Hey guys so I know the forums are full of people harassing other players here, but I hoped to have a normal conversation with normal people about the state of the game, it's future, and hopefully ways to improve upon it! I played median when it first came out, and always returned every few years or so to check out it's progress, and when I first started playing what really made me like this game was the unique community of people that were always helpful to others. I think the reason this game had such a nice community of normal helpful people was the philosophy that sort of formed the foundation for the game. MedianXL was set apart from the development of main stream gaming, which at the time was taking a route that was abusive of the players. Main stream gaming sought to use programming in order to exploit people, and manipulate them, and so communities outside of the main stream world sought to carve out a path that was antithetical to this development trend of using programming to the fullest extent possible to manipulate people, and MedianXL was one of them. I think that is the primary reason for the success of MedianXL actually, and the basis for the very positive community of people that gravitated towards this game, it's community, and apart from others.
There's even sort of a dual class system now in MedianXL I think, where some oldschool players like myself still maintain the old philosophy that made median great to begin with, and a positive environment for new players to enjoy, and there's a new class that is sort of mildly-overtly abusive of the game, and seek to monopolize it's resources, and capitalize on the virtual world, and take advantage of people. They're like polar opposites...You can't miss them.
Anyways I actually wanted to talk about GAME MECHANICS, and how they influence our experience in the virtual world. When I used to make a new character in the past, I would play with the docs or the game guide alongside the game so I could quickly search out different items to craft, the potential use of different runes, or item bases, and generally reference the complex of different options available to my character while leveling up, or farming. That was what old median was like. There was always something new, and interesting to discover about the game, and it was always fun to try out new things, and experiment with different skills/crafts. There was also always other people, and other games to join, that could help out if needed, or just be a friend.
NOW, things are very different. MedianXL is the same game right? A Diablo 2 mod, but now the underlying game mechanics, and culture or community have changed dramatically. Now, I don't play with the game guide out anymore. There's nothing interesting or new to discover. I know exactly what my character needs to do, and I know exactly what few items my character needs, and that all the other items are useless. I know there's no use in trying out different skills or game mechanics for fun because there's only a very limited amount of skills and game mechanics to take advantage of that work out for my character, it's build, and that all the other skills, and game mechanics are not only bad, but so bad that they are a waste of time.
NOW, instead of a community of people having fun in the virtual world, helping each other out, joining each others games to have fun, and be social, MedianXL has turned into a soulless grind fest similarly to the main stream games it had originally set itself apart from. Now, it's a bad thing if you play the game with other people, because your character doesn't benefit from playing with other people when you are competing for the exact same limited items, that you/others want/need. And it's even simple math to figure out why this is the case now. Take a look at the runewords, and tiered unique page. Understanding the game mechanics even basically we can see that most of the items are junk, and useless for any given build. Another way to recognize this is to look at the character guides, which represent the exact items your character will want/need to use at each stage in the game. And median has even become a much larger game now, there are more challenges, more bosses, to complete, and so as a new player looking to get to the end game content, now, there is simply a ton of work that needs to be done, in order to get there, and without the limited items and upgrades each character/build needs it's actually impossible to progress.
There's only limited amounts of character builds that can possibly perform well in many respects. Some are better at farming areas, some are better at bosses, then there are specific end game farming, and boss areas where also, only specific characters and builds can do well. And because of the nature of the game, the limited character builds that perform well in these areas are able to achieve enormous benefit compared to everybody else while their build can complete a farm/boss in 2 minutes while everybody else is stuck in a death loop, or it takes them 30 minutes. Each area is the stepping stone for the next too, so if your friend can do it in two minutes, and you are stuck in a death loop, they will get the gear/upgrades they need to get to the next zone, while you are stuck in that one area, the entire season.
The game has gotten harder over time, and while the game has developed new challenges that require greater skills, greater gear, greater stats to complete, character builds have been downgraded, skills have been downgraded, and items have been downgraded limiting the capability of people to progress whatsoever. The games difficulty in other words, has been upgraded, while skills/items have been downgraded. It used to be the case, that people in this game would freely share items, and help each other, and seek out games to join, in order to play with each other, now when we have games with other people in them people are fighting over the yellow rings and ammys on the ground, desperate to find a + skills ammy that they all need, or a potentially valuable item to trade, so they can finally get the upgrade they need to get into a higher level area, that they've been trying for weeks without success to find.
And honestly, I could go on and on about the game mechanics in median, and how the way they have changed over time has altered the experience for players. It used to be a very positive experience, with little to no pressure, and now in the new median that paradigm has completely flipped upside down. It's become a very singular experience, and it's honestly pretty boring when instead of exciting new things to discover, there is only one way to play the game, and one item we need for every slot, and that everyone is fighting to get, because only one build is actually useful, for the most part.
I think it's obvious how to improve the state of the game in the future. I think that downgrading abilities, skills, items, was a huge step backwards, while the game was getting harder, or gaining more challenges, instead of disabling builds, and disabling skills, I think they should have been left alone, or at least not downgraded. In fact micromanaging all the different character builds seems to have made the vast majority of them useless, and unfun to play at all.
The old median actually possessed a sense that every item, every skill, every build, was useful, and it was fun, and that the challenges required individual skill to complete, and specifically as opposed to limited items, gear, and builds. I think that is actually the main theme of Median, and that it has gravitated away from it's original design intentions, and philosophy, for the worse.
