To those who havenât played other MMORPGs extensively, I can explain the desire for âcasualâ players to keep up somewhat in leveling and experience gain. For this post I will make a distinction between those who are casual players by choice, and those who are forced into such circumstances by the pressures of everyday life. (You know, out there, in the real world.) ;)
Levels are important for one of three reasons, depending on the type of player. They make you more competitive with other players; they allow you to explore more of the world, and more dangerous areas; and, most importantly from my point of view, they allow you to keep up with your friends.
In games of this nature, strong friendships are formed. Either a bunch of friends agree to buy the game when it comes out and start questing together, or you meet great people early on and form a long-lasting group with them. Good groups level quickly, due to teamwork, and the fact that everyone is having so much fun that long sessions are commonplace.
This is good. The problem, of course, is that some of the group members begin to fall by the wayside. Letâs go through a quick example. Alex, Bart, Charlie, and Diana form a group. They each gain 1 level every 10 hours, and they help each other out, going on the same quests and doing the same things, everyone pulls their own weight and everyone has saved everyone elseâs life many times.
Alex is a teenager on summer vacation and can play 60 hours a week. Bart is a stay-at-home dad and can play 40 hours a week, on weekends and when the kids are in school. Charlie works nights, lives alone, and can only play 20 hours a week because his job takes so many hours. Diana is a working mother and can only manage 10 hours a week, but loves the game as a social release and stress reliever.
For the sake of fantasy (itâs never this easy), letâs assume the group can always play together. Otherwise, the problems would be even worse.
At the end of week 1, Alex is level 6, Bart is level 4, Charlie is level 2, and Diana is level 1. Alex is the star of the show, killing the most monsters, but he needs the varied skills (healing, scouting, ranged, whatever) of the other players. Everyone is having lots of fun; they donât like to play with the *#!@s they see bullying them around and trying to power-level over them, so they decide to play the game together for as long as possible.
At the end of week 2, Alex is level 12, Bart is level 8, Charlie is level 4, and Diana is level 2. They have to slow down their questing, because everyone but Alex keeps dying. They do quests at Bartâs level, which slows down Alex, and puts Diana in serious danger. But everyone is still having a good time.
At the end of week 3, Alex is level 16 (due to slowed experience gain), Bart is level 12, Charlie is level 8, and Diana is level 3. Alex is bored, but likes these people so much that he doesnât want to give up and go find another inferior group. Diana dies several times an hour, despite everyoneâs protection. Bart begins to feel like Alex, wanting to try higher-level quests to speed things up; Diana feels guilty for holding them back. Charlie disagrees with Alex and wants to keep doing level 8 quests â¦
Itâs usually not this bad for awhile, but it does happen. People form very strong social bonds through the game, and want to help each other and spend time together. The rest state system gives the Charlies and Dianas of the world a little bit of help, without hurting other players. Of course the power gamers (which are actually in the minority, but extremely vocal, from things Iâve seen) feel that people like Diana are getting unfair âwelfareâ that somehow jeopardizes their own superiority. Diana will never be a threat to them, but since sheâs getting more experience per unit of time, they feel sheâs somehow dragging the rest of them down. I personally donât see why competitive people need to enforce their own strictures of âfairnessâ on people who are pressed for time in the real world, but they do.
The âforced casualâ segment of the population is significant, and growing, especially as gamers mature and enter the workforce. The other games (notoriously, EQ and Star Wars Galaxies especially) have no mercy on these people. Either you keep up, or you get left behind and may as well not even be playing. No other game truly caters to this segment of the population, because itâs too hard to balance their concerns with those of the hardcore players. Blizzard is the first company that Iâve seen to truly attempt this. Apparently, theyâve identified this segment as a large potential market, and one that will grow, because theyâre designing their game to be entry-friendly, fast-leveling for the casuals, with quick travel, and easy to log off from, and filled with many short quests that favor short, effective sessions. Clearly they want to appeal to these people.
The power levelers will always be stronger than the Charlies and Dianas of the world, by a serious order of magnitude. By playing, say, 3 times as much, even if they donât have 3 times as much experience, theyâll have 3 times as much gold, 3 times as much treasure ⦠theyâll always be significantly ahead. For them to be whining about the lowest ranks of players getting a âboostâ that they translate into a âpenaltyâ just seems silly to me. MMORPGs are social games. If you feel the need to play alone and hold everyone to the same stricture, then EverQuest 2 is calling to you ⦠bye â¦
Levels are important for one of three reasons, depending on the type of player. They make you more competitive with other players; they allow you to explore more of the world, and more dangerous areas; and, most importantly from my point of view, they allow you to keep up with your friends.
