In recent MMO releases, the first 20 levels are often the best that the game has to offer. This was/is certainly the case with Vanguard, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, an Aion.  Each of these games started off strong then quickly tapered off. Whether it be a case of the game not being finished (VG/AoC), the best and most original content being expended early (WAR) or the true nature of the game being hidden until later (Aion), it’s certainly a reoccurring problem.
I’m not saying that the first twenty levels should be weakened as not to come across so amazing when compared to the rest of a MMO’s content, but I also question whether or not the fairy tale request of asking developers to make their entire games as good 30, 40, 50 levels in would give them anyone much help either. The answer isn’t to get rid of levels because then we can replace levels with time. It’s also not a valid excuse to blame funding and/or publishers rushing the game out.
Maybe the best explanation and solution that I have can be found in the fact that most of these problems arise from recent games being too linear (excluding Vanguard). When games are extremely linear it’s harder to pick up on the pattern. It’s easier to burn out on for players and to get lazy as developers when you funnel players. Sandbox games (like VG or UO) or a more ‘open’ experience (like EverQuest or early DAOC) offer players the opportunity to create their own path or to exist more naturally/harmoniously with the game’s world. Recently releases have been anything but open.
Another explanation could be the effort factor. By the way, in no way, even remotely, am I talking about grinding — so don’t bring it up. I’m talking about the way in which our characters progress. It’s quick and it’s meaningless. I can be level 2 in 20 seconds or level 5 in 10 minutes. Even level 20 is often attainable in two days of solid play (less for the hardcore). Progressing through these levels is about going out and killing some crabs or delivering bread. It’s thoughtless. It takes no effort and barely any time. Some examples of games that do the opposite would be EverQuest or DAOC. Even from the start there was more effort involved. Elements of survival, learning your class’ limitations right away, and other more dynamic elements come into play quicker.
The First 20 is an issue with dire consequences for me as I speak. I’m Alpha and Beta testing games right now and, aside from wanting to actually test, I’m worried about whether or not I should play to avoid burning out.  Why spoil the magical feeling of ‘release innocence’? I don’t want to, but I know that if I don’t then I will be looking forward to a game based upon gameplay that may not be indicative of or reflect the whole picture.
Sadly being the game tester/blogger is a role and duty you choose for yourself. Don’t go soft on us now, we need folks like you to save us from the worst and show us the best.
Ive always disliked levels. I much preferred the skill tree and point system from pre-cu SWG that you could develop your character any way you wanted, and if you wanted to change, you just untrained skills and went out to earn exp for the new skills you wanted.
I think levels place a ton of limitations on how the game can develop and evolve over time. How do you add a meaningful expansion without increasing the level cap? or add any new challenging content? Its evident in WoW, while its a super polished game that is great in many ways, its very much a treadmill of “get better gear so you can go get better gear”
There are simply better ways to do it, but no one wants to stray from the path these days. I hate to keep harping on about SWG but it really did have some very unique game mechanics that both fun and in my opinion were very good for the overall health of the game in the long run, thats something that I think gets talked about enough now. An example is how you were only allowed one character per server. Now I know most people who read this are cringing at the thought of being limited to only one toon, but it works very well. You become invested in that character, its yours, its who you are in that world and that breeds a much stronger in game community. I also loved the entirely player driven community. Granted you have to have a decent size player base for it to work. In the end, its the server community for any game that really holds it together, unfortunately I dont feel level based theme park mmos lend themselves to long lasting vibrant communities as well as sandbox games do.
It wasn’t just the absence of levels in SWG. It was the sandbox nature where players ‘lived’ in the world and survived and tried to progress themselves however they wanted, as though they were in a real world. It was the “virtual world” feel.
Even if these linear themepark style games had no levels and were strictly skill based, unless they were virtual worlds it wouldn’t matter. You could replace levels with zones or time. “The first two zones” or “The first week”.
Contrary to the trend, Star Trek Online’s first tier of levels (Lieutenant) tends to be fairly tedious and picks up momentum significantly once the different ship types become available and gets progressively more fun.
@Keen yes, it wasnt just the absence of levels that made it great, but it was a big component. If you remember the first CU they did where they changed over to a level/skill tree system, that alone changed things drastically. Suddenly grouping was an issue, because you didnt want to be too far apart from the next guy in level due to xp reasons, and things I could do before levels were suddenly impossible.
