Is there a way to design end game content that doesn't lead to a caustic community?

[PSxpert2011]

I thought SE fixed that problem in ARR with gear-sets, OP! Get the best gear from end-game= problem solved!

[3Jane]

I disagree. I think the community gets worse depending on how much an individual player relies on others for success and progress, regardless of how good the game is.

Which is precisely the crux of the problem with the game's current nature.

[Zendy]

Yes there is, but it involves thinking outside the box and unfortunately drastic changes in code and Link Shells....

For example:

1.) Imagine a +100 myth tomes weekly reward for being on a team with a person who has NOT completed a trial that completes it. Instead of charging for Titan Runs you'd have groups PAYING newbies for Titan runs....

2.) Imagine a game wide (instead of server wide) link shell so when you find awesome people in PF you can team with them again....

3.) Imagine a more drastic punishment when you're vote kicked from a group more than 5 times in a week... (ideally for things you have not completed before to avoid blocking story progress)

4.) Imagine if the game encouraged team work from level 1 instead of being a solo game with an occasional PF dungeon until you reach level 50 and you're suddenly expected to have a social network...

5.) Imagine if there was a punishment for quitting CT after getting some loot.

[silentwindfr]

i think the trouble come from the fact 2-3 community did meet with differentes expectation for the game, leading to some clash.
first you have the new player, the one that have little to no experience in mmorpg.
second you have the people that did play mmoprg in the last 10 years (mostly WoW period), that are called the "modern" mmorpg.
finally you have the people that did play for a long time to the mmorpg, often coming from game like FF11 and looking for an experience close of this.

sadly the game is more oriented to the modern mmorpg (with it bad side, we can't denie that did bring a lot of bad side) and for the new player.
the modern mmorpg focus on get into the game fast and enjoy it even if you don't spend a tons of time into it.

in other word, the community have trouble because veteran, Hardcore gamer and new player can't accept that the other have the right to enjoy the game. without forget, that the mmorpg, have evolve into what we have today. some people don't accept this, they want to come back to an age that have end. some want extremely hard content and other want long content... but develope a game that only a small part of the community will enjoy is not the goal of yoshida... and until people accept it and accept the other... the community will be caustic.

[Kosmos992k]

The anonymity of the internet is what leads people to become jerks online.

You could make a game where all you did was run through fields of flowers holding hands and you'd still get a guy telling you you're doing it wrong.

I hate to say this, but take a look at Flower for PS3, Vita and PS4...in other words, what you say has more or less been done...

I call the collective disembodied stupidity, immaturity, anger, fear, hatred and downright nastiness that inhabits the Internet the Eye of Moron. Basically collect all those little nasty hive minds, and make them one collective pool of nasty, and you have it.

[Volkai]

Over ten years of playing MMORPGs, one thing that remains constant from every game I've jumped to is the end game community turning hostile to new players after the content has been out for a while. And by new players, I don't even mean those with no experience on a given encounter. They can have the fight practically on farm status, but the second they switch to a new role and mess up even once they turn on even the most skilled of players.

In the back of my mind, I kind of know the answer to the question, but what do my fellow forum dwellers think about it? Is it just a result of the social ineptitude of a few players or is it really incompatible communities clashing with one another?

Pretty sure City of Heroes managed to have endgame content while maintaining a not-caustic community.

[Zaels]

Which is precisely the crux of the problem with the game's current nature.

But that doesn't make it a bad or shallow game. It's a common theme in mmorpgs where players have to put together parties where each person fills in a specific role crucial to the success of the fight. That makes it so people have to rely on each other.

[Gamemako]

I've been doing Brayflox repeatedly to try to get the last two pieces of Battlemage (leveled CNJ 32-44 on pretty much Brayflox alone and finally got them!). I joined one in-progress with one guy left, standing there wondering what the hell happened. Apparently, his group dissolved after one wipe on the first boss. Didn't take much coaxing to get him and the other DPS (also new) to give it a go without a tank. 'Course, we went right through without issue, though a tank did eventually show up midway through to the second boss. Had another group where the tank joined up an immediately announced "Hi, I'm new to this dungeon" One DPS left without saying a word. Run went fine with no deaths and no wipes. Guy didn't understand combos (tried to skip over Heavy Swing), but we fixed that before first boss and didn't have any trouble with the run.

This isn't just endgame content, it's everything.

[Edellis]

Nope.


People who lurk on forum boards do it for one of three reasons, and two of them are associated with complaining and whining. They'll always have something to complain about because they play the game too much.


So in their eyes, the developers are ditching them for the "casual player", when all they're really trying to do is improve the game overall.

[Ilenya]

Pretty sure City of Heroes managed to have endgame content while maintaining a not-caustic community.

Glad I wasn't the only one who thought that.