Originally posted by: drebo
Originally posted by: peritusONE
If this higher level is 20 or 30 levels above you, then it is just pure frustration and pointless. No way I could ever just say, "Oh, he got me!" if a level 50 player walked up and killed my level 13 player for no reason.
This is exactly the reason why I HATE level-based MMORPGs. I hate the artificial partitioning of the game world and population. I hate that your character becomes far superior than another character just due to the fact that you have played longer or harder. It's way too artificial for my tastes.
Now, this is not to say that I would prefer an FPS-type game where everyone is always equal. On the contrary, I prefer games that are somewhat of a combination of "my character is more developed so therefore I am stronger" and "I'm a superior player".
To me, Pre-UO:R Ultima Online represents the holy-grail for how an MMORPG should play. It was a game that was based entirely on social dynamics. There were extremely minimal artificial limitations in the game, and the ones that were there were hardly noticable. If you had 0 skill in magery, the game wouldn't stop you from attempting an 8th circle spell. Likewise, if you had 0 skill in swordsmanship, you still knew how to hold a sword. You could equip any armor, any weapon, and use any item. It was a sandbox, and the epitome of what a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game should be.
The social aspects of the game were just as important. While the death of your character was not permanant, it wasn't free either. You could lose money and equipment. This kept player crafters busy and limited the growth of the economy. But those who killed you would be regarded, by players and not just by game mechanics, as murderers. People would actively hunt murderers, and dying as a murderer had very real consequences on your character.
Today's MMORPGs are far too structured and linear. Level 1-5 goes here. Level 6-10 goes here. And so on. If you're not level 6, you don't know how to hold a longsword, you only know how to hold a shortsword. If you haven't reached level 10, you don't know how to say a different combination of the same magical words you've been saying all along for every other spell you cast. If you're not level 12, you can't even enter this area. It just doesn't make sense to me, and it's not fun. If I want to play a game that leads linearly from Point A to Point B, I'll play a single player game, because it will inevitably have a better story.
I play online games for the community/social aspects and for the interaction aspects. I don't consider Guild Wars-style games to be MMORPGs. It's a glorified chat room for a multiplayer game. It's like Diablo 2 would be if the chat rooms were the town hubs instead of a basic chat room. DDO is the same way. Yes, you can interact with other people, but you don't generally have to. I'm not saying that interaction should be FORCED, but instancing the game to such an extent that you never see other players except by conscious decision is too far to the other extreme.
I wasn't a player killer in UO. In fact, I was even too chicken to go hunting for them, because I wasn't all that great. But, I will always remember the very real fear I had every time I went out to go mine gold or roam the wilderness killing animals. It made the game exciting to know that at any time, someone could come along and attack me. Sure, it was frustrating when it happened, but it was just part of life, and it didn't happen nearly enough to keep me from lusting after that playstyle the moment they took it away.