MMOs becoming easier/casual: It's like smithing.

After writing the review for Elsword, I look back at when I first began and the current state it is in.

Back when Elsword had 6 characters instead of the 9 it has today, and also a reduced amount in the job options they had(2 instead 3 paths). Leveling up and achieving those job advancements were also a pretty big deal and a significant milestone. But as of what it is now, achieving the advancement don't feel as monumental, though at this point quite a bit of content have been added and updated.

Thinking about this, I recalled another MMO I used to play: MapleStory. Those early days when earning the currency of the game (Mesos) was relatively difficult and equipment dropped very rarely from mobs. The days where getting to the 3rd job advancement was a mark of greatness as leveling up became ever harder. The legendary locations beyond Victora Island such as the floating island of faries Orbis and frosted grounds of El Nath, where veterans tread and could only reach with a rather big hole in their funds. Hitting the big 100th level was something well-worthy of grand respect as it probably took months.

But now?

Now one can stock pile quite a bit of Mesos and equipment drop from mobs, their value reduced by the fact that items created with the forging system have additional effects and better stats. Leveling up is pretty much a breeze, with quests giving buckets of experience points along with the mobs feeling much easier to deal with as to before. Getting to the 4th job advancement(Of which is at level 120) don't take as long. Orbis, El Nath and various other areas that used to be a big deal can now be accessed FREELY. All this knowledge what the game was as of late had me feel a bit of ire, considering all that effort I used to put in to leveling, grinding. I was disgusted.

After watching a certain episode which talked about gaming, however, I would realize there was somewhat a need for what feels like a reduction in difficulty.

For starters, I had been an avid fan of Maple for awhile, so when there was new content, it was within a reasonable reach for me. The same can be said for Elsword. But what about those who were new to the game, the fresh players? They'd need to go through the same grind I did before getting to the same content. As time passed on, there came new areas, the new job advancement, new characters etc etc. SO much content. Maybe starting to get TOO much. With all that grind to get to the new content that maybe their veteran friend are enjoying, how many new players would have the patience to remain interested?

So what to do? Best compress it then. Make it easier to level up. Reduce the amount of experience points needed. Make earning money easier. Make travelling easier. Make it faster to go through the old content and catch up to the newer ones. I mean, one of them managed to last more than 10 years.

I can't disagree that it makes sense and benefits players in general since the game becomes less of a grind, but as said before, the unfortunate sacrifice is the feeling of accomplishment the old content used to provide. That moment when you go: "FINALLY. I HAVE ACHIEVED THE GREATNESS" rather than "Ugh. Finally got to this point". Then again, back when those games were new, they had to worry about the inverse: Gamers going through their content TOO fast, which meant making leveling up on the higher tiers more difficult and better equipment hard to find etc. And at least most games provide harder 'end-game' content for those who want the sense of achievement that comes from a herculean task.

Maybe it's a natural progression for MMOs as they age. For the devs to take the existing content and reshaping it as a blacksmith would old tools, melting, adding more and making something 'new'.