Forget the fact that Godslayer finally opens up AoC and makes it feel like a real wide-open MMO, instead of the small zones from the original.
Forget the fact that Godslayer has tons of fun quests to work through.
Forget the fact that Godslayer adds a many new instances as well as a couple of raids.
Forget the fact that Godslayer has phenomenal Asian inspired art, armor and weapon design.
Forget all that. Those facts make Godslayer a very good expansion. But none of them, one or all together, make Godslayer a great expansion.
What makes Godslayer a great expansion is one simple thing:
They did not raise the level cap.
Finally a MMO developer takes a queue from Mythic and DAoC and does not raise the level cap.
HALLE-FREAKIN-LLUJAH!!!!!
Finally another expansion that I do not have to level for 10 more levels before I hit the endgame…..again.
Finally another expansion that does not completely and totally invalidate everything you have done for the past two years.
Finally another expansion that allows old content to coexist alongside new content and allows it to stay relevant.
Finally.
I loved the way DAoC did their expansions. No level cap increase, more content and other ways to advance your character. People still did older dungeons and content right alongside the newer shinier stuff. DAoC’s character advancement could best be described as horizonal rather than vertical.
This is what Godslayer does for AoC. Yeah, you have the alternate advancement thingy for further advancing your character but it does not invalidate the older content at all. People are still doing it as well as the newer stuff.
Ever hear anyone look for a group for Blackwing Lair after TBC came out? Nope. Not unless it was for nostalgia purposes. The gear in there was for level sixties for godsake! Why would you want any of that stuff when you were 70, much less 80?!?
Same thing happened to Kharazan, Black Temple, Sunwell Plateau, Gruul’s and Serpentshrine. No one does them anymore. Tons of content forgotten and never experienced again. Thousands of new players who will never get to experience it. Wasted content.
And it does not just apply to raid content but to smaller dungeons as well. Sure, people still do Deadmines, Scarlet Monastery, Zul’Farrak and the other low-mid level instances but as soon as they hit 58 they head straight to Outlands. UBRS, Scholo, BRD and other 58-60 content is mostly forgotten. Same for level 68-70 stuff. People head straight to Northrend instead. The gear is better there for godsake!
But not in AoC. Not with this expansion. Tonight I saw people looking for groups for the level 80 Godslayer instances. Tons of people, in fact. But I also saw a ton of people looking for Onyx, Aztel’s and the 24-man original raids.
You do not need to increase the level cap in an expansion to keep people playing. Despite Blizzard’s insistence on doing so. Give players new ways to improve their characters, interesting areas to explore, new gear that does not need to be more powerful as long as it looks freaking cool and we will continue to play.
DAoC showed everyone that 10 years ago. Somewhere along the line we forgot.
