What is one of the biggest problems plaguing themepark MMOs? Content that runs out long before new content is ready to deploy.

No developer will ever be able to produce enough ready-to-play themepark content fast enough to stay ahead of the players' capacity to consume it. And yet themepark MMOs seem to be all the industry wants to pursue.

So what can be done?

First of all, decide how long you want an installment of your themepark content to last. In other words, how often do you feel you can produce an installment of new content. If you can do an installment each month, then assume 30 days.

How many quests will be in your content installment? Let's say 10. Now by quests, I should clarify by calling them stages in a quest chain. Essentially what the current content installment is about. What you do is set a time lock on each stage on the server side which will pad out the content for the full 30 days.

Day 1 - Stage 1
Day 4 - Stage 2
Day 7 - Stage 3
Day 10 - Stage 4
Day 13 - Stage 5
Day 16 - Stage 6
Day 19 - Stage 7
Day 22 - Stage 8
Day 25 - Stage 9
Day 28 - Stage 10

Some may say, "I don't want to be gated from content. I want to play through it all at once!"

For what I suggest to be fair, If I come into a quest series 20-days after it is released, then I would have access to stages 1-7 which I can blast through in one day if I want to. But when I complete stage 7, I won't be able to play stage 8 until day 22.

I would rather wait three days between stages in a content installment than wait almost a whole month. Time-delayed release of content makes the content last over the course of a predetermined period and reduces wait time between the new things to do.

depending on the quest. gating the content would make it wonky imo. nothing like stepping away from a quest for a few days only to come back and forget what the hecck is going on. plus, holding back content in a sub based game (assuming eso will have a sub of course) is a big no. for obvious reasons.

Well no, the argument is that it isn't a big no.

I'm paying for a months worth of content with my subscription, but they can't possibly make 30 days worth of content in 30 days. I'm going to go through their content in 2-3 days, but then complain about no new contents for 27-28 days. Instead, they force you to take your time - instead of saving the king, killing the dragon and rescuing the city in one day, I have to wait 3 days inbetween them. This can be done not just through a big pop-up saying "Wait 3 days", it could be I save the king from his kidnappers, and then he has to recuperate before he can help me fight the dragon, or something like that.

but then you are taking choice away from gamers. if someone buys the game they should be allowed to rush through as much content as they want. (note i am not one of the rushers, but that is the argument they will have). gating content can easily be viewed as a design to keep people playing, when the thing that should keep people playing is fun. it's border line gear treadmill if you ask me.

It wont work like that, BUT

In TESO you have progressive questing/dungeon exploration (i am not sure if it is a quest, prolly a encounter).

Let me give you an example,

at level 7, you go to a dungeon and fight a bandit lair and just before you are killing the BOSS of that lair, he runs out and screams absurd stuff at you and he is gone.

at level 30 , you stumble upon a marauder lair, and there is the same boss and he does special stuff to make you hate him even more. And yet again he escapes.

repeat xxxx yyy times and finally in example at level 49 you find him in some high level dungeon and you finally get a good opporunity to kill him, and you do, and thus the long chain of dungeons with that one boss ends.

There is a lot of those kind of progressive dungeon encounters, and many alterations of it.

And that i wait to get to be able to test &--#60;3

must have TESO must have DD

So instead of complaining about lack of content for 27 days straight, you'd rather complain about it in nine separate 3-day chunks?

Pretty sure "staged content" is the way of the future. Rift did it and its doing amazingly well. Last Sunday 8 NA servers were full. Content must come or people leave, but pretty sure devs already know this.

o yea, TESO will have events, or atleast they had in Pre Alpha

*drool*

There's also something in adding a natural, static delay between major missions (not quests).

In FFXI, many major missions required you to wait until Midnight to continue after completing a chapter.

It could be irksome, but the purpose it serves is to prevent people from power playing through all the content in a day or two. I worry that too many people will power play through the content -- which will be absolutely finite-- at relelase then [censored]ing all over the forums about it.

that's going to happen regardless. if a power leveler can't do quest 'x' for another 3 hours he is simply going to move on. he doesnt care about the quest, he cares about getting to 'endgame' as fast as possible.

the more i think of the idea the more i like it. but it would have to be done right. and not in any way to just keep the player playing the game longer.

Exactly.

And every stage would be a complete event. It wouldn't make you feel like you have a to be continued sign dropped on your head.

I remember in Lord of the Rings Online, there is a quest chain associated with the great barrow that has many links in it. Each one digs you deeper and deeper. The completion of each stage reveals a little more and the questgiver sends you back to explore deeper. At the end you fight this undead thing named Sambrog, I think it was. For early-level epic content it was pretty fun. If my concept was applied, when first released there would have been three days between each stage, so it would have been at least a month's worth of content, but each stage would have been a complete event.

Developers will never be able to release anough content that it won't run out before they can release more unless they either break it all down into chunks and release them over time, or time-gate it.

And the comment of time gating not working for something you pay a subscription for? Please. As it is now, you pay a subscription and blow through the content and end up waiting MONTHS before you get something new to do. Like I said, I'd rather be gated for a couple of days rather than being forced to wait MONTHS while still paying a subscription.