I've been having difficulty motivating myself to play RPG's (especially MMORPG's) lately due to, what I've affectionately referred to as "sucky mid-game syndrome". After reading Shamus Young's "Give Me Dessert First" article on this website, I started thinking about my experiences with MMORPG's (and RPG's in general) and came to a train of thought I wanted to share.
I played World of Warcraft for 2-3 years (January after release up until the launch of Burning Crusade). My first character was a Night Elf Rogue and I was initially mesmerized with the game. The thrill of rolling a new character and beginning an epic adventure is a big draw for me in the RPG genre. I blew past my first 25-30 or so levels and found my way to Stanglethorn Vale. I was excited to enter a new area and begin conquering its challenges. What I found in "STV" was a neigh-unbearable grind intermittently through content that was relatively bland and uninteresting in comparison to earlier areas. This trend of bland, uninteresting content lasted for me until 60.
At 60, however, I fell in love again with the game when I started running the higher level instances and chasing the best pre-raid gear in the game. Once I earned my way into a quality raiding guild I quickly became a staple in nightly raids with a group of gamers I enjoyed spending time with. The sense of accomplishment for first kills on raid bosses in raids was fantastic. I loved to progression of my character's abilities through his gear (since his progression as a character had been halted by a level cap). Content was released for characters my level regularly and the game seemed to be the very definition of "fun" for me for a long time.
When the guild fell apart near the release of Burning Crusade, I departed World of Warcraft to pursue other interests. When I returned many months later I found my character's hard-earned raid gear was obsolete and my character's level once-again sub-par. The leveling content was more interesting than previous leveling content, but it again paled in comparison to the 70 content. I pushed to 70 and, having a reputation as a good raider, my old raid-friends quickly grabbed me and attempted to gear me so I could raid with them. My gear jumped from a T2-3 mix to a T5-6 mix within about a week while I tagged along in raids. I lost interest quickly because I felt no sense of accomplishment or attachment to the character any longer. The progression wasn't voluntary, but forced in order to regain an opportunity to have the opportunity to play fun content again. I rerolled, attempting to regain that lost magic - but the pain of leveling through that 25-60 wall of poorly-designed content always prevented me from pushing to max-level again. "The game doesn't really start until 80 (or level-cap, if you will)" is a disheartening statement, but no less true.
1) What's the problem?
I want to point out that in the current generation of MMORPG's (minus Eve Online), character progression and gear progression are completely separated. As your character levels you gain abilities and, in many games, "specialization" points to differentiate your character from the crowd. As you level your gear is relatively meaningless. Gear helps you to level, but you're replacing gear so quickly that it's hard to gain any sense of accomplishment or attachment from any individual piece of gear. Levels come slower as the number grows, but with each level gain only a fraction of the power required to enjoy the majority of the content. Once your level caps, however, gear becomes everything. Your character no longer gains any ground and you're forced to pursue gear as the only means to progress. Gear comes more slowly and each piece of gear becomes more valuable in terms of time and resources invested.
Once an expansion or level cap raise comes - all of it is meaningless again. You ratchet up the levels, progressing your character while throwing away the hard-fought gear of yesterday until you hit the cap and gear becomes the focus again. Content is only released for the end-game and after not-so-long, the old to new level cap area becomes this area of content despised for putting itself in the way of people enjoying the end-game, where all the heart and soul of the game is focused. The old "fun" content is thrown away.
2) Are there viable alternatives already being pursued?
Eve Online handles progression by making character progression always going on - with a "max skill" character being (for all intents and purposes) impossible. Early skill points are given at a fraction of the resource/time cost as the later ones. Gear progression (or ship progression, as it is here) is largely customized to the individual. Production, trade, and combat are all broad terms that apply to hundreds of potential play styles, with each character pursing each as they see fit. A new character can be rolled and able to contribute almost immediately to end-game objectives (though, obviously, not as effectively as older characters). Characters are free to explore and enjoy the breadth of the content released, including the new stuff, from the point they're rolled. Older characters enjoy benefits and advantages, but a bad older character can be wrestled down by a new player if they aren't careful. A group of decent low-skill players in the first class of ships is actually an extremely common and effective PvP strategy that helps less-experienced players get comfortable with the game while being viable against more powerful individual characters who aren't careful. The idea of starting everyone off at a viable level and progressing them meaningfully from there is intriguing.
