Edit: the topic is redundant - the idea i had is basically the Progeny System stated on the Pantheon Difference page. Links and descriptions in the replies below if you do not know what the progeny system is ;]
Keeping an mmo "young"
For lack of a better term, the lifeblood of an MMO is "us"... Community and players bouncing around at all level ranges giving each zone at each stage of the game its own life and vibrance. Once An MMO's lower zones and then mid tier zones become baren (empty; void of players) you could say that the game is aging. It becomes harder to start a new character, new players have difficulty finding friends or any form of help to enjoy the game's intended experiences.
If players are the life blood, then what you need is the heart to continuously pump that life through the game. I see 2 ways of accomplishing this (both should be employed):
1. Consistant Advertising : the raw pulling in of new players
2. Recycling the player base you have
#1 is pretty straight forward and obvious. What i'd like to talk about is method #2...
What I mean by recycling the player base is giving reason for those who have already risen through the ranks of the game to reroll any given character they have built. This pulls higher end characters out of the game and places skilled knowledgeable players back into the lower tiered zones with the new players that were pulled in via advertising.
My thought was along the lines of the min-max mind set. Once for each level-cap (generally each expansion or 2), a character could reroll for the opportunity to achieve a permanent bonus.
An example would be: when the rerolled character reaches the level-cap once more, they are bonused with +0.25% to some meaningful stat(s). hp? dps? heal? mitigate? resist?
This provides a small benefit for each reroll that will not break the game but becomes more and more desireable for min-maxers with each expansion.
I'm not declaring this example as the "end-all be-all" best solution/idea -- merely that recycling the player base into the lower tiers via incentive/reward will assist in keeping the lower/middle tiers alive and make the game more enjoyable and vibrant to new players and thus better longevity.
I look forward to your thoughts,
Cazicss
Did someone call for a Bard?!!!!!
Oh...... right community, the other lifeblood. I have encountered #2 in a couple of games. FFXI being the most obvious, but not the only game to do such. Pantheon's take might very well be the Progeny system. They have also mentioned Guides, Mentoring, and just plain old alts. The problem is how do you make that attractive to higher level players? Progeny is one thing, but I dont even really like alts unless they are named "mule".As far as #1, I think word of mouth and the game speaking for itself will be better than most advertising.
Long story short Im sure VR has it figured out and we can look forward to testing such systems in alpha/beta.
Amsai said:Pantheon's take might very well be the Progeny system.
I did a search on the main site after you used the term "Progeny System" and found this under the Pantheon Difference ->
Progeny System
Players will be able to 'retire' high level characters and then create their children as new characters, but these new characters, the 'progeny', will have certain abilities, stats, etc. that make them slightly yet noticeably better than a completely brand new character (but not to the point that it unbalances things).
https://www.pantheonmmo.com/game/pantheon_difference/
Thanks for teaching me a new term since apparently what I was suggesting has a proper name and will already exist lol..
Cazicss
Edit: additional thanks to Beefcake who replied while I was typing initial reply ;]
Amsai said:Did someone call for a Bard?!!!!!
Oh...... right community, the other lifeblood. I have encountered #2 in a couple of games. FFXI being the most obvious, but not the only game to do such. Pantheon's take might very well be the Progeny system. They have also mentioned Guides, Mentoring, and just plain old alts. The problem is how do you make that attractive to higher level players? Progeny is one thing, but I dont even really like alts unless they are named "mule".As far as #1, I think word of mouth and the game speaking for itself will be better than most advertising.
Long story short Im sure VR has it figured out and we can look forward to testing such systems in alpha/beta.
Yeah the Progeny system is definitely VR's answer to recycling the playerbase. Unfortunately, it's almost not worth discussing at this point because we know next to nothing about it. Just search "progeny" in the forum search function and it'll come up with a bunch of closed threads filled with heated speculation and wild assumptions. (https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/search?query=progeny&type=forum_topic&submit=) Therefore, we will just have to wait and see what they come up with. But it is a very important point to make sure the playerbase doesn't get too top-heavy. All we really know is that's the overall goal of the system. So that's certainly something they've been thinking about almost since the beginning.
Personally, I was not a big fan of the reincarnation system in DDO, so I for one am kinda hoping it doesn't really resemble that.
(Edit: removed the Pantheon Difference quote - you just barely beat me lol)
I think it is a good idea. But I have to wonder how long it will take to level from one to max.
Now if I take my max level character and start over as level one, then I take that resource away from the guild for the time it takes to get back to max level.
So many questions and theories around this idea that I can't find a definitive direction to take the conversation.
Its like an investment. You build up something, then incur loss in the short term to invest it while knowing the payoff will be greater. Now whether the payoff is worth the initial short-term loss is dependant on each individual player and their other assets (time, effort desired, 10 other max lvl alts to play)
The longer u play and more alts you have, the more inticing the progeny reroll becomes. Which is kinda the point. recycling old players with little left to go for, bak into the leveling stream at the point it becomes worth it to that individual. You probably wont have to care about the system for some time, then be glad its been there waiting when you are ready ;)
As per the OP's realisation - "Edit: the topic is redundant - the idea i had is basically the Progeny System stated on the Pantheon Difference page. Links and descriptions in the replies below if you do not know what the progeny system is ;]" this has in fact been covered by our team, links below, I will go ahead and close this up but I encourage everyone to have another read through our links below:
What is Pantheon
Game Lore
The Pantheon Difference
Game features
Game Tenets
FAQ
To give yourself a nice refresher on all of the thoughts we have behind making Pantheon :)