People will often cringe if we compare a game to WoW. The "hardcore" player base for oh so many reasons. However, to disabuse ourselves of strategies Blizzard used to create the most successful/profitable game ever is foolish. Figuring out what that magic recipe is isn't as easy as it looks either. As players we get so caught up in the shiny baubles of game expansion that we forget to look at what changes are taken to keep existing content fresh and relevant.
One thing that WoW did to keep subscribers was to obsolete certain aspects of their own game at early levels but keep much of content relevant and expedite the path for new players. They set a pace that allowed brand new players to blitz through old content and join their friends in battling for the high level content. Multiple tactics were used to achieve this: Experience for PK arenas, Starting Dark Knights at level 55, and special leveling gear that grew with players were issued for a small price. With leveling gear grouping for zones at low levels became relatively obsolete since the exp boost was smaller as were stat boosts offered by dungeon gear. This was a brilliant move. The majority of the populace tended to stay at the end game so lower level groups grew scarce. Additionally, moving through quests at a faster rate felt like measured progress as opposed to dungeon spam for now irrelevant equipment.
The grinding through old content was less monotonous and Guilds were continuously refreshed with new blood and continued to vie for top gear, new zones, and guild server pride. Blizzard also scaled accessibility of their game to an aging player base with careers and kids to think about. You could still be hardcore or you could still tread water and feel relevant as a casual.
I believe what limits the populations in Arctic is the lack of desire for players of ages past (I first logged on ~'95) to relearn obscure paths and keywords to complete a zone. Fighting is different. Most of us are very willing to die relearning a fight because that's the "action" of the game. What I don't have is the energy behind learning keywords that are/should be very general in zones I've done dozens of times.
There are multiple times over the years where I've been stumped at a specific place where I had to "shift" or "slide" an object. I've been frustrated when I gave a quest object to a mob but didn't "deliver" it to him and the quest just sputtered out. Why on earth would I spend the time to relearn Crytic forest when I can just go kill a billion pigmies and move on to the next tier of what I barely remember?
Historically, the response from Arctic's staff has been "lower exp on pigmies, and they'll be forced to go to crytic", "make the exp to level higher and they'll get bored of killing pigmies for 7k exp","Make a new grind for another mechanic (ranks)". None of that resolves what makes me bored. 18 years and my poor memory coupled with a lack of desire to explore every nook and cranny... I really just can't give a damn about how to very specifically twist a tree branch.
I know if I tried to move it in real life that I would pull it, push it, lift, rotate, twist, shift, slam or whatever to move the damn thing. When I finally moved the object (however it moved), I would see with my eyes. In game terms that motion would be captured in the description.
I'm pouring what energy I have into my career these days, and in about 5 years I hope to be a director at a medical device company. I want to bring another new therapy to market in the US and Europe, and shake hands with more patients who didn't stand a chance before. I want to marry a girl (ok maybe not the current one...shh) and have a kid or two and watch them grow. Maybe I can take on a DJ gig at a local club again or spearfish regularly off Catalina...and I still want to enjoy my time on Arctic and I want to experience the variety that so many wonderful builders have spent to create this wonderful world.
Yes, builders included keywords into the game. Those KW are as much their legacy as the rest of the zone. I agree implicitly. Yet who will see the 99.9% of their efforts now when only 6-10 people are on a night? Certainly not me. For all their labors spent on descriptions and mobs and cool events/stories I will not continue to enjoy them because of one lousy trigger that prevents me from finishing the main path of the zone.
This is not to say there shouldn't be secrets. There should be a plethora of them. This game has lots of secrets, perhaps more that the waning player base can really take advantage of. Arctic's population has always celebrated those who could balance ability, charisma (allies), knowledge and intelligence as our most respected players. These days it feels like knowledge stifles our ability to feel measured and parceled success in the game.
So, it is of my opinion that most of the low to mid-high zone's should be obvious to players old and new. New zones, revamped zones and places with really rare and wonderful items are loaded could stay rare. So long as they too continued to evolve I'd be quite happy for years to come. I would love to be able to find and move through a majority of the game with simplicity while looking over my shoulder for the PK sneaking up on me rather than getting bored at a wall with a gem in it.
If this game were to take strides similar to Blizzard's philosophical approach about game maturity, it may re-energize returning players and may even recruit some new ones in the process. I know I would certainly enjoy roaming through the game with greater vigor than I have this current wipe.
Sorry there is no tl:dr. people have made this argument before though less verbose and been shot down plenty of times. That's good actually. Making things simpler without a proper plan or a genuine understanding as to why could ruin Arctic just as well.
p.s.
I do believe this can be achieved through multiple methods, from wanderlusting kender drops of maps with hints, straight up keyword simplification with event enhancements or minor object/room description enhancement to better lead the player in the right direction.
Cheers,
Joe (Hem, Locky)
