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Post by CalviN on Oct 19, 2009 22:14:03 GMT
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Post by shin00bi on Oct 21, 2009 4:01:45 GMT
Maybe I shouldn't have used Bazhi as an example. I do think there's something to be said about the larger gap between newbiedom and partying. I remember leveling alts to 15 or so, so I could bash decently enough in parties. It was more like Diablo II where you could binge on the game, 'max' a few characters, and then get bored for a few months and come back to it.
Also, the ratio of available exp to top-level EXP used to be about equal. There was about 600k exp of unique party-worthy NPCs spread through out the mud, and level 19 is of course 666k. Now, top player-level is 20 billion, with only a marginal expansion of NPCs.
I'm not saying I don't enjoy the game as it is now, but I'm trying to think outside the box. I think if I approached this game for the first time, now, I might be completely deterred. Just recollecting that it took me ages upon ages to level up to 19 for the first time.
I'm not really complaining personally, but I think the MUD is more of a veterans-only type environment than it used to be.
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Post by sinister on Oct 21, 2009 15:57:14 GMT
I'm not really complaining personally, but I think the MUD is more of a veterans-only type environment than it used to be. Undoubtedly. Nowadays, a newbie would probably be defined as a 4 year player. I mean, it's crazy. If I had a kid the day I started AA, he'd be the same age now that I was when I started AA. The intention is just to make the highest level more challenging to attain. While the ratio you mentioned (which is somewhat meaningless cause even though levels were capped, total exp was not) may have changed dramatically Since the level expansion, we also got Thraxi, Storm Dragons and Velox. These areas of course were what made it possible for me to go from zero exp to 580M+ exp in 13 months. Also if every 45 minutes 600k worth of exp resets and you catch even a third, well getting exp isn't really a problem. The main issues with AA as always, are stagnation of new area creation, attrition of the player base and strict interpretation of standards (area creation) and authoritarian rule by entrenched management. Nah, he'll just kill both now.
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Post by shin00bi on Oct 21, 2009 17:32:15 GMT
I think the leveling system inadvertently pushes out newbies and thus makes the comparative amount of content look extremely lacking. AA is very well-developed, but this was mostly done under the previously fast-paced environment.
You'll always have veterans, but there should be a plethora of newbies prancing around in the MUD and complaining about losing their eq, getting bountied, kill stealing, corpse looting, player attacking, and occasionally playing the MUD the way you're supposed to.
The added levels and traits are a sloppy attachment to a MUD where they don't quite fit right, at least not as they are. Maybe if the mud were larger, and catered to all the level groups, and the levels actually meant more than icing on the cake, it could work, but as it is, they were just tacked on to the level-19 ecosystem. If anything, the waning population over the last few years has told us that this quite didn't work out the way we had hoped.
If they reverted it back, which they won't I'm sure, it would piss off a lot of current players, and we'd probably experience a greater drop in population;then we'd be lucky to get it back to how it was afterward, which might take a very long time, so with that said, I think AA's gotten itself into a rut.
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Post by Litherium on Nov 2, 2009 20:31:30 GMT
hahahahaha to Levek being a "powerplayer" or even being in a party.
Personally, I left AA because most of the folks I liked playing with/against up and left. As AA is right now, it's all just a solo grind-fest. And an easy one at that.
bleh until something changes you can find me maybe playing WoW. Oh the sadness.
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