Quote:
Originally Posted by kohl  People said this would happen from the moment the game designs were discussed. This is how human nature works. If you want people to spread out in the world and not clump into the "best" spots, you need to give incentive. This could be bonus XP (maybe only bonus if you get deeper inside) or simply loot. Initial incentives such as Quests are great because if you send people to a place just once, they have a reason to go - even if just one time - and then maybe decide which places they do and don't like.
Also, the loot needs to be diverse enough so that you don't experience FBSS syndrome all over again. You also need a healthy server population. |
See, I agree...and don't at the same time. Because in VG there are incentives, the problem as I see it however is that those incentives are fucking impossible to perfectly balance. I don't blame VG devs for this, it's just as you said human nature.
WoW evaded the bullet by having one major instance per level block, with some overlap. Then a slew of them at top level. So at top level you would goto them all because why not, though even the top level instances had some more frequented than others(by the way would love see numbers on total number of each instance run in an evening, not raid instances).
I think there are so many variable factors the balancing of incentives just can't be done
I hope I'm wrong but that's how I see it.
The only way I believe full use could be obtained is by having so many people that everyone is forced to spread out.
As much as people bitch about the size of the world, it is truely awesome(sad I have to say this, but in my opinion). You don't just transition from desert to jungle through a canyon, its a real world, or the closest I have seen to it in an online video game. And to the people crying it's filled with nothing, I disagree. There are caves, camps, broken buildings and major dungeons littered throughout the world. But as stated above human nature just gathers them all in certain locations.
I'll go ahead and just be a bitch and list what I think the problems are:
1.) Proximity to a major city/training area
2.) Quests/Items/Rewards(all kinda the same)
3.) Level of difficulty
4.) Size
5.) Outside vs. inside. People seem to prefer outside. Perhaps it's easier to get around or easier to do CR's...I dunno, I prefer inside ones myself.
6.) Bugs, I would like to ignore this one because they shouldn't ever be the cause of going to or avoiding a place, but it's an issue as it stands
7.) Respawn times
There are probably more I can't conceptualize. I don't see how all of that can be balanced well and maintain some game itegrity(ie not putting a trainer or major city by every dungeon).
And without beating the dead horse much more I see the same problem with VG that I've seen with EQ years after release. As cool as these dungeons are, when new players come in, the inability to get a group will not only make leveling slow, boring and generally painful, none of these places will get used.
For god sake's someone copy FFXI's system of letting you switch jobs but keep your character.
