On the Subject of Leveling

Eva Green

Time for an MMO-related rant. I hope you're sitting comfortably.
In the course of some typical holier-than-thou hardcore-vs-casuals thread on the official Vanguard forums that I can't be arsed to look up, one self-styled hardcore player noticed that the in-game character belonging to someone he was arguing with was only in the mid levels of the game. Naturally this led to much scoffing on the part of the hardcore, who was of course fully level cap'd to the max. The assertion was that if you haven't reached the level cap, you can't possibly understand the fundamental mechanics of the game. Having written that, I suspect it's something I've touched on in the past.
As bullshit MMO arguments go, that was a classic. The idea that there's some tectonic shift in gameplay at the high levels is hilarious. What was really happening was that the hardcore was trying to justify the ridiculous grind and tedium he had endured in order to reach the level cap by pretending there is some holy grail of endgame enlightenment, some sort of MMO epiphany that is out of reach of lesser players.
Anyone who's played Vanguard knows that there is really no change in gameplay from level 1 onwards. Oh sure the various numbers get bigger but then the combat stats (necessarily) cancel out for the most part. All you're left with in Vanguard is increased grind. The number of items you need to collect for collection quests increases. The scarcity of those items increases. The number of creatures you have to kill for farming quests increases. The time it takes to kill those creatures increases. The amount of faction required before you can undertake a quest line (and therefore the number of creatures you have to kill to achieve that faction) increases. The number of quests you need to complete, or random farming you have to endure to level increases.
What did he honestly think changes at higher levels? Of course an answer to that question was stubbornly avoided in the course of the argument, dismissed with variations of "you wouldn't understand, you're not high enough level".
Perhaps the AI improves. Perhaps instead of stumbling zombie-like towards you and proceeding to fire off their signature sequence of attacks the enemies suddenly demonstrate genuine variation and unpredictability. Hahaha no of course not.
Perhaps, instead of the same old fed-ex or farming or assassination quests there is suddenly a range of immersive, story-driven quests with multiple possible outcomes? Hahaha no of course not.
Perhaps combat becomes more than pressing a set of buttons in whatever order makes the damage numbers the biggest? Hahaha no of course not.
I'm sure a hardcore would argue the last point. I know you get newer, bigger skills as you level and thus the order in which you press the buttons will change, but that really doesn't constitute a change in gameplay. Any group-based healing or buffing tactics are just as valid at low levels as they are later in the game (again, skills permitting). I know the bigger, badder foes might employ pop-up adds to increase the "challenge" but again, those adds are using the same, tired AI.
This is essentially why I ran out of motivation in the early-30s in Vanguard. Nothing changes. It's more (and more and more) of the same old grind. Until that changes, there really is no reason to keep ploughing through the game. The end result is that the casuals, who would stay the course if there was variety and something to look forward to later in the game, can't be arsed to keep banging away at it and leave. Meanwhile the power-leveling hardcore hit the level cap and (until the recent, long overdue and still typically flawed introduction of the Ancient Port Warehouse raid) run out of things to do and leave. The difference is, the "casuals" had the insight and sense to quit flagellating themselves in the pursuit of some elusive and arguably non-existent "achievement" that has nothing to do with skill or ability.