There is a phenomenon with MMORPG players that I can’t really understand. Everyone is so concerned with the power level of other characters. Solo focused folks froth at the mouth when they explain why they should have the same access to loot as groupers. Groupers say the same of raiders and don’t get me started on those PvP yahoos. Everyone is concerned that someone else might be more powerful and that nothing will be equal. I’ve thought about it and I really don’t care if someone is overpowered. It really doesn’t concern me in the least. Why do I feel that way? Simple! MMORPGs (other than you PvP people that I don’t care about) no longer offer direct competition between players in any meaningful way.
A history of content denial
Power levels in MMORPGs were a hot topic back in the day. That was because mobs were limited, loot was scarce, and everything was a direct competition. If you wanted a Ghoulbane you had to camp a single mob. If someone was there already you either waited your turn or competed. If your guild failed to kill the dragon that just spawned someone else would swoop in, drop it, and take the loot. They progressed and you lagged. That was all a big deal. In this situation everything had to be as even as possible at the basic level. The funny thing about it, of course, is that by forcing competition and letting players deny others content, things were never balanced or fair. My EverQuest cleric could heal better than two regular clerics. It was my reward for putting in more time and playing at a higher intensity. It was fair (in my eyes) but not equal.
The myth of equal access
At some point in time the “everything you do is special” generation and their attitude became part of the MMORPG culture. Everyone demands that they have “equal access” to every part of the MMORPG. In the same way that this attitude will fail in real life it fails in an MMORPG. How can someone have equal access to everything if they refuse to do anything but solo? Why should a player get the same reward as someone who raids if they choose not to? The answer goes back to the phenomenon I mentioned: people seem to care about what other people have even if it doesn’t directly (or even indirectly) affects them. Equal opportunity does not mean equal power. I can’t raid six nights a week anymore. Do I complain that the guilds that can have better gear? No, not in the least. I enjoy what I can get.
I miss the opportunity for being overpowered
In the fruitless effort to ensure MMORPGs are fair it seems developers have started compressing the power level of characters. The difference between a person in full quest gear versus group gear is not as dramatic as it was in older titles. The same is true for raid gear. We are certainly better but we’re not immortal, not heroic. I truly miss being able to work so hard at my character that it would become unmanageable for most monsters. To use EQ as an example again I like to look at Ferrel. She had so much AC, HP, and focus items as a cleric that regular group mobs could not kill her. It was my reward for putting so much time in and I enjoyed that. I don’t begrudge anyone for being that powerful and I miss the heroic feel.
If everything is trivial you’ll cancel
I had to throw this little gem in as well since beyond the perception of equality developers seem to think that if something is easy people will tire of it quickly and cancel their subscription. This is really poor logic and just doesn’t fly with me. Redundant tasks are redundant no matter what. Dailies, catching up alts and late comers, and anything of that nature is mundane no matter how you slice it. At least when you feel like you’re getting a leg up on the game it adds some excitement. I want to see the return of the overpower. I want to spend more time on my Ferrel so that she is better than the average cleric by more than 15%. I want to terrify any mob outside of a raid instance. What is the problem with that?
Epilogue
Yes, I understand that for some reason every MMORPG requires PvP now and that is a major drawback for a system like this. I have two points regarding it.
1) PvP only stats. It’s already in place in most MMORPGs. Make PvE gear stats different and ineffective against players.
2) I really don’t care =D
All characters are © 2007 - 2012
I would love to some type of gating in terms of armor progression. What I mean by that is stuff seen in Rift for example such as the PvP souls, Valor stat and what not. Have additional requirements for certain types of play will allow the people who participate in the event have something to work for while not having to hold back on the gear you can get while you solo.
Have a set of statistics that influence PvP, Raiding, Instance grinding whatever makes up the game then designing your game to cater to those individuals. Proving interesting quest content for the players perhaps some cutscenes for those Solo/Quest players. Interesting dungeon design for Raiders and Instance grinders. Something other than Team Deathmatch in PvP.(Sorry my PvP is FPSs xD).
In terms of being OP, A game has to design itself for players to be overpowered in an open-world environment. Imagine a overpowered player running around whacking Rifts or completing Dynamic Events in Guild Wars 2. Can be kind of a buzz kill and prove to be more harmful than good. But overall being OP is fine by me, since I’m mostly a PvE player if someone has awesome gear it is because they worked hard and put the effort into it, paid off someone or has some excellent connections, it doesn’t effect me in the slightest except the occasional drool.