Overall what Im finding I miss the most now that I think back is the feeling of being offline and wondering what was going on in game. You always had the sense that just because you werent playing, the world and people playing in it were changing, with or without you. I dont get that sense in any games anymore. It doesnt matter if Im online or not. How often do you think, “I wonder whats going on in WoW right now? I hope Im not missing anything good going on.”
I know that for Aion the first 20 levels probably got them a shitload of sales that they didnt deserve, including my own.
With everyone asking for first impressions and early reviews, they mostly got answers based around the first 20 levels of gameplay which were all positive. After 20 levels though…….oh dear.
No, sandbox works the same. EVE is great in the beginning when skills come in quick, same as Fallen Earth. Then you get to a slow point, and the game loses its luster.
I think almost every MMO has a problem with pacing at the midgame. You can’t keep a players momentum while increasing the time it takes.
It comes down to how hard the mobs are and the death penalty. In todays games you are lvl 3 you see a lvl 3 you know 100% you can solo it. lvl 4 mob 90% doable, lvl 5 probable and so on. In DAOC you didnt know the mob level only the color it coned to you. Yellow was even challenge it really could be 50% win ratio especially at launch of the game. Orange you were nuts to try alone. Death hurt so you were more careful.
This brought some excitement to the world especially for exploration and grouping. The lack of quests and difficulty of the mobs made you group and people gladly did so.
I dont say this is the way to go because quests are fun too when done right and the ability to solo is important it’s just the death penalties today make the game and lvling so meaningless. IMO you need to truly fear death to enjoy your achievements.
When you saw a max level player in AC, EQ or FFXI it was something to behold. Now meh everyone gets there. There has to be a balance found with all this stuff to make it right.
For me, the first third of any MMO is the “end game”. That’s where I’ve spent most of my many hours a week for years and where I will probably always be.
I love the simplicity. I love how my character begins with nothing and makes his way in the world, becoming self-sufficient and capable. That, and the exploration that comes with it, IS the game for me. Once my character is at the point where it’s all about incremental upgrades rather than fillin an empty slot or obtaining a completely new ability, then motivation fades.
Fortunately, I find the experience almost infinitely repeatable even within the same game. I must have done levels 1 – 20 in Everquest at least 50 times now and the only part that is less fun than the first time is the loss of new areas to explore while doing it.
Playing P99 now, and even tho I curse at my pc for dieing and losing xp and having a long corpse run to my corpse thats in an impossible location in a zone I can’t for the life of me memorize (Blackburrow).
I prefer it to the grindfest that is WoW nowadays.
Why? I can never put my finger on it but I think its the social aspect.
I Enjoy sitting in a corner with friends or strangers just chatting while one of us brings mobs that can actually wipe us, way more then grabbing a dozen quests to kill 10 mobs that are way too easy for me to even solo.
I Enjoyed sitting at a starport for 10 minutes chatting to strangers way more then instatravelling to some dungeon, rushing through it in 10 minutes and noone even have the courtesy to say hi.
Grinding mobs/leveles etc that are no challenge to me make me fall asleep within 10 minutes, literally. Happens in WoW, happens in Forza, happens in any game. In EQ lately I actually wonder when did it become 4am?
So I guess, its social aspect and having a challenge.
ps: failing a challenge about 100 times is no fun either tho 😛
I think part of the problem is also the new/shiny factor. Most things that are novel are fun at the beginning, but you soon get bored of it and go back to your old standbys. Its not just in gaming, its anything. Now, sometimes games really do get worse later, you are right, but its compounded by the fact that just as you hit the grindy part, you are also getting sick of whatever the game had as a gimmick in the first place.
I think it’s funny pretty much every post so far has come up with a different reason/memory so far as to what is important or worked for them.
I’m confused as to why everyone laments the loss of the pre-NGE SWG, if it was so successful they never would have gutted it in the first place. Its not like SWG had a ton of subscribers to begin with, it was the SOS, a big spike in the beginning then the numbers slowly dwindled.
Am I off base?
Yes, you’re off base. The game actually took a downward turn after the changes and was highly regarded before them.
Stupidity, or at the very least ignorance about what they had vs. the rest of the market, is the simplest explanation as to why they changed it.
I dunno, I played SWG pre-NGE, I had a real hard time getting into it. I belonged to one of the biggest guilds at launch, our city was a ghost town a few months after launch. But that’s my opinion, I realize others feel differently but the numbers don’t lie.
