"Competition", "Skill", Cognitive Dissonance, and You.

[kb2005]

Originally Posted by Rygar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I played Classic EQ from day 1 release and then on and off until partway through Planes of Power. I also played WoW from Burning Crusade to Lich King (almost to cataclysm).

So at first, WoW was like the most amazing thing since sliced bread. Easy quests that give great exp, ability for any class to solo to max level by repeating these quests, no exp loss from death, lucrative tradeskills, skill trees to diversify your class, awesome raid encounters that force you to pay attention to succeed, etc etc etc.

However, what ultimately drew me away from WoW was the systematic watering down of content.
-Oh you needed a reagent to use this cooldown ability? Patch that out, need to make things easier.
-Oh, you don't want to grind heroics for epic gear? Let's just create a mini-instance in Lich King that gives like 9 epics out in a 5min instance that is basically tank and spank.
-Shaman magma totem drawing too much agro? Hmm... lets make it zero agro, stupid mobs taking 10k damage from the thing and they don't think to hit it anymore.
-People don't want to progress up and run to Ogrimmar anymore cause it takes too long? Let's add a blimp path.
-Mages frustrated that their mez (sheep) are getting broke by players not paying attention? Remove the 1 damage break mez restriction

It would just keep getting easier, and easier, and easier... It became apparent that they were catering to the 13 year old demographic who couldn't bare to be inconvenienced by the slightest else risk cancelling their subscription.

That is what drew me back to EQ and finding P99. Not any skill or competition, just a more punishing MMORPG world where there are consequences. Delayed gratification is what keeps a lot of people playing IMO

This.

Also why I lost interest in live EQ when they put in PoK/The Bazaar.