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Build your perfect MMO
trevellian
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Being a relative newcomer to the world of MMORPG's - Star Wars Galaxies was my introduction to the genre - I have always been slightly amused by the ....er........ let's call it passion (as opposed to rabid, unthinking fanaticism)....that people have for the particular MMO that they are currently involved in. Usually leading to a general denouncement of anyone playing any other MMO as being 'wrong in the head'.
To date I have tried, and to a greater or lesser degree enjoyed, my time in Star Wars Galaxies, Everquest 2, City of Heroes, Tabula Rasa, World or Warcraft and EVE Online. My particular bias is towards the sci-fi element, it's not that I don't like, or can't enjoy, a well put together sword n' sorcery type game, just that I can get more into a sci-fi setting (laser pew-pew ftw!), maybe a steam punk setting would work for me also.....(dirigible ho!!)
With my recent foray into EVE it was the first time I had really tried to pick an MMO that had the elements I was looking for, rather than picking up a new MMO and going "oooh shiny!". To date I have not managed to find an MMO that I felt was fully-rounded in what it had to offer for a diverse player base (closest has been SWG, but I have to question whether or not my impression was tainted by it being the 'first', and that it was star wars based). That led me to wonder what I would want to see for an MMO to hit all my buttons (you get a lot of free time to think mining high-sec areas in EVE...). Now I have no idea how all this would be put together in practice....it does seem to suggest the need for multiple game engines.. and I realise that in practice it probably makes far more sense for a company to concentrate its focus towards a subset of players and be outstanding in a few elements rather than juggle too much and be mediocre in all of them, but this is my fantasy thread so we can ignore little annoyances like account departments, staff payrolls, technical limitations and the like..[1][2]
If you were designing the definitive MMO, what gameplay elements would you include? Please, keep this to a discussion on gameplay and the mechanics and let's not devolve into a "lolz carebear" vs "sad-no lifer in the basement" argument.
Here's what I have so far:
The market/trade from EVE Online - Buy orders, Sell orders, Contracts, the ability to play the market if you have the patience.
The crafting from SWG - Mutating stats on the raw materials that have an impact on the final quality of the product and the ability to experiment on the item before creating a blueprint to make runs in your own set of factories.
The semi-FPS interaction of Tabula Rasa (although targeting needs to be improved).
The ease (and amount!) of quests that can be done from WoW.
The general polish of WoW.
The spaceflight from SWG combined with the visuals and feeling of EVE.
The inclusion of some form of social class that does not require combat leveling (SWG had a very good stab at this, and EVE seems to be playable as a non-combatant to a greater or lesser degree).
A movement away from the grind, ding, grind more, ding, get weapon, grind to get a slightly better weapon, grind to get a slightly better weapon etc etc treadmill of some MMOs.
That's what I can think of off the top of my head, I will be coming back to this post now and again to update things as I think of them.
TL, DR - Build your perfect MMO, play nice.
[1] and Raph Koster
[2] and definitely SOE
To date I have tried, and to a greater or lesser degree enjoyed, my time in Star Wars Galaxies, Everquest 2, City of Heroes, Tabula Rasa, World or Warcraft and EVE Online. My particular bias is towards the sci-fi element, it's not that I don't like, or can't enjoy, a well put together sword n' sorcery type game, just that I can get more into a sci-fi setting (laser pew-pew ftw!), maybe a steam punk setting would work for me also.....(dirigible ho!!)
With my recent foray into EVE it was the first time I had really tried to pick an MMO that had the elements I was looking for, rather than picking up a new MMO and going "oooh shiny!". To date I have not managed to find an MMO that I felt was fully-rounded in what it had to offer for a diverse player base (closest has been SWG, but I have to question whether or not my impression was tainted by it being the 'first', and that it was star wars based). That led me to wonder what I would want to see for an MMO to hit all my buttons (you get a lot of free time to think mining high-sec areas in EVE...). Now I have no idea how all this would be put together in practice....it does seem to suggest the need for multiple game engines.. and I realise that in practice it probably makes far more sense for a company to concentrate its focus towards a subset of players and be outstanding in a few elements rather than juggle too much and be mediocre in all of them, but this is my fantasy thread so we can ignore little annoyances like account departments, staff payrolls, technical limitations and the like..[1][2]
If you were designing the definitive MMO, what gameplay elements would you include? Please, keep this to a discussion on gameplay and the mechanics and let's not devolve into a "lolz carebear" vs "sad-no lifer in the basement" argument.
