Forgotten Corners of World of Warcraft • Hacker News Board

Re: Forgotten Corners of World of Warcraft

#181

Post by twic » Sun, Apr 26, 2015, 8:24 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #88

minimaxir wrote: post #3

I recently reactivated my old WoW account and purchased Warlords of Draenor out of curiosity, and ended up getting my Orc Death Knight to the new level cap of 100. This article only scratches the surface on why the old worlds are abandoned. As with most modern MMOs, the endgame begins at max level. In order to help players level faster, Blizzard added a heirlooms mechanic in the second expansion (Wrath of the Lich Ki…

I think FFXIV has a great solution for it - at various stages in the endgame content you need to revisit all of the areas to perform your MMO regular kill ten rats activities (to level up the ultimate weapons, basically). It also has far less areas (although I think bigger zones), and almost each zone has content for a wide swath of levels. There's also quests (again for the ultimate weapons, mostly) that make max le…

> I think FFXIV has a great solution for it - at various stages in the endgame content you need to revisit all of the areas to perform your MMO regular kill ten rats activities

Compare and contrast Super Metroid, as discussed recently, which sends you back to areas you've already visited once you have the equipment to experience them differently:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9438811

Re: Forgotten Corners of World of Warcraft

#182

Post by simoncion » Mon, Apr 27, 2015, 10:01 PM UTC

spoiler wrote: post #164

simoncion wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GW2's scaling zones were exactly what got my friend group playing the game, and kept them playing. With every other MMORPG we'd played up to that point -and every one of the very few we've played since GW2-, our group would inevitably do one of three things: 1) Never start playing together, as the level gap between the newbies and the more veteran players meant that challenges were either impossible, or impossibly ea…

I agree with you. This is one of the main reasons why I enjoyed Guild Wars 2. However I'd like to add that the scale-down isn't at all that dramatic! I can kill a Moa or a bandit in Queensdale with 2-3 hits on my level 80 Mesmer (and he is a condition-based build), while it takes much more effort as a level 3 Thief. Also the traits, and gear stats remain, to an extent; they are maybe scaled down but they are still pr…

I agree that one's scaled-down is a fair bit more powerful than the effective character level would lead one to believe. Indeed, that was the point that I was trying to get across. :)

But you've got to admit that the scale-down is substantially more dramatic than in pretty much every other MMORPG, no? I mean, if you've forgotten, like spend a week or so with Firefall, then come back to the starting area. :P

Moreover, a scaled-down level 80 will get level 80 gear when killing creatures. For folks who are invested in gear collection, but have low-level friends, this makes them far more likely to play together. (Wish I'd mentioned this in my original post. :P )

Re: Forgotten Corners of World of Warcraft

#183

Post by prawks » Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 5:03 PM UTC

topbanana wrote: post #153

prawks wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> unless you're really into just having fun - which the game mostly does not encourage This is the exact reason why, no matter how many times I tried over the years to play this game with friends, I could never stay attached for longer than a few hours. There seems to be less and less emphasis put on enjoying the experience of exploration and being in a space in modern online games, and more emphasis on rote activiti…

Which single player games do you recommend? Those that emphasise exploration sound really interesting

Miasmata is a great example.