Players regularly demand new endgame, that is, content that keeps you engaged even later on. But these demands have now sparked a heated discussion.
Endgame comes for many users after the “boring” leveling phase. Once you have leveled your character to the maximum, the really exciting challenges arise: Intense raids, PvP, or a complex crafting system that needs mastering. Games like WoW offer numerous possibilities:
- Master dungeons in heroic and mythic mode.
- Daily world quests that can be completed.
- Faction quests that can be completed daily.
- You can team up with other players to defeat epic enemies to gain reputation.
- Additionally, you can gather crafting knowledge through weekly and one-time activities to maximize your professions.
If there is little or no “endgame,” some players start to get bored quickly because there is nothing left for them to do and no reason to start the game. But is “endgame” really necessary for games to be good?
Do players really need “infinite progression”?
On reddit, players discuss whether this “addiction” for more endgame is truly necessary. The “addiction” that you could run a new raid every week or improve your gear by three more points.
For many players, the leveling phase is just an extended tutorial before finally being able to start the real game, the endgame. Games like ESO consciously accelerate the leveling speed, so that people can reach the final content faster. Many developers also invest time in the “leveling phase” into beautiful and emotional quests, as a story from WoW shows.
One explains that developers always have to create two games, and that would harm both parts in the long run because neither would be good:
- On one hand, the game where people level their characters to the maximum.
- On the other hand, the game where you can then let loose in the endgame.
Some believe that this “addiction” is not needed at all. Because endgame and great balance are not so important if players receive enough variety. Then they wouldn’t get bored:
All players need is variety, and then they will do the rest of the work themselves. When a monster drops a cool weapon that you can’t use in Elden Ring, you start to fantasize about how to build your next character to use it. People are still addicted to Skyrim over a decade later because there’s always a new mod to try with the next playthrough.
– That’s what user Infidel-Art thinks (via reddit)
Games like Elden Ring still captivate thousands of players today. And that’s not because they offer great endgame, but because they tell a long story that eventually ends. Players would look forward to starting a new adventure.
Are there also positive examples? Others mention counterexamples such as games like EVE: Online, which do not have a maximum level that players could reach. Here, players develop their own stories.
Such games also include the single-player game Crusader Kings 3, which thrives on players developing their own stories with each playthrough:
Many want to play a character and form strong friendships
However, not everyone shares the opinion on endgame. There are plenty of users who respond: Many want to play the same character for years and not always start anew. After all, they have grown fond of their character and connect memories with it. They have fought battles with them or experienced bitter failures. This has nothing to do with the demonized endgame.
Modern MMORPGs would weaken in completely different aspects. Thus, modern MMORPGs have “forgotten the social aspect of the genre,” and it’s not just about combat, but about the many small things that make an MMORPG (via reddit.com).
There has long been the discussion of whether solo content could even kill MMORPGs because people prefer to play alone and have no desire for social contacts. Because features like dungeon finders make MMOs too easy, thus you don’t have to maintain social connections anymore.
Author Anny from MeinMMO also believes that social contacts in MMORPGs hardly take place anymore. And different factors are responsible for this:
Social media have stolen what I loved about MMORPGs in the past