Hope that all makes sense somewhat. Interesting article Ferrel.
For the most part, I’m fine with people being overpowered. There is, however, a big exception to this. Let me set the scene for MMO-X (fake game):
* New expansion comes out
* Solo quests are in place that level the player up and provide sufficient gear for their solo play. More difficult quests are in place that provide gear good enough to start the new group instances.
* Group instances are in place and provide a progression from zone to zone. The easier encounters in these zones provide gear that allows you to progress to the next encounter or the next zone. Once you’ve farmed most of the gear out of the most difficult zones, you have sufficient gear to begin the new raid zones.
* Raid zones are in place and provide the same kind of progression that was described for groups. This gear eventually gets you geared up good enough to try the contested raid mobs (if they exist in MMO-X, otherwise, you’re pretty much done once you’ve farmed all the raid content).
This is the progression for a bunch of people reaching level cap at the same time and moving into solo/group/raid zones as they choose. For those who were at the level cap, the group runners may move directly into the group zones, and the raiders may move directly into the raid zones.
Lets say I prefer grouping and take the path of the group runner. I’m working on the progression from zone to zone and run into a brick wall of progression. There are a few encounters that we just can’t get by with the gear we have. So we head to the game’s forums to discuss the difficulty of these encounters with the goal of getting them toned down. Here’s where the exception comes in: the responses from the overpowered.
Those that started the expansion with raid gear from the last expansion will invariably start claiming that this is just the cries from newbs that just need to learn how to play the game. These newbs want the content nerfed/dumbed down to the level that it isn’t even fun anymore. They’ll tell you how they went in and cleared everything first pull and they’re not even wearing any raid gear (what they’ll leave out is that the rest of the group was killing last expansions toughest contested encounters last week). The overpowered are usually quite vocal on game forums and don’t want any of the content nerfed because then it would be even less fun for them.
The problem here is that you have people trying to follow the normal progression and providing feedback that often gets drowned out by raiders commenting on the ease of group zones or group runners commenting on the ease of solo content.
So what is the solution to this problem? Simple. If you’re not the target audience for the content, shut your pie hole! If the overpowered would follow that simple rule, I wouldn’t have a problem at all. But when they don’t follow that simple rule, them being overpowered and commenting on content not aimed at them can have an impact on the difficulty balancing of content meant for others. Does this mean people shouldn’t be overpowered? No. Just means they should realize that most group zones are designed for groups and most solo content is designed for soloers. Exceptions are fine but shouldn’t be the rule.
PvP is the only place I really care much about balance, and I don’t care much for PvP. I do hate ganking, but I don’t mind a power spectrum. It keeps things interesting.
…and yes, I’m a solo Explorer. Thing is, I play for what I want, not for comparing myself to others. It’s a lot more fun that way.
I will say this on “equal access”, though. I think that content (dev-concocted storylines and areas) should be reachable by everyone. Rewards, though, whether gear or other loot, I’m all for making exclusive to specific activities. That’s why I’ve called for “solo tourist raids” before (XP-less, achievement-less and lootless), not unlike the Battle for the Undercity. Let everyone look around, but if they want the best *stuff*, they have to do it with a group or whatever. That way “access” to the actual game *content* is assured, but the achievements and *stuff* that drives some players stays as exclusive and motivating as one might prefer.
I think that both you and the soloist/small group players who say they want raid loot are distracted from the real issue by the shinies. Yes, there is a subset of players who want to be about 10-15% more powerful then their PVP foes so that they can win but claim that the gear difference wasn’t large enough to be responsible. However, I would argue that there is a subset of players who SAY they want “epics” or whatever when their actual complaint is that they’re out of stuff to do. And, as Tesh points out, MMO’s are the only storytelling medium out there where everyone pays the same amount but only a small subset of players who choose a specific playstyle get to see how the story ends, as endgame lore is overwhelmingly reserved for raiders only.
I completely agree with #2.
I can easily pvp against others that are 10-20% more powerful than I am… Know-how & technique dictate
Another good, thought provoking article. You and some of your regular commenters should be consultants for MMO companies. Hopefully someone out there in the industry is reading your blogs that can take these topics back to the watercooler. Wish I had something as insightful to add as the rest of you, so I thought I’d settle for “ya’ll are geniuses” instead.