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What is "replayability" or "replayable content" to you?


Rauderi.8706

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I see the argument of "replayable" content come up a lot, and in light of the recent dev post that mentions maps being focused on "replayability," I'm getting the sense that no one really has the word defined very well.Not to fault the dev post, because isn't most of the content in open world "replayable"? (Story instances are less so, because players do the story once and maaaybe go back for achievements if they're not obnoxious/broken.)But I get the sense when players say it, it's more "only content I enjoy playing/getting rewarded for is 'replayable'."

So I have to ask:What makes content replayable?

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Both fun and rewarding. The ratio of each doesn’t matter too much so long as at least one is present.

Example 1: I don’t find grinds enjoyable but I’d do them if I needed the gold. If content had this grind attached to it then it’d have replay-ability. (i.e pre nerf Istan metas).

Example 2: There aren’t any more raid rewards that I care about but I still find most of them fun to play. There’s still replay-ability there for me so long as I continue to find them fun.

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It's a subjective definition (if not going by the dictionary definition) and will vary person to person. To me it's content that is not over repetitive, and includes some form of problem solving. That's why I prefer PvP/WvW over any PvE content. What is "replayable" comes down to what that individual finds the most entertaining.

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I tend to replay content when I have a friend new to it that needs help, or I need to farm up something from a zone. Or when I'm going for achieves that need me to repeat some content I've already done.

But I will say that one of the most replayable maps for me is Silverwastes. I think the factors that go into that is there is clear, player-driven map progression with a lot of variety in what you can choose to do to advance the bar, a big team-oriented end event followed by a number of things to do during the reset time, and you can drop in any time during the cycle and meaningfully participate in the rest of it.

I may not deliberately go there unless my guild needs shovels, given all the other cool things to do in the game, but I always enjoy my time there.

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@"Ayrilana.1396" said:Both fun and rewarding. The ratio of each doesn’t matter too much so long as at least one is present.

Example 1: I don’t find grinds enjoyable but I’d do them if I needed the gold. If content had this grind attached to it then it’d have replay-ability. (i.e pre nerf Istan metas).

Example 2: There aren’t any more raid rewards that I care about but I still find most of them fun to play. There’s still replay-ability there for me so long as I continue to find them fun.

This. Id add to that that when the content tips too much towards "not-fun", I wouldnt do it even if rewards would be best in the game (Silverwastes RIBA). While, when content is fun - like the new strikemission or drakkar or raids - I do them as long as there's enough rewards to finance my maintenance costs (food).

So, in a nutshell... replayability means fun. In an mmorpg, fun for me means playing with my ig friends and having challenging not-brain-dead content.

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@"Donari.5237" said:But I will say that one of the most replayable maps for me is Silverwastes. I think the factors that go into that is there is clear, player-driven map progression with a lot of variety in what you can choose to do to advance the bar, a big team-oriented end event followed by a number of things to do during the reset time, and you can drop in any time during the cycle and meaningfully participate in the rest of it.

[grabby-hands] Yes, this. Give me more of this. It's one of the reasons I enjoy Dragonfall just as much. Player-progressed, drop-and-play maps are at their best when there's always some event nearby.

Also seeing "fun" (hooboy that's nebulous and worthy of its own topic) and "challenge". I could combine the concepts with "engaging", but that's still a bit high-concept.

Would that be activity/events with no/little downtime in between? Objectives that go beyond 'kill the thing' with differing fail states?Results that have consequences for a particular map meta? If I remember right, Dragon Stand has side events that can add reinforcements. That's definitely a trend I could see worth building in to future maps.

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For me it's just something that is fun to play again.

Games like LoL, WC3, etc. are built on this premise, you don't necessarily play them because you're being rewarded, you play them because they're fun.

IMO currently only PvP and WvW have that element, playing it because it is fun, not for rewards. (The lack of updates makes it hard, though)

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The concept, for me, is in the context that I rarely, if ever, enjoy content the first time through. I am not a great player so, the ability to enjoy it comes only when I do it multiple times and begin to understand mechanics and find my comfort level.

With that in mind... first, there must be a reason to do it (other than... it's just fun). The rewards must justify the effort. Second, the mechanics should "make sense." For me. That means that there must be clues that I can discern that indicate a need to do something in particular, whether it's a voice-over clue... something on the ground or in the air, or some animation by a boss. I should be able to see and learn how to react. In other words, I am not crazy about random crap that happens where the outcome depends more on luck. Finally, for me, there must be some organizational flow. Example... Dragon Stand meta. I like it because it has a definite. process. It has a clear beginning and progresses logically through until the end. I am more apt to do "repayable content" if it involves more than a single encounter. I enjoy the metas for that reason.

I do not enjoy content that basically has me beating my head against a wall repeatedly... or, content where I eventually complete but have no idea how I did it.

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Needs to be fun and rewarding. Probably why i enjoy maps....oh ;-; right, the last real replayable content i enjoyed was dungeons, before they killed that playerbase off.

All the open world metas are just..boring, it has nothing to do with the mechanics, it has to do with the terrible rewards. i -hate- this games RNG system "because the auction house". Theres no content i truly enjoy doing because i know i wont ever get the rewards that i want or desire unless i -buy- them which removes all the sense of awesome. GW1 was amazing for that, i was so excited to do a voltaic spear farm every day for months until i got the drop with the stats i wanted..because i was getting the drops i wanted(just not the stats). That doesnt exist in this game. Ive opened the Khan ur chest(for example) every day since release with few exceptions and havent gotten anything but an exotic pistol, and that RNG ruins my enjoyment of metas. And the Tequatl chest pretty much every day since it was revamped and ive gotten 3 weapon drops, despite them being -account bound-. Why would i wasted 30 minutes killing say...Drakkar for a few yellows and greens?