I think the solution might be to dumb it down in a manner of speaking. Games need to have ups and downs and the good content should be spaced out. Its a lot like listening to an epic song. Epic songs are not intense all the time but have ups and downs all the way through to keep you interest.
@Trimethicon: Correct. You and your guild do not reflect the numbers. The game was more popular (and, opinion, better) before the updates. After the updates, the community shriveled up. Your opinion is yours to keep and I won’t try and change your mind, but the facts are not with you on this one.
@ Keen – oh, I agree, it was better before the changes, but it still wasn’t some amazing MMO. The numbers just weren’t there. I remember the whole “unlock a force sensitive” slot nonsense…..and the nerfs and nerfs. I think people have a very selective memory.
@Timethicon: I nor anyone here have claimed SWG was a MMO of marvelous numbers. No, it did not have the WoW numbers but it had numbers which were just fine for the era of its prime. Same can be said for UO, EQ, AC, Dark Age of Camelot and EverQuest: none of them had the WoW numbers but were successes and more popular and downright designed to be better games than any current generation of subscription OR F2P mmo’s.
BTW – I love the topic. I agree, more and more MMOs are defined by their initial user experience. I think because for me I’ve become so jaded, and we have so many more options these days for our MMO dollars/time. If an MMO doesn’t grab me right off the bat I usually don’t invest a lot of time into it. And then when if I do get to level 20 (Aion, AoC, LotRO), it really needs to be special. Had I thought this way back when EQ launched I never would have made it out of Freeport.
I am submitting to you readers in this topic that the reason you did not feel that way back in EQ was not because EQ was an older game and somehow your brain was wired differently back then, but because of how it was designed. The first twenty levels were not ‘removed’ from the rest of the experience.
EQ itself was not as linear as games today. It took more effort, right from the point of creating your character for the first time, to do anything.
I like the definition of “effort” as an “activity intended to do or accomplish something”. You were truly taking in a much more dynamic experience from the start back then.
Oh, and that feeling of “should I or should I” beta test. It does ruin that initial feeling. Its gotten to the point where I almost avoid beta’s now. But I don’t want to spend $50 for the box, then maybe another $15 only to realize that the game is a too-soon, unrealized, WoW clone. I think beta’s are nothing more then demo’s for me. Because lets face it, an open beta 3 weeks before launch is less of a beta and more of a marketing ploy.
Dont get me wrong, Im not saying SWG would have ever been as succesfull as many other games are today had it not changed. When it comes to games everyone likes differant things, and SWG would have never been a game that would appealed to the masses like WoWdid/does. But that doesnt mean it wasnt one of the best games ever made.
Just because lots of people like something doesnt mean its good. Most people are sheep and tend to like what they are told to like and follow the herd.
Its like saying budweiser or bud light is the best beer ever made simply because its sold more than others.
I don’t know Keen, EQ was pretty dull in retrospect, and I think more to my point it was more about being online with thousands of people then it was the true experience of the game. Running around Freeport with a cloth tunic and a rusty sword for 10 levels killing rats wasn’t ground breaking?
I’m not trying to be an asshole, I love your site and your articles. I just love discussions, these are the kinds of things that me and my nerdy friends sit around talking about over tequila and 420.
@ Sentry – agree, but at some point you cannot argue with numbers. Bud Light is piss, but its also one of the most popular beers, but you have to look at the reasons – cost and availability. Any type of commodity would be the same. If we applied your reasoning to MMOs; then free MMOs would be the most popular. You cannot do that with MMOs, they are not luxury items like beer, cars and refrigerators.
@Trimethicon
I can’t actually tell if you are being sarcastic in your last post or not.
To the point, yes in 1999 killing rats for 10 levels was ground breaking. To be honest though I spent more time at the Orc camp or hunting Fire Beetles.
@Topic
I honestly believe the first 20 levels need to some how resemble the end game. To often I pick a class based on what I think it will do 6 months from now only to find out I was wrong… that the class I choose does not in fact heal or tank or what have you.
I think that is what alot of MMOs lack. You are more or less blindly guessing at what your class is when you start a game. Warhammer is the ONLY MMO I’ve ever played that gave you that feeling early on. By level 11 you know what your classes job is, in RvR atleast. If you are a tank, your are doing tank like things.