Here's what I have so far:
The market/trade from EVE Online - Buy orders, Sell orders, Contracts, the ability to play the market if you have the patience.
The crafting from SWG - Mutating stats on the raw materials that have an impact on the final quality of the product and the ability to experiment on the item before creating a blueprint to make runs in your own set of factories.
The semi-FPS interaction of Tabula Rasa (although targeting needs to be improved).
The ease (and amount!) of quests that can be done from WoW.
The general polish of WoW.
The spaceflight from SWG combined with the visuals and feeling of EVE.
The inclusion of some form of social class that does not require combat leveling (SWG had a very good stab at this, and EVE seems to be playable as a non-combatant to a greater or lesser degree).
A movement away from the grind, ding, grind more, ding, get weapon, grind to get a slightly better weapon, grind to get a slightly better weapon etc etc treadmill of some MMOs.
That's what I can think of off the top of my head, I will be coming back to this post now and again to update things as I think of them.
TL, DR - Build your perfect MMO, play nice.
[1] and Raph Koster
[2] and definitely SOE
trevellian on
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edit: i'd love a zombie mmo.
SE++ Map Steam
It could be packaged with the game!
You'd begin by picking your name, your size, and some kind of 'class' that corresponds to your basic weapon set (melee fighter, heavy weapons, scout, etc.). There would also be the option to customize certain aspects of your appearance, although you wouldn't have control over every detail because those are subject to change depending on the vehicle forms you'll take through the course of your playtime.
Then, here's my idea for the 'beginning' of the game: you start out on Cybertron, where the war is still in full swing, as a neutral Transformer. You can encounter numerous soldiers from both the Autobots and the Decepticons, some of whom will have tasks you can complete to earn experience and gain the approval of each faction. As an individual who nevertheless has a home and friends, you will also have to fight off the Decepticons and mercenaries who endanger the things you care about, as well as the occasional over-zealous Autobot warrior. This will all be against NPCs; there's no PvP at this point.
When you hit level 10, or some comparable level of power, you will be approached by either the Autobots or the Decepticons, depending on how many tasks from each faction you've taken on; if you've done an equal amount for both of them, they will both seek you out. The point is, you'll wind up joining one of the two sides.
At this point, you will receive the ability to board starships and journey off Cybertron, to any number of populated planets. On these worlds, the war is about harvesting Energon, which would be the game's big resource; whichever side has the most of it is the side that's said to be winning the war. The focus on the other planets will be searching for Energon deposits, securing them, and maintaining a mining process there. Additionally, if you're an Autobot, you have the added responsibility of protecting the unwitting civilians of the planet you're on from Decepticon brutality. This is where the PvP begins in earnest; Autobot players and Decepticon players will fight each other, sometimes one-on-one, sometimes as part of full-scale engagements between squads.
Here's another element of the gameplay: secrecy. The Transformers are 'robots in disguise' for a reason: most of the intelligent life forms whose planets you'll be visiting will not be aware of the war, or even of the existence of the Transformers. In the recent IDW Transformers comic series, the Decepticons have worked this into a mode of operations that allows them to destabilize a civilization without actually revealing themselves: they use their military vehicle forms to create crises so large that the species eventually destroys itself in a misguided global war. This will give Decepticon players something to do; their goals will revolve around attacking targets and disrupting relations between different parties among the native species with the goal of bringing the world to conflict. Autobots will attempt to stop this.
