit cap fastest.
Kano's illustration of how his guild eats through content is pretty much how most seem to want to play. And that's fine for them. Who am I to tell them what and how to enjoy it? I'm not on that page though and don't want to play MMOs that way. If a server or game feels that way, then my time probably won't be long there. I still have a month of sub time banked I'm going to activate in a couple of months when Ember Isle is in full swing or SL opens. Depends on their timing.
Kano's illustration is also a good reminder that game design doesn't impact player behavior quite as much as some want to believe. The idea that a retro design will result in a utopian environment with everyone partying like it was 1999 is kind of silly.
It's equally naive as saying that fast combat prevents players from going slow, RPing and playing in a very old fashioned way if that's how they want to play - it doesn't.
It's not just the games that have changed the players playing these games have as well and behavior modification by forced game modes ain't going to change that all that much.
I haven't agreed with everything you have said in this thread but this point I can fully agree with you on. It doesn't matter the combat style of the game its how the player/group plays as well. Fast can be slow and slow can be fast. Also there WILL be guilds that are max lvl and doing end game dungeons well before the majority and that has happened since eq1.
Some said they enjoyed watching it... some said they find it boring. This is all fine, especially for a game that is so niche.
And then someone comes along and starts with the typical condescending shit:
...."beating da game" ... mad rush to end cap ... the hyperactive types ... .... just to brag for five minutes ... onto the next shiny ... those with short attention spans.
The clueless arrogance of one fanboi slinging insults at those who don't share his passion should be embarrassing indeed.
We already know this game isn't going to be your forte, as you already said you completely dislike it. Why are you still here, except to be annoying?
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I haven't agreed with everything you have said in this thread but this point I can fully agree with you on. It doesn't matter the combat style of the game its how the player/group plays as well. Fast can be slow and slow can be fast. Also there WILL be guilds that are max lvl and doing end game dungeons well before the majority and that has happened since eq1.
We already know this game isn't going to be your forte, as you already said you completely dislike it. Why are you still here, except to be annoying?