I think an issue that everyone is missing is how the cross server grouping adds longevity to the game. When most people are passed say the lvl 40 point and you roll an alt, who you going to group with? The cross server function greatly speeds up the ability to run the content you want.
I think your forgetting something
Making people get through content faster is not longevity....
It simply means you get content done faster and get tired to the same thing faster.
But w/e... not arguing this point beyond that since it would mean no lfd :/
Was meaning longevity through alts and new players late to the game being actually able to do the content, as opposed to just having to quest grind and skip it when groups get too difficult to find. Which in the end leads to frustration and the canceling of subs since dungeons are where you get all your better gear and enough of said gear to enchant it up to a decent level. Content wise.. no argument from me, this game has none really as you can easily hit 60 within 10 days without trying. Within he first week if your even a little dedicated to it.
Was meaning longevity through alts and new players late to the game being actually able to do the content, as opposed to just having to quest grind and skip it when groups get too difficult to find. Which in the end leads to frustration and the canceling of subs since dungeons are where you get all your better gear and enough of said gear to enchant it up to a decent level. Content wise.. no argument from me, this game has none really as you can easily hit 60 within 10 days without trying. Within he first week if your even a little dedicated to it.
I hate making alts. I play on my main and that is it. So by giving a quick way to complete my character I'd have nothing left to do. Boredom then leads to me cancelling my sub.
Then I hate to tell you Genobee.. this game wont last for you. Took me 3 days of not anywhere near serious playing to hit 50 in Korean Tera, and everyone says thats a grindfest. Even though I skipped a countless number of quests and at one point only did storyline quests, the game plays out VERY quickly. While its true that the lockout is longer here then there, quests will level you just about as fast.
Was meaning longevity through alts and new players late to the game being actually able to do the content, as opposed to just having to quest grind and skip it when groups get too difficult to find. Which in the end leads to frustration and the canceling of subs since dungeons are where you get all your better gear and enough of said gear to enchant it up to a decent level. Content wise.. no argument from me, this game has none really as you can easily hit 60 within 10 days without trying. Within he first week if your even a little dedicated to it.
Frustration actually keeps people playing when done correctly. It causes 'the addictive' nature of games. The harder a game is to play, the more addictive it is. But it can't be impossible and it needs to reward well. WoW had this up till WOTLK. It was like a drug. You felt compelled to keep playing, even though it pissed you off when people didn't do their part. I can't count how many times I wanted to quit but i couldnt because i just wanted that stupid mount no matter what. Skyrim had this kind of drug feel. It was fun, took time, and could keep you addicted... up until everything is done and you pretty much seen everything. Making it easy =/= longevity. easy == more content needed to keep people interested. These changes, will have an apparent affect should EME and BH not regularly update the game with new content. Lack of making things easy means they get more time to come up with new content while they make money.
Now everything is just handed to you these days in MMOs... Game makers are to afraid to step outside of the so called 'what mmo's must have' thanks to WoW. And no, don't try to quote SWTOR... That game was a glorified single player with a multilayer aspect. it was a bad game.
And if this game can't cater to people who are 1 character wonders, this game wont last either Seriadon. I know a lot of people who hate leveling with a passion and will only do it once. After that, all they want is end content. Fast gearing and fast end game content only makes them bored and they leave because there is nothing new to do.
Was meaning longevity through alts and new players late to the game being actually able to do the content, as opposed to just having to quest grind and skip it when groups get too difficult to find. Which in the end leads to frustration and the canceling of subs since dungeons are where you get all your better gear and enough of said gear to enchant it up to a decent level. Content wise.. no argument from me, this game has none really as you can easily hit 60 within 10 days without trying. Within he first week if your even a little dedicated to it.
I hate making alts. I play on my main and that is it. So by giving a quick way to complete my character I'd have nothing left to do. Boredom then leads to me cancelling my sub.
