Would you play a game that was nothing but "Endgame" content?

Squishydew

I realize that nothing but "Endgame" content is not really possible, there will always be a start and a finish, but i think most people understand what i mean with this.

I mean no longer having leveling zones, and simply starting the game out running dungeons with groups and progressing into raid content, with nothing but the focus on gearing up.

I personally play as many MMO's as i can get my hands on hoping to find the next best thing, and the leveling experience in pretty much everyone of them is almost exactly the same as the MMO's i played before it, and It's simply dreadfully boring.

During group content i get to actively meet new people, feel like I'm progressing ( leveling doesn't even feel like progress to me anymore ) and challenging myself with new boss encounters that are difficult to beat, learning strategies and genuinely having fun.

The entire leveling experience however, feels like a mindless grind to me, perhaps this is because MMO's are so very likely to focus on Solo players these days, leveling just doesn't hold any challenges anymore.

What do you think?

Scalpless

Guild Wars 1 was pretty much like this (except it was a lobby game, not a real MMO) and I loved it. Of course, you had to level up to lvl 20, but it could be done in less than ten hours and was more like an extended tutorial. GW1 is one of the few games complex enough to actually benefit from a 10h tutorial.

Ramanadjinn

i played GW2 for almost a year doing nothing but "endgame" content.  (if endgame content is defined as the stuff I do when i get to max level)

so yes.

guess I should add that i played EVE Online and am currently playing Age of Wushu which are also entirely end game from some perspectives.  But if you're just talking about WOW style raids then i'm out of the running regardless. 

Squishydew

Originally posted by Ramanadjinn

i played GW2 for almost a year doing nothing but "endgame" content.  (if endgame content is defined as the stuff I do when i get to max level)

so yes.

guess I should add that i played EVE Online and am currently playing Age of Wushu which are also entirely end game from some perspectives.  But if you're just talking about WOW style raids then i'm out of the running regardless. 

Guild wars 2 very much lacked the feeling of progression for me, not to mention I totally love healing, which guild wars lacked severely, at least as a defined role.

I loved guild wars 1, but 2 was just a week or two of entertainment.

 

Eve online seems dreadfully boring, although i should really give age of wushu ago, I've heard a lot of good stuff about that.

ShakyMo

I already do. Ps2

And I have in the past - eve, perpetuum, ps1.

Everwest

You mean like Monster Hunter?  Yes, I would play that.  So would many other people, apparently.

Axehilt

Sure.

"Endgame" is an arbitrary concept anyway (it's all just game.)

Honestly I'd prefer a game with earlier group play which can be engaged in nonstop all the time, in a game with solid combat.  Basically a better WOW or CoH.

Spellforged

I wouldn't play it if you're talking about standard MMORPG raiding and PvP end game.  Honestly, I view raiding as just being another mindless grind.  Levels can be replaced with gear, but it's still essentially the same thing in the end.  You're still just repeating a task you normally wouldn't want to do for the purpose of strengthening your character.  The severity of a grind is determined by how strongly you feel the need to quickly acquire whatever your goal is. 

There's also minimal player skill involved in raiding.  The result just boils down to your build, equipment and if you know what to do.  Most players just look up the ideal builds and get told what to do.  Where's the strategy in that?  You can also enjoy the social aspect of an MMORPG in virtually any situation.  Just find some people standing around town and try to initiate a conversation.  There's no need for a party or a raid group to do that.

Basically, I feel that it wouldn't be so different from a regular MMORPG.

Cephus404

It depends on how you define end-game content.  Someone brought up GW1 and there, you reached max level very quickly, but the types of things you did after you reached max level didn't change significantly.  For most though, end-game becomes about PvP, raiding and gear-grinding, all things I don't want to do at any point in the  game. 

NitemareMMO

Originally posted by Cephus404
It depends on how you define end-game content.  Someone brought up GW1 and there, you reached max level very quickly, but the types of things you did after you reached max level didn't change significantly.  For most though, end-game becomes about PvP, raiding and gear-grinding, all things I don't want to do at any point in the  game. 

I am genuinely interested what kind of gameplay are you interested in then?

