Tobold interviews Paul Barnett

July 23, 2008 – 1:30 pm

Tobold recently posted an email interview he did with Paul Barnett and we get to hear about something other than city/class cuts for a change! Maybe the questions were submitted before Black Friday? Maybe, but Tobold usually enjoys discussing the subtleties and nuances of gaming that many of us take for granted.

Tobold: In other MMORPGs gameplay changes dramatically when you reach the level cap, will that be the same in WAR? How do you manage the design conflict of having to cater for those players who’d rather spend a long time in leveling-up mode, and those who want to reach the level cap as quickly as possible?

Paul: Er, you don’t. Some people just finish things, heck people like finishing things; it’s why jigsaws are popular with analogue people. It’s why books have a last page; it’s why we go on journeys in our car. I like the idea of the journey being as important as the destination, sometimes more so. But some people just don’t see it like that. They want completion as fast as possible. So we just don’t worry about them. That type of player is not really a core hobbyist. They just like to complete games, most have played a lot of MMO’s, a lot, a heck of a lot. They are not true fanatics of the Warhammer game. It’s like saying that a man who has a lot of one-night stands is a romantic. But our game caters for them and gives them a great game, but the real game is found in the journey, found in the people who are looking for a warm, challenging and fun game world. A place gripped with the three core drivers of a good hobby, which are skill, commitment and imagination.

I think the same can be said about MMORPGs in general, not just Warhammer Online. These kinds of games are built to be continuous. Even if you reach the level cap, there’s usually much more to do, be it a raid grind, RvR grind, or expanding your social relationships. It’s why these games are constantly being patched with new content and why you pay a monthly fee to play them.

You may hit the wall where you just can’t do it any more because it gets boring, and that’s fine, but I don’t think you can ever truly beat an MMORPG. Even if you do, the next expansion will bring you back down a notch. This is probably the main reasons people hop around to different MMOs. They get to the point where they’re either bored or the invetment of time isn’t worth the reward anymore, so they seek something more refreshing.

I quit DAOC because I had the best gear I could get at the time and the constant RvR became nearly as much of a grind as the PvE it took to get geared out. Also, WoW had just released and I wanted to give it a try. I quit WoW because I reached level 70 and was faced with a fork in the road (raiding treadmill or PvP grind). I had neither the time nor interest to pursue either of them.

No matter how good WAR is at release, I’m sure I’ll eventually quit it for one or more of the reasons listed above. It will either become stale, grindy, or something else will have come along that looks nicer. Even if the MMORPG is built to last forever (or until it becomes unprofitable), my interest in it won’t.

What kind of shelf life will WAR have for you? Why have you quit previous MMORPGs?

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Post tags: interviews, opinions, Paul Barnett, Warhammer Online

17 Responses to “Tobold interviews Paul Barnett”
I have no doubts I will get tired of WAR, many times. Life gets busy, other games launch which I want to try, so I foresee multiple breaks along the line. If the game is good, I will keep coming back though.

By Werit on Jul 23, 2008
I think how often I play it will have a strong impact on that. I usually play lotro no more than twice a week for two to 4 hours at a time so warhammer will prolly be once a week for 2 to 4 hours at a time, since its gonna be my pvp game. So I estimate a few years of fun. If you play every day like a maniac or every other day for 4 to 6 hours, expect to hit the brick wall long before the developers can do anything for you because your way ahead of the bell curve.

By Thallian on Jul 23, 2008
aaand if war is just like lotro’s pvmp and just as fun but on a larger scale I may play for a year to see all the stuff I can and then quit

By Thallian on Jul 23, 2008
Thallian: I really liked pvmp too. Even though lotro is a pve game, I found myself in there nearly all the time. Even on that small scale it is addicting, which is why I am looking forward to WAR so much.

By Werit on Jul 23, 2008
I haven’t acually quit an MMO yet ^^ i get distracted by the new thing ofc, but I still go back to them all after a while. But! I’m one of the slow gamers who just walk around doing stupid little projects instead of lvling. Like for instance, I started a engineering rogue guild solely for the purpose of “terrorist” bombings of hordies. Fun times My point being, I will probaly play War about 6 mths after launch, and stick with it foreeeeever(unless it sucks initially). Ofc, soon I will simply have to many. But I have to say, I like his way of thinking.

By Meatshield on Jul 23, 2008
a year if it sucks so I at least give all the max level content a chance. If it is good I will play it for 3-4 years like I did WoW. All subject to change if they come out with ToA expansion pack.

By scarybooster on Jul 23, 2008
I quit Wow because it lacked anything for my playstyle which is not wanting to truly raid or hardcore PvP grind.
Crafting had nothing because you needed high raid level dungeons for a chance to get a recipe you wouldn’t make anyways because you were high level raiding.

