Wonderwhat said:
I thought it was an interesting read and perhaps we could begin discussing this if it has not been already. I apologize if it has.
http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/1028
I read the linked article. I agree with it.
I played WoW for about a year. WoW came to mean World of Waiting for me. I leveled up 4 level 60 characters and 1 level 59 by the time that I quit in frustration and anger at the time wasted tryng to get a a group together to do the "End-Game" raids.
Additionally, I was frustrated in the lack of rewards (gear) that I got for dozens of "runs" in a particular instance for the chance of a piece of gear to drop, for the chance to roll on it against other raid party members. This resulted in hundred of hours of play time with absolutely no gear to show for it.
In the final week of my WoW play I went on a few raids to try to get a few differnet items. Three times I had the items "stolen" from me by a pick-up raid member.
By "stolen" I mean that the party member ignored the agreed upon rules to allow those who wanted a chance at an item if it dropped, or a member rolled on an item that his class could not use merely to take and sell for gold.
It became clear that I was not going to get the gear that I wanted in the time frame that I was willing to invest, even though I was playing WoW at least 40 hours per week sometimes much more . . . for about a year.
If Heros Journey can construct a game which does away with the gear and level oriented game play; but instead makes it a game that values the character's skill and accomplishments at all levels; as well as, include the ability to play solo through a rich game content that seems new and fresh, so as to do away with the waiting to assemble groups and raiding. I would like to try the game.
A multi-faceted game that can appeal to various types of gamers is probably difficult to design and balance. I hope that this game turns out to be one that I can play without having to invest a majority of my waking hours to it to experience most of the game.