MMORPG: Exp mod = poor characters?
I love it when the big honchos up at the online games publisher decides to modify the experience points in my favorite MMORPGs. Hey, who doesn’t? With modified experience points, your character can level up and grow stronger faster. My only beef with exp mods is the fact that they ruin my routine in non-grinding MMORPGs. Let me explain.
My MMORPG of choice at the moment doesn’t require players to grind countless hours just to level up. It’s more of a quest-based MMORPG, you see, where NPCs give out quests and reward you with experience points along with the usual items and in-game currency. Sure, an exp mod has its uses in a quest-based experience point MMORPG (since you still have to grind a little to finish those quests), but I’m sure you’ll end up spending more than you earn.
Without exp mods, players choose to go on dungeon raids rather than join a party and go out on the field to eliminate mobs. Boss drops are, after all, infinitely more expensive than what you get from mobs. With a 2x exp rate, however, most prefer the opposite. Thus, player-friends who usually accompany you on those late-night raids become zombies and go through the monotony of slaying monsters who all look alike.
Join them while the exp mod is in place? Yes, I’m doing just that. The problem is it depletes my savings faster than I earn. To add insult to injury, exp mods ruin the economy in virtual worlds. Well, not the buying and selling of items but the conversion rate of in-game currency to item mall currency.
In the MMORPG I’m currently playing, the usual conversion rate is 1,200:1. With the exp mod in full swing, it’s now at 1,400:1. That translates to a loss of about 200,000 in in-game currency for every 1,000 item mall currency I purchase. Ouch!
The funny thing about the conversion is that players don’t really use the item mall currency to purchase stuff that makes their characters look better (fashion or clothes) or allow them to broadcast global messages. No. They use the item mall currency to purchase materials for crafting weapons, armors and accessories. Whenever a player crafts an item, he or she gets experience points. Well, in some online games, that is.
Sigh. Four more days until the end of the exp mod. I can’t wait.
Screenshot of China-made online game Perfect World taken and modified by Joel. The game is a product of Beijing Perfect World Co. Ltd.
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POSTED IN: Asian MMO, Asian MMO Players, MMORPG, My World, Perfect World, Random Rants
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