[mixxit]

'Powergaming' begins to occur in Phase4 Beta

Powergaming. Considered by some to be a dirty word, the bane of all true RolePlayers. The dedicated Powergamer is, stereotypically, one who only desires to "beat" the game, to get all the cool toys and money and make level 50 before anyone else.

In a dynamic world like Norrath, is this even possible? It would be a labor of years to make a level 50 character in each class, never mind all the various combinations you can have. With Quests being added and tweaked constantly, new zones added as well, with new mobs, new loot, new secret passageways and NPC's… the task becomes almost incomprehensible.

Still, in my eyes, some level of powergaming is (and beat me about the head with thee's and thou's if you will) necessary. Yes, necessary. Let's say, for argument's sake, that you and your friends all buy EQ, all have your RP identities picked out, with detailed histories, and all the relationships mapped. You are going to go in there and immerse yourselves completely. So you go in, and, oh no! Your Human Paladin must start in Freeport, your Erudite in Erudin, and your Woodelf couple is in Greater Faydark. Oh, well, you think, and all of you set out upon the arduous journey to a central newbie zone. Only, the Erudite gets eaten by a Griffin on the way. The Woodies make it, but one dies to an orc pawn once there, and is back on Faydwer, bereft of all possessions, not to mention his beloved, who is in Freeport, being charged 1 sil 5 cop for each flask of water.

Alright. You concede the point, and all agree to level up to five in your respective zones, then meet for some real RP later. And suddenly, these dedicated people are running silently around, killing everything in sight, and muttering about how orc pawns give the best money, but they can't figure out if spiderlings are better for exp…

*sigh*

Another pressure to level is when you meet some people that you get along with, adventure with them a couple times, really like one another, arrange to meet again… and then you don't play for a while, you come back, and they are two levels ahead of you. You can still group, but you aren't getting anywhere very fast, and you feel a tad left behind. So what do you do? Good friends are hard to find. One of my best friends in Phase Three was a serious powergamer named Bearheart. Heya Bear! (not that he's likely to read EQX… too many stories, not enough hard facts... hehe) I really enjoyed his company, but he leveled like a rocket, and I was left behind. I'd see him now and then, in Qeynos hills, auctioning off all the crazy gear he'd picked up here and there, most of which I had never heard of, and it made me want to level up and see the things he'd seen.

The thing about Norrath is, it is a computer game. And there are no points for being witty or in character, or anything else except surviving fights. The cool areas are just too bloody dangerous for lowers levels, and for me, exploring is a HUGE part of what I love about EQ. With my Druid, in Beta, I did concentrate on leveling, until I hit 14. With bind affinity, and Spirit of Wolf, I became a far-traveler. I used to arrive in a city, sit down in a central area, and emote about rubbing my feet, and the dust of the road, etc. Sometimes I got nothing, but once… once in Rivervale, I happened upon a bunch of great people, around about level four or five, who RPed with me for an hour. They bought me drinks, we swapped tall tales… it was fantastic. In my experience, RolePlaying in Norrath is best when it just happens. But I was there because I had done some hard time in Blackburrow, dodging trains and doing battle with the Giant Snakes. Those fangs are great for auctioning…

Of course, my viewpoint is colored by the fact that I was a Beta tester, and there was some pressure there to level, because you knew that there was a time limit on your character. I had a lil bio on my Druid, explaining that her zest for life was a result of a dread disease known as "retail" that left her with but a month to live… We will see how I react when the only pressure is to keep up with my friends, and my own ambition to level and see new things.

See you all in Norrath!

Article by Aklar