Ignoring the screeching cries of faithful Blizzard fans around the world, Dalmarus jumps head first into the frying pan in an attempt to keep Azeroth's influence from spreading like the plague he thinks it is. Has he finally fallen off his rocker, or is he the sole beacon of reason in an ever-tumbling landscape of game design?
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If this sick and twisted vision of "games not beginning until you've reached the end" had remained locked within the tortured little world of Azeroth, I'd be content to sit in my rocking chair and yell obscenities at the local whippersnappers as they run across my lawn. As it is though, this poisonous thought has slowly been creeping into other games, and it's time for the madness to stop.
What suggestions do you offer for these game companies to do? WoW was not the first game to require you to be max level so you cannot really blame them for it - if anything they made it easier to get to the end level with quest hubs and the like.
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The trouble with being a god is that you've got no one to pray to - Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
I completly agree with you. People do it all the time now where they rush to the end of the game in the first week, and then whine and moan that there is nothing to do while everyone else is still just out of the starting zone.
This has to be a by-product of the new age of ADD pill popping kiddies that are now hitting the internet and everywhere else for that matter. The gameplay has been lost now and it is all about the next big dungeon they can go in and beat. The day and age of the journey to max level being the best part of the game are gone for many many people and it is a sad thing for me, based on playtime people would probally lump me in with the hardcore gaming crowd(and even then that seams to be slipping away to a higher amount), but I have a total of a 2 level 22s in WAR(one on each side) as I slowly make my way through and explore the game.
I wish developers would make it about the journey and not the destination again, but the land of PC gaming is like a dead zone for that anymore, I hate to say anything good of counsoles, but they are getting it right nowadays, they make the whole game enjoyable, and the end of the game is just that, the end of the game.
I think someone got more than a lost loot roll, I would almost say their cape was ninjaed in the deadmines leading to years of pent up anger about a non-issue.
That's my opinion though.
While on opinions, you can say what you want, but leveling one to seventy (or eighty) is actually fun and a massive adventure filled with lots of well thought out plot and lore. It's just that the games changes at 80. Lots of people never get to the endgame and spend months just leveling up for fun.
I don't know where you get your facts from, but WoW is more than let's get to 80 to play the "real game". It's about an epic adventure of growth, starting from someone who is trying to fend for their village all the way until your power matches gods themselves.
So, in summary, I'm sorry you never enjoyed leveling up or you friends level faster. WoW is a take it and play it like you want game. You can take the time to do quests without spoilers working your way up if you want or if you want to rush you can do that to. If you want to play 30 minutes or 5 hours a day you can do that to. What do you want instead?
People have fun speeding through levels anyway. Why hate on people's fun if it's not harmful in any way to others?
sheesh
If they come to your game and complain ignore them and have fun with your game. Does someone else's opinion of your game actually make you feel as if you're playing an inferior product even when you're having fun? Does it actually matter? The success of a game is far more than players from another game feeling as if it wasn't the game for them. A good game won't fail even if it's different than WoW.
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World of Warcraft - Ten Ton Hammer Anything and everything you need for World of Warcraft.
If there is something that you do need and isn't available throw me a PM.
I wish developers would make it about the journey and not the destination again.....
IMO WAR is very much this kind of game. It's all about having fun, playing competively aginst the enemy, but at release we had people who raced through to rank 40 without thinking and were left at that range, and in some servers still are, with noone to play against.
Anyway, back to WoW for a second - I'm with Xerin. It took me around 26 days of play time to hit 70 with first character (he was 58 when TBC raised the cap from 60 to 70). I just did the calculations on that and worked out I wasted waaaaay too much time on a game. But my point being that's hundreds (eep!) of hours played before end game game up, and I loved every second of it. Because some dateless wonders have the time to put into a game to get to the last level within a month of real time doesn't mean that the more normal of us can't appreciate the journey.
1) No lost loot rolls had anything to do with this, haha.
2) I quit playing WoW before the first expansion after I got my Orc Hunter to 60 in just over a month. At that point, I realized the only thing I had to do was start another character, raid, or PvP. It was like being on a train and running smack into a mountain. It completely changed the feel of the game, and I'll say it again - That's just wrong.
3) If it was a random player coming into these games and doing it, it wouldn't really bother me. It's the influx of players that continually ask questions like, "What's the best class to get to [max level] the fastest?", "Where's the best hunting place to go the fastest experience", etc.
