Hence the appeal of permadeath, where once your character dies, that's it -- there's no coming back for seconds. Death matters, fights become more intense, and victories are that much sweeter. However, permadeath isn't for everyone, especially when you consider just how much time it takes to level your typical MMO character. Few people would want to risk something in which they've invested over 200 hours. But that doesn't mean permadeath is non-existent in MMOs: some titles have the option or special servers to support it, while others see a subset of players create and enforce their own permadeath rules (such as DDO).
Today's question is simple: would you play a permadeath mode if your favorite MMO enabled it, and if not, what changes would be necessary to entice you into trying it? Would they need to dramatically increase the speed of leveling? Let you pass down "heirloom" buffs and items to your next of kin? Give special rewards for permadeathers only?
Filed under: Opinion, The Daily Grind
The Daily Grind: One life, one death originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 May 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