Players on both sides will be encouraged to avoid detection by members of a planet's native intelligent life. You'll have some kind of 'awareness meter' like the star system in Grand Theft Auto, or better, like what was employed in the Transformers games on the DS. If you revert to robot form in the middle of a city, you'll blow your own cover as well as the cover of all Transformers on that planet, and you may wind up losing that planet for your entire faction. This would carry penalties, perhaps even the loss of all experience earned on that planet. If you have to fight another Transformer, you should try to do it away from populated areas, or keep the fight quick. It should hurt you more to blow your cover than to lose a PvP encounter.
I suppose Unicron would show up eventually, or something.
Gear differential not very significant-spending 2x the money gets you another 10% performance boost.
Open PVP everywhere.
Ways to conquer cities/whatever and keep outsiders out.
All goods produced by players.
Resources tied to who controls the cities so that there is an incentive to own them.
This.
It sounds like it would be a hell of a lot of fun. Though the penalties switching out into robot mode probably would need to be toned down a bit. I'm sure there'd be mistakes as to hitting hotkeys and what-have-you.
Open world PVP all the time, conquerable towns.
Instanced PVP a lot like Guild Wars (ie the option for team, or solo with a group of good and fittable NPCs)
EVE-like economy
I'd play that so hard.
Stop reading my mind!
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Pick your nation and design your character. It would be nice to see a lot of options here, because I love character customization when it doesn't affect the game.
No character classes though, instead each nation has 5 bending stances that cover the five basic MMO character types (IE Ranged Damage, Ranged Control, Buff/Debuff, Melee Control, Melee Damage). Different nations would have different ways to do each of these (IE an Earthbender control power could hold someone in rock, an air bender would knock back or stun, water bending could slow them with ice, fire benders could blind or disorient with smoke)
No leveling either. Instead, you start as a beginner in each stance. Using a specific stance opens up greater abilities within it (IE the earthbender power from above would turn into completely encasing the victim in crystals causing greater damage). Not using a stance causes you to lose abilities that you've gained as you fall out of practice. Eventually, you will get to a point within a stance where you can no longer advance your own abilities and must find a master of that form to train you in master-level skills.
Other masters would be available to train you in a variety of other talents not directly related to bending (IE stealth or crafting etc...) each taking a certain amount of talent points from a limited pool. Like bending, these skills can be increased with repetition or lost if ignored.
It's been done.
The screwing up part, I mean.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
So basically an enormous sports game with roleplay elements and a bit of FF style questing. Huzzah!
Rather than the actual setting of the MMO I was trying to find out what mechanics you enjoy/don't enjoy or would/would not like to see in an MMO.
Do you think it is possible to create an MMO that could be enjoyed by CS-minded players and carebears alike? What mechanics would such a game have? What potential exploits/problems might be caused by these mechanics etc etc.
For instance, with my chosen mechanics of an active market with primarily player made goods I can see that this would turn-off many of the "raider" set as it appears to me that many dungeons/instances are not done for bragging rights, or for enjoyment, but for the loot that the bosses drop. This could be alleviated to some extent by having loot in these dungeons that could be used by crafters to create improved items or unique looking items, but I don't feel these items should be so much better as to be an "I win" item. I know that this is my particular thing though and there may be many that would not like such a setup.
I do enjoy: being able to make money off crafted items without being a licensed stockbroker.
I don't enjoy: having my friends outlevel me, and then dropping out of the game as I can't be in the same group as them.
I do enjoy: the sidekick system in City of Heroes
I don't enjoy: being ganked while trying to do something. Quests + PVP = LAME.
I do enjoy: the threat of being ganked when I don't have any other activity I need to do other than avoid being ganked. PVP for PVP = AWESOME.
I don't enjoy: being destroyed by equipment that would require me to make the MMO my full-time job to get, that is just better than anything I could acquire.
I do enjoy: being destroyed by equipment that I chose not to equip because I specialised in something else, or stuff that is different as opposed to just better
I don't enjoy: epic drops, due to never having had one.
I do enjoy: getting uniquely weird stuff at similar intervals to other players.
I don't enjoy: having eight faces to choose from in the entire world
I do enjoy: SWG's facenator and CoH/V's costume maker. I also enjoy costume part rewards.