EQ in a way offered this. You had to group early on, so often times by level 5 or 6 you knew what your classes role was. If you were a cleric, you knew you were a group healer and you exp’d by doing this.
MMO’s of late have an identity crisis. Developers, and gamers, see every MMO as 2 games. The pre max level game where solo content is the key and every character is self reliant. Then you hit max level and a group game develops where you MUST rely on others to progress.
You have to watch the semantics and not lose the point.
Regardless of whether or not one likes any of these games (old or new), the fact (yes, fact) is that they’ve become more linear and turned into what is now called ‘themepark’.
As a result, and what this topic is also about, somewhere along the way this has impacted how the first 20 levels are designed -> The topic at hand.
@Epiny: I’m nodding my head in agreement while reading your comment. I do agree.
@ Epiny – No, I’m not being sarcastic, like I said I just like good, stimulating, and peaceful arguments =).
I agree with you though, I think my role needs to be defined early and its something that I need to live with. Which is why I am so opposed to “changing your class on the fly” mechanics. Which, in turn, hurts the game imo, though the developers see it as a selling point.
Fire Beetles, that brings me back.
Back on topic. I think its more that devlopers are under more pressure these days to get things finished either faster or cheaper, and sometimes both. Its what I feel has become the classic “well, were out of money, lets just launch now and use subscription dollars to finish the game”
That doesnt account for all games though. Sometimes its lack of clear focus or direction of where they want the game to go. Its easy to agree on what the first 20 levels will be like, thats the introductory period, beyond that they have to make clear defined decisions on what their game is going to be about.
@Sentry
That is probably my biggest complaint about the Video Game industry now. They assume everyone has an internet connection and therefore can release a shitty game with the intent to patch it later. I’m not just talking MMOs here. Look at even the long time King of polish, Blizzard. They’ve had to patch the SINGLE Player portion of StarCraft 2 because there were save issues. To me that is unacceptable, but as my only recourse is to simply not buy a game I’m not ready to make that kind of stand.
@Epiny
I agree, SC2 is probably the worst example but yes, too many publishers/funders want a game released too soon because of the money, and then if it gets bad reviews, they cancel it. Well DUH. (the new Final Fantasy comes to mind)
Now I’m not saying they should spend APB amounts of money on it and wait Blizzard amounts of time to release it, but at least deliver a finished product.
So many developers tell us the awesome things you can do in their upcoming game, only to abandon those things because theyre technically impossible to implement AFTER we’re all hyped up about it. Better to shut up until you actually know what youre going to sell.
Other than that, many valid points raised by previous posters.
I just thought of something else, SWG, pre-NGE, pre- and post-CU, was kind of a grindfest, but again, you mostly did it in (solo-)groups, chatting and having fun while hunting. That made it fun for me, not the killing but the interaction. – Thats’s why I loved crafting in SWG, you had to put effort in and communicate with others to get the resources etc. Nowadays its mostly solo, mostly through auction houses etc.
Like most things, its mostly not the place you are, its the friends youre with that make something fun, and I think alot of publishers forget that important aspect.
(Just cancelled Champions Online, mediocre game, fun community but losing the chat everytime if go into yet another instance sucked and probably why I didnt feel involved, besides being able to solo pretty much anything I saw the past 25 levels)
again, I’m rambling, will shut up.
Good points everyone 😛
I know SC2 isn’t the best example. I think Element from Stardock is probably a more accurate one, but I wanted to use Blizzard in my point to show even the best companies have subscribed to this idea.
Have to agree, Keen- in those games you mentioned, after 20, the games petered out. VG perhaps because most people I played with left, but the others I distinctly felt a lack of interest after 20.
Maybe this has more to do with the fact that we’ve seen these games before and there’s nothing unique or interesting enough to capture our attention anymore. Maybe the industry is stuck in a rut.
Of course, maybe after we’ve played several MMOs, it is possible we know all the tricks and that the wonder of the genre is greatly diminished because we’re in on what the games are about now.
One thing that is leaving moderately optimistic with GW2 is that they won’t do the exponential increase in XP to level up. The xp to level from level 1 to level 2 is the same necessary from level 79 to 80.
But I think the main problem with this is that MMO developers simply burn the biggest amount of cash creating an amazing initial experience and then don’t save some to the part that is really important in an MMO: the endgame.
Heck, even vanilla WoW had a terrible lack of content around level 40s/50s.