A Challenge Reborn

[Jojoya]

I just remember the riddle quest from ARR, where you had to think where the next location could be, where the community teamed up to solve the mystery behind it, wasn't this kinda fun? Didn't you enjoy it? Of course people who just wanted it completed were almost giving up, looking up for the solution of every step, but isn't that kind of thing, that we enjoyed the most? The community solving a challenge, a common goal we can pursue? Like I mentioned before, that kind of goal, of milestone can be achieved right now with the Ishgardian Project, but is there more?

Challenge comes more from a lack of knowledge and the need to figure things out than from difficulty. That lack of knowledge is very high when a game is first released. No one knows what to do. No online guides and databases are available for people to use as a reference. The community has to work together to figure things out.

Once a player has experience with the game and has started gaining that knowledge, or can just look up what they need to know online, the challenge mostly disappears. Increasing difficulty can add some challenge back but it's still relatively light compared the challenge created by the need to figure out what to do. Look at Savage content. It's challenging when you first go in and you need to learn the mechanics. Once you know the mechanics and you clear it, it no longer feels as challenging even though the encounters haven't changed.

If you want continual challenge, you need to keep trying out new games so you have to overcome your lack of knowledge. It's not going to come from a game you've played for years because you know how it works.