New interview and affiliate

[Pirotess]

A new interview with Jeff Butler has been published at GameDev.net. The article starts by discussing what the author calls a "content war" between the various MMOG development houses and moves on to questions about content escalation, character customization, and essential features of a successful MMO. Jeff had this to say about the "content war":

Originally Posted by Jeff Butler

I agree that it exists but I'd characterize it as a more of a content competition. Ultimately I think it boils down to an issue of execution and quality of approach before you even begin to put content in a game. So the tools that you design and the experience you bring to the table that grants you insight into how to best create tools so that you can put more content into the game are critical. Whether that's building wonderful templates that can be customized or making data entry easy for your designers. The experience that you bring in shipping a massively multiplayer title is extremely valuable.

We've seen it in games, the first MMO from a publisher or developer either hits the nail on the head or falls short in content and then you can see post-release how long, in some cases, it takes to put additional content into the game. All these are key points in the competition and you've got to make sure that you're hitting every nail on the head if you want to succeed.

A lot of times we draw the analogy of the amusement park. You want your amusement park to be entertaining for a certain period of time. If you're going to spend millions of dollars building all these rides you want someone to spend the appropriate amount of time experiencing each ride, it's all part of the overall amusement park experience after all.

Interestingly enough a similar thread cropped up on the official forums yesterday and was answered by Brad McQuaid this morning. Brad had this to say about the topic:

Originally Posted by Brad McQuaid

In the past we've mentioned that we already have rough plans for expansions and future content and features. Questions have been asked like 'why are you working on things that arent' going to be in the game at launch?'' This is a good quesiton. The main reason is that we want to avoid situations where we have to shoe-in, so to speak, new areas or functionality because it wasn't planned for earlier.

A good example would be adding levels to the game. If we don't architect our formulas and such to accomodate the future we'd have to hack it in, which often causes balance problems and the like. In the past, when we didn't realize how long these games could remain viable, looking that far into the future didn't seem to make sense. Now, knowing better, we're approaching things assuming the game will be a success and be around for a long while.

I'd like to also take this time to welcome Vanguard @ Tentonhammer to the affiliated sites ranks. Awenyddion, the sites Community Manager has this to say about the site:

Originally Posted by Awenyddion

Vanguard @ Ten Ton Hammer is a site run by avid gamers and long-time dedicated fans of the world of Telon. It is our mission to create a comfortable community environment which caters to gamers looking for detailed information on the classes of Vanguard. We are also committed to bringing our community the latest information regarding this adventurous new land including Lore, Screenshots, News and Interviews. With the hope to promote a solid community, Vanguard @ TTH also hosts free guild forums. We hope that you enjoy your time spent with us.

Congratulations Awenyddion and crew!

[Aazenius]

Brad's comments got me to thinking about levels. Has anyone said what the level cap might be? or what they are capable of? I know both EQ2 and WoW said they could have levels up to 200 if they wanted.

[Pirotess]

Unofficially it seems that the release cap is going to be 100. Sigil has not officially responded to that yet though.

[Zeex]

The real issue isn't the number to be attained, but the time and work involved in it. From what information I have gathered I expect leveling up to be a more lengthly, but more involved and enjoyable process than we have seen in the past.