Comments on: Ending The Middle Game?

By: Katherine

Katherine — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:54:19 +0000

The main reason why I don’t go back to WoW is the fact that I can’t play with my friends. Spread out over many servers are all the people that I know that play. The main thing I enjoyed was running instances with some friends. I enjoyed the levelling up to 60, but then I just started to get left behind when BC came out. The levelling game is effectively single player now so there’s nothing to bring me back to that part either. The game is too old, it’s left people behind because everyone is at the level cap. THAT’S the reason why people race to 80 now. If you were playing for the first time and weren’t looking to play with a friend that was already in the game, you’d enjoy the levelling game like everyone did in the past.

My point in all my rambling is that it isn’t a flaw in games in general, it’s only a flaw in older games. It might be a flaw in PvP games too. But basically if your game has 2 parts, a levelling game and an endgame (whatever that end game may be), once it gets old enough everyone will have finished the levelling game more than enough times to bore them, the levelling part of the world will be empty, and few will want to spend any time in it at all, so they will race towards the endgame. If I want to play a levelling game I’ll buy one and not pay the monthly fee of an MMO

By: Plastic Rat

Plastic Rat — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:20:51 +0000

My question then, is why do we have this concept of ‘end-game’ and ‘middle-game’? Shouldn’t we just be enjoying the ‘game’ itself? Why isn’t the whole game as much fun, instead of restricting the ‘desert’ to one part of it?

Is it because we need players to learn to play the game with a limited set of skills and then introduce them to complexity as they progress? Well then what’s stopping us from having something like Darkfall Online where there are no levels. Where basically the whole game is end-game? Where the only progression you have is learning new skills.

I think the distinction and the attitude that ‘end-game is more fun’ are really hurting MMOs right now. That’s why we see people defending botting and power leveling services in addition to never being able to find people who just want to play the game instead of racing off to something new, so they can race off to something new after that.

Imagine if WoW didn’t have levels. You started off at L80, but the whole world was Level 80, every mob, every piece of gear. You had a limited amount of skills to start with and slowly learned more with your choice of what to pursue?

Would that change the distinction perhaps? Make the whole game fun instead of just one aspect?

By: Aaron

Aaron — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:10:08 +0000

It’s dumb to have a game change completely in style at the end. Then half the players don’t like the end, and the other half just want to be there. They should either be separate games or be on separate tracks… meaning explorers and achievers don’t follow the same steps.

By: Pete S

Pete S — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:46:57 +0000

Ysh stole my rant. No, Mike, we really don’t all agree, and in fact I disagree pretty strongly with what you’re saying.

I disagree less strongly when it comes to PvP oriented games. When the main focus of the game is to fight other players then his extended-tutorial leveling makes some sense, but what makes more sense in PVP games is just dumping levels and creating equal strength characters at creation and letting people go to town bashing each other.

But in PvE games, honestly when I hit cap, I roll an alt or move to another game. I have about as much enthusiasm for the “big dungeons and raids” as I have for going to the dentist. A faster leveling system means a shorter sub from me.

By: Stropp

Stropp — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:15:41 +0000

It’s a big part, as I see it, of the eternal conflict we see between hardcore and casual, PK and carebear, raider and PvPer, and other such configurations. Everyone has their own style, and sees everything according to that bias, and so believes that the majority must see things the same way.

Now if the smaller MMORPG developers stopped trying to make WoW-Clones and started seriously looking at the game niches according to gamer psychology, we’d see some really interesting variety in the MMORPG world.

By: Ysharros

Ysharros — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:07:39 +0000

Grr. And this: “Whether you’re a fan of PvE or PvP we can all agree that for most of us the endgame is when the real fun starts.” is the lofty, can’t-be-wrong pronouncement that gets my knickers in a massive twist.

Now, we don’t all agree. No, I don’t think it’s most of us. I think it’s a generation of gamers who grew up on WOW, which is all about the endgame. MMOs *weren’t* “all about the endgame” before WoW and they don’t have to be.

I’m going to stop before I get up a full-fledged rant, but that whole thing drives me damn-near blind with ire.

By: Pitrelli

Pitrelli — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:00:27 +0000

I used to think I was an ‘endgame player’ but WoLTK has taught me im more of a content man, I enjoy leveling/progressing and exploring the landscapes. I’ve recently put my level 80 rogue on the back burner and am now trying my hand at paladin tanking at a mere level 30. Sure I’ve played most of the content over 5 or 6 times however I love the many different areas and environments and i wouldnt change it for anything.

I recently had the option to recruit a friend but I told him no and that he should enjoy the whole game content rather than try get to level 80 as fast as possible.

I guess its each to their own on how they want to play but I just cant help myself enjoying all of azeroth and the journey to diffent continents. Id actually say WoW could do with some expansion sideways as well as up