Guild Wars 2's Flat Leveling Curve

The ArenaNet Blog has an article on Progression and Leveling in Guild Wars 2 written by Isaiah "Izzy" Cartwright, who explains how they are setting the initial level cap at 80 and flattening out the leveling curve in their MMORPG sequel so the amount of play required to progress at later levels is the same as the early ones. He explains: "Overall, we expect our content to be the driving force behind how long it takes to do things in-game. Anyone can increase the length of an experience bar and call it content, but our world is filled with an almost endless stream of things to do. We expect content—not long, grindy progression—to be the deciding factor that keeps people playing our game. We want everyone to stick with Guild Wars 2 because our content is fun and enjoyable, not out of some dogged determination to slowly, slowly advance. And because our world is ever-changing and dynamic, you can play our content again and again! Two characters journeying through the game will have two different experiences, which means the game will remain fresh for all you out there who enjoy making a million characters." Thanks Guild Wars 2 Slovenija.
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Re: Guild Wars 2's
Jul 31, 2010, 10:10
12.
Re: Guild Wars 2's Jul 31, 2010, 10:10
Jul 31, 2010, 10:10
 
Yes, there is very little hard data about GW2 so far. Unfortunately "they are setting the initial level cap at 80" is enough to let me know this won't be a sequel to Guild Wars, but another doomed Lotro, Conan, Warhammer, etc.

90% of the content will be useless to most of the players within a few months, and this content will be seen as an impediment to new players who want to get to the 'good stuff'. The developers will eventually oblige them by letting players progress through those levels as fast as possible. Spending many months to design a world and populate it with quests, lore, and npcs that will shortly be obsolete and ignored is a massive waste of developer resources. So why do it? Because every other shitty MMO did it and it's easier to perpetuate an ancient design flaw than to think.

If they wanted to add power progression or content for the OCD players, then they still don't need to have leveling. They already have titles and can add achievements that grant small PVE bonuses, or skill training like EVE. None of them create ghost towns. GW was successful because it was designed to be completely different from the horde of generic fantasy MMOs. Designing GW2 to be like the other identical time sinks will not produce beneficial results.
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