Dragon Age Poll: RPG-ness

[Beskar]

There are two problems with that approach, realistic as it may be. First, a certain percentage of the RPG player base is addicted to the leveling process itself as a big part of a game's reward system, and won't have fun once it stops. I'll bet Blizzard lost a chunk of its subscriber base between the level cap for the first version of WoW, and the first major expansion that raised the roof.

Second, when the level cap is hit, there has to be something else to keep the player interested. Suddenly the quality of whatever story line you haven't seen yet, and whatever NPC's you haven't interacted with yet, becomes twice as important.

I noticed this when playing the first two expansion DLC's for Fallout 3, which were released after I hit the level cap in the main campaign (the third expansion after these did raise the level cap). I was much more critical of the quality and length of those first two F3 DLC's, the story lines especially, because my character was already as strong as he was going to get. That's just human nature. Your game had better be really outstanding, if you're going to cap the levels before the player has seen all the content.

I always enjoy the game more when you don't need to level, so all you have to worry about is having fun and doing the storyline. Nothing is more annoying to me than having to grind, grind, grind just to get access to snippets of that. A reason I really dislike MMORPG's.

[al Roumi]

I always enjoy the game more when you don't need to level, so all you have to worry about is having fun and doing the storyline. Nothing is more annoying to me than having to grind, grind, grind just to get access to snippets of that. A reason I really dislike MMORPG's.

At first I thought I'm more with Zeneticus on this, but then I thought that it shouldn't really be about grinding out out xp to be able to play, the most fun is when you are developing and accessing those new/fresh skills/weapons/tools and using new tactics or options. If you can't play without the skills and your options are limited (i.e. the very early levels as a biotic in ME, or in FO3 trying to fight in VATS without commando or sniper perks), then it can be frustrating and will lead me to play with the primary wish of upping my xp and skills.

[Beskar]

At first I thought I'm more with Zeneticus on this, but then I thought that it shouldn't really be about grinding out out xp to be able to play, the most fun is when you are developing and accessing those new/fresh skills/weapons/tools and using new tactics or options. If you can't play without the skills and your options are limited (i.e. the very early levels as a biotic in ME, or in FO3 trying to fight in VATS without commando or sniper perks), then it can be frustrating and will lead me to play with the primary wish of upping my xp and skills.

I have no problems with psuedo-leveling, which happens in a large part in Dragon Age. Where when you go along playing, you level up at the right pace, so you don't have to grind, but mobs don't become overly easy either.

I dislike the whole MMORPG-esque experience where you have to run around in circles upon circles just to get experience to level up, just to continue the game. The grind-fest style games.

[al Roumi]

I have no problems with psuedo-leveling, which happens in a large part in Dragon Age. Where when you go along playing, you level up at the right pace, so you don't have to grind, but mobs don't become overly easy either.

I dislike the whole MMORPG-esque experience where you have to run around in circles upon circles just to get experience to level up, just to continue the game. The grind-fest style games.

OK, well at this point I should admit I've never played a MMORPG - the very concept of paying for time/xp played put me off. So maybe you are refering to a much greater evil than i imagine :)

[Meneldil]

I always enjoy the game more when you don't need to level, so all you have to worry about is having fun and doing the storyline. Nothing is more annoying to me than having to grind, grind, grind just to get access to snippets of that. A reason I really dislike MMORPG's.

I've played several MMO's and leveled a dozen of characters to the level cap, and I never ever had to grind.
WoW probably has enough quest to level up the same character to the cap three or four times, and both WAR Online and LotRO can be leveled through questing only. And it's most of the time faster and more rewarding than grinding.