Players regularly demand a new endgame, i.e. content that will keep you busy later. But these demands have now triggered a heated discussion.
Endgame comes for many users after the “boring” level phase. Because if you have brought your character to the maximum level, then the really exciting challenges come: Crunchy raids, PvP or a complex crafting system that needs to be mastered. Games like WoW offer a lot of possibilities here:
If there is no or hardly any endgame, some players quickly get bored because then there is nothing left for them to do and no reason to start the game. But does it really need “Endgame” for games to be really good?
Do players really need “infinite progression”?
On reddit, players are discussing whether this “addiction” to more endgame is really needed. The “addiction” that you can run a new raid every week or improve your gear by 3 more points.
For many players, the level phase is just an extended tutorial before you can finally start the real game, the endgame. Games like ESO intentionally speed up the level speed so people can get into the final content quicker. Many developers also put in beautiful and sad quests during the “level phase”, as a story from WoW shows.
Here’s how someone explains that developers would always have to make two games and that would hurt in the long run because neither part would be good:
Some believe that this “addiction” is not necessary at all. Because endgame and a great balance are not that important if the players get enough variety. Because then they wouldn’t be bored either:
All players need is variety, and then they will do the rest of the work themselves. When a monster drops a cool weapon that you can’t use in Elden Ring, you start fantasizing about how you could build your next character to use it. People are still hooked on Skyrim over a decade later because there’s always a new mod to try on their next playthrough.
– That means User Infidel-Art (via reddit)
Games like Elden Ring would still captivate thousands of players today. And not because they offer a great endgame, but because they tell a long story that also ends at some point. Players would be happy to start a new adventure then.
Are there also positive examples? Others cite games like EVE: Online as counterexamples, which do not have a maximum level that players could encounter. Here players develop their own stories.
Such games include the single-player game Crusader Kings 3, which thrives on players developing their own stories with each playthrough:
In my Game of the Year I have 14 children, 4 wives and I am the Emperor of Ireland
Many want to play a character and have strong friendships
But not everyone shares the opinion about the endgame. There are enough users who reply: Many want to play the same character for years and not always start over. After all, you have grown fond of your character and associate memories with it. They fought battles with them or failed bitterly. It has nothing to do with the damn endgame.
Modern MMORPGs would weaken in completely different aspects. So modern MMORPGs have forgotten “the social aspect of the genre” and it’s not just about fighting, but about the many small things that would make an MMORPG (via reddit.com).
There has been a discussion before that solo content is actually killing MMORPGs because people prefer to play alone and don’t feel like socializing. Because features like dungeon finders make MMOs too easy anyway, so that you no longer have to maintain social contacts.
MeinMMO author Anny also believes that social contacts in MMORPGs hardly ever take place anymore. And several things are responsible for this:
Social media stole what I used to love about MMORPGs