I also want to point out achievement based systems as a new and relatively under-utilized system of character progression. Currently individual achievements are rewarded in World of Warcraft and in Warhammer Online's Tome of Knowledge with mounts, titles, and other vanity items. The system exists, but only as a means to acquire bragging rights instead of a means to progress your character. I believe Everquest 1 and 2's "Achievement Point" system is a system that rewards players with something akin to specialization points for achieving significant feats in a more general way. I don't know much about EQ, so someone will have to fill me in there. I believe an achievement system could be utilized in such a way that encouraged players to follow what game-path suited them and reward them with tangible, useful benefits in that path.
Warhammer Online's PvP levels are an example of a system that keeps going after the character level cap and provides rewards for PvPing. All characters can PvP, but individuals who PvP a lot and who PvP well get access to more gear and PvP specialization points. It's relatively effective and provides quite a bit of motivation for higher level players to PvP.
3) Is it possible to apply or improve any of these concepts to character-focused MMORPG's?
This is the area I wanted to discuss and the reason for the post. My hope is for some system to be developed that gives new characters viable access to all the content in the game from the get-go and allows them to pursue character, gear, production, trade, or (gasp!) story progression as they see fit while rewarding players who have been on a particular path for a longer time. The abolition of the generic "player level" would be ideal, leaving everyone to define the strength and success of their character based on whatever it is they're doing. Discovering such a system would be beneficial to developers as, without a defined "level" system - content wouldn't ever have to be retired. Boring leveling areas would be obsolete. All content could be designed to be fun and indefinitely viable by providing some unique reward or achievement that gave players some tangible benefit. Complete a raid dungeon and get an achievement, a persistent damage resistance/buff against monsters, a new ability to shield yourself from damage/produce more damage, a skill to train that gives damage resistance/buffs against monsters, and/or a cinematic that shows the defeat of the final boss and the effects of said boss no longer being alive on the lore of the game-world. Something tangible and useful to the group of players that want to raid and/or progress the story of the world.
I've about exhausted my brain for the moment, but I'd be interested to see what other people have in mind...
Keep fighting the good fight.
I played World of Warcraft for 2-3 years (January after release up until the launch of Burning Crusade). My first character was a Night Elf Rogue and I was initially mesmerized with the game. The thrill of rolling a new character and beginning an epic adventure is a big draw for me in the RPG genre. I blew past my first 25-30 or so levels and found my way to Stanglethorn Vale. I was excited to enter a new area and begin conquering its challenges. What I found in "STV" was a neigh-unbearable grind intermittently through content that was relatively bland and uninteresting in comparison to earlier areas. This trend of bland, uninteresting content lasted for me until 60.
At 60, however, I fell in love again with the game when I started running the higher level instances and chasing the best pre-raid gear in the game. Once I earned my way into a quality raiding guild I quickly became a staple in nightly raids with a group of gamers I enjoyed spending time with. The sense of accomplishment for first kills on raid bosses in raids was fantastic. I loved to progression of my character's abilities through his gear (since his progression as a character had been halted by a level cap). Content was released for characters my level regularly and the game seemed to be the very definition of "fun" for me for a long time.
When the guild fell apart near the release of Burning Crusade, I departed World of Warcraft to pursue other interests. When I returned many months later I found my character's hard-earned raid gear was obsolete and my character's level once-again sub-par. The leveling content was more interesting than previous leveling content, but it again paled in comparison to the 70 content. I pushed to 70 and, having a reputation as a good raider, my old raid-friends quickly grabbed me and attempted to gear me so I could raid with them. My gear jumped from a T2-3 mix to a T5-6 mix within about a week while I tagged along in raids. I lost interest quickly because I felt no sense of accomplishment or attachment to the character any longer. The progression wasn't voluntary, but forced in order to regain an opportunity to have the opportunity to play fun content again. I rerolled, attempting to regain that lost magic - but the pain of leveling through that 25-60 wall of poorly-designed content always prevented me from pushing to max-level again. "The game doesn't really start until 80 (or level-cap, if you will)" is a disheartening statement, but no less true.