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Remember alliance battle from gw1?That was the most sweet content this game ever had.Current WvW doesnt even come close to that. The maps from gw1 had choke points. Which you had to conquer before pushing on. Fort aspenwood was the mission i think. Those battles i have done A LOT. Thats replayability for me. It was fun.

When i saw the devs post about push and pull meta events. Im hoping it will be something like this.

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The competitive part, which is the one that will always be there even after they run out of ideas to support their Living World agenda. Sadly they don't see this. It's practically content that runs itself and only needs occasional meaningful updates, not what they "showed us" to this point.

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Replayability to me is something I can do more than once and experience something different. With 9 races, 9 core specs. 18 elite specs, and tons of build variety there is no shortage of ways to experience content in this game. There is also difficulty, the harder the content is the more often I get to play it before I hit the skill ceiling and get bored. Farming shit for loot or achieves isn't my thing, if it is something pointlessly repetitive, like chasing a rare drop, it gets ignored by me.

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To me, all content becomes replayable when we have new elites since it may mean doing it a different way.

Replayable content:

  • WvW (but lack of new maps or elites and waiting on alliances is becoming an issue)
  • PvP

For PvE:

  • Most of the HoT metas
  • Silverwaste
  • Fractals (when people are around)

Translation: variety/unpredictability, content, rewards, goals (collections)

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@"Zexanima.7851" said:It's a subjective definition (if not going by the dictionary definition) and will vary person to person. To me it's content that is not over repetitive, and includes some form of problem solving. That's why I prefer PvP/WvW over any PvE content. What is "replayable" comes down to what that individual finds the most entertaining.

People may put their own meaning into words sometimes, but that won't change the fact "replayability" term historically has been used in very specific context - to describe game design that allows you to start a game and play it through - and have different sequence of core events (plot twist, climax fights, gear and skill acquisitions (in case you find them along the way, and different setups change how you solve the same encounters drastically) etc) that would made this your playthrough feel very different from previous one(s).

So, naturally, different reward numbers on top of the same events don't add replayability to them. "Worthwhile" would be a proper term. You just choose to endure the grind because for some reason you think your time you waste ingame cost less than 10$ spent on gems in the shop.

Thus most of the content in GW2 has either none, or very poor replayability. You have natural replayability proportional to number of professions/elits you find interest to play. Then some events may be done that well that you can repeat it a few times before you'll learn their in's and out's. Then some content, like dungeons, may have different paths, so you can beat each of them few times (on different classes) - until you'll get bored and it will start feeling old. Fractals have a tiny bit of replayability because of instabilities (so hated by casuals btw), and because thir mechanics change a bit while tier increases. They are also pretty hardcore, so you may enjoy replaying them a bit longer, if you are into hardcore thing.

And of cause PvP and WvW has great amount of replayability, due to unpredictable factor that human mind adds. But PvE is pretty much static and boring after few playthroughs, at least the OpenWorld.

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Replayability is any content's worthiness of experiencing more than once.

What people begging for "replayability" are asking for is quick, bite-sized content - usually randomized - that is far removed from the standard gameplay loop, arranged such that it feels like they're getting more done than "ordinary" gameplay without actually doing anything. (see: Compulsion; Gamification; Skinner-Box)

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As someone who has favorite games they've replayed well over 100 times (and we're not talking about short games here), my main factors for replayability for games off the top of my head are:

  1. Nonlinear, challenging, fun, well-made content
  2. Decent playthrough length, the longer the better
  3. Multifaceted, immersive, well-paced experience alternating between varying energy levels and environments
  4. A high degree of player freedom of choice, and meaningful differences between those choices (class/race/equipment/gameplay choices should make the game play differently, and narrative choices should have real consequences)
  5. A healthy amount of obscure or "deep" content the player might not fully experience on their first playthrough and may choose to more fully explore on subsequent playthroughs
  6. Since I might not find other players to play with 20 years out, solo compatibility (though the availability of a multiplayer option also helps with replayability)

The last point kind of assumes servers are still up or, preferably, that the game is offline-compatible. Which I suppose is another essential factor for me, as I do enjoy revisiting old favorites.

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Fun makes content replayable ofc but other incentives to repeat it also makes content repeatable. Said incentives can me cosmetics, gold incomes, xp, titles, achieves, gear etc

Some systems can work to indirectly make other content replayable, for example mastery xp reqs make events and any thing that gives xp more lucrative and therefor more replayable.

I personally didnt find pof as replayable as hot because i didnt find the rewards to be as strong and the reward structure to me was kinda inferior. Plus i liked hot content more therefor i played it more.

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Pretty much what everyone else said: Rewards and novelty. I've never really been one to grind for gold but if something has a unique, guaranteed reward I'll usually play it until I get the reward. If it has an rng reward I'll usually play it at least a few times until I get bored of it. The other thing that creates replayability is novelty, meaning the thing you're replaying isn't actually the same each time, like wvw. I can happily wvw for a few hours each week even if I don't want any of the rewards just bc the fact that there are enemy players guarantees it's a unique experience each time . . .

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I know this suggestion doesn't help that many of you but the biggest thing that has generated replayability for me has been setting up additional computers so my two very young kids can join me. I mean we spent hours in Divinity's Reach the other day running around on mounts not accessing any specific PvE content and had a blast.

Outside of that niche suggestion I have to say the fun factor is the biggest motivator for me to replay something. I will play content that has zero reward if it is really fun. Southsun survival almost became my favorite part of the game because hunting my friends was hilariously fun. The constant health loss ended up killing that content for us.

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