[Greymain]

Just read the article on how easy or hard Vanguard should be and it appears to me that there is an on going fiction that Vanguard is simply a EQ clone and that features from that game will be cut and pasted into Vanguard.

I really hope this is not the case. A corpse run in WoW was different from that in EQ2 or AC2 or Helbreath. So should Vanguards implementation be unique. To argue whether the penalty should be exp debt or loss, with or without level loss, implies a level of pre knowledge which we simply should not have.

For instance Dungeons in Vanguard are supposed to be far more extensive and complex than any other MMORPG, taking many hours to reach the far deeps. This must have an impact both on the nature of a CR and that other debatable feature the map.

EQ and EQ2 were zoned games not seamless. Dungeons smaller. Vanguard will be far larger and navigating at sea without charts could be a problem, getting lost can be fun. Learning to find your way around is empowering but spending an valuable afternoon trying to find that dungeon entrance, you discovered a few months ago is just frustrating.

There should also be a balance between hard and complex. Frequent death and huge obstacles to leveling can result in frustrating grind. making you solve puzzles and use tactics can create a good sense of achievement plus promoting team work.

One last point if Vanguard is to succeed most of the players will not be ex EQ players, they will not have any idea about the fixation ex EQ players have in recreating a sense of community which only applies to your first MMORPG.