I don't enjoy: incentives that are distributed by twitch (eg. looting)
I do enjoy: a fair go for all members of the team.
I don't enjoy: characters that are severely locked into one thing, when it is non-trivial to just make a new character
I do enjoy: being able to change characters quite a lot, or having a new character be easy to bring up to speed.
I don't like: mounts ala World of Warcraft. I am notoriously wasteful with my money, and cannot save up to buy stuff. Thats fine when its something non-essential, but NOTHING essential should have a price-tag you can't meet in, say, 12 hours of play.
I do like: factions, particularly factions that aren't at war but also aren't real friendly either.
I do like: Blubber Gump's note in WoW and stuff like that. There are so few NPCs in any game that you genuinely interact with...being able to be good friends with one, or annoy the heck out of another would be great.
If done right it could be so fucking good.
I imagine it would be alot like EVE.
But in AC's.
Essentially the same set up as the first Mech Warrior, you run around bidding on jobs, only you take it a step further.
You have your own factions, start your own combat regiments, engage in wars complete with drop ship combat in orbit while trying to raid a planet.
A real death penalty, I don't mean 'you're dead now you lose some experiance' I want a death penalty similar if not harsher then Eve. Eve is the only MMO that gets my blood boiling in PvP, will this be the last time I see my beloved ship? Probably.
Lots of customizable Mechs, maybe allowing even custom body design, that is one aspect that would need to be worked out. I just think the Battle Tech universe before the clan wars, or after the clan wars... hell even during the clan wars would be an awesome idea.
I'd like to see more MMO's that aren't dependant on stretching out their content as far as possibly to keep their subscribers paying for as long as possible. Untill MMO's are able to be free, I feel they're going to remain in the same slump of endless grinding, rerunning dungeons, and other tedious gameplay.
Sig images by FooB
A Mechwarrior MMO that has rules like Eve would be appropriate, but it would really piss me off having to go through. "Shit, time to eject," and then someone shoots you out of the sky.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Then, you give the mechs a reason to spread out. Multiple targets, for example.
Use multiple factions. Four or five. Plus a computer/GM-controlled factions. Each faction would have differing technology and differing uses for resources. Then, players would fight over land, and the land they control would dictate certain types of resources. Say, natural elements, factories, etc. And they'd even want to preserve the factories while fighting over them, so they don't get blown up.
And those resources? Not just points. Each faction would get bonuses and/or special equipment that was only manufactured when the faction controlled a certain type or combination of resource points.
So, it'd sort of be like Planetside, except that the control points would mean something. Basic equipment would always be available, but certain specialized gear would only be available to players if they had certain resources. And if one side got down too far, the computer/GM-controlled one would help them out, somehow.
Also, GM-controlled faction? Played by a combination of live GMs handling the game like an RTS and AI.
I call bullshit. The MMO industry is a lot of things, but imaginative and willing to depart from the status quo they typically aren't. I'd bet it's doable.
Let alone if you upped the fee to $20 or $25/month.
It's the strategy guide.
Hmmmm, I was sort of thinking that real time shooting would require a lot of instancing, along the lines of having each "dungeon" or "battleground" being a planet and have the scarcity of drop ship or clan ettiquitte as the reason for limiting the numbers in each instance.
I don't know how much limiting graphics will help since the real problem with be having low enough mutual latency to allow for aiming dodging, etc. Of course, mechs can be made to look nice with fewer pollys lower rez textures than humans can so that is all to the good. Unless there is a need to render the players outside their mechs.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Step 2) Nobody is allowed to play the game. Fuck people ruining my perfect game.
Step 2) Nobody is allowed to play the game. Fuck people ruining my perfect game.
The servers would be divide by Space, Moon, and Earth. You could be OZ, White Fang, or Independent (ala with the Gundam Pilots). Massive PVP against each other and PVE versus fractions using Mobile Dolls.
No leveling. Just skill.
The best pilots in each server take control of the Gundams themselves or quest for certain ones like Epyon or Wing Zero. Anyone that destroys the Gundam during the month gets it.
But Gundams are hunted by Mobile Dolls, etc.