I was going to post this in the discussion thread about the revamped gate requirements, but it seems like it might want its own thread here.
I'm very much in agreement with everyone else, the requirement to slog through the early levels of a gate when you already have the equipment for the later levels is mind numbingly boring, not even counting the counter-productiveness in farming up heat or coins for future wares in the early levels.
It seems to me that there's a desire on the part of the developers (By the way, could some sort of forum ID for developers be made? Given what I see in the announcement threads, there's no distinction between player and admin/dev on these boards, and I'd really like to know if I'm responding to one or the other) for us to play the entire map of any particular gate, but it's quite obvious that the current setup isn't conducive to going back to the start when you have the gear to be playing in the later levels.
My suggestion is to make the three sections of any gate their own little storyline, their own little quest, and restrict the use of higher-tier weapons in a lower-tier gate map just as it's restricted in the PvP arena. I'd be happy with making several runs from Haven to Moorcroft if a certain quest required it, or it was the only way to level up a weapon needed for a heftier item. But along with this, you're going to have to let folks start out from Emberlight if they've got the gear to make the trip. Requiring a slog of 18 levels to play the third episode is going to doom this game to the dustbin faster than anything else.
This idea also means that the current mechanic of "dumbing down" high level gear in the lower tiers can be done away with. It's extremely confusing to see an enchantment vary based on the gate level, and this way each item can stay stable and just be used in its appropriate tier. It also means that a heck of a lot of creativity can be done with tier-specific items and creating enchantments that only work in certain levels, and with the quest/storyline that each tier could hold.
I think it's a fine balance - It seems like the developers want us to explore the entire map, and this system would create incentives and fun storylines to explore in even the earliest levels. Players that wanted to concentrate on a certain tier could do so without being forced to grind through levels that were not appropriate. Thoughts?
What exactly would the incentives be? If you could only level up certain items in the levels nearer to Haven then you're going to force people to grind in the easy levels just until their leveling is done? If you're going to insert other types of quests then the easier/shallower levels won't have as rewarding quests compared to the harder/deeper levels? Unless you'd make quests that require you to go through multiple zones, but then again you're going to make the easier levels a grind. Sure you create a reason to go there, but you still don't turn it into a fun and challenging area?
Right now depth affects damage, defense and monster abilities/AI. The first 2 can be altered easily, and have been dynamically changed in an attempt to make the shallower levels equally challenging to high-end players. The Monster abilities and AI stayed the same though. They're plain weak near Haven, no matter how much damage and defense is changed. Because of this Haven - Emberlight levels will never be as challenging as Emberlight - Core for high-end players. Giving people a reason to play an unchallenging bit won't change the fact that it's boring.
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To give a personal example: I started over with a new character a few days back to check out how that all runs now. Right after having finished the tutorial levels I could easily get to Moorcroft during which I also fully finished Arena's. This is with about the weakest equipment you can have, and still it was easy due to the abilities and AI of the monsters.