Raiding no: so no team oriented stronger kind of mob beating

PvP no: no team oriented non-computer controlled combat

gear-grind no: one type of visible power upgrade progression ( this probably also includes non visible aka. alternate advancement type of progression grind like EQ1/EQ2)

exploration?: umm ok how many times can you explore something? This is the most development taxing type of non-reusable content for developers (most work, shortest gameplay, zero reusability)

crafting?: to some this also is a type of gameplay but needs to be thought out and well done yet it turns into a grind basically

puzzle solving?: no idea here really why you need a 3D virtual character in a 3D world to solve puzzles? it's possible I just don't see the point I guess

small team dungeoneering?: basically small scale raid? identical gameplay as raid just smaller scale?

in town chatting?: isn't facebook or IRC better?

What did I miss from the gameplay perspective can anyone fill in the missing details in a civil manner please?

Prenho

Considering that the only thing kids want now is to get access to the end game instances as soon as they create the character.

I don't doubt.

Nitth

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Originally posted by Agoden
I realize that nothing but "Endgame" content is not really possible, there will always be a start and a finish, but i think most people understand what i mean with this.I mean no longer having leveling zones, and simply starting the game out running dungeons with groups and progressing into raid content, with nothing but the focus on gearing up.I personally play as many MMO's as i can get my hands on hoping to find the next best thing, and the leveling experience in pretty much everyone of them is almost exactly the same as the MMO's i played before it, and It's simply dreadfully boring.During group content i get to actively meet new people, feel like I'm progressing ( leveling doesn't even feel like progress to me anymore ) and challenging myself with new boss encounters that are difficult to beat, learning strategies and genuinely having fun.The entire leveling experience however, feels like a mindless grind to me, perhaps this is because MMO's are so very likely to focus on Solo players these days, leveling just doesn't hold any challenges anymore.What do you think?

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You mean an adventure game?

Ozivois

No, No, No.

 

 

AwDiddums

Originally posted by Agoden

I realize that nothing but "Endgame" content is not really possible, there will always be a start and a finish, but i think most people understand what i mean with this.

I mean no longer having leveling zones, and simply starting the game out running dungeons with groups and progressing into raid content, with nothing but the focus on gearing up.

I personally play as many MMO's as i can get my hands on hoping to find the next best thing, and the leveling experience in pretty much everyone of them is almost exactly the same as the MMO's i played before it, and It's simply dreadfully boring.

During group content i get to actively meet new people, feel like I'm progressing ( leveling doesn't even feel like progress to me anymore ) and challenging myself with new boss encounters that are difficult to beat, learning strategies and genuinely having fun.

The entire leveling experience however, feels like a mindless grind to me, perhaps this is because MMO's are so very likely to focus on Solo players these days, leveling just doesn't hold any challenges anymore.

What do you think?

OMG what a nightmare that would be for me, the constant drama, the constant gear grind, forever queuing up for raid grps to form, regrping after failing yet another raid due to incompetent leadership or players going afk for din dins etc, forever researching boss fights so you don't get labelled a raid noob.

Waiting on the devs to keep creating new endgame content because there isn't any other avenues for character growth, everybody looking the same and becoming a cookie cutter class.

What an utterly boring experience this would all be, given such a narrow gaming perspective would quickly lead to a loss of your player base, you need more than endgame content to keep ppl interested if your aiming for the mainstream, this type of game is ok for 2 nights a week, but how do you invest in a game like that, how can you commit to just that game, you can't.

 

asdar

I think for PvP that nothing but endgame is ideal. The only fight I enjoy is a fair fight. I'd rather lose a fair fight than win one against a lower level player. If you could take Darkfall and do away with the grind, just give everyone everything skill/stat wise then real world building could go on. Crafting development yes, city building yes, boat building yes levels no. (even if those levels come in the form of stats)

PvE wise I also think would work, but it would mean the devs need more content all the time. What I like about this is that the whole world is open. No more of that level to hit garbage that locks you into the narrow level 'appropriate,' world. I think if the devs made content that ranged from easy to absolutely impossible and made fights that were more fluid then it could work. Don't just scale mobs with HP and damage tables, but give them abilities that you have to plan for and then make those abilities change so that it's not totally predictable.

tollbooth

The whole grind to endgame mentality never hit me till every mmo decided to do hub questing ala wow.  That shit has seriously ruined this entire genre.  Just endgame is total BS.  A game that is fun to actually play before level cap is a forgotten idea now days.