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What if higher levelled players valued playing with lower levelled players
Kindelnol
Member Posts: 62
Now, I know most of you hate levelling and will just dismiss this, but try to bear with me.
I like levelling, actually, I like skill and attribute growth, but that is beside the point. I have several problems with leveling and one of them is that many players stop playing with comrades or newcomers because of their level.
I thought: why not make a debuff for a group that reduces everyone to a particular level. The debuff would not actually reduce the level, more like the skills and attributes. The weapons and armor can remain the same. Anyway, this would put everyone in the group on a roughly equal playing field. In this condition, everyone can earn experience from the encounters. Of course, this is not the best of incentives, so I would think that other things would need to be added, especially to the helpful higher levelled players doing this. For example, there might be valuable leadership points distributed appropriately to those that had the debuff. Maybe, these points can turn into both experience and gold, or it might be tradable for something unique.
There are other things that could be built as well. Reputation could be built up with certain factions like this (I might be an undead playing with a goblin, thus building my reputation with that faction). If the system were incorporated properly, it could also be used to advance items (I always thought it would be interesting if items advanced based on how the player uses the item). I could build on the item advancement idea so much more, but I digress.
Would a system like this work?
Perhaps there is a game that does this, if so, please tell me.
Comments
I like your idea and wish more games did this. Most of the time I join a game to play with a friend that's already in the game. The problem with this is they've been there for so long they already have five max leveled characters and working on another. So it would indeed be nice for it to be implemented in more games.
But there is one game that has already done this and that would be the City of Heroes/Villains games. They have a sidekick and exemplar system. This system allows a lower level character to exemplar a higher level character, making it so that higher level character can get influence/infamy (In game currency) and prestige (Currency for buying base items). If a higher level character side kicks a lower level character that character gets put at one level below the higher character, gets exp, influence/infamy, and prestige.
But I would like to see more games implement systems like that. It'd make me a lot happier and enjoy the grind to reach my friend's a little more.
I never had trouble with that, when my friends cant keep up the pace I just make a new class and try it out and play with them again.
I know Vanguard has a buff for you to stop gaining exp once you cast it, in order to finish up all the quests on the level that you want to. But thats just pointless.
EQ has a system where you can shroud into a monster to lower levels with incriments of 5. But EQ is too easy now.
Your friends either need to pick up the pace or you slow down and stick with their pace. This is a prime example why skill based games are much better.
There are features like this--at least in part--in some games today:
Dungeon Runners - all PVPers are scaled to level 101 in an effort to even the playing field. The scaling works (mostly), but there are still issues with gear (lower level players, except for twinks, don't have quality gear) and skills (lower level players haven't advanced enough to have acquired the same number and rank of skills). Generally, this means that a lower level player will generally get pwned in PVP unless that lower level is highly skills and, most likely, twinked to the gills. Personally, I'd like to see an option for casual pvp that's more of a hybrid between FPS type PVP and MMO PVP (linky...)
WAR - when you enter a RVR scenario, you are scaled to the minimum level of the scenario (except on Open RVR servers, I believe - I can't remember for sure) . The same isues in Dungeon Runners apply here, too, in regards to gear and skills.
City of Heroes - the Sidekick/Exemplar systerm allows players of different level ranges to group together and still be effective. This system has it's own limitations, however. I made a suggestion to improve dungeon runners grouping (and essentially solve the issue you've identified, at least for that game, specifically) on their suggestion site: linky... Personally, I think that idea coudl work in a variety of games.
~Ripper
I keep putting off City of Heroes/Villains. I do need to check it out. Sounds like it is right up my alley.
I like the idea Vanguard has, but I still think I would be faced with this problem.
What happens to me is a friend will finally begin playing a particular MMO, or MMOs in general, but I will be quite a bit higher than them. What I find is that I will have a high levelled or max character and a couple extremely low ones, and they wind up with mid-ranged characters.
With generally competing schedules, so we play by ourselves. This results in a wide level difference. When we play together, we are never the same level. I also tend to focus on one character at a time.
Basically, this happens to me a lot, especially when my friends jump between characters/games.
I too wish more games would implement a system like this in order for everyone to be able to enjoy the game together rather than far apart.
Or instead of making players more statistically powerfull as they level they instead have more utility and can affect combat in completely different ways.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
EQ2 has something very similar to what you sugges, their mentor system.
You lower you level to the person of your choice in the group, and all your stats gets scaled to that level.
If I remember correctly the one being mentored get 5% XP bonus wereas the one who mentors gets their XP cut in half, not that it matters all that much as the XP you gain for mobs 20 levels below you is very low to start with, you base XP need for level is not altered so it is hard to level this way for the mentor.
But, not only do you get to play with yer friends in an almost equal fashion, ( you are still going to be a lot tougher then a regular player of the level you are mentoring down to, especially with fabled gear, ) you also get access to stuff you might have missed out on.
With EQ2's achievment system you get some hefty achievment XP for named mobs, heritage quests, lore and legend quests, not to mention named mobs you might have skipped and that are now grey, meaning no AXP.
Well mentor down so they get green or preferably blue and voilá, fresh AXP.
Now there is something in it for you as well.
Probably the best system for keeping player together at all levels.
Combined with a variation of the AoC system anyone could play with anyone and have access to almost all content, mentor up for late dungeons, mentor down for the early ones.
Considering the almost stupid amount of content EQ2 has you would be busy for years if you wanted to explore it all.
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Originally posted by Jerek_
I wonder if you honestly even believe what you type, or if you live in a made up world of facts.
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I agree, but most MMOs use a traditional, statistical leveling system. Since they do, I think more should offer incentives to play with lower leveled players.
I also liked Asheron's Call vassal-patron relationship, where the vassal helps the patron by gaining xp, so the patron had a reason to help the vassal. Of course, the vassal may not always be lower than the patron. He will at least start as a relative lowbie in comparison.
Unfortunately, this system was broken due to job-like xp chains. *sigh*