Does everyone remember all the discussions and Evercrack? How addictive this game was? Evercamp and waiting forever just in case your mob spawns and you don't want to miss it?
Whether intentional or not, there is one of the most powerful motivators behind all that. It is crucial that motivator is not removed from the game if you want the same level of fanaticism.
I am not a psychologist. This was explained to me by a PhD psychologist so I am sharing what I understood.
The phenomenon is call "Intermittent Reinforcement" and it is possibly the most powerful subconscious behavior driver there is.
There are tons of writing and knowledge around this but I will share a couple simple bits to illustrate this.
Scientists trained pigeons to peck a button to get a food reward. When they tapped the button, they got a reward.
Then they did three things
1) They would reliably give rewards when the pigeons pecked the button. The pigeons' reaction was to only press the button when they were hungry or wanted food - they would casually peck the button.
2) They stopped giving rewards. After a short time, the pigeons gave up and even when hungry never pecked the button.
3) They would intermittently respond to a pecked button with a reward, but it was completely random and unpredictable. Sometimes they would and sometimes they wouldn't give a reward. The pigeons lost their little minds. They became addicted to the button and sat there non-stop, all day, mashing the button incessantly, pecking without stop. They frantically and fanatically pressed the button.
OK, that is one of many famous studies on this, but there really is human behavior behind this. That is the foundational phenomenon behind why an abused spouse stays with her wife-beater husband - she is trying frantically because his reward (of normal relationship behavior) is unpredictable so she stays nonstop, addicted to trying to get the unpredictable reward.
It is a big factor behind Internet addiction etcetera. You never know when you will get a post or update so you constantly search for it.
This is a very real phenomenon of psychology.
This, is what we want in Pantheon - those unpredictable named mob spawns (with no rhyme or reason), those totally random (damn you RNG!) rare drops, those convoluted and unclear spawn triggers.
With just enough random and unpredictable rewards.
This is an incredibly powerful motivator and, IMO, the entire driving force behind the addiction power of EQ. Do not take that power away if you want the same effect on your playerbase.
Good old Operant Conditioning. Yes, it is real. Yes, it is largely why you get "hooked" and why you keep playing. But only the really successful games get it right.
Ultimately, you need to feel that the reward is an adequate payoff for your activities; this is where most games fall flat. Because once the reward isn’t worth your trouble, neither is the game.
oh, here's a nifty little link that explains this theory:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
It adds challenge. If you get the reward every time you peck on a button, the challenge is lost, and the reward is not worth more than its immediate useful value. If you're not hungry, there's no need for more food.
If there is a challenge, there is a sense of accomplishment, above and beyond just the value of the reward. There is a sense of succeeding in something that's difficult, and that's a powerful drug. Indeed, in real life, many people are positively motivated by it and accomplish great things. (and sometimes, not so great ones...)
It raises the sense of self-worth ("If this is difficult, and I did it successfully, I must be good").
They know which buttons to push:
https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_chatfield_7_ways_games_reward_the_brain?language=en
It gets pretty relevant around 12:30 or so.