Personally I don't see any achievement in getting to maximum level, either in this game or any other MMORPG. It is not fun when you have to kill same mobs over and over and over again just so you can level up. Or do same instance over and over and over again (I think I did FT like 40 times which was rather short as you could skip most mobs, and now about 15 times Alquimia which takes time as you have to clear most mobs). I rather get to maximum level in reasonable time (AoC/WAR was not bad) and then spend months getting better gear, progressing with boss kills, doing harder and harder boss encounters.
Mindless grinding = not fun for me.
Also you compare this game to games that are 10 years old now, you do realize that times have changed
To be fair, its not the times that have changed. Its the people who have changed
(aside from the irony that the UO of 10 years ago was way ...waaaaaay better than any newer MMO (imo))
For me, the levelling is irrelevant. Whether it takes 4 days to get to max level or 400 days to get to max level. Its all the same to me. Its mucking about with friends and socialising in the game that I enjoy most and for that it really doesnt matter how fast or slow we level. (mind you I am not as achievement minded as so many people are today). Thats the same thing that I enjoyed so much about those 10 year old games, the socialising and mucking about. Imo its something which is missing largely from the newer MMOs where people are more purple lewtz obsessed, stat obsessed, level obsessed and tend to run about in their own private little bubbles doing their own thing, barely saying a word to anyone unless they absolutely have to. Its also possibly a reason why when I find an MMO I like, I play it for years as I pootle along at my pace. Whereas so many other people are so madly achievement focused that they burn out and end up jumping from game to game every few months.
I've always wished for a new version of UO to be made, sadly I think it would get pounded into the ground and end up very much as a niche game that gets badmouthed by the userbase today. I dont think "modern" players would be able to cope with the UO style of gameplay , despite it being by far the best MMO I've played. They would be all over the forums whining.
I reckon its only a matter of time now before someone releases an MMO where when you create a character you are just automatically at max level, its no wonder that bots and account buying are so prevalent today compared to 7-12 years ago in MMOs. Still...not much I can do about the game "players" , except ignore their presence...yes ...you know who you are , you pesky people who come up and hit invite to group without even having the common decency to say hello to me first, or run up and say "buff" or send a whisper saying "rez". Hehehe, I have become so cynical of online players today !
I actually have been following a thread on an MMO gaming forum this past couple of weeks, its an old MMO forum stretching right back to the dawn of MMOs. Its been a very interesting thread with a lot of veteran MMOers posting their thoughts and opinions on the MMO genre over the last 12 years. Some quotes from the thread in which people echo the thoughts in my head...
"The major difference isn't necessarily the games but the types of people who are now playing them. We live in the X-box Live generation and if anything it proves lots of people in general aren't very friendly or worthwhile."
(little harsh to specify X-box, but I can see what he's saying)
"Exactly. The reason early games had great communities were people clustering together against the unknown. Now MMO players know pretty much exactly what to expect"
(I think classes in games havent helped with this...these days everyone knows what a tank is, what a healer is, and all groups against all mobs tend to be tank+healer + mix match of whatever other classes are around. Also doesnt help that monster levels are visible these days so that the player can "tell" whether or not they can kill a mob. I much preferred the days of UO where the only way to know if you could kill something was to try, if you died..then you knew you couldnt
...but nooooo, that would be too harsh on the players today...awww *passes tissue*)
"The thing that made Daoc really special was the community"
"But even early on in those games, the people were a lot different than they are now. Maybe I'm just delusional (probably), but all I see anymore is a lot of absurdity that is apparently supposed to pass for humor"
(certainly agree on the absurdity that is apparently supposed to pass for humour...what exactly is funny about chuck norris gags , ur mum jokes and various versions of pwned. Beats me. Though this person said delusion, I think this one may actually just be down to a generational difference thing)
"Questing has largely replaced hunting (which often happened with others) in MMOs. You don't need a community when you can do hundreds of quests and ignore other players entirely...except when they are in the way of your questing. That's the state of community these days."
(Tend to agree here too, its interesting that when I look back over all the MMOs from the last 12 years, the 2 that I rate the highest have been 2 MMOs that had no quests at all)
"this is true. it's a sad metamorphosis. if you look at older games like DAoC and newer games you can really see the difference in terms of grouping. in DAoC, you had group bonuses. bonus exp just for being in a group. add to that a camp bonus and grouping and grinding was the best way to level. now it's all about solo questing. it detrimental to group unless you absolutely positively have to because your exp gets REDUCED instead of having a bonus added to it. the games discourage grouping. grouping is what builds communities. i haven't seen a game really generate community since DAoC."
(still time to remedy this in games, bring back the grouping bonus !)
Whoa...big old post, dont suppose anyone will bother reading that, but hey...wouldnt be a forum without a big dollop of text somewhere in a thread
