This doesn't go in the Brainport, it's just a statement, an observation if you'd like.
There's a chunk of vocal players that talk about how all anyone wants to do is sprint to cap. They suggest the "best way" to play is to pound through the lower level stuff, race up to cap, then play PVP/OP raids. That's cool and all, there's some fun stuff there, but what about the rest of the world?
Neocron is pretty big. I rode a speederbike all the way up to DoY last night and tripped around inside a little. (DoY beggars, rawr!) This world has so many places to go and things to see that, if anything, we should be taking our time leveling up, traveling around the large and diverse world and maybe even getting into scraps with rivals over our favorites, or having to find new ones when the guys at our fav. spot are too rough.
As it stands it seems like there's a sort of well-trodden path from Newb Apartment over to Mil Base, then over to ASG for a Rhino/LE combo. I think it really cheapens the experience. I know I post the comparison a lot, but the reason I quit playing WoW was that the linear-world-progression model bores the fuck out of me. Neocron was specifically designed to not have this problem, there are far more places to level, mobs are not normalized to level (as they are in other western mmos, forcing you to fight what the devs want when the devs want), and there are systems very clearly designed to build player interaction into the game (consider that the best equipment is always player made, repairs are only player available, and pokes as well) In short group play in Neocron is mandated, not opt-in. The two game-styles are based in very different basic paradigms (in WoW et. al. you are never made to interact with others, according to their core values that would be gauche. All group play is opt-in.)
In short, Neocron was not meant to be played like WoW, and by doing so, I think you're wasting it, and robbing yourself (and those of us that don't want to simply ding and be done with it) of an awesome play experience that cannot be found elsewhere.
Also, are any of the old design docs still around sopping up coffee spills or anything?
What was the originally intended average time-to-cap, I wonder?
