I personally like the Brotherhood system. Mentoring makes players feel like they have to slum it and repeat content and basically be held back by their friends. Scaling everyone to a zone's level is, I hope, not even being discussed for this game. Imo the best solution is to let the friends who play more help their friends be pulled forward and allow twinking/PLing. And who cares if I level an alt or buff/port bot on a second account.
What other options are there? Or should your friends who can't play as often just be shit out of luck?
I think twinking/power leveling was probably the most organic solution to this problem. It had two big benefits, aside from it's simplicity in the world. The first being that it created a great economic market for older items, and second hand items. I know Brad said there will be systems to remove old items from the game through quests and such--but the market for those "less than tier top tier but still good" items should still be robust, which is great in games, because it helps keep less than top tier dungeons alive and valuable.
The second big benefit is a social one. You never really saw how far you've come until you've gone back with your powerful character and helped a friend do something. Self sufficiency in the modern MMO has pretty much eliminated the need for this. But in older games, this was an aspect that was both fun, and yeah, sometimes annoying. I mean, having to "waste" time running into a dungeon to help your friend CR or PL him might suck, but it was also fun going back to place that kicked your ass, and feeling like a super hero for your buddy. That contrast in power, or creating situations that not only show differences in progression but socially reward them (As in, you get praise from another player for helping)--is severely lacking in games where time accessibility has made sure to limit the need, or even effect, for/of outside support. And I say "effect of", because it's gotten to the point where help from another player, in many cases, can be a huge hindrance to the speed at which you level--because the systems are so meticulously designed around just you.
Now, there are problems with this, too. The TLC and required level bullshit was put in just to deal with those problems. For all the fun behind twinking and helping your friends, there was a dark side to it. It absolutely sucked, as a lower level, to go down into a camp and find it taken by one high end douche bag--preventing your experience gains AND getting level appropriate loot. I know most of us said camping those items was cool, and it was, but it was also really disruptive to game play. Whatever design comes up, needs to think of a way to
alleviatethe bad effects of that. But it
shouldn'tbe removed, which is what instancing and required levels did. Players
shouldbristle against other players, it's part of interacting.
I'd prefer to see it tackled the way Brad mentioned the "path of least resistance should also be best". Offer alternatives to low level camps, that give higher end players more choices to progress but maybe giving up some better progression for a shot at using less people for some safer loot. For example, and outdoor zone with high value but ultra rare drops, whose mobs also give experience? Might make it more appealing to get experience while getting a drop that can be traded for the low end one. Little design choices like that, which give alternatives that are more appealing, rather than punishing people or eliminating the camp mechanic, would, in my opinion, be a better option.
Sorry rambled there--but it can be crazy remembering how many other systems old mechanics, like open dungeons and twinking (No bound equip), touch on. Which is why I like the fact that they've said they are staying focused on a small set of systems. A lot of these older systems were taken out because of just how complex they really are in terms of how many other systems they affect.