Guess what. You're not the majority. Most people love making alts. I personally don't enjoy replaying content -- that's me. But most everyone I know goes and tries every class, makes toons galore, etc. You're a minority. Don't act like your single sub cancel is the end-all for EME. It's not. Tell me now. What would you rather have? A company that will gladly make new content available regularly and that understand the attention span of the average american is little to none so they create a guaranteed way for people to move through things much quicker and easier ... or would you rather a game that is slow, grindfest and Lineage 2 esque? I refuse to sit there and spent 100 hours on one level. I will not do it. Plain and simple. Lineage 2 grindfests and lengthiness is a thing of the past.
The entire world moves at lightning pace compared to what it did 10 years ago--games are no different. We expect--nay REQUIRE--instant gratification for a LOT of people ... that is why people lose interest so quick. That is why this is done. There is NO even remotely decently populated MMo on the market that is P2P that you can't level up retardedly fast in now. Dark Age of Camelot you can hit cap level in a day if you do it right. 1-50 same day. Anarchy Online is the LAST of the stupidly long taking level up experiences around that is still P2P and worth a laugh or two of playtime.
If THAT is the kind of game you want - then get stepping to an older game ... society expects things moving at a much faster pace and to have a continuous flow on par with an FPS or Console gaming's instant action.
This is coming from a game DEVELOPER'S standpoint. This is NOT coming from JUST a game PLAYER's standpoint. Do you know why so many people loved Vanilla WoW? Because it's what we're used to. I personally hated it. It was too slow - took too long to do anything - the storyline sucked terribly and I hated sitting there and grinding on the same mob for 8 hours straight hoping I might level cap in 4-8 months. If I can level cap in 1-3 month on a game - that's 1 month damn well spent for me and I am happy as a clam. The new age of MMos is realizing this and so their goal is to hurry you through the grinding process and rewarding you with amazing end-game incentives. That is the idea of the new breed of MMos - take it or leave it - but don't lump everyone in with your opinion.
I personally hate screwing with alts - and in this game - the only other class than Slayer I am willing to try on a super serious level that I think I would benefit the guild without "training" myself to learn the class would be Sorc. I'd love to try a tank class eventually once I've gotten better at the playstyle / combat system that Tera uses... But that's just it - I also hate screwing with re-leveling through the same storyline I just went through.... so it will be tough - but if I can do well with it - it will be rewarding for me. And if I can level up quickly enough - it wont make me lose focus or my interest in the game thus making me stay a lot longer. Make sense? Good.
Was meaning longevity through alts and new players late to the game being actually able to do the content, as opposed to just having to quest grind and skip it when groups get too difficult to find. Which in the end leads to frustration and the canceling of subs since dungeons are where you get all your better gear and enough of said gear to enchant it up to a decent level. Content wise.. no argument from me, this game has none really as you can easily hit 60 within 10 days without trying. Within he first week if your even a little dedicated to it.
Frustration actually keeps people playing when done correctly. It causes 'the addictive' nature of games. The harder a game is to play, the more addictive it is. But it can't be impossible and it needs to reward well. WoW had this up till WOTLK. It was like a drug. You felt compelled to keep playing, even though it pissed you off when people didn't do their part. I can't count how many times I wanted to quit but i couldnt because i just wanted that stupid mount no matter what. Skyrim had this kind of drug feel. It was fun, took time, and could keep you addicted... up until everything is done and you pretty much seen everything. Making it easy =/= longevity. easy == more content needed to keep people interested. These changes, will have an apparent affect should EME and BH not regularly update the game with new content. Lack of making things easy means they get more time to come up with new content while they make money.
Now everything is just handed to you these days in MMOs... Game makers are to afraid to step outside of the so called 'what mmo's must have' thanks to WoW. And no, don't try to quote SWTOR... That game was a glorified single player with a multilayer aspect. it was a bad game.
And if this game can't cater to people who are 1 character wonders, this game wont last either Seriadon. I know a lot of people who hate leveling with a passion and will only do it once. After that, all they want is end content. Fast gearing and fast end game content only makes them bored and they leave because there is nothing new to do.
Frustration is a form of psychological design built into a game. There is a very fine line drawn in the sand with this. One step over in either direction and you either piss the player off enough to go elsewhere or you bore them because it's too easy and they go elsewhere.