1) What's the problem?
I want to point out that in the current generation of MMORPG's (minus Eve Online), character progression and gear progression are completely separated. As your character levels you gain abilities and, in many games, "specialization" points to differentiate your character from the crowd. As you level your gear is relatively meaningless. Gear helps you to level, but you're replacing gear so quickly that it's hard to gain any sense of accomplishment or attachment from any individual piece of gear. Levels come slower as the number grows, but with each level gain only a fraction of the power required to enjoy the majority of the content. Once your level caps, however, gear becomes everything. Your character no longer gains any ground and you're forced to pursue gear as the only means to progress. Gear comes more slowly and each piece of gear becomes more valuable in terms of time and resources invested.
Once an expansion or level cap raise comes - all of it is meaningless again. You ratchet up the levels, progressing your character while throwing away the hard-fought gear of yesterday until you hit the cap and gear becomes the focus again. Content is only released for the end-game and after not-so-long, the old to new level cap area becomes this area of content despised for putting itself in the way of people enjoying the end-game, where all the heart and soul of the game is focused. The old "fun" content is thrown away.
2) Are there viable alternatives already being pursued?
Eve Online handles progression by making character progression always going on - with a "max skill" character being (for all intents and purposes) impossible. Early skill points are given at a fraction of the resource/time cost as the later ones. Gear progression (or ship progression, as it is here) is largely customized to the individual. Production, trade, and combat are all broad terms that apply to hundreds of potential play styles, with each character pursing each as they see fit. A new character can be rolled and able to contribute almost immediately to end-game objectives (though, obviously, not as effectively as older characters). Characters are free to explore and enjoy the breadth of the content released, including the new stuff, from the point they're rolled. Older characters enjoy benefits and advantages, but a bad older character can be wrestled down by a new player if they aren't careful. A group of decent low-skill players in the first class of ships is actually an extremely common and effective PvP strategy that helps less-experienced players get comfortable with the game while being viable against more powerful individual characters who aren't careful. The idea of starting everyone off at a viable level and progressing them meaningfully from there is intriguing.
I also want to point out achievement based systems as a new and relatively under-utilized system of character progression. Currently individual achievements are rewarded in World of Warcraft and in Warhammer Online's Tome of Knowledge with mounts, titles, and other vanity items. The system exists, but only as a means to acquire bragging rights instead of a means to progress your character. I believe Everquest 1 and 2's "Achievement Point" system is a system that rewards players with something akin to specialization points for achieving significant feats in a more general way. I don't know much about EQ, so someone will have to fill me in there. I believe an achievement system could be utilized in such a way that encouraged players to follow what game-path suited them and reward them with tangible, useful benefits in that path.
Warhammer Online's PvP levels are an example of a system that keeps going after the character level cap and provides rewards for PvPing. All characters can PvP, but individuals who PvP a lot and who PvP well get access to more gear and PvP specialization points. It's relatively effective and provides quite a bit of motivation for higher level players to PvP.
3) Is it possible to apply or improve any of these concepts to character-focused MMORPG's?
This is the area I wanted to discuss and the reason for the post. My hope is for some system to be developed that gives new characters viable access to all the content in the game from the get-go and allows them to pursue character, gear, production, trade, or (gasp!) story progression as they see fit while rewarding players who have been on a particular path for a longer time. The abolition of the generic "player level" would be ideal, leaving everyone to define the strength and success of their character based on whatever it is they're doing. Discovering such a system would be beneficial to developers as, without a defined "level" system - content wouldn't ever have to be retired. Boring leveling areas would be obsolete. All content could be designed to be fun and indefinitely viable by providing some unique reward or achievement that gave players some tangible benefit. Complete a raid dungeon and get an achievement, a persistent damage resistance/buff against monsters, a new ability to shield yourself from damage/produce more damage, a skill to train that gives damage resistance/buffs against monsters, and/or a cinematic that shows the defeat of the final boss and the effects of said boss no longer being alive on the lore of the game-world. Something tangible and useful to the group of players that want to raid and/or progress the story of the world.
I've about exhausted my brain for the moment, but I'd be interested to see what other people have in mind...
Keep fighting the good fight.