Comments on: Would You Buy Levels In A MMORPG?

By: Dblade

Dblade — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:27:48 +0000

I wouldn’t buy levels.

The point of leveling is that the journey should be fun. If the journey isn’t, and the game starts at cap, you might as well get rid of levels entirely, and just make the game about raid instances.

Either that, or people may want to start making MMOs designed to only be played in small chunks over time. Sort of like animal crossing was-you turn it on, spend maybe 30 minutes to an hour, and then turn it off.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:01:10 +0000

I don’t see anything wrong with shortcutting to the end levels if you’ve already played through the game but just want another alt for raiding or something. As it stands, you have to grind up to get to where you want to be and that can suck if you don’t have a lot of time.

By: ZaiNu

ZaiNu — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:06:12 +0000

Ive been tempted many times to buy my way to end game or to buy enhanced items. Fortunately ive had friends who did do that and gave me hammie downs, so my urge has been temporarily subdued. But honestly, in my right mind, i wouldnt buy lvls, waste of money cuz that just brings me closer to the end which brings me closer to getting bored of the game and brings me even closer to doing alt f4.

in the end, i’d only buy my lvls if the game has something that can keep me entertained for a long time or if the game is really just that good. Sure i could make some poor kid in china very happy but then again im not that nice with my money. (the statement was in no way meant to be offensive). Plus i dont wanna run around as a lvl XXX (watever the max lvl is in said game) asking how do i use my epik knife.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:24:11 +0000

Or divide it up in other ways; again in WoW terms, sell a Horde package and an Alliance package. (SWTOR, Light Box and Dark Box) Or perhaps a Shaman kit, where you buy a Shaman, and can make it any race.

That makes less sense in WoW where each class goes through the same content, but in SWTOR, where each class will have its own storyline, and thus unique content, it makes more sense.

You’re right, it can’t be done willy nilly, but it *can* be done intelligently and work, if devs want it to.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:22:36 +0000

Again, look at Guild Wars. You segment it logically, not a “cross the bridge toll”, more of an “across the sea” segmentation. The GW expansions cover different geographical areas that can’t be walked to from each other. It’s a natural divide, enhanced by the different storylines in each.

Yes, just plopping a divide between Darkshore and Ashenvale would be silly, but lopping the Eastern Kingdoms and Western Kingdoms into separate “content packs” would make a lot more sense.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:22:37 +0000

I guess my worries with segementing content is that it just becomes too complicated to maintain. I think it could very frustrating to be wandering around the game world and then suddenly hit an area that you can’t entered because you haven’t paid for it… so you have to log off and pull out your credit card.

By: Longasc

Longasc — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:45:21 +0000

Yeah. If you have many alts and this char got nerfed to oblivion, well, become a Death Knight… :>

By: Gordon

Gordon — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:43:06 +0000

I just think it would create too much of a divide between players and potentially make a mockery of the entire leveling process. Why not just remove the lower levels completely then? I dunno, it’s a tough call really. I think MMORPGs have lost their way and now the journey is more often than not a grind to the end and not the experience itself.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:35:16 +0000

Oh, and if a 30-45 player bought both and took their insta-30 to the lower band, that might be a Bad Thing. One more reason why a narrow overall power band and segmentation based on *location* and *content* (gasp, player preference!) is better than segmentation based on age and level.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:31:24 +0000

Running a tangent, if you were to “gate” content by real cash, like the Guild Wars system of “expansions”, it might go a long way to letting players play what they want. In a level band WoW terms, perhaps one player just buys the Westfall package and gets an instant level 18 or so, and then can play through to level 30. Another might buy the next band up, starting instantly with a level 30 and going through to 45.

Of course, that would mean that the 30-45 player who didn’t purchase the 18-30 content wouldn’t be able to go to those areas. That has all sorts of curious consequences, like a fractured world (bad) and potentially less frequent ganking (good).

Or, in SWTOR terms, a player buys the “Dark Side” package and gets the Hutt, Mandalorian and Sith planets, but can’t visit Coruscant or Corellia. Again, players get the *content* they want without paying for the stuff they don’t, either in time or in money.

It’s no surprise that GW itself, organized in geographical chunks, has a narrow level band so that those who have all the expansions can wind up playing in any of them without really screwing anything up significantly. It’s a nice system, since players can play the *content* they want to without having to grind through the stuff they don’t. If a GW player only wanted Nightfall, they just buy that box and venture forth. If they had to purchase Prophecies and Factions *and* play through them first, that would be a rough equivalent to how WoW works (you need vanilla and TBC to play Wrath, for example… how different would things be if you could buy Wrath alone and start immediately in Northrend?), and may well have meant less sales for Nightfall. Also, this allows for package deals where buying content in bulk is an option. Sort of like buying sub packages or lifetime subs; buying in bulk is a shot in the arm of the devs and a good deal for the player.

I know, I know, MMO design heresy, but frankly, it’s about time.