The main problem is the hyper-incentivation of MMOs like WoW. Players are controlled by the designers by an infinite series of rewards. Given the way WoW is structured players feel that leveling to the max will allow them to start earning more rewards.

Also since WoW is really math and a numbers game getting to the level cap is seen as some kind of goal. So instead of enjoying the low to mid levels players race through them as fast as possible without stopping to smell the roses.

Your analysis of EverQuest was spot on. Levels actually meant something back then and yes there were many people who were content just to enjoy their current level and they never reached the false nirvana of the level cap.

Somehow MMOs changed from being about the journey to being about the destination. The journey being all of these experiences and adventures before the “end-game”.

Another problem is that easy leveling players never really get to fully explore a zone. They level so quick that they spend 1 or 2 days there and then they are whisked off to another zone by a breadcrumb questgiver. This has the additional negative of effect of weakening the sense of community.

Back in the days of EQ, I would spend weeks if not months in various dungeons. You got to know other players who hung out there. You developed friends and even enemies. Now that players are only passing through and because of the anti-social nature of instancing this social bonding is gone from MMO.

The fact is that leveling *is* far too easy and has become trivialized. How many of us know players that have multiple maxed out characters in various MMOs? This would have been unheard of in the first few years of EQ.

Even the word “leveling” is offensive and indicative of how we’ve lost our way in this genre. Instead of saying; “Hey let’s go out and adventure and explore!” We now often say: “Hey I need to level my druid tonight…”.

Blizzard has been one of the worse culprits in all of this. Even the last 2 expansions had far too much content because of the easy leveling. I recall in Wrath of the Lich King I had attained level 80 after completing all of the content in 4 zones. That left another 4 zones or more not including instances where I was maxed out which makes all of these quests and loot rewards seem rather pointless.

As Muckbeast has said in his brilliant article quests are just another form of grind — just better disguised.

As far as I’m concerned the current MMO paradigm is ripe for a complete and total overhaul if not a full blown revolution. We need to get back to the core concepts of adventuring, exploration and socialization.

I’m worried that current MMO designers do not have the courage to do this type of soul-searching. And to be honest I’m pointing my finger at the designers at 38 Studios. Do they have the courage to stand up to the conventional wisdom that says WoW is the success template for how to build a MMO?

We need to ask ourselves if where we are is where we should be. The effect of Blizzard’s WoW on the consciousness of the MMO community has perverted all that was good and noble about online gaming. The pendulum has swung much to far in one direction. We need some real hope and change in the MMO world.

What AO did to boost the mid-levels experience without making it feel grind-y was to enable quest reset for all but story line quests. A guildie needs help on a quest chain? Craft/buy a license to reset it and just redo it with him/her. Reseting is not just to help others. It can be decent money (some quests give out rewards that can’t be obtained in other ways, which means that people of all levels reset and sell) and decent xp (higher levels have a bonus for completing the first 3 quests every day, a set amount for any quests except dailies – even if the low lv quest gives 5k xp, your bonus is still 500k).

All but the highest levels map areas have content for 2 very different level ranges and there is location chat to ask for help. Bored? Go help lowbies kill a boss. AO’s world being an alternative history world each area has a cultural theme so nearby areas can be different enough to be fascinating to walk around without it breaking the immersion factor. Bored of lv 96 Constantinople and not strong enough to travel to North America yet? Travel a bit North and fight again in lv 50 Bran Castle. If you are there reset a quest and get the quest-only crafting mats it gives. Sure, you’ve seen it all before, but quite some time ago. I find it works really well.

Of course, there are plenty of people that rush towards end game and can also afford to, but plenty others revisit older content along the way. Yes, repeating quest chains IS grind, but the advantage of resets is that it’s grind you choose whenever you want. I’ve recently reset a lot to party with someone on them, so I’m questing in 5 areas now and not watching xp bars at all. And any time someone uses a specific key I can teleport from where I am to do one of the 4 instanced party dungeons available at my level, which have different rules from normal PvE so break the monotony even more.

tl;dr version: During middle/high levels grind feels better if there is flexibility, which means more content should be open to the player. The option to unlock old content is possibly the cheapest solution, but it can work really well if repeating quests is rewarding.

This is one of the reasons why I also hate group quests. You’re on a different part so every time you have to start over, cut someone loose, or just let someone get screwed. That is so annoying. Great point!

Bringing back the grind shouldn’t be the focus, even in a sound byte (it’s too prone to abuse by those who don’t understand what you’re getting at here).

But the shock value of saying that sells Epic Slants… uh… newspapers? Yeah you’re right though ^_~

http://www.psychochild.org/?p=745

I’m an avowed soloist, but even I’ll group up if it’s easy to do and doesn’t mean I have to deal with a lot of mechanical hurdles (including lame quest chains that get out of sync and nonscaling encounter dynamics). If I have a way to quickly ignore and report idiots, that’s huge, too.

Also, the game has to be fun to play all on its own, it can’t be all about the endless Achievement or Loot treadmill. If all the game has to offer is mindless, banal, annoying *play* that relies on the crutch of acquisition to generate interest, the journey will never be the heart of the game.

Bringing back the grind shouldn’t be the focus, even in a sound byte (it’s too prone to abuse by those who don’t understand what you’re getting at here). Making the game fun to *play* from day one, and letting *any* player contribute to a group (meaning you can actually *play* together no matter what) should be the key. Those aren’t impossible goals, but they do run contrary to the mainstream MMO game design and business model.

I don’t have a problem with the “kill ten rats” sort of quest in the starter zones, but even then, I think they should somehow be tied to the character’s development somehow (gathering for crafting etc) and not just as a method to grind out xp. After about level 10 though, that line of quests should dropped in favor of more lore/content driven fare.