Senior Staff Writer Chris "Pwyff" Tom decided to go in-depth with what he thinks makes for the perfect MMORPG. Today he's focusing on character progression and the leveling process.

"What makes a good MMORPG?"

I've decided to devote a bit of my time and a few articles to exploring this. In my last article, I talked about gameplay mechanics and combat, and in the one before I spoke of story and premise. Now I'll focus on character progression and the leveling process!

Character Progression and the Leveling Process

The leveling process in an MMORPG has always been something of a sensitive topic for reviewers, developers and players alike. For reviewers, leveling up in an MMORPG can be an incredible roadblock to forming a full opinion, as PR companies are always promising that the "real fun" begins at the level cap. For developers, sometimes the creation of leveling content can be a thankless job, as they can spend dozens of hours creating that perfect quest line, only to discover that players have skipped their zone completely because it's more efficient to grind some tiny, cramped dungeon nonstop for ten levels. For players, sometimes that leveling experience is the perfect time to catch up on lost TV as they mindlessly wander from quest hub to quest hub, clicking every shiny quest giver in town and then going wherever that tracking arrow tells them to go.

Maybe I'm being a bit cynical here; it feels like we're moving toward an era where both players and developers just want everyone at the level cap so that they can all enjoy the "real" content of the game in the raid dungeons and level-capped PvP battlegrounds. In fact, most MMORPGs have some sort of purchasable bonus EXP potion that players can quaff to hasten their push to the cap, while other MMOs have implemented handy in-game quest tracking tools, complete with compasses and buzzers that go off when you look in the wrong direction. I even recall a few extraordinarily lazy features where the quest trackers have handy "autowalk" functions, where players can simply click the quest, and it will automatically move them to the monsters they need to kill.

After reading the above two paragraphs, you might come to the conclusion that I'm a bit biased against our modern day interpretation of the leveling process and, in some ways, you'd be right. I've just always felt that leveling up and reaching the level cap shouldn't be just about gradually introducing you to specific game mechanics.

For me, Final Fantasy XI represented the most "complete" game, from level one to the cap. Admittedly, there are thousands of players out there with horrible memories of sitting in Jeuno,  looking for a group for hours on end (I played a Warrior to 75, trust me), but I really loved how significant character progression was actually tied to certain levels so that players could look forward to experiencing challenging, story-rich content at specific points in their progression, rather than just at endgame. Missions tended to involve level-capped boss fights where players would need to come up with meticulous plans if they wanted to succeed, and expansion content like Kazham and the Chains of Promathia were significant undertakings at levels 30, 40, 50 and beyond.

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