[plamzi]

Thanks to the OP for starting an interesting topic and giving people opportunity to showcase their work. I believe the endgame is hugely important given than the average MUD has about 1000x better retention than any other online RPG game that ever followed in history, and this is as true now as it was in the mid-90's.

In my game, I introduced home ownership with multiple upgrade options, including the purchase of storage rooms and permanent charmees that dwell in your home (dragons are severely marked up). These upgrades cost a great deal, but you can get a discount if you spend some quest points. The way to collect quest points is to become facile with all in-game quests, and eventually to venture into experiencing them with multiple classes. (The reality is that most players have 2-3 favorite classes and need to be pushed to try others - and they usually end up being pleasantly surprised)

I've recently introduced reputation points, which are similar to achievements, and are gained by toppling one of about a dozen very high-end bosses. Reputation can be used to "pray" for an otherwise impossible corpse recovery, or can be converted to quest points, or can be accumulated to make your way up one of our leaderboard charts.

The leaderboard itself is designed to provide people with various longer-term goals. We show many rankings by class, including PvP, to encourage people to experience all classes eventually. We also show rankings by clan, which is a good way to keep teams of players competing with each other endlessly.

Our crafting system is still on paper, but I've conceived of several ways in which it can extend the endgame. The main one is that quality of products will be directly proportional to a character's lifetime experience. This should make even "ancient" characters, with all their aches and pains, very useful.

Finally, one not so often credited endgame extender is simply adding more content. I try to cultivate prospective builders and equip them with easy-to-use tools so they can help grow the world faster. With the introduction of a new higher-end zone, we usually see some oldies return.

As a sidenote, I have always resisted what I see as slippery slopes in the approach to endgame development. These include raising the level cap, re-morting, or gradually adding ever more powerful items/spells/skills etc. Each of these approaches carries different pitfalls, and once embarked upon, the game will fall inevitably into them. That's just my opinion and it is in no way meant to diminish the efforts of those who have chosen to implement these.