by Byron Mudry on Oct 15, 2006
This week at TenTonHammer the community managers at each of our sites are looking at how games handle the end game. Is the repeatable instanced endgame a good way to handle a level capped game? World of Warcraft uses this schema and it is the current killer MMO on the market, does that make it the best method or just the current favorite method. I also take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of using it as a system.
The repeatable endgame instance setup in games is the currently most popular way to handle keeping players busy and playing once they hit maximum level in a game. They do this by making drop rates on key equipment pieces low and specific to certain end game instances so that you have to run the instance many times to get the items that you want. Another method to make players run the end game instances over and over again is reputation or token collection. This method makes you repeat instances to earn reputation or tokens that allow you to gain equipment, or access to new quests.
Blizzard has mastered this system of end game play in World of Warcraft. They use the system in many forms and layers. They use the system for 5 man end game instances such as Stratholme, Scholomance, Dire Maul, and the Blackrock Spyre instances to gain dungeon tier 1 and 2 armor sets. They also setup another repetitive process in each of the end game small and large raids. In the small raids (Zul’Gurrub and Ruin’s of Ahn’Qiraj) you must run the raids many times to earn reputation and to collect items (idols, scarabs and bijous as examples) that are turned in for items from the quest givers for the area. In large raids they do it by making drop rates for each of the tier 1 and 2 armor sets to be very low so that you must continue to run the instance to collect the whole set. As World of Warcraft continues to expand Blizzard has continued to learn and refine its craft and make end game instance even more repeatable.
One of the biggest advantages of this system is to the game developer and not the player, hence the reason this is the most common system. The advantages comes about because the player will be happy (or relatively happy) to repeat the same instance over and over again until they gain the item that they are looking for. If the item drops the first time they are there, and there are no other items that they want or need then the player will not want to return to the instance. The same is true for reputation, if they can earn access to all the quests and rewards on the first trip through then there is no reason to repeat the quest. So, what does all this have to do with an advantage to the developers you ask? Easy…
Since the developers can now create just a few end game instances and have players adventure through them many, many times they can get away with FAR less work. Using World of Warcraft as an example, what if you could get all your set pieces available from Undead Stratholme and access to all the high end reputation bonuses (patterns, enchantments, cheap access to Naxxramas) the first time through? Would you be happy going through again? You probably would be once or twice, but not 20 to 30 times and defiantly not 50 or 100 times. Yet this kind of repetition is not uncommon and the masses are not revolting because of it. Why? There are no mass revolts because players are still working towards some end goal.
One advantage to players that play games using a repetitive end game instanced system is that they gain familiarity very quickly with an instance and that makes it easier for future repetition. To many players this makes the game more enjoyable since they can worry about playing and having fun rather than being stressed out over learning new instances.
The biggest disadvantage to the players in my opinion is the repetition and the boredom that comes with it.
One of the same things that many count as an advantage can also be considered a disadvantage, familiarity. As I discussed earlier, when you are familiar with an instance it makes it appear to play easier, because you know how to handle everything. This can also be a disadvantage, because if you learn by repetition you are not forced to improvise as much or learn to trouble shoot to find new possible solutions.
By allowing the developers to focus on creating fewer end game instances while still keeping players happy it allows them two things, the first is to make better end game instances, and the second is to make the game for less time and money.
I am all for the first part since a better designed, tested end game instance benefits all of us as players. It especially helps small game developers ensure that they can provide a solid end game experience for a low cost so that players will continue to play and support small developers.
However I am greatly against the second advantage when applied to large developers. I am firmly convinced that developers such as Blizzard use this to their advantage to improve the bottom line drastically while limiting the playing options for end game players. When a company that has 100,000 subscribers uses the advantages of a repetitive system so that they can provide quality regular content it is a good thing. When a game that has 7,000,000 regular subscribers uses it to limit its output to one new instance every few months I see it as a cash grab method.
I don’t think any of us need to take an economics course to figure out that 7 million players times $15 a month equals a BIG number! One that is big enough to justify many upgrades per month, and many new instances. However, while we have players have seen many upgrades to WoW and many new end game instances, we have not seen the kind of numbers that we should have seen for the amount of money being handed to Blizzard month after month.
It is also my take on this issue that by making players play the same thing over and over developers are actually encouraging the dumbing down of players. They get into the groove of doing the same thing over and over again, instead of learning by new experience they are having the same habits drilled into them over and over again. This can be ok if they are doing everything perfectly when they learn, but many times they have done something wrong the first time, but it worked, so are repeating it over and over again.
In the end, I play a game for two reason; Fun and Challenge. For me a big part of fun comes from the challenge, without a challenge there isn’t a whole lot of fun. To me the most fun I have had in an instance is going into the end game instances with minimum level groups and having to struggle through were each fight could be a wipe. Maybe I am just a masochist, but to me that is fun. Going through Stratholme for the 10th, 20th or 100th time with a group of all 60’s that can run it in less than 30 minutes without much threat of death, just doesn’t bring the same thrill. Leaving me thinking, do I really want to play this instance even one more time...
Have question, comments or an opinion you would like to express, feel free to email me.