Keeping Up With the Joneses in the Anoat Sector

I've thought a bit lately about the general consensus on the forums that Uprising is now on "autopilot," and I unfortunately have to agree. Although, to say so requires some sort of explanation, right? Right. Uprising is a MMORPG and, as my previous post suggests, the MMO half of such an equation has fallen relatively flat. But what about Uprising's RPG characteristics? RP what now? Oh yeah, story. 

In my previous post, I touched upon the lack of multiplayer Raids with the release of 3.0, as well as the end of the cartel competition and the "meh factor" of current SBs and IBs. Maybe Daniel Erickson's "M" refers to Massively "Meh" Online game? In all seriousness, there are also other issues to address, which I've posted about numerous times in the past.

For instance, while the Lando Missions are cursorily a unique and interesting tie to the Star Wars universe, the missions themselves are lackluster at best, if only because the rewards are generally garbage.  Which is a technical term! Personally, I haven't taken out the trash for Lando in awhile. As far as I can tell, however, the real problem lies in the lack of new story content.

Obviously, the engine of any RPG is story content. At times compelling and at times nonsensical, the storyline of Uprising has been an interesting one to date. In fact, I've written about the Hero arc of Uprising in "The Story So Far." Be that as it may, Kabam missed a significant opportunity to genuinely expand upon story content with both the Raids and the Lando Missions.

But there's something bigger and badder at stake here, and it's a point that Erickson, the Senior Director of Game Design, touches upon in the aforementioned "Behind the Scenes..." article. In a nutshell, the problem begins  with the players. Let me explain.

In the article, Erickson expresses nothing but enthusiasm for Endgame players. And rightly so. But have you ever wondered why, for example, the Raids are tiered in a manner that makes progress so  terrifically difficult? The answer is Endgame players.

While there are many 100 level players around, Endgame players -- who, by the way, mostly populate the top 50 cartels -- are many  cycles of development ahead of everyone else. Why? Well, they've been playing longer. It's as simple as that. Keeping this in mind, the Raids seem specifically designed to challenge Endgamers, many of whom already  have full sets of 7* Raid gear. So what does any of this have to do with story content?

Generally speaking, the main interest of Endgame players has been consistently twofold. First, beat the game. And second, beat the game faster than any other player. In short, they want to win, to finally finish that last piece of 9* Raid gear that completes their final set. While such a desire is far from ultimate fulfillment, the Raids must  keep Endgamers grinding away in circles.

Keep in mind, storylines are generally linear, not circular.  If given the opportunity, Endgamers would simply devour any new story missions with mechanical efficiency, hit the end of the line, then clamor for more. Raids keep them occupied. They wont be clamoring for more Raid content anytime soon, I can tell you that much. They're all quite busy keeping up with the Joneses.

Again, I'm speaking generally. I've met plenty of Endgame players who are genuinely interested in exploring the use of Force Powers, for example. But the above explains why Uprising seems stuck on "autopilot." While a sadly understaffed Kabam scrambles to develop new content, their prodigal children, the Endgamers, have plenty to accomplish before they ever hit the 9* wall that's so far away it seems unimaginable.