What’s the rush? I’ve been playing MMOs since AC first came out, lo these many moons ago, and I’ve asked the question since I first started playing. What is there to do at level 90 that can’t be done at level 9? I recently started a noob, so I could build up a mule, and ended up doing quests I hadn’t done when I started my main back then, because those quests didn’t exist back then. A whole new experience – the new armor you can get with just a token, the handholding through the first few quests…but I digress.
Why rush? Are the mobs you encounter at level 200 any more powerful, relatively, than the ones you encountered at level 20? Are the high level Ruschk any more deadly to a level 150 than a Vorous Shreth is to a level 15? What is it?
It can’t be the loot. That 7-14 sword I found for my level 6 noob is just as good to him as that Banished Blade on my level 60.
Is it the quests? Are they ‘better’ for the higher levels? Leaving AC behind for a minute, take a look at WoW (I promise we’ll come back). The push to get to level, from what my friends tell me, is so that you can get in on the raids. Definitely not my cup of tea there. I’d be more inclined to pull a Leroy Jenkins than to have to plan hours on end to have a battle for hours on end, so I can get one piece of loot…and need to do it all over again, several times so I can have the complete set. Raiding really, in my opinion, is just FPS’ing dressed up in an MMO…but I digress.
What’s the rush? You can’t “beat” an MMO. The best you can do is reach the level cap, and then either re-roll, spend your days PK’ing, or complain that there’s no content for you now. Look at LoTRO – the level cap is 50, and people hit that in 3 weeks….and now complain about the dearth of content at their level. The game’s barely been out 2 months.
The same thing happened with AC2, but with a twist. People were able to exploit their way to 50 almost as soon as they created a character, and then complained that there was no content. AC2 had problems with it’s launch, but not all of those problems were Turbine, or Microsoft.
So, where’s the appeal in getting to ‘the end’? There’s no “You Win” that scrolls across the screen (well, there’s pretty sparklies when you hit 126, but that’s so old school). Why not take the time to enjoy the journey? The game should be about the journey, not the destination.
Those are my thoughts. What are yours? Drop by the discussion thread, and share what you think about rushing to the end. I’d be interested to hear what reasoning other folks may have on the topic!
