More Horizontal Progression please

[Velhart]

Not really Niche. That type of game-play is really popular in animes.

They just think its "ONLY IN VIRTUAL REALITY." like SAO...

What works on a TV show may not translate well into an actual game, especially one aiming at worldwide appeal.

Its not Niche, because there has not been an MMO designed for that style of gameplay for... 11-13 years now?

Nothing really like it at the moment.

It can't be niche when there is nobody doing it.

Do you know what niche means? It means only a specific audience favors that type of style.

Honestly, that is a popular opinion. However, your wrong.

Statistics do point that you are correct, however the new generation of gamers in an MMO have never really been challenged by anything. They never had a challenged thrusted in their face. They never had a sense of fear when leaving their towns or dangers from the world.

Making more time sinks does not make a game difficult, it just milks it more. Difficulty is actually making he fights hard and require your skill and ability to understand your job and mechanics, not how much time you can invest into it. By your logic, the worst of players can be the best if they bang their head on their keyboard enough.

Make a game and treat it like a WORLD INSTEAD of a game.

That is subjective thinking. What you consider immersion into a world can be different from someone else's.

Your "Popular" game idea, has me logging in BORED doing NOTHING for HOURS because THERE IS NO CONTENT. We have DONE it all. NOTHING challenges me. NOTHING makes me AFRAID. Bosses don't scare me. EVERYTHING IS A CHORE. Yet this is.. fun?

There is plenty for you to do. You just don't want to do them. The only valid complaint I have seen in this thread is that this game's only difficult content is Alex(Savage) and EX Primals(kind of). Most content can be face rolled except those. People have this "bored" mindset because there is no middle ground. They should of made Alex(Normal) on the difficulty of Final Coil and Alex(Savage) tuned up harder than it is currently right now. Without a good middle ground, there are complaints that there are only catering to each extreme end. The ones that want everything handed to them on a silver platter (Alex(Normal) basically) and people who want over the top punishing content (Alex(Savage)).

tl;dr Time =/= skill

[Kaurie]

Do you know what niche means? It means only a specific audience favors that type of style.
l

I just figured that I'd let you know that everything is niche, given this definition.

In terms of how it's generally used in markets is "a specialized but profitable corner of the market."


So under your definition, everything is niche. Casual, hardcore, raiding, crafting, chatting etc etc.

Under the market definition, 'niche' is not a bad thing, as it's profitable.

[Fyce]

Under the market definition, 'niche' is not a bad thing, as it's profitable.

Not everything niche is profitable enough to be done.
Ressources are needed to make something, even niche. If another project were to earn more if these ressources were allocated to it instead, it means a lost opportunity to increase the overall benefits.

In short terms, even if a niche product makes money, it often don't make it quick enough to justify the investment if the ressources needed to make it were more valuable somewhere else.

[Kaurie]

Not everything niche is profitable enough to be done.
Ressources are needed to make something, even niche. If another project were to earn more if these ressources were allocated to it instead, it means a lost opportunity to increase the overall benefits.

In short terms, even if a niche product makes money, it often don't make it quick enough to justify the investment if the ressources needed to make it were more valuable somewhere else.

That's true, but you need to elaborate on that point. Rather than referring to something as niche in an effort to disregard it.

I haven't followed this thread very closely, as I feel it sort of derailed a long time ago. That said, horizontal progression can be added in to the game without making the game less profitable than otherwise. IMO adding more horizontal progression could help keep retention higher.

This does not mean that I think they should add long grinds or rare drops etc etc. I just think that adding choice in your gear could add flavour to the game. I also think that they could use horizontal progression to keep previous content more relevant. Way too much of Heavensward has already been made obsolete. That's a lot of development time and costs for very little consumer use. There is a LOT of content in this game, but most of it is something that I'll never do again (or very rarely). Give me a reason to do them. To elaborate, don't make me go do Aurum Vale 40x over for a drop. Make me want a drop that can come from any ARR dungeon. Then I can queue for whatever I want and mix it up, instead of doing the _same_ dungeon over and over and over.