In games of this nature, strong friendships are formed. Either a bunch of friends agree to buy the game when it comes out and start questing together, or you meet great people early on and form a long-lasting group with them. Good groups level quickly, due to teamwork, and the fact that everyone is having so much fun that long sessions are commonplace.
This is good. The problem, of course, is that some of the group members begin to fall by the wayside. Letâs go through a quick example. Alex, Bart, Charlie, and Diana form a group. They each gain 1 level every 10 hours, and they help each other out, going on the same quests and doing the same things, everyone pulls their own weight and everyone has saved everyone elseâs life many times.
Alex is a teenager on summer vacation and can play 60 hours a week. Bart is a stay-at-home dad and can play 40 hours a week, on weekends and when the kids are in school. Charlie works nights, lives alone, and can only play 20 hours a week because his job takes so many hours. Diana is a working mother and can only manage 10 hours a week, but loves the game as a social release and stress reliever.
For the sake of fantasy (itâs never this easy), letâs assume the group can always play together. Otherwise, the problems would be even worse.
At the end of week 1, Alex is level 6, Bart is level 4, Charlie is level 2, and Diana is level 1. Alex is the star of the show, killing the most monsters, but he needs the varied skills (healing, scouting, ranged, whatever) of the other players. Everyone is having lots of fun; they donât like to play with the *#!@s they see bullying them around and trying to power-level over them, so they decide to play the game together for as long as possible.
At the end of week 2, Alex is level 12, Bart is level 8, Charlie is level 4, and Diana is level 2. They have to slow down their questing, because everyone but Alex keeps dying. They do quests at Bartâs level, which slows down Alex, and puts Diana in serious danger. But everyone is still having a good time.
At the end of week 3, Alex is level 16 (due to slowed experience gain), Bart is level 12, Charlie is level 8, and Diana is level 3. Alex is bored, but likes these people so much that he doesnât want to give up and go find another inferior group. Diana dies several times an hour, despite everyoneâs protection. Bart begins to feel like Alex, wanting to try higher-level quests to speed things up; Diana feels guilty for holding them back. Charlie disagrees with Alex and wants to keep doing level 8 quests â¦
Itâs usually not this bad for awhile, but it does happen. People form very strong social bonds through the game, and want to help each other and spend time together. The rest state system gives the Charlies and Dianas of the world a little bit of help, without hurting other players. Of course the power gamers (which are actually in the minority, but extremely vocal, from things Iâve seen) feel that people like Diana are getting unfair âwelfareâ that somehow jeopardizes their own superiority. Diana will never be a threat to them, but since sheâs getting more experience per unit of time, they feel sheâs somehow dragging the rest of them down. I personally donât see why competitive people need to enforce their own strictures of âfairnessâ on people who are pressed for time in the real world, but they do.
The âforced casualâ segment of the population is significant, and growing, especially as gamers mature and enter the workforce. The other games (notoriously, EQ and Star Wars Galaxies especially) have no mercy on these people. Either you keep up, or you get left behind and may as well not even be playing. No other game truly caters to this segment of the population, because itâs too hard to balance their concerns with those of the hardcore players. Blizzard is the first company that Iâve seen to truly attempt this. Apparently, theyâve identified this segment as a large potential market, and one that will grow, because theyâre designing their game to be entry-friendly, fast-leveling for the casuals, with quick travel, and easy to log off from, and filled with many short quests that favor short, effective sessions. Clearly they want to appeal to these people.
The power levelers will always be stronger than the Charlies and Dianas of the world, by a serious order of magnitude. By playing, say, 3 times as much, even if they donât have 3 times as much experience, theyâll have 3 times as much gold, 3 times as much treasure ⦠theyâll always be significantly ahead. For them to be whining about the lowest ranks of players getting a âboostâ that they translate into a âpenaltyâ just seems silly to me. MMORPGs are social games. If you feel the need to play alone and hold everyone to the same stricture, then EverQuest 2 is calling to you ⦠bye â¦