And that thing is the 'dead zone'. It is the period of the game where there is less than normal amount of content. In WoW this period consists of the 40-50 range. In EQ this period conists of the 30-35 range (pre-kunark). In Vanguard this period conists of the 20-50 range. All games suffer from this.
NOTE: This is kind of a review. Kind of. It's more of my analysis of the current state of the game and why it isn't worth anyones time to reach this point (it's best to stop at 70).
In my current MMO, Age of Conan, there have been two areas where this range was painful. The first was the 35-40 range. There was a serious lack of content here with very few mobs being within this level range. Even worse, the number of quests for this range was non-existent. Grouping simply is not an issue because nobody groups in this range... or anywhere except in Khesh PVP zergs.
The second place is the 75-80 range. The number of quests in this range are plentiful and there are plenty of mobs of differing levels in this range. The issue is the paradigm shift that occurs in this level range. First, some back ground info for those who have not played AoC on how the game up to this point works.
In AoC most classes have the ability to take down multiple mobs at once. As an x-bow ranger, I could take down groups of 7-8 mobs at once, usually killing most of them with one attack. Yes, the class is overpowered. Sue me. However, once you hit about 75, you'll either fight an infinite number of lower level mobs that give less than subpar xp or you'll fight equal level mobs that you can only kill one or two of at a time before having to stop.
This didn't use to be the case. 70-80 used to be equal speed to the rest of the game due to the mobs scaling appropriately. It only makes sense for a level 72 monster in one zone (the highest in one) to be the same difficulty to kill as a level 72 monster in a different zone (the lowest in the other). To clarify, the monsters in the higher level zone (khesh... the only 70-80 zone) are exponentially more difficult compared to the other monsters.
In other words, the game goes from killing multiple mobs to killing one mob at a time. This wouldn't be an issue if the XP gained was proportionate to the difficulty of the monsters. This is not the case. The %ge of the xp gained is equal to the rest of the game. To make this last stretch even more of a grind, the amount of xp required to level up goes up to unbelievably high amounts.
All in all, the shift in how the game plays in the last stretch makes one think that there is some great reward at the end. Some magnificent change to the rest of the MMO world. This simply is not the case. The end game consists of:
Three raid zones
Unfinished and unplayable siege content with no purpose
PVP Mini games serving little purpose and even smaller
Introduction of PVP XP enforces the old MMO stereotype that the zerg is almighty
One hit kills from classes that should not be able to do so (The main tank, a healer)
Raid armor not being worth anything for most classes
Severe class imbalance
All in all, this is the worst dead zone I have ever experienced in an MMO. With the major selling point of the game being PVP and the PVP being the least finished aspect of the game, I question why they made vast changes to the game in the last few months, such as combining several of the classes instead of finishing up the major seller of the game - the sieges.
Here's hoping that I can just PVP my way through any dead zones in WAR.
NOTE: This is kind of a review. Kind of. It's more of my analysis of the current state of the game and why it isn't worth anyones time to reach this point (it's best to stop at 70).
In my current MMO, Age of Conan, there have been two areas where this range was painful. The first was the 35-40 range. There was a serious lack of content here with very few mobs being within this level range. Even worse, the number of quests for this range was non-existent. Grouping simply is not an issue because nobody groups in this range... or anywhere except in Khesh PVP zergs.
The second place is the 75-80 range. The number of quests in this range are plentiful and there are plenty of mobs of differing levels in this range. The issue is the paradigm shift that occurs in this level range. First, some back ground info for those who have not played AoC on how the game up to this point works.
In AoC most classes have the ability to take down multiple mobs at once. As an x-bow ranger, I could take down groups of 7-8 mobs at once, usually killing most of them with one attack. Yes, the class is overpowered. Sue me. However, once you hit about 75, you'll either fight an infinite number of lower level mobs that give less than subpar xp or you'll fight equal level mobs that you can only kill one or two of at a time before having to stop.
This didn't use to be the case. 70-80 used to be equal speed to the rest of the game due to the mobs scaling appropriately. It only makes sense for a level 72 monster in one zone (the highest in one) to be the same difficulty to kill as a level 72 monster in a different zone (the lowest in the other). To clarify, the monsters in the higher level zone (khesh... the only 70-80 zone) are exponentially more difficult compared to the other monsters.
In other words, the game goes from killing multiple mobs to killing one mob at a time. This wouldn't be an issue if the XP gained was proportionate to the difficulty of the monsters. This is not the case. The %ge of the xp gained is equal to the rest of the game. To make this last stretch even more of a grind, the amount of xp required to level up goes up to unbelievably high amounts.
All in all, the shift in how the game plays in the last stretch makes one think that there is some great reward at the end. Some magnificent change to the rest of the MMO world. This simply is not the case. The end game consists of:
Three raid zones
Unfinished and unplayable siege content with no purpose
PVP Mini games serving little purpose and even smaller
Introduction of PVP XP enforces the old MMO stereotype that the zerg is almighty
One hit kills from classes that should not be able to do so (The main tank, a healer)
Raid armor not being worth anything for most classes
Severe class imbalance
All in all, this is the worst dead zone I have ever experienced in an MMO. With the major selling point of the game being PVP and the PVP being the least finished aspect of the game, I question why they made vast changes to the game in the last few months, such as combining several of the classes instead of finishing up the major seller of the game - the sieges.
Here's hoping that I can just PVP my way through any dead zones in WAR.
