In the spirit of the excellent discussion going on in the SWTOR thread, I'd like to expand a bit on the topic, and as Grey suggested, provide a more appropriate place for the discussion.
As an aspiring developer who is hoping to have a hand in MMO development sometime in the next 10 years, I have been doing a lot of theory crafting on what online games will look like in the future. If I were able to start work on a AAA title right now, these are the features I would be trying to incorporate (only including things that are currently not prevalent in any MMO):
1. Scrap EXP and Conventional Leveling
Levels
The current EXP leveling system found in most MMO's works fantastically in single player games. The problem I've found with this system online is that it fragments the player base and developers seem to struggle to provide continuous content across the spectrum of levels.
You're level is just a bit too low to do this. You're too high of level to group with us. You can enter such and such instance at the minimum level, but it's waaay too hard (or you drag the rest of the group down). You can do such and such instance for another 2 levels, but the crappy EXP you get makes it pointless. And on and on the list can go.
Developers have been providing supplemental systems to help overcome this issue, such as level sync in FFXI, and the mentor system in Aion, but this is overdue for a complete overhaul.
My solution to this would be to group similar levels together and focus on the strengths for that segment of the game. MMO's seem to have fairly distinct segments which I would call: The Tutorial, Group Introduction, The Grind (has multiple iterations), and End Game. Most games seem to have around 10 levels between each segment. Let's break this down using FFXI.
- The first 10 levels in FFXI (The Tutorial) are mainly done solo, take very little time to complete, have low difficulty, and help teach the player the basic mechanics of the game and the chosen class.
- Levels 11-20 introduced most players to group game play. It takes significantly longer than the tutorial to complete, the difficulty ramps up, and the player learns the basics of functioning in a group. There is still usually little extra content at this point, such as instances.
- Levels 21-30, 31-40, 41-50 etc all seem to have distinct features, but we can lump them into The Grind category. Each consecutive bracket increases the time needed to complete and may or may not be more difficult. This is usually where the player notices a lot of repetition within the game. The player doesn't necessarily learn anything new about the game that they couldn't have learned earlier, but this is where they put in a majority of the time leveling up. There is usually some side content that may or may not be specific to a level range. FFXI had level specific events here such as garrison, BCNM, and level capped missions (R.I.P.).
- Levels 70-75 brought classic FFXI End Game. The focus on EXP based progression starts to fade (brought back with the inclusion of merits later on) and players instead focus on instances and events. Difficulty tends to have the widest gap here as newer players will struggle with the hardest events, and veterans will breeze through the easy events.
What I would do is group the first 10 levels into a single "rank" and limit the stat gains available within the rank. Then, when the player ranks up, they would receive a sizable stat gain all at once. This keeps players on a more level playing field for a longer period of time, and in essence defragments the player base.
Players no longer have to search 2 hours for that level 53-55 tank, and developers can focus on content for a more defined section of their game. This would all lead to better game play and a less frustrating experience for the players.
EXP
Gaining arbitrary experience points in an RPG is an archaic model for online games. It perpetuates the problems outlined above and leads to dull game play. Games that don't have extensive quest systems, like FFXI, become a huge turn off to most people because you just grind mobs for hours on end to level up (the quest system isn't that much better imo).
EXP is essentially a numerical break down of incremental character progression. So, let's just get rid of the middle man and focus directly on character progression already! (note: when I mention character progression here, I am specifically focusing on gaining base stats, skills, traits, ect. I will focus on other types of character progression, such as equipment, later)
Most online games right now have 3 ways to gain skills and traits: skill books and scrolls, automatic acquisition, and quests (mostly where you just receive the skill book or scroll as a reward). There is also only 1 way to gain base stats: leveling up.
This is boring as shit... For one of the main ways that players see progress and power increases, this is terrible design. Let's get the player much more involved in not only gaining these abilities, but continuously tweaking and improving them. WoW's talent system is a great early example of how this can work, but they failed to really involve the player in the process.
Imagine, in FFXI as a MNK, you could visit a guru early on who promised to teach you the ancient skill of boost if you could brave a dungeon and retrieve a lost artifact. Then, you can improve the damage modification by solving the mystery surrounding the artifact. A rank later, you can visit another guru who can help you reduce the reuse time of the skill if you submit to his training. And later, yet another who can train you in meditation, which increases the amount of times that boost will stack.
The amount of customization through this type of system is limited only by the developer's creativity (and time). It would help immerse the player into the game world and give a much greater sense of character progression than is currently available.
Mix in racial missions (can we get these already??), main storyline missions, standard fare side quests (which can give small base stat rewards), and instances for gear, and you have PLENTY of content for each rank without arbitrary EXP as a filler.
Well... I rambled on more on that one point than I thought I would, so I'll stop here so I don't overload the discussion. Feel free to discuss any of these points and anything that was brought up in the SWTOR thread.
As a preview, here are the topics I have written down that I will probably talk about in more detail later on:
Spoiler: show