AlleyKat
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Posted - 2005.08.13 18:24:00 -
[1]
My two cents...
'Elite' didn't have a skill system, but was a work of pure class.
People will play good games, if having a skill system makes it a poor game for new players (and I'm speaking about the future when '03 players will have 500 mill sp) then CCP will have to scrap it.
We have a game here that far excels 'Elite', in every-single-area, and is probably the most intelligent MMORG on the market.
New players are restricted and frustrated. They buy the game, do the trial and, quite quickly, figure out that they are ants walking agmonst giants.
Imagine the scenario, in say, two years time.
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A newbie flys out to a mining belt on his first day, admires the beautifully rendered scenery and sets out to mine some 'roids.
WHOOSH
A fully kitted T4 (predicting) Crusier warps in and the newbie gasps in AWE at this exotic big-boys-toy and starts up a convo with the pilot (probably wearing shades). They talk and the Newbie asks 'How much?' etc and the pilot says 4 billion...
The Newbie, with only 5,000 isk in his account, thinks the pilot has made an error, or must be joking 'No, really, how much?'
The pilot, this time, drags and drops a market link for the newbie and the newbie clicks it and his jaw smashes through the floor.
The pilot then says, 'Got a good price on the shield booster, only 100 million...'
'You paid 100 million for a shield booster? and I don't even have 1 million?, that's crazy! How long did it take you to train for it?
The Newbie takes a deep breath...
'5 years', comes the reply on the screen.
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IF this game was soley isk based, it would work. 'Nooooo' I hear some of you say, but really, ignore everything you know about this game and look at it from a newbies POV for a second (that's what this thread is about, remember?).
If that same Newbie in the belt was a talented games player, 4 billion, although a lot, now becomes a GOAL, something that he can shoot for and the better he becomes at the game, the closer he gets to his goal - that is a logical thought process. Basic games design theory, and I do wonder if CCP have attended any of the conferences on this topic.
I think some people are afraid, or just deeply concerned, that all this damn time spent training skills is a waste of time. Wait, let me rephrase that....
They/we will spend all this time training for skills to use/play the game in the way we want to, but because the gap just keep widening, new player subscription must one day drop off, or, the level of active subscriptions drops to the point where CCP will not be able to fuction...
That's the problem, we given this wonderful game to play, but absolutely no hope or chance of actually being able to reach our goal, because it is always moving away from us. I'm sure CCP have sat down with the slide-rule and worked out how long people have been playing and how many people have how many skill points and how hard they have to make it to learn LvL8 skills so-to-keep people playing.
Question is this: What are they afraid of?
If 'Elite' was online right now, with updated graphics, but esentially the same game, I'll betcha it would get more subscriptions than this game would.
Has WOW suffered because of it's 'endgame'? No, it hasn't, that game makes $300 million a year in subscriptions.
I don't care about the arguments regarding comparisons (space v terra-firma) because I have not played WOW, but I know if I did, I would be able to play it in 2/3/4/5 years from now and still have something worth playing, still be able to compete, still have a chance to enjoy everything the game has to offer, not just the (guessing) 5% that a newbie will have in this game. If they keep adding skill-based content to this game, that's the trap that exists. It's the law of deminishing returns.
So we train for these skills and the fear is this: When we finally get do to what we want in the game, will there be a game left to play?
Regards,
AK. |