Recently I was just browsing the Net, and found an interesting thing. On World of Warcraft there is a player (Everbloom) who has reached level 85 (the maximum) without killing a single thing! (Also only did one quest and that was by accident apparently).
Previously I would have thought this impossible, after all MMO games tend to be about killing and questing, so how can you reach the level max without doing either of those things?
Well, it seems that last year they made a change. Prior to the change you could get XP (which is what causes you to level) in three ways:
But then they added that you could get a modest amount of XP from harvesting things (gathering ore, picking herbs). This was probably to compensate people for the time they lost in gaining XP while they wandered around gathering things.
The overall effect was that Everbloom was able to gain all 85 levels by simply doing a lot of gathering.
She made things easier for herself by being a Night-Elf Druid. Night Elves can "shadowmeld" which drops combat, and hides, which is useful for escaping from a gang of angry mobs which are chasing you. And a Druid can get cat form with "prowl" which lets you stealth up to things (eg. get past mobs to get to an ore node). Also Druids can self-heal, which helps if you are under attack, you heal while you run away.
The interesting thing about it is that this effectively adds a new dimension to MMO games. The possibility of a non-violent character. In fact it's like real life. Not everyone is a soldier. Some people "level" by doing non-violent things, so this is somewhat more realistic.
So just an idea for game designers - have a method for players to advance outside the usual "go kill 10 wolves" that are in many games.
Previously I would have thought this impossible, after all MMO games tend to be about killing and questing, so how can you reach the level max without doing either of those things?
Well, it seems that last year they made a change. Prior to the change you could get XP (which is what causes you to level) in three ways:
- Exploring (small amounts of XP)
- Killing stuff (mobs, players)
- Doing quests, most of which involve killing stuff
But then they added that you could get a modest amount of XP from harvesting things (gathering ore, picking herbs). This was probably to compensate people for the time they lost in gaining XP while they wandered around gathering things.
The overall effect was that Everbloom was able to gain all 85 levels by simply doing a lot of gathering.
She made things easier for herself by being a Night-Elf Druid. Night Elves can "shadowmeld" which drops combat, and hides, which is useful for escaping from a gang of angry mobs which are chasing you. And a Druid can get cat form with "prowl" which lets you stealth up to things (eg. get past mobs to get to an ore node). Also Druids can self-heal, which helps if you are under attack, you heal while you run away.
The interesting thing about it is that this effectively adds a new dimension to MMO games. The possibility of a non-violent character. In fact it's like real life. Not everyone is a soldier. Some people "level" by doing non-violent things, so this is somewhat more realistic.
So just an idea for game designers - have a method for players to advance outside the usual "go kill 10 wolves" that are in many games.