The fact that people enjoy WoW doesn't bother me in the least. I don't care what game you're playing as long as you have fun. What's driving me crazy though is the thought that players continue going into other games, race to the max level as fast as possible, and then complain about there being nothing left to do.
WoW was the first introduction of MMOG's to so many people and as such, it set a certain tone for them. When they go into other games, the thought of slowing down and exploring the lands and lore just doesn't occur to them. It's at this point where things really start to break down.
All I'm saying is, "Get your peanut butter off of my chocolate!"
Dalmarus - I have a class of each at 70 on Alliance and a mage with the TTH guild that is almost 66. In the WoW forums we get a "what's the fastest class to level" thread about once a month. We tell them the same thing - there really isn't one - some are better then others - it depends on your playstyle. Each class has its strengths and weaknesses and each class I have leveled has been a blast in some ways and holy hell in others.
I think TBC has made raiding more inclusive - I have guildies like me with multiple alts and KZ has been awesome in this regard - a 10 man instance with good gear that is fun to get 10 people together and go to town. Pre-TBC you had to be in a 40-man raid and my alts never sniffed MC. I think Wrath will be even better in this regard.
I still maintain that WoW has more to it at high content then any other game. Yes the leveling has been reduced in terms of difficulty and amount needed but that is because if it still was the same new people would never get there with the number of elite quests and the fact that a lot of people do not run dungeons and the zones are sparsely populated. I have enjoyed leveling my toons and the change in leveling has made me more interested in leveling then had it been the old way (which I did 8 times!).
I think the major reason you see this effect with WoW is that new people come in and think the game starts at 70 (and as of Thursday 80) and want to know how fast they can get there to either catch up to their friends or be with the "cool people". They miss the fun and excitement along the way and it is a shame - but that is due to 4 years of the game being out. I think many other games have this issue, but in WoW you see it the most due to the population.
Reavi - while I don't play Warhammer I follow the threads a lot (plus one of my best friends play) and the complaints that there is nothing to do at 40 is really funny - people have to understand that not every game is WoW - while it may be their first introduction to MMOs trying to play Warhammer like WoW would probably get a lot of people to hate it.
Dalmarus - what suggestions would you give to developers? I think from their perspective the higher the level the more time people would play - obviously Blizzard has reduced the xp and time required but the fact is I think some of the design is on them.
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The trouble with being a god is that you've got no one to pray to - Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
2) I quit playing WoW before the first expansion after I got my Orc Hunter to 60 in just over a month. At that point, I realized the only thing I had to do was start another character, raid, or PvP. It was like being on a train and running smack into a mountain. It completely changed the feel of the game, and I'll say it again - That's just wrong.
Alright, so what do you want to do instead? If you like the feel you can make a new horde character and experience an entire new track to 60. If you don't want to PvP, do instances, or make a new character then what do you want to do? Just level up more endlessly?
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3) If it was a random player coming into these games and doing it, it wouldn't really bother me. It's the influx of players that continually ask questions like, "What's the best class to get to [max level] the fastest?", "Where's the best hunting place to go the fastest experience", etc.
I hate to break it to you man, but I played and built my own MUDs back when graphics were for rich people who could afford more than a 486 or P1. Even then, in the infancy of online gaming, people asked those same questions. It's only human nature that we want to be the best as fast as possible. The trick is convincing us that we're doing it when we're really not.
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The fact that people enjoy WoW doesn't bother me in the least. I don't care what game you're playing as long as you have fun. What's driving me crazy though is the thought that players continue going into other games, race to the max level as fast as possible, and then complain about there being nothing left to do.
So my other comment. Having no endgame content is the fault of the developer. If you design a game that lands you at the end with nothing to do then the game is a failure. Don't blame people who leveled up really fast, blame the developers for not catering to their subset. Not everyone is in it for the journey. People play for different reasons. If the game is focused on leveling up and allows you to get to the max level REALLY fast and then gives you nothing (even if you're using leveling guides) then pfft the game is bad.
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WoW was the first introduction of MMOG's to so many people and as such, it set a certain tone for them. When they go into other games, the thought of slowing down and exploring the lands and lore just doesn't occur to them. It's at this point where things really start to break down.
If people want to tap into that market then by all means they should emulate and build on the example WoW set with its genre breaking awesomeness. If they don't want to tap into the market then they need to be content with pre-WoW numbers where over a million was super rare and the average for a "good" game was 100,000 active subscriptions.
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World of Warcraft - Ten Ton Hammer Anything and everything you need for World of Warcraft.
If there is something that you do need and isn't available throw me a PM.
WoW: The Warcraft Effect
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