The Daily Grind: Do you care if players get free max-level characters?

@Danteeeee
You don't have to create any special account, you can choose between PvE and PvP characters. PvE characters are leveled up and can do anything, whereas PvP characters are PvP only and don't need to be leveled.

@Seffrid "I'm not so much opposed to the principle raised as saddened by the way in which MMOs have all been reduced in people's eyes to the "chore" of reaching "the endgame" as quickly as possible"

...with City of Heroes being the most recent addition to that particular club. :(

@Xilmar

I agree with you Xilmar, but here is the problem. MMO's are about all of the types of progression you mentioned WITH OTHER PEOPLE. =)

In Eq2, you will be doing everything pretty much alone... so why not skip it since its incredibly boring to lvl etc by yourself with no one around for weeks and weeks.

@EndDream

Yes. And imo that's what they should have addressed. I'm hoping this might be something like a testing the waters kind of thing, because giving away max lvl chars is basically them saying they kinda give up on leveling.

Some of my comments can seem harsh and whatever to some people, but it's really not that bad. It's just a matter of correctly identifying the issues that are problematic to the pre-endgame gameplay. And i'm not convinced the devs have this down yet.

I mean max lvl chars are a quick fix, which is nothing good in an MMO. If playing solo is the biggest issue, there are ways to fix it. Revamped questing zones, better zone communications, a couple extra tools for the players to basically interact with each other and overall make it easier for someone to find others that are interested in doing the same thing.

But no matter what the problem and the solutions are, one thing's certain. An MMO played alone is just a bad single player RPG. If players don't have the necessary tools for interacting between them, then it's back to the brainstorming list...locked in the basement until the solution is found kind of thing.

tl;dr: improving the lvling experience and adding more player interaction is important, not giving up on leveling altogether.

@Xilmar

I agree, I think players are getting sick of the traditional MMO boring leveling game. Developers spend most of their efforts on end-game raids yet put in a 60-plus leveling bore in front of it to time-sink players. You want to roll a different class? You must endure that boring grind again.

They should look at a skill based system more like EVE with no "classes".

@Kunari

Just remembered something i found to be a decent step forward in Perpetuum. It's like you said, similar to EVE's char progression, but with a couple of twists.

Basically when you make your char, you get to choose some stuff, like background, bloodline, something like that. In EVE, that stuff had an impact on a few starting skills, the stats and your starting noob system (Todaki rules, best rules).

In Perpetuum, you get a small bonus when you train in a particular skill area. For example my first char was heavy into PVP, with a bit in "leadership" (no industry), so i got slightly better training on anything PVP related. It didn't stop me from taking whatever path i wanted, but it kept the char focus important. Not very ontopic, but the idea's great imo.

Ontopic now, i wouldn't be surprised if we saw different exp bars in the same game. Like WAR had, with the normal and pvp exp bar...but for pve aswell. Basically make the normal char progression an optional thing if you just want to PVE or PVP. it would need work, but the idea's simple.
I for one think that's one type of gaming cancer and will flame for all eternity a dev studio that would do that, but it's not that far fetched really.

tl;dr skill based progression like EVE on Perpetuum. But more likely we'll see different XP bars, like a normal (classic) one, PVP one, PVE one, etc.

@Xilmar Majority can't be bothered with leveling up in a game taking forever. I love how you bashed WoW for how they have changed leveling in a game. People new to a game want to be with the rest of the community. Does old content really matter when new content is out and fresh? The answer is no. Blizzard succeeds where others fail because they think of the average/casual gamer. Endgame matters so much to so many now because they love stroking their epeen. Being World firsts, being top ranked pvp teams, winning prizes, getting sponsors to play a game. WoW made the MMO market expand in population. Back in the day EQ and Ultima didn't get half the attention WoW does. As for the topic about getting a max level character. I would say it depends on how the game is. If it's a game where content stays relevant and pvp matters then I'd say don't give out max chars, but if your game is full of dead zones til endgame then give them at least a character where people are active.

@Alex Oglitchkin

I see where you're going with everything, but you have to understand that some people are those weirdos that like a story, a bit of immersion, maybe some RP if you bump into a dwarf coming out of the tavern you're going in...we might also like to run the dungeons, pair up with a stranger and quest with them (shout out to Gronom and Gornom, the two green orc warrs from '04 - Stonetalon was never the same), or getting two high level mates to run you through the pain that was ST.

"Old content" a.k.a. lvling content, lore and all that epicness might not seem important to you, but for a lot of gamers that was epic. You think running a max lvl dungeon in 20 mins is cool? Try doing the strairs in ZF with a 40 or whatever healer, clearing the elites in stromgarde keep or getting lost and fighting for your life and freedom under un goro. Those things were epic and only a first boss kill managed to beat that.
Old content doesn't matter? Maybe not to you, but to most gamers it does.

And going back on topic, if EQ2 has dead zones, as i've said before, the devs should think of ways to repopulate the areas. and not all zones are dead per say, so a good dungeon finder, or a decent lfg interface, a couple of revamped questing zones, that sort of thing, and 3/4 or the game's content, lore, etc. will not be ignored.

You obviously play WOW, not EQ2, so we'll stick to that. WOW, besides making so that you could raid hard modes successfully with only basic knowledge of the english language (wtf guise, srsly) and a couple of addons, did some good things for lvling. the XP bar is like a TGV, you ding in the blink of an eye, exp needed is next to nothing, hierlooms with what is it now, a flat 30% more exp...all these are a huge overkill, but some, implemented with caution, can solve the lvling issues of most fantasy MMORPGs. and it would work in EQ2, can't see a reason why it wouldn't.

@Irem

The problem is EQ2 and it's current playerbase. They are all at the level cap, for the most part. So no matter what, players coming back won't be close to those players at all and will be mired in solo boredom at whatever level they left at. I've had it happen to me numerous times.

I resub for a month, play a little and then find I am bored because I'm basically alone in the mid 50 levels. It puts a damper on my gametime to think I have to grind(not that I don't want to see the content, I really do) to level 90. 40 levels of no one to play with. Yikes.

Hmm, maybe instead of giving players a MAX level toon, they should just bring them up to the latest expansion's starting level. This way they still have to do the content in the last 10 levels but at least they will be closer to endgame people and I don't know, it's an idea at least.

@MMOaddict
I don't play EQ2, but it seems like such a sad thing to have a developer going, "Look, we know you guys hate playing through most of our game, so how would you feel if we let you skip it?" I understand why he asked, because it really would be the easiest/cheapest way for them to fix the problem, but I hope some in-depth research is being done as to why it's that way in the first place.

@MMOaddict Seems like the proper solution would be to just increase the exp rate on the lower levels and put in a better dungeon finder tool.

@Dracones

That would work. They need to really increase the xp rate a ton though. Supposedly it increases for every alt if you have a max level character, but I don't have a max level character yet and won't if I can't get over this mid level hump.

Again, the issue in EQ2 is the instanced zones and boring quest lines to be honest. THAT is the real issue. It's not the levels or lack of people(to a degree) but the fact that every zone has the exact same quest scheme. They maybe need to do a Cataclysm to the game by refining the leveling process in each zone. Make it less to level at early levels but still take you through each zone. I know some won't like that idea, but oh well. Those guys are all probably at end cap already, so what do they know, lol.