There's so many people playing these games in the world it's very difficult to cultivate a great game for the long run. Whatever happens, it wont stop me from playing atleast 4-6 months on this game. Sides, GW2 will be F2P - I can play them both without worry then. ;)
But, I digress. The Frustration is a great form of what's known as "brain reward" and that brain reward system that releases the frustration is an amazing feeling for a game player. For me, the frustration is trying to get to max level a second time or trying to beat an opponent that I just can't beat. But I manage to find a way if it's a good game ...Dark Age of Camelot I could level to 40 in a day or two ... I played that game for 8+ years off and on and put over 5 years straight subscription time into it ... and played for 6+ hours a day religiously for a good 3-4 years of my time on it. I have 7+ Level 50s ... WoW ... 3 level 85s ... the point is ... Even though I HATE re-exploring the content ... if I have a set goal in mind I will do it.
WoW Example : I hate grinding, but I really really really wanted to try playing a Druid in Cata. So ... I forced myself to roll through everything. Cool part of it all? They redid a lot of the quests so it made it more fun and edged me along through pretty quickly and I enjoyed the storyline a whole lot. Would I have done this if they hadn't changed the quest line enough or added this or that? No. I would've stopped at 20 or 30 if I even made it there because I was so horrifyingly bored of the troll starting area in its original form.
DAoC : I could get a character level up to 50 in a few days ... get it geared up because I had plenty of platinum and have the Artifact gear / weapons I wanted in a week at my leisure .. then have my champ levels taken care of in a day or two and have that weapon + frost horse mount in another day or two ... All in all .. I'm max level totally decked out in about 3 weeks and that's going slow. If I go fast I can do it all in 1.5 weeks and be ready for level 50 high end RvR / PVP action like it's nothing.
What do I do from there though? I spent 2-3 months on that character in constant PvP/RvR ... and I -don't- -get- -bored- ... then finally WoW comes about and consumes me with its fast paced gaming and I realize ... wtf? DAoC is sooooo slow as far as attacks, actions, abilities etc go .. and suddenly Blizzard has set the pace. Now DAoC is horribly boring - but it is the best game I've ever played.
The point is - frustration is good .. but when you look deep down in the core of things : EVERY MMo that has truly shined bright goes fast paced sooner or later.
The question is simple : Will this game have long-lasting replayability because of its pvp system?
That is the biggest and most redeeming quality of this game is the pvp system the gvg system and the sheer beauty of the game itself. Only time can tell whether or not the one-hit wonders will enjoy this ... whether or not it will entice or reward people for making alts, twinks, etc in the battlegrounds ... how they handle levels and teirs for PvP purposes ... trying to decide this right out from the starting gate and trying to predict is anyone's guess honestly and a fool's errand. A lot of MMos have had amazing starts then poof disappeared. Some have had decent starts gotten better then fizzled out or this or that.
What will decide it for me - as a player? Whether or not the game can convince me it's worth making multiple characters to try to fulfill and play other roles such as Tank and possibly a ranged role like DAoC, Anarchy Online and WoW all managed to have done. These are the ONLY games that I've gotten past the first 20 levels on alts on ( Or in Anarchy Online's case past level 100 for an equivalent calculation )
What will decide it for me - as a developer? 1. ) How fast do the devs give us new content? 2. ) Do they give us a cosmetic in game store for frilly and stupid stuff that we all love and adore? 3. ) Can they make it past the 6 month mark without losing more than 25% of their customer base?
compared to other games recently played, so far im excited about tera... but personally prefer group tools to be for a smaller community so i know whos who. why cant they have a this server / all servers button?
Interesting that currently its almost 50/50 for and against cross server LFG tool.
Personally speaking, I think cross server LFG tools contribute to the destruction of online communities. As someone who played WoW from 1.2 to 4.1, I can speak from experience that there was a noticeable change in the player base, and the overall dungeon experience. It wasn't an overnight thing, but communication with cross server players dropped, the dungeon became less about fun and more about how fast you can blast through it, and since players had no real reprocussions for there actions, some players abused the system and just treated other players like jerks.