Quote Originally Posted by Vesperia View Post
Gear-grind is so simplistic.

Im not saying games shouldnt have it, because even in IRL people gear-grind. Um, hello, fashion much?

But the point is, the game shouldn't focus JUST on that. There are ways to make meaningful content without just dangling carrots in front of people to get them to run a treadmill for five years and milk subscriptions from it.

When I look at games like ArcheAge, there seems to be more avenues of gameplay which reward both types of player. People who invest a lot of time can still gain more than casual players, but the game design doesn't just flat-out exlude them altogether. Sure there is still gear-grind, but there is also territorial control and house-building and so on and so on. People can invest a lot of time into managing guilds and striving for supremacy/glory in this way without the feature impinging greatly on anyone else's playstyles.

If it sounds like Im going off topic, im not. You see, there are natural time-sinks and then there are imposed tink sinks. Natural time sinks come about as an incidental byproduct, like, for example, organising guilds and dealing with politics. Only a few people who play often enough can really handle the time-sink that is managing a guild efficiently. Farming resources for crafting/house-building is another natural timesink.

But when you have game-developers consciously deciding to implement time-sinks just to string players along for no other reason than to milk them for all they're worth (and perhaps give elitist no-lifers something to strive for), the game becomes exlusionary to an entire demographic, and also not very much fun even for the demographic it retains.

There are so many ways to reward people for investment than gear. Testing players' patience and using boredom as a deterrant to the best gear does not make the game an enriching experience for any of the players involved, even those who would succeed at it.
If you've actually been following this thread you would know that gear grind is not the main focus. I simply stated why I play. Does that mean I expect everyone else to play for the same reason? No, and I also made that perfectly clear, or so I thought.

Duelle offered a suggestion borrowed from WoW, which isn't necessarily a gear grind, but acts to keep players busy. There are a number of other good suggestions as well. Why does it matter to you why others play?

Also, lol @ the elitst no-lifer comment. The same can be said for anyone that plays any amount of any video game, or spends their time on forums. It's by no means true nor does it help your argument in the slightest. Please keep this type of BS name calling out of my thread, kthx.