I was wondering since there is a population of players who rush to endgame for the raids....Why don't MMOs have mid level Raids?

I'm new to MMOs so if there is a MMO that does this can you please point the game out, I would like to research the topic as part of my game design development.

Thanks!!

Logan

Raids tend to have a high level of commitment involved, and a guild in other games (I'm not too sure about TOR) would spend weeks trying to get to the point of being able to consistently complete a raid (or even defeat a single boss), and then farm them for gear. This doesn't lend itself well for the mid-levels, since everyone would be leveling at the same time, so the devs either have to try to get people to do raids for useless gear or you have to give disproportionately powerful gear in the mid-levels.

Also, since raids require more coordination, the leveling process and dungeons below the level cap can be seen as practice for the more demanding raiding scene.

TL;DR: When you're leveling at the cap levels are the advancement you should be going for, when you hit the cap leveling up is no longer possible, so gear becomes the way to advance yourself.

Edit: Since gear can be fully upgradeable, maybe mid-level raids could be used to offer gear only useful for its aesthetics, but I imagine that people would skip them and then come back at the cap when they're trivial.

Some of these flashpoints are pretty long... though only 4 players. Does that count?

Um, world bosses? they are mid lv except planets on and past Belsavis.

true enough... still have to do some of them too since we skipped over them lol. If anyone needs help with those, let me know and I'll tank for ya... I mean on the Vornskr server.

Same here...except instead of Tank, I'll heal you to death. Available 7:00 PM until 12:00 PM US Central Time most nights and I'm around on the weekend. Just let me know.

Guess I should say...Vornskr server. Don't have to be a guild member for my services, but less likely to do it for a non-Lucas Forums member. Not saying I will not do it, just less likely. Any guild member I will do it for, no question...well except Lynk.

I'll do it for a non-guild member... for a price :carms:

Available 7:00 PM until 12:00 PM US Central Time most nights
You play 17 hours a day?

You play 17 hours a day?

No. should have wrote 12:00 am or midnight. Lack of sleep makes me stupid. :xp:

I was wondering since there is a population of players who rush to endgame for the raids....Why don't MMOs have mid level Raids?

Qualifier:
Well...I'm not sure if certain flash based games, apps as they are called, necessarily count for what you are talking about. I'd put them in the RPG quadrant provided their play mechanics met that format and I'd definitely call it MMO because masses of people play, co-op, and compete.

Bearing that in mind, balancing these sorts of things, to me, looks like a tricky and time consuming task for developers, even for a simpler game. Without tweaks, the difficulty experienced may rise exponentially.

I know it requires a considerable amount of commitment from players both on individual levels (supplies, in-game currency, equipment, making time IRL, etc.), and as a group (coordination, cooperation, participation, trait/ability based managing, etc.), and this sometimes is not enough to assure success.

From my experience, these sorts of events are planned to happen on a sort of curve. Even where raids are of no risk to a player, they may be much more difficult to complete even for a player which meets a recommended minimum.

This is really an educated guess based off my observations in playing such games as I described above.

I'm new to MMOs so if there is a MMO that does this can you please point the game out, I would like to research the topic as part of my game design development. Sorry I can't really be of more help to you. Is this for your K3 project? OR are you doing some kind of research for a class?

Raids tend to have a high level of commitment involved, and a guild in other games (I'm not too sure about TOR) would spend weeks trying to get to the point of being able to consistently complete a raid (or even defeat a single boss), and then farm them for gear. This doesn't lend itself well for the mid-levels, since everyone would be leveling at the same time, so the devs either have to try to get people to do raids for useless gear or you have to give disproportionately powerful gear in the mid-levels.
Quoted for truth. Only thing I'd add also is that aside from mediocre gear, other rewards may be pitifully small, requiring an inordinate amount of investments/commitments from a player in order to save up to get anything even half worth the while spent. IE get 1-3 special currency gained per raid but significant items from, say a special store accepting special currency requires 750 of said currency.

At this point I look at economy of the exchange: am I ultimately getting equal or more out of this gig than I put into it? If it is one of those things that are nonlinear there may well be a point where it is feasible but it requires a long term commitment. Otherwise if it is always the same and the payout is ultimately less in compensation, I really see no other reason to participate except XP to level up, and killing time out of boredom. Status, prestige, etc. Otherwise it is just a pit.

As to that sitch I outlined above, if the significant item will make a big difference, it's worth it. If the item for sale is just a sucky item, obviously you'd be better off concentrating on your own character's progression instead.

Just my view, take it for what you will.