Quote Originally Posted by Worm View Post
You completely dodged the instanced vs. competitive content angle here. I understand why though, because it's really hard to rectify with everything else you're saying. How do you make a instanced game with horizontal progression? Are you saying you'd be happy with this new version of coil if it had ilvl 91 gear and ilvl 96 weapons at the end? Probably not. We have the option of slowly building up to a raid difficulty that most players don't see like Naxx40 or Sunwell. Mind you difficulty includes all attunements, grinding, bugged encounters, resist gear farming, or fingernails that must be pulled out and mailed to the developers. Of course only 5%~ of the player base being to reach this content when it's current doesn't make it obsolete, it makes it obsoleet ... HEH.

Then we have the option of just making the game have competitive non-instanced content, which means either it needs to be HUGE beyond imagining or simply have servers with as few players as there were ten years ago. I really don't think there's much middle ground, games are designed for more load now-a-days because everyone wants WoW numbers, that's it. It's just an inevitable and unavoidable truth. I hope a company comes and builds an MMO for 6 figures, but seeing as Brad McQuaid's latest hardcore vaporware has kickstarter goals up into the millions, I doubt it'll happen. I'd like to see it happen but subbing to games and spending the majority of your time trying to World's Best MMO Soothsayer on the forums isn't going to make people want to make this game, I swear.
Instanced vs. non-instanced was "dodged" by me because it is completely, 100% irrelevant to the discussion. The way to make instanced content with horizontal progression isn't difficult to imagine, it would be exactly the same as non-instanced content with horizontal progression. That is, future instances drop equipment that is relevant and unique, but not equipment that is plainly superior to what came before it. Then instead of raising mobs stats by 10% or whatever to compensate, they design mobs to be fought by players of their current level of strength. I don't know why the concept seems so foreign to you once you throw instances into the mix. It is as simple to wrap your head around as could be.