The problem you describe in the original post is a true problem. With EQ (and many other MMORPGs) is the lack of a objective context for you accomplishments.

Take, for example, UO housing. When UO first came out, having a house was a big deal. Having a tower (let alone a big castle) was almost un-heard of. But THOSE were one of the main milestones for characters. You did fight bigger and badder monsters as you got stronger, but it was obvious that you were getting better in the game as you got closer to affording a house...or a bigger house...or a castle.

Eventually (pretty soon, actually), they ran out of room to place houses and money became _VERY_ cheap so getting a housing deed was easy (even for relative newcomers), and actually placing a house was 100% luck (if you don''t count EBay). Then the focus shifted to rares and buggy things (as an objective judge of one''s progress in the game).

EQ had something similar happen, but all the best stuff was weapons and armor. In the beginning, the best stuff was clearly defined, and you could easily judge who was doing the best in the game since they were wearing closer to the "ideal equipment." Believe it or not, having 2 Short Swords of the Ykesha meant you were 0083R 1337!

Nowadays in EQ, every setup is different and there is no single, objective context in which to judge your progress in the game. They had a GREAT idea with the introduction of "Epic Weapons," but as they introduced gobs of better equipment, they lost the very thing they were starting to gain back: Objective judgement of character progression.

How does one solve this? A number of different ways, including many I can''t think of. Here are some ideas to start you off:

1. Make money objectively valuable by pricing some things VERY high (MUCH MUCH higher then you think ANYONE could ever have in less then 20 years of solid game play), some things relatively high (houses, shops, etc.) and everything in the middle. Who says the most expensive thing in the game should be a castle? FUNK THAT! Make a castle cost 5,000,000 gold, and make a glowing-magical-sword cost 10,000,000! Everyone can have one if they have the money (even though the stats on it are only slightly better then the second-highest alternative). Let those level 99 people that have been playing your game 18 hours per day everyday since beta walk around with pride! They''ve earned it.

2. DON''T make it so that you only get experience by fighting things that are trivial for your level. Just increase the amount of exp needed for each level. If a character wants to stare at the floor, slashing at level 1 slimes until he''s level 50, let him! It just might take a little while...

3. Make objectively valuable things available for things not related to money. How about some fancy clothing that is difficult to get or extremely random? Maybe silly little things like personalizing the description of certain items when you can actually finish a difficult quest to save a person?

4. Give unique rewards for time played (on a long-term basis, i.e. 1 year account, 2 year account...and on a short-term basis...100 hours of play time, 250 hours, 1000 hours). Make these things status symbols, not necessary to have a good time in the game.

These are just a few ideas to keep long-term players interested. I mentioned *nothing* about keeping short-term players interested or any other of 1 billion problems with MMORPGs.

Well, while your on the subject of MMORPGs, one thing I''ve always wanted to see is destroyable housing. None of this running out of space nonsense. Also if you had to actually build the house rather than just buy it, that could create a strong incentive for non-warrior characters. That beloved level 50 mason who could build you a castle might be the most valuable member of a guild/gang. The true cost of housing would go up by how badly people wanted the space, since you''d have to hire lots of NPC and PC mercenary guards.

Another thing that bugs me is teleportation. It makes it a lot easier to arrange trades, but it also makes the game too anonymous for my taste. If you couldn''t teleport, people would end up finding "favorite spots" where they hang out all the time because they know the area. Then you''d end up with people seeing each other around a lot, developing rivalries, etc. Heck, you might even be able to mercenarily hire yourself out as a guide. I think teleportation also makes it impossible to implement a decent Player killing system. That player killer can just teleport to safety and hide. If you couldn''t teleport, you might be able to actually hunt him down.

Another thing I always wanted is some sort of "desperation effect" thing. You know how in rpgs and anime a character near death busts out with some super move that kills themselves? Perhaps having some sort of power move that permanent lowers your life force or stats but has a big effect would be nice. Get a little revenge before you quit the game. I like chaos you see, and I like to get revenge on the cocky level 999 guy who pked me.

Oh yeah, and being able to get resources too easily annoys me too. I don''t see why there should be 500 weapons for every player in the game, or worst yet, infinite weapons. Make decent weapons a rarity that players create with considerable effort and that''ll take some of the focus off warrior characters.