Postby Desirsar » Wed Aug 19, 2009 5:08 am
As Riley would say, "...ridin'." Well, to quote one word of one part of the phrase. I leave the rest for Google to fill in! (Easy hint : Boondocks, animated series)
I'm saying that there are a huge number of zones that are outdated and have little reason for any players to go there, even with an alt that isn't leveled up, simply because they are twinked beyond anything the zone drops. Sure, Dug fixes up all the zones as people request, and this is good - except that almost every request refers to a zone in red in the credits, and nearly all include the word "ONLY!" at the end of its entry. I'm asking for a reason for characters to run through lower level zones untwinked (how you would implement detection of this, I don't know) and unbuffed (that is, without every stacking buff spell from every combination of level 50 character you can get a friend to park near the entrance of said zone - again, difficult for detection), and make mobs unload or item unload from mobs or containers (or however you want to implement it when "twink" is "detected") when someone too big for an area's design comes in.
Give people a reason to play normally at a given level... you know, how true newbies would do it. I don't mind random level 50s popping up and handing me gear when I'm trying to play through the game again, since I had high level characters long enough ago that I grouped with Aradune. (If the reference is too old, 15 years ago.) If I were a true newbie, I'd probably accept the chest armor or shield or weapon someone handed me, but I'd have serious doubts about the entertainment value in the high end of the game if people can crap out a pile of gear on you that they won't miss, but would be much better than what the first level 50 character after a player wipe would be wearing as they hit 50.
If it is not obvious - I don't have any characters over level 30 on this pwipe. I don't want to level up quickly, and I don't need people tossing every weapon short of Tiamat drops and -100 AC totaling gear on me to make it easier... I want other players playing on a level 30 character that actually want to group without knowing they need to kill precisely 3141.7 (no, I don't know why pi*100, I just picked it) orcs in CM to gain the next level, whether or not they've done it before or done it ten times before, going through level 30 zones that they don't have memorized (this is a tough request considering how much I map and how easily I memorize maps even without cMUD), doing level 30 quests because the character needs the items since they don't have high end items from zones where a character at level 49.9999 spontaneously explodes upon entering for being underpowered.
(After I type this, I see the two posts below the one to which I am replying. Yes, Pril did misread it somehow. I'm glad the game is getting worked on, but it's definitely WoWified - everyone races to 50 with new characters and then only has stuff at level 50 to do that they've done before, so they beg for more high end things to be added. Beg for low end things to be added, so you have a reason to be there and give a reason for new players to actually stay and get involved!)