Is the current model of racing to the end game to endlessly farm raid bosses for gear that is only replaced a year or two later by a level cap raise and new raid bosses killing the MMO experience? Sure, there is pvp, but PG is not a pvp game, so I will leave it out of the discussion.

Personally, I yearn for the days when it wasn't about the destination , but the journey. For those that do not know what I am eluding to, I can only rely on my oldest MMO experience which is Ac2. This game had no 'raid bosses' though it did have server wide quests for bosses that were akin to raid bosses but these were not done for loot only to be replaced by later content but done for experience in a game where level cap did not exist.

Does the MMO industry face a crises of game design when all games are designed to be rushed through to reach an end where the gameplay is exhaustively repetitive for rewards that feel meaningless, antiquated quickly, and detached from accomplishment?

Even Mounts are a dime a dozen in MMO's these days and they just don't have that feeling of accomplishment or prestige that I personally felt when I got my mount in Ac2.

I worry even for PG with the stated level cap of 100/125 (125/150 with synergy) that we will reach a place in the game where the journey will be replaced by the destination and everyone will be rushing through the leveling experience and all the exploration it brings to sit at max level and farm raid bosses.

I know some people love this, and for many years this was a gamestyle I enjoyed because I played World of Warcraft this way. But after a few years this novelty has entirely worn off on me and, in fact, I find WoW to be utterly boring and I hate how leveling my character means nothing in that game anymore. The journey is completely eviscerated from the game. That being said, I still love the LORE of WoW and Enjoy seeing how it develops but I cannot bring myself to play it. I've tried almost each expansion to get back into it but at max level I scarcly last longer than a month.

Does anyone have thoughts on this issue? I don't know if there is a right or wrong answer because so much of this is subjective and personal opinion, it comes down to what the gamer likes, and I know that what I like isn't what the next person likes, so I'm not saying I'm right or youre wrong, just trying to talk about a subject that I see increasingly an issue in the MMO world.