Quote Originally Posted by Hafeal View Post
Yes, to me the game is about 'entertaining' challenges - the challenge to succeed and a sense of achievement in doing so. The beauty of DDO, tracing it back to its pnp roots, is that it was the imagination at work which made the game fun. Taking your thought, below:



... reveals a simple extension of mine. New powers, skills and abilities for characters levelling up require new 'entertaining' challenges. What is the point of having powerful characters if there is no sense of achievement in it? This is the bane of Monty Haul. If the challenges become too easy, it is like eating too much candy - you get sick and stop.

I don't think this dichotomy is limited to DDO, I think it applies to all MMOs. Some handle the dichotomy better than others. I just hope the DDO devs can find a way to smooth out the divide between player styles and break the mold.
What divide? There is making a game that entertains the masses or making a game that doesn't make enough profit (considering in the business world anything that could be making more profit is not making enough profit). Games that challenge any of their players in a way that isn't attainable by all the players, generally through artificial methods, tend to be avoided by those who can't face that challenge. Thus DDO is a game that only requires it's players to grind out the right gear combination and maybe read a walk through to be a winner at.