Post by Morreion on Jun 28, 2010 9:27:24 GMT -5
Waging WAR: Revisiting the new player experience (Massively)
Leveling through the first tier happened within just a few casual sessions (if we take a casual session to be around four to five hours of gameplay). All of the public quests up to the warcamp were well-populated, and I had no trouble finishing the chapter influence for everything up to around level 10 -- there were more than enough people around to complete the public quests. I had quests for Hunter's Vale, the (relatively) new Tier 1 dungeon instance (introduced a while back with the Wild Hunt live event), although I decided to spend my time in scenarios and the constant tug-of-war RvR that I found in Nordland. Scenarios would pop with surprising speed and regularity, and when finished, I would find myself dropped right back into the ebb and flow of RvR combat. It really didn't take long at all to have a well-rounded collection of skills and abilities, giving me a strong sense of how the class would play and develop. As I browsed some of the skills and abilities that I would learn in later tiers, I felt that same anticipation I felt when I first leveled my Archmage -- thinking "I can't wait to try that skill!" Also, as my character grew, each level had a sense of accomplishment, and new abilities added to a sense of real growth. I assume all careers would also carry that cadence and meaningfulness behind every ding.
As I already mentioned above, the scenarios were available and active with very little wait time in-between. I have to be honest here: I was afraid to find myself woefully underpowered, standing against heavily twinked players on all sides (a twink being a character that has been fed items and enhancements otherwise unavailable to him by regular means; for example, Endless Trial characters kitted out with items one would normally find on the auction house or passed down from higher-level characters with access to generally greater wealth). And although such characters do exist, they really don't possess more or less than is available to other characters from a normal subscription, or even other Endless Trial users. It really only boils down to two factors. First, a twink character has his level capped, and as such, he has no real concern for leveling out of the tier. As a result, he can relentlessly queue, acquiring all the emblems he needs to equip all of the RvR gear available. The other factor is effort. Anyone wishing to compete at that level is given access to the same items and all that remains is the time needed to acquire them. So, while the twink characters exist, it is only during a very short time that they present a competitive problem to the new player experience. Once an untwinked character reaches rank 10 or 11, the difference becomes negligible. Subscribers (new or old) or re-enlistees need not worry about these ET twinks beyond a few levels into Tier 2 (everything evens back out at around rank 14 or so).
As I already mentioned above, the scenarios were available and active with very little wait time in-between. I have to be honest here: I was afraid to find myself woefully underpowered, standing against heavily twinked players on all sides (a twink being a character that has been fed items and enhancements otherwise unavailable to him by regular means; for example, Endless Trial characters kitted out with items one would normally find on the auction house or passed down from higher-level characters with access to generally greater wealth). And although such characters do exist, they really don't possess more or less than is available to other characters from a normal subscription, or even other Endless Trial users. It really only boils down to two factors. First, a twink character has his level capped, and as such, he has no real concern for leveling out of the tier. As a result, he can relentlessly queue, acquiring all the emblems he needs to equip all of the RvR gear available. The other factor is effort. Anyone wishing to compete at that level is given access to the same items and all that remains is the time needed to acquire them. So, while the twink characters exist, it is only during a very short time that they present a competitive problem to the new player experience. Once an untwinked character reaches rank 10 or 11, the difference becomes negligible. Subscribers (new or old) or re-enlistees need not worry about these ET twinks beyond a few levels into Tier 2 (everything evens back out at around rank 14 or so).
