New interview with Joel Bylos at PC Gamer

[yuisoku]

I hope they realize that new players won't stay because of not auto-loot or similar, but content between 1- 79. Craig turned this to be tutorial area, like tortage was before it at lvl 1-19.

There is too much progress at 80lvl so people need to hurry up and be super fast or they will not get to train.

Pre 2010 there was lots of things to do pre 80lvl because there was not really any progress. I knew many people who spend nearly a year at low lvl (10-60), i was one of them

- Grouping (its gone, everyone solo with xp potions and hurry)
- PvP grouping (gone after Craig reduced pvp xp gain to zero)
- PvP soloing (gone, no players, no pvp)
- PvP minigames (why do these because you dont gain any good xp or tokens)
- Low lvl dungeons (gone, why waste time there. That gear is now useless junk)
- Tortage pvp removal was big hit for PvP servers (There was always from 2 to 5 instances of people doing pvp on tortage and after that, nothing)

[SelfRez]

I hope they realize that new players won't stay because of not auto-loot or similar, but content between 1- 79. Craig turned this to be tutorial area, like tortage was before it at lvl 1-19.

There is too much progress at 80lvl so people need to hurry up and be super fast or they will not get to train.

Pre 2010 there was lots of things to do pre 80lvl because there was not really any progress. I knew many people who spend nearly a year at low lvl (10-60), i was one of them

- Grouping (its gone, everyone solo with xp potions and hurry)
- PvP grouping (gone after Craig reduced pvp xp gain to zero)
- PvP soloing (gone, no players, no pvp)
- PvP minigames (why do these because you dont gain any good xp or tokens)
- Low lvl dungeons (gone, why waste time there. That gear is now useless junk)
- Tortage pvp removal was big hit for PvP servers (There was always from 2 to 5 instances of people doing pvp on tortage and after that, nothing)

Its more of a server problem. Crom has alot of active 1-79 lvl people/Chars doing dungeons and also some minies

[yuisoku]

Its more of a server problem. Crom has alot of active 1-79 lvl people/Chars doing dungeons and also some minies

I'm on Crom atm. Same problem, i would say even bigger

[Suctum]

I hope they realize that new players won't stay because of not auto-loot or similar, but content between 1- 79. Craig turned this to be tutorial area, like tortage was before it at lvl 1-19.

There is too much progress at 80lvl so people need to hurry up and be super fast or they will not get to train.

Pre 2010 there was lots of things to do pre 80lvl because there was not really any progress. I knew many people who spend nearly a year at low lvl (10-60), i was one of them

- Grouping (its gone, everyone solo with xp potions and hurry)
- PvP grouping (gone after Craig reduced pvp xp gain to zero)
- PvP soloing (gone, no players, no pvp)
- PvP minigames (why do these because you dont gain any good xp or tokens)
- Low lvl dungeons (gone, why waste time there. That gear is now useless junk)
- Tortage pvp removal was big hit for PvP servers (There was always from 2 to 5 instances of people doing pvp on tortage and after that, nothing)

You could also kill level 80s on lowbies too, because gear was so non factor then. So grouping up made a whole lot of sense for lowbies.

When you can jump right into pvp and only need to grind blues to do it of course people want to pvp...when you have to grind for 3-9 months not only gear but AA you get what we have now.

[ibrock]

Some more on recent interviews and analysis here. A couple of these interviews hadn't been linked on the the forums.

[LunaticAsylumLA]

I'm on Crom atm. Same problem, i would say even bigger

While there is no problem with low-level dungeons on Crom (gathering a team takes less than an hour for any dungeon), minigames do pop-up not too often at low levels. I have had only 3 at level 39 and 59 last week.

[KullOfValusia]

After the disastrous launch and the hemorraghing of players afterwards the corporate side of the company went into panic mode. At some point rather then risking to make drastic changes(which they needed) they decided to keep the remaining players in the rat wheel as long as possible ( extend player engagement time as long as possible) the final result is RoTGS and the complete destruction of what this game could have been (1 million + subs, thriving).

BTW, in no way shape or form was RoTGS' grindfest part of bylos' grand design. He was most definetly instructed by corporate management to go down this path with the game. Hence probably why gaute left. Anyhow, what I'm saying is the game died because of corporate. GD's are generally players first, business strategist's second.

[Kurt2013]

You could also kill level 80s on lowbies too, because gear was so non factor then. So grouping up made a whole lot of sense for lowbies.

When you can jump right into pvp and only need to grind blues to do it of course people want to pvp...when you have to grind for 3-9 months not only gear but AA you get what we have now.

Which would not be bad for pvp population probably even, if that grind would be pvp related and involve pvp...not instanced timesink pve with daily cooldown. This is a direct contradiction of "casual gaming", but still might hold an appeal for some players. Problem comes, when you enforce this on commonly viewed "casual" content like pvp and it involves completely different style and fun factor for the people who usually like pvp.

[Buffarse]

Which would not be bad for pvp population probably even, if that grind would be pvp related and involve pvp...not instanced timesink pve with daily cooldown. This is a direct contradiction of "casual gaming", but still might hold an appeal for some players. Problem comes, when you enforce this on commonly viewed "casual" content like pvp and it involves completely different style and fun factor for the people who usually like pvp.

Sorry but no. People don't want to grind PVP where they are farmed endlessly. I've been there - I did almost no Bori and just did mini-games. You get farmed hard. You can still get the PVP levels but it is so so so slow when all you do is lose (and as a level 0-3 against a pvp 10 team you lose every time) If what you're suggesting is tiered, balanced (level/strength balanced not class balanced) PVP then I agree. If what you're suggesting is a free for all PVP route to level 10/AA's then absolutely not.

Buff

[Kurt2013]

It is a solveable problem in my opinion. I see your point, but first, progression and grind through pvp would be better than progression and grind through pve for most pvpers. Once you have dislodged pvp from pve dependency it all comes down on the alternatives (like a system for e-sport like pvp with equal starters), the learning curve (here comes what you mentioned into play) and a consequence system (which might help with your issue either).

Point is to offer something and routes open for as many player preferences as possible. I know both players who would not pvp, if there was no progression or gear dependency...but there are also others. But again...i think it is solveable (even with few resources).