Although the release of the game has not been expected for several years, Riot Games continues to arouse the curiosity of players. Recent developer announcements highlight the publisher’s vision for game mechanics, and specifically the time it takes to invest in the game.
Towards a less time-consuming title?
The developer who made this statement is far from unknown to some fans of the MMO. Ghostcrawler actually worked for Blizzard for World of Warcraft before being hired by Riot Games. He is a man of great experience, and if his remarks are not even gospel, the public still tends to listen to what he has to say before stopping. His explanation on Twitter couldn’t be simpler: the MMO of the future doesn’t want to be a game that takes too long. According to the developer, this means players can easily spend a few evenings playing other games so they don’t lag behind the guild. Unlike some heavyweight MMOs, the Riot Games title should give players time.
For the developer, the goal is above all to respect the players and their time. In MMOs, like in other game genres, some players want to go all out and fully optimize their characters. This often means thousands of hours to play a character and invest in HL (limited content) compared to other work. That’s not the experience Riot Games wants to deliver. But the developer later clarifies that this is because the game does not require players to log in for hours each day, so the latter will have no ambition or content.
It’s not so easy to balance
One of the parts that Ghostcrawler mentioned was making a lot of the content “on demand”. This means that certain parts of the game will receive little or no attention, depending on the player’s goals in the game. Not doing so will not be a disadvantage for the player, unlike some games where side events sometimes give access to basic elements in hip, open world or pvp. (For example, we suspect that all WoW players take advantage of hours of in-game fishing to reach the first mountain of water). According to the developer, the game will have content for those who want to spend hours in it, but those who want to focus on a particular aspect of the game won’t need to complete all of the available activities.
If you’re dealing with paper, this decision could also have significant implications for the game. This may mean that certain time-consuming activities that are valued by a section of society (agricultural hours to establish a trade and build facilities for HAs) will not receive as much attention as other topics. Or that it would be relatively quick to bring them to the maximum. In the same small low-level quest that has not yet been completed by a player who goes to another level to complete his level: unlock access to the dungeon if it is not mandatory to complete it, or otherwise, the player can still reward the one who completes it. This doesn’t necessarily include useful gear, a well-told story can be just fine, but this option implies that special attention should be paid to the adventurous moments that often overshadow players.
Source : Millenium
