Calling it a "gear treadmill" you are begging people to not vote for that option.
The reality is that without gear progression players have less goals and therefore, less reason to play the game. Once you have maxed out your levels and gear there is no reason to play that character anymore other than to use it to help others adventure for their gear and level progression.
This is why "uber" gear loot needs to be very rare, and why certain areas need to be too deadly until you have collected a certain gear set that makes your character survivable there.
Yes, I hate when people setup polls like that and then come in and announce how much the negative is failing. It's trolling. Perhaps it should be reported as such.
I'm simply a common use phrase that depicts a common MMO progression system. Many people like gear treadmills and refuse to play any game that doesn't have it in some form or another.
I made the choices for this poll pretty damn clear with a decent write up before the poll and offered an either/or option.
As for Ozivois' comment, I would say that, clearly, some people require trinkets to feel like playing a game is "worth" their time. However, many people like myself can enjoy games with zero trinket progression rewards.
I have every weapon and unlock for both BF3 and PS2, yet I still play those games because they are fun* without them. I'd argue that if you can't have fun in a game unless you're being rewarded with some arbitrary +stat bonus then the game itself is at it's core not fun and therefor should not even be played.
I'm not saying that all games that have gear treadmills are not fun. Many of them are fun even after I have all the gear/levels/AAs/unlocks, etc. But the main or sole fun of an MMORPG should not come from a carrot on a stick.
It's also a system that harms the game because it's a form of linear progression. All the "old gear" from previous content is useless or at least highly undesirable. A game with +stat gear treadmills, vertical progression with levels/AAs/etc always makes old content not worth playing and makes the game much smaller.
I'm not trying to sway people's minds on this subject. Some people like it, some people don't. The point of this thread was to point out the issues with gear progression treadmills and to enlighten people that it's not the only game in town. There are viable and possibly superior systems we can use.
hmm OP.. you just touched on something I had forgotten years ago.. Gear today always seems to be about more def stat, or more dps, or more healing.. This gets me to thinking that back in the days of EQ or even earlier AD&D (paper and dice) that having more strength or more wisdom didn't always mean you did more damage or made you more godly.. Seems over the years game devs have gone down that path and have forgotten their roots..
You made the comment about a warrior customizing and who says a warrior HAS to wear plate.. There has to be alternate choices.. Wearing plate is heavier, but more cumbersome, whereas wearing chain is lighter and more agile.. So sure you can wear plate and if you get hit, it doesn't hit as much, BUT if you were more agile with chain, maybe you don't get HIT in the first place.. Those are the kind of new mechanics I wouldn't mind seeing.. I think gamers today have been brainwashed into believing ONLY a certain way of gearing exist and I know there are more outside the box..
Ya that's what I said in my post. I gave an example of gear being used as a way to customize your play experience, instead of just being a mathematical stat boost for a predetermined set of gear that you have* to wear.
A warrior wearing chain/leather/cloth gear to be more agile and have more energy for fighting, while using plate would make you slower, consume more energy in exchange for much better damage mitigation.
Customization choices, instead of vertical mathematical stat progression that ends up trivializing old content, segregating the community and pigeon holing you into "end game" content. Not to mention PVP that becomes "He who has received better drops, wins".
Comments
I'm simply a common use phrase that depicts a common MMO progression system. Many people like gear treadmills and refuse to play any game that doesn't have it in some form or another.
I made the choices for this poll pretty damn clear with a decent write up before the poll and offered an either/or option.
As for Ozivois' comment, I would say that, clearly, some people require trinkets to feel like playing a game is "worth" their time. However, many people like myself can enjoy games with zero trinket progression rewards.
I have every weapon and unlock for both BF3 and PS2, yet I still play those games because they are fun* without them. I'd argue that if you can't have fun in a game unless you're being rewarded with some arbitrary +stat bonus then the game itself is at it's core not fun and therefor should not even be played.
I'm not saying that all games that have gear treadmills are not fun. Many of them are fun even after I have all the gear/levels/AAs/unlocks, etc. But the main or sole fun of an MMORPG should not come from a carrot on a stick.
It's also a system that harms the game because it's a form of linear progression. All the "old gear" from previous content is useless or at least highly undesirable. A game with +stat gear treadmills, vertical progression with levels/AAs/etc always makes old content not worth playing and makes the game much smaller.
I'm not trying to sway people's minds on this subject. Some people like it, some people don't. The point of this thread was to point out the issues with gear progression treadmills and to enlighten people that it's not the only game in town. There are viable and possibly superior systems we can use.
Legends of Kesmai, UO, EQ, AO, DAoC, AC, SB, RO, SWG, EVE, EQ2, CoH, GW, VG:SOH, WAR, Aion, DF, CO, MO, DN, Tera, SWTOR, RO2, DP, GW2, PS2, BnS, NW, FF:XIV, ESO, EQ:NL
Ya that's what I said in my post. I gave an example of gear being used as a way to customize your play experience, instead of just being a mathematical stat boost for a predetermined set of gear that you have* to wear.
A warrior wearing chain/leather/cloth gear to be more agile and have more energy for fighting, while using plate would make you slower, consume more energy in exchange for much better damage mitigation.
Customization choices, instead of vertical mathematical stat progression that ends up trivializing old content, segregating the community and pigeon holing you into "end game" content. Not to mention PVP that becomes "He who has received better drops, wins".
Legends of Kesmai, UO, EQ, AO, DAoC, AC, SB, RO, SWG, EVE, EQ2, CoH, GW, VG:SOH, WAR, Aion, DF, CO, MO, DN, Tera, SWTOR, RO2, DP, GW2, PS2, BnS, NW, FF:XIV, ESO, EQ:NL