SlashGear

Recently it was revealed by Age of Conan director Gaute Godager that it will only take the average player around 250 hours to reach level 80.  This seems to have some people stirred up, as it takes the average WoW player almost double that time to reach level 70. Does it mean that there’s less to Age of Conan? Not necessarily.

What many people fail to grasp is that you don’t actually “beat” an MMO. Unlike traditional games, there is no end to the game, and if you did consider there to be some sort of an end, it certainly wouldn’t be when you reached the maximum level. In fact, many WoW veterans will tell you that there is actually more to do after you hit 70 than during the rest of the game. With this logic, some people will tell you that there should be less time spent trying to reach that maximum level.

I honestly like how long it takes you to reach 70 in WoW. I can’t recall how long it took me to reach it, but I loved every minute I played before. Without those countless instances and runs, I never would have met many of the people that I play with today. We bonded together trying to reach that almighty goal, and became great friends (and a strong guild) as a result. Sure, when I’m leveling an alt I think that it might be nice to level faster, but there are always plenty of guildies at my level to run with, so it’s a lot of fun.

Honestly, what it all boils down to is how much fun you have. I had a lot of fun at pre-70 levels, and I’m still having a blast gearing up and running high-end raids. Maybe Age of Conan will cut down a bit on the leveling, but I’m sure that they’ll have plenty of end-game fun to keep you happy for a long time.

[via Game|Life]