Yes, levels are viable, but I'd like to see a few more MMORPG's that tried alternate progression mechanics as it provides other design opportunities as well.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I would love to know who delusionaly thought leveling was or needed to be a mandatory or integral aspect of RPG systems. Progression is a somewhat necessary model, as it gives the dynamism and affirmation of achievement, but that can be delivered in many ways. Using it as a content gating mechanism has pretty much always been a thorn more than anything else and it does introduce the problem of decay in the game world and it's content by making high and low sections that are inevitably neglected by their community once the level range is overreached.
The notion of "it's how you get there" is an idea that doesn't really play all that greatly into the way MMOs tend to be designed, and it's unfortunate because of the somewhat sideways focus on content that only a subsection of the average MMO player even participates in. There is a disconnect there among many other places in gaming.
Part of the problem is the same as it was in the past though. The evolution of these games hasn't been made yet and as a result there are a lot of developers uncertain how to move the genre forward. Aside from the fact that there are many terrible developers that live in the mindset that "people like this so obviously it should never change" or more distinctly "I don't want to leave my own comfort zone and acknowledge any other potentials". It's a rare occasions to get people trying to really adapt the genre or move it towards new ideas, and consequently even more rare for the opportunity of success.
The result is a history littered with stagnation and a state of progress that moves way too slow for it's own good. That's part of why we see RPGs still with a classical vertical leveling system.
Is leveling itself really a bad thing? Not really. But it can be a much flatter and broader system that accompanies other forms of progression that gives the game either a more natural feel or simply a change of pace where you can focus less on the direct value of your level/rank and more on other forms of achievements.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
The notion of "it's how you get there" is an idea that doesn't really play all that greatly into the way MMOs tend to be designed, and it's unfortunate because of the somewhat sideways focus on content that only a subsection of the average MMO player even participates in. There is a disconnect there among many other places in gaming.
Part of the problem is the same as it was in the past though. The evolution of these games hasn't been made yet and as a result there are a lot of developers uncertain how to move the genre forward. Aside from the fact that there are many terrible developers that live in the mindset that "people like this so obviously it should never change" or more distinctly "I don't want to leave my own comfort zone and acknowledge any other potentials". It's a rare occasions to get people trying to really adapt the genre or move it towards new ideas, and consequently even more rare for the opportunity of success.
The result is a history littered with stagnation and a state of progress that moves way too slow for it's own good. That's part of why we see RPGs still with a classical vertical leveling system.
Is leveling itself really a bad thing? Not really. But it can be a much flatter and broader system that accompanies other forms of progression that gives the game either a more natural feel or simply a change of pace where you can focus less on the direct value of your level/rank and more on other forms of achievements.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin