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From the roadmap...
"Health: Yup…you can die now. But you can actually increase your health by finding increase items while adventuring through the world."
https://forums.station.sony.com/landmark/index.php?threads/eqnl-roadmap.18810/
How is that not vertical progression? Whether you call it "levels", "skills", or armour attributes, anything that can keep accumulating and give you an advantage over other players is vertical progression in my opinion. I'll be really interested to see how far they take it. It seems inevitably these things make it into MMOs. Like in DCUO where the level cap is 30 and you can get there fast, but then there is a grind to power up armour and weapons which can make a world of difference in battle.
I'm personally really hoping this is more about PLAYER skill, as in using the right combination of abilities and movements to beat your enemy. Some abilities will be more useful in combat than others, but everyone can find and use them without grinding.
Comments
Chi puo dir com'egli arde é in picciol fuoco.
He who can describe the flame does not burn.
Petrarch
On the one hand I see what you are saying, but I also think that it is a bit of a minor distinction. To me vertical progression is like a singular tower of levels that you climb while being locked in a class.
Why is "being locked in a class" part of the equation? Vertical to me means going up... so if there's vertical progression, you focus on going up and above other players through some number that is tracked by the game and lets you defeat them.
I think EQN needs to get away from that otherwise it will be all about grinding scripted content to climb the ladder.
Why not make it about exploring and finding all of the classes, choosing the right combination of abilities on your loadout and wearing decent armour, and then going and kicking butt by using the right combination of movements and abilities? If they make the gameplay varied and interesting enough this could totally work. Just like in Mortal Kombat where you can have the weakest loadout and still beat someone with the best one through your skill as a player.
I thought this is where the devs were headed. There is still room for this to be the case if there is a maximum level your health can reach. I'm OK with some vertical progression, but believe it should be possible to reach the top relatively quickly and without grinding.
Landmark is a game about design and creativity, even when you will be able to create your own dungeons, program the AI of the mobs and design the whole adventure you will still be limited by your creativity and skills. You can not really grind creativity and design skills.
Chi puo dir com'egli arde é in picciol fuoco.
He who can describe the flame does not burn.
Petrarch