Should contested Epics even be bothered with? - Page 34

Caswydian · 12-09-2007, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illuminator

Subscription billing. Ask anyone of significance in the software industry and they'll tell you subscription billing is the holy grail everyone is trying to move to. Gaming had a more natural progression to it than others because "multiplayer" makes more sense on a feature list than "regular service updates". But "multiplayer" isn't more important to the suits than "subscriptions". People are people and play the way they want to play.

Actually, the MMO industry is steadily moving away from subscription-based billing towards other forms of payment. While North America is still largely subscription based, the majority of MMO players world wide are not playing subscription-based games.

Ultimmaa · 12-09-2007, 11:38 AM

Sony would be stupid to get rid of anything in game that draws people.. thats the name of the game keep as many people playing as possible.. people will play and pay even if they dont get to kill contested but a few would be very upset if they had no contested to go after.

Caswydian · 12-09-2007, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultimmaa

Sony would be stupid to get rid of anything in game that draws people.. thats the name of the game keep as many people playing as possible.. people will play and pay even if they dont get to kill contested but a few would be very upset if they had no contested to go after.

This makes sense on the surface, but really doesn't prove to be a particularly effective strategy, as trying to appeal to everyone means ending up doing little very well.

For example, EQ2 is never going to have the PvP and economic depth of EVE Online, and those looking for a hardcore PvP experience don't even consider games like EQ2, and that's fine. What the devs need to do is focus on one or two areas of play and really develop those areas. It's more important to stand out as the best in one area than be mediocre in many.

Obsidian · 12-09-2007, 01:10 PM

i hope they focus on contested then because its the best part of the game by miles

Caswydian · 12-09-2007, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Obsidian

i hope they focus on contested then because its the best part of the game by miles

Ok, let's run with this:

First, if you want the focus to be on contested content, this means such content will need to be made available and accessible to the majority of players. Currently, this is not the case. The fact is, on each server, there are only a few guilds that regularly try contested raids, and that's hardly sufficient population to run a game. You might be able to get one server out of it.

Second, let's say they did manage to make contested content available to 90% of the population, is that level of competition really what you're looking for? I may be wrong, but it would seem that part of the fun is competing against other guilds of similar skill and organization, with defined identities, so it's more than just a single race to get one mob, but rather an iterated, asynchronous game played out over many months or even years to see who gets the first kill. It's sort of like a sports league - individual games are important, but so is the overall season. Would you feel the same rush competing against some random pick-up raid or guild you've never heard of, knowing you'll likely not compete against them again?

Obsidian · 12-09-2007, 02:11 PM

i can think of a lot of hardcore type players who quit because the game started to lean towards the casual i think if a pure raid exp was realesed with a heavy contested element in it it would generate a lot of new custom and bring back some of those old hardcore players

we could call it stfu and raid you crafting homo

Caswydian · 12-09-2007, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Obsidian

i can think of a lot of hardcore type players who quit because the game started to lean towards the casual i think if a pure raid exp was realesed with a heavy contested element in it it would generate a lot of new custom and bring back some of those old hardcore players

we could call it stfu and raid you crafting homo

So you agree that people would be willing to pay for contested content.

Obsidian · 12-09-2007, 03:00 PM

you mean like we already are ?

Edwin Ahe · 12-09-2007, 03:29 PM

Quote:

First, if you want the focus to be on contested content, this means such content will need to be made available and accessible to the majority of players. Currently, this is not the case. The fact is, on each server, there are only a few guilds that regularly try contested raids, and that's hardly sufficient population to run a game. You might be able to get one server out of it.

There is only one way to do it. We need LOTS of contested content. And I mean not 10-20 mobs, a lot more. That way not a single contested mob will be "locked".
Something like 5-10 contested zones, size of Lavastorm, with tons of mobs and even epic quests.
Different difficulty is also an option, 1-2 easy-zones, 2-3 medium, 2-3 hard, 1-2 ultra-hard.

Vaanir · 12-09-2007, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwin Ahe

There is only one way to do it. We need LOTS of contested content. And I mean not 10-20 mobs, a lot more. That way not a single contested mob will be "locked".
Something like 5-10 contested zones, size of Lavastorm, with tons of mobs and even epic quests.
Different difficulty is also an option, 1-2 easy-zones, 2-3 medium, 2-3 hard, 1-2 ultra-hard.

And one impossible one.