Warning: The topic author does not speak natively English. 
Hello.
Meaning of this topic : debate about starting game with a new character in FO:2238 at level 21.
Ok, let's go with a very difficult suggestion.
1./ Fun in FO:2238FO:2238, as a MMORPG, gives to its players the opportunity to interact with the others. One of the main pleasures of the game mod is to try to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, where you can be killed nearly everywhere in it, because resources are low, because no order remains, because ones want to prevail by force.
This (fun) battle for surviving takes many forms, often illustrated with the contact with other players : raids, town control, caravans traps, trading.
Most of this is about Players versus Players. And most of PvP actions use Lv21 characters.
Fun in FO:2238 is in interactions, mainly in battles, where lv21 is often needed. It also takes place with Role Playing, where no level is needed. You can be Lv1 or 21, you can play your role. You're not equal if battle begins, but you're not even if two of you are Lv21. If it is, competence, equipment or character orientation will affect the issue of the battle.
2./ Why leveling in FO:2238 is not funBefore becoming Lv21 and be able to take part in PvP actions, you need to level. Some ways of doing that :
- Player(s) versus Environment
- Quests
PvE can take place between environment and a group of players. Multiplayer interaction is here, and could be fun sometimes. Quests are often made solely. Fun in PvE and quests is largely unshared. Personally I hate quests and PvE in MMOG. Group PvE is something for multiplayer games, not massively multiplayer games, because the main purpose of a massively multiplayer game is to create a world where you don't need so much NPC.
It takes at least something like ten hours to get to lv21. And most players engaged in PvP tells me that 3 characters by players is needed for the moment to be effective (warrior, crafter...). Personally, I think it is a great mistake that we need more that 1 character, but I don't think a solo character should be able to do everything. MMOG means cooperation. But PvP players tells me that 3 characters are needed to gain time and be effective.
3./ Why should we start at level 21?A/We saw that the fun is often with multiplayer actions. We also saw that because we are in a MMOG, it's logical that a majority of interactions take place only between players.
Leveling is painful, as surviving is. But if surviving is part of the fun in PvP, trade, dangers of trip through the Wasteland, it's not really fun in leveling. In fact, the main purpose of leveling is to be Lv21. Is it really needed to go by leveling to begin the real fun?
Leveling is a result of the fact that FO:2238 try to preserve the fun of Fallout. But Fallout was a solo game, and by there, leveling had a meaning, because you were only interacting with non player characters, and your possibilities were growing along with your progression.
Here, leveling is a pain because you can't be effective in PvP, where lv21 is needed, and you are constrained to interact with NPC in expectation of obtaining Lv21.
B/Because it's only at level 21 that a player get to the real thing, we should start at 21. Leveling is uninteresting.
Yes, leveling could be more interesting, if quests are better, or by other ways. But ask yourself, is leveling so important in a Massively Multiplayer RPG? MMORPG often use leveling, but mainly because it's a residue of solo games. And new MMORPG use it again because it became a norm. FO:2238 is different than other MMORPG, and is still in BETA.
Starting at lv21 should be considered, maybe only as a test. It could make the Wasteland more living, because now, all the leveling characters are soloing in some place. The result : desert cities, less interactions, less players interacting.
Poll
