Psychout wrote:Personally; I'm up for level caps that are only extended with expansions, so you can play as hard as you want to get to them, but you cant advance till the expansion is out. That'll slow the no-lifers down, and keep the playing field a bit closer but will only work if there is stuff to do within those caps to keep people playing and interested and relies of constant and regular expansions.
To piggyback on an old post with my humble opinions...
I'm in support of this as well, taking lessons learned from all successful multiplayer games and MMOs. I've played nearly every major MMO title to hit the market since Everquest and in many of these I've been very hardcorein both PvE and PvP aspects. HMW is a purely PvP game and as such there's a few things to consider.
It gets lonely at the top... and the bottom - In it's current form, a small percentage of highly dedicated players will find themselves dancing with each other in cirlces, while the rest of us with less time to spare progress slowly through hordes of faceless bots chasing the big names that we'll never see or lay a hand on. Having been a world-ranked gamer in the past I know the glory of being at the top but fighting the same handful of people would be a nightmare. A level cap that's a little less ridiculous to achieve would start to create a pool of people with the same levels and basic capabilities, and with a larger player pool to draw from competition should be more lievely and plentiful.
Don't worry too much about the Hardcore - I've been to the end-game in many many games and even the brand spanking new games with nothing at all implimented for end-game survive long enough to add the content because the hardcore gamer is going to play ANYWAY. Simple head-hunting, bragging rights, amassing money, raising percentages, taking land, making a name for themselves, or just testing and perfecting strats and speccs, the hardcore have and WILL entertain themselves and keep playing.
Still endgame is nice - It's simple enough to implement the kind of mindless "endgame" goals and tangible achievements that make hardcore obsessive gamers happy. Simply keeping a lifetime kill count is enough for some to grind PvP with no end in sight, while others prefer titles conmensurate with thier ranking or special events, just some suggestions.
Small degrees of seperation - Achievements that unlock small advantages are one easy way of setting the hardcore apart. I've been at the top of the pile and I certainly felt I DESERVED and EARNED the right to be stronger than everyone below me. In light of that, it doesn't take much and it wouldn't have to imbalance the game, something simple like "Battle-Hardened - 10,000 lifetime kills = +1 damage dealt with all attacks / Seasoned Warrior - 100,000 lifetime kills = +2 damage / Spark of Life - 10,000 HP healed in combat = +1 healing /etc etc" This might be more complicated from a programming perspective but the idea is simple enough and if implemented properly, could keep the elite players chasing brass rings for a very long time without utterly devastating the casuals.
Either way, just wanted to say I'm in favor of capping the level somewhere reasonably attainable so the majority of the HMW community can meet up at the top and start really slugging it out, gods and clods alike. I've been on and off this game for many years now and I've always WANTED to get to the top and trade blows with the big names, but I can take one look at the system and my schedule and realize it is completely impossible, very discouraging and I know I'm not alone.
Thanks for all your hard work so far and I hope to see you in game.