By Brotik on Jul 23, 2008
Put it this way, I’ll play for a few years. As long as it keeps things simple and caters to everyone like it seems to be doing, i’ll be happy.

By Brotik on Jul 23, 2008
I suppose I never really quit my main MMO.

Earth & Beyond I played from beta to sunset.
City of Heroes, I’m still in there nigh four years on.

However while I may dablle often in other mmo’s they have to be something special to take me away. I’m more likely to spend some time offline playing single player games than quitting my “main”.

Likely WAR will be my new main with CoX becoming a secondary hobby indefinitely

By Ardua on Jul 23, 2008
The content wall. Never making progress on the PvE front (because I don’t want to hop guilds to the douchebag guild, which is the only guild progressing through the content wall with a schedule that aligns with mine :/ ), while being so far behind on the PvP front that catching up would be very painful. TF2 is more exciting and fun for me than WoW at this moment, and it doesn’t cost $15 a month… It’s simply easier and more fun for me to jump ship than it is to try to catch up at this point.

By Neri on Jul 23, 2008
I quit DAoC after some guild drama sent me into a bit of a funk and I deleted my first capped char on any MMO. I then returned a few weeks later cos I missed some people in my new guild and made a couple of alts, but it was never the same. Played some ToA but left around halfway through it..

I quit WoW after playing through alpha and beta phases and then into release once on Horde, which I left when bored and then rerolled Alliance after a couple of months break. Capped on alliance, got bored with raiding and how long it took.. left.

Not really leaving LotRO, but recently I tend to play PvMP or not much at all.

I guess people put me off more than being bored of the game. If I have a big fight, or people annoy me or get too petty over something that’s more likely to sour the whole game for me.

By arbitrary on Jul 24, 2008
That’s a fair point. I’ve never played Tabula Rasa during live because when I was in the beta I ran afoul of someone and the subsequent mood I was in for a few months meant I didnt keep up with the game. Guilt by association.

Fortunately I’ll be starting play with people I already know I like and get along with so there’s that buffer against drama for me.

By Ardua on Jul 24, 2008
I think so much of it depends on your playstyle and on how much you are going to get into the RvR aspect of it. Looking at it now it’s easy to say that the advancement won’t be “grindy.” But ask me that again when I am doing a PQ for the umpteenth time waiting to win the rewards I keep getting bad rolls for.

Back when WoW released SO many players raced to 60 only to get burned out with the raiding and PVE aspect, and the PVP system wasn’t even implemented yet. I hope that a ton of players don’t make the same mistake with WAR.

By Centuri on Jul 24, 2008
I quite WOW after two years. After hitting level 70, having 5000 HKs, and having little time to raid (how many times can you run Kara anyway?), and getting way bored with grinding rep and money, I left the game. I had two close guildies who left also which helped push me out of WOW.

I certainly think a good guild will make you stay much longer than you would without a solid guild.

With WAR, it’s hard to say how long I will be there. If there is no end game PVE, I may stay only for a year or less (assuming the game is as I anticipate it will be). If there is really solid end game stuff and an expansion about a year after the initial release with a lot of new content, zones, dungeons, etc. I will stay longer.

For me, if there is nothing left to explore, I tend to get bored quickly. After I explored all of Azeroth and Outland, WOW became just a grind. If WAR becomes just a grind, I suppose I’ll just move on to the next game.

By singlemalt on Jul 24, 2008
I will leave WAR when the people I am playing with leave. That’s what happened with WoW, and it will happen to WAR.

Gloom aside, it looks like we’ll have a fun ride.

By Railith on Jul 24, 2008
I’ll probably quit when my guild quits. After the novelty of the game wears off, the part that keeps me going is playing with people. Even if they have a few screws loose, as long as they aren’t psycho, know the first thing about social skills, and aren’t jerkoffs, I’ll be playing.

After all, that’s partially what playing an MMO is all about.

By BC on Jul 24, 2008
I played EQ for a few years, and would have kept on playing, but my guild decided to move en masse to WoW, so of course I followed them. My guild is the whole reason I play– we’ve been playing together for 8 years.

Now I’m at a bit of a crossroads because I don’t think the whole guild is keen to move to WAR, but there’s just no way I’m not. Maybe we’ll split in half and have a 2-game guild.

There are 2 main reasons I’m leaving WoW– one is just because WAR looks like so much fun, but the other is, well, Wotlk seems like a phoned-in expansion. Nothing much new at all except a single class that everybody and their sister’s hairdresser is going to play. Blegh. They’re making billions, I would have thought the next expansion would have included something exciting. Come on, not even player housing? Meh.

By Earnest Dodge on Jul 25, 2008