wow... rested experience just wow...

[Kiote]

What ruined the game for most people was that Abyssea pretty much invalidated all of the content that came before it.

By making it so easy to hit Max level that there was no reason at all to participate in any of the content.

[Nikita]

By making it so easy to hit Max level that there was no reason at all to participate in any of the content.

Lol, even if the leveling WAS slower, who would stop along the way to 99 to run dynamis when they can get better gear from Abyssea...?

You make literally no sense.

[Kiote]

Lol, even if the leveling WAS slower, who would stop along the way to 99 to run dynamis when they can get better gear from Abyssea...?

You make literally no sense.

A lot of people, Less than 10% of any given MMO's population focuses on End Game. That is an Absolute Fact. Most people never get there unless the game becomes so easy it is unplayable..

[Nikita]

A lot of people, Less than 10% of any given MMO's population focuses on End Game. That is an Absolute Fact. Most people never get there unless the game becomes so easy it is unplayable..

That would make sense, if the content in question wasn't already end game. Yes, it was end game, it was just end game that became obsolete.

[Kiote]

That would make sense, if the content in question wasn't already end game. Yes, it was end game, it was just end game that became obsolete.

The way MMOs maintain a population is by making "End Game" content into regular content once there is a new end of the game. The "Average" player is always expected to be one End Game behind. This is because as the game progresses the Old End Game naturally becomes easier and viable for the Average player. The Average player always has something to look forward to, they never finish the game. New End Game content is designed to appease the Hardcore.

If however, every player gets to max level faster than content can be created, the Hardcore feel alienated by a lack of means to be the best and the average player feels like there is nothing to do regardless of whether or not they have completed all end game content. The Average player needs something to aspire to, the hardcore needs something to brag about. A broken leveling curve eliminates both of these situations.

[Nikita]

The way MMOs maintain a population is by making "End Game" content into regular content once there is a new end of the game. The "Average" player is always expected to be one End Game behind.

Mmm, that is pretty subjective to your own experiences, though. Take WoW for example, the old way they did things was to do what you are explaining there, however they reached the height of their subscriber base around the time they changed things up and evened out the end game so everyone could be on it. Having to work on old content first was not fair to new players who really had no entry into the lowest tier of content because nearly nobody was doing it.

As for hardcore feeling alienated, there are always ways to appease them, we already see attempts at this in game now, with the timed chest in Darkhold and the hidden boss(es) in Toto'rak.

And I just want to point out, your point still falls flat, the content was simply outleveled, there was no reason at all to do it since it consumed too much time and offered so little reward when you could get new gear so easily in Abyssea. This is rather obvious, and leaving me to wonder if you actually played XI when Abyssea was released.