Shrinking the gap by raising the floor | brainstorming skill incentives

[Jojoya]

Hot take, but I actually don't think you should be able to progress in a game when you refuse to put in the work for it.

I agree in general but MMOs aren't your standard game where the developers expect you to buy it, play until you've hit your skill limit then quit. MMOs need to retain players for the long term. Putting in barriers where players can't get access to new content without increasing their skill level would depopulate servers rapidly.

It's why MMO content tends to be layered for different skill levels instead of a single progression path with an ever-increasing skill level. Someone might not have Savage level combat skills, but they can still craft or gather so the Savage raiders don't have to spend hours of their time doing those things for themselves. Cut off their access to new content, and they're not likely to stick around just for the sake of the Savage raiders who do get to have new content.