Sirian's First Impression

[Nystul]

[quote='LavCat' pid='195167' dateline='1334428483']In the Blizzards game worlds we are forced to focus on getting the gear ( a nefarious feeder bar version of Monty Haul).

This actually makes sense from a game design point of view. No one will carry on playing a game just so they can punch a monster's head off slightly more effectively than they did the level before, but they will do so just to get shiny new weapons and armour. I guess as Lurkers you're a little different.

I was asked by a fellow player why I was running LFR Dragon Soul during a particularly bad Fall of Deathwing run (Not the worst I've ever run, but still...). I didn't need the gear even though I can still bag a few upgrades if they dropped, and the gold/VP payoff was a nice bonus but not entirely necessary. I was running "boring old Madness" because I still actually enjoy the encounter.

I guess it's the Lurker's way that you're more than happy to run the maze while everyone else is focused on the cheese.

I used to refer to it as "playing Pokemon". It's this idea that the real game is about finding every cute little thing you want (or trading your friend for it!) and the game play is just some BS you have to go through along the way. But in retrospect I think that is insulting to Pokemon which is a pretty cool game.

I do find some disturbing trends along these lines though in the way RPGs have devolved. It is no longer even about playing the game anymore, it seems. The goal is just to rush through everything, respec your character, do loot runs, moan about the lack of "end game content", etc. And I'll admit to getting caught up in some of that as well, as it can be fun for some amount of time. But when it got to the point where people are paying RL money to have someone level up their character or find items for them so they don't have to go through the work of playing the darn game, I realized that a large chunk of the RPG community is really not playing the same game as me whatsoever. Give me Ironman D1 every day of the week, and I'll gladly start each day at level 1 with a short bow or staff of charged bolt.

But more seriously, the problem with games designed by munchkins is that the balance quickly gets out of control. There is not much nuance in a lot of these games so the character build and gear determine the outcome of each battle. Do you balance the "end game" to challenge the munchkins with their ubergear and cookie cutter skills? Or do you give the have-nots a fighting chance while making the game a cakewalk for most?

But this is the sort of issue that Sirian knows much more about than any game dev so his initial impressions at least are promising!