Some MMORPG Thoughts

greggreen

Okay ive been a fan of mmorpg since the Horizon beta days,but finally I feel like posting something. So please dont flame me 

Perhaps after all I am demented or I have a point, all I know is I have been playing online games for too long ^^.

It seems like there is a book for creating an mmorpg these days. Certainly the fantasy model follows an ever stagnant path. The few gems that have appeared overtime have been destroyed by company programming/management screwups. I have played multiplayer games from the MUD days. Time and time again I absorbed the hype, try the game then drop the game after 2 months. Sometimes I find a great game, live in it for a year or two then I start drifting again, it is possible this is natural anyway.

So lets put up where some companies have got it wrong in the past in my opinion only. And some possibilities for the future.

Grouping With Friends (surely the essence of MMORPG)

This has been a thorn in my side for a long time. You start playing the game. You play with people online, they put in a weekend or two more than you, then you will never group with them again. Some people like quests, some like to explore killing mobs to find that interesting item. Others like to experience every class in the game. Get sucked into crafting and youll be behind by 10 levels in the blink of an eye. all these factors make groups drift apart into random grouping, even solo play. So why this inane Levelling system that restricts grouping with friends? Sure levels were in rpg games. But they were offline for the most part. Even the games that were online warned of things to come. Levels are a by-product of the pen and paper games. In the pen and paper games groups rarely levelled past each other and i do not remember levelling 5 or 6 levels in a weekend. When you played with your friends the Games Master would not start flashing 'oh youll get no experience for this fight because your levels are to far apart'. There are people in the mmorpg community that claim they are able to get the max level in usually a week or two, some take months, others even a year, I have to say I even avoid the end game altogether .. sometimes. so the whole population drifts in and out of groups. After a year or two of release, new people entering an mmorpg will not even find groups. You will not last long soloing in an mmorpg, the constant monthly financial drain will make you turn your back on mmorpg then its back to the offline rpg. Lets face it your spending £120 a year for solo play after all. Now some games have noticed this fault and have allowed lowering your level to play with friends. However you tend to find your character is overpowered, to the point of being a bit boring. This system must also give a good reward for the high level character which it fails to do, why should it? You play an mmorpg for reward (effort put in = reward that is the drive) unless the other player is a real life friend it is hard to regularly play with a lower level. Why? Because every second your playing with a low level friend your high level friends are drifting ever further away. So this function becomes a simple power levelling technique at best, for your alt or real life friend.

Conclusion

1/ One option is 70%-100% leveling experience equivalent for the high level character grouping with a low level character. Okay this means it is possible to level up on lower level mobs in groups, but then so what. I like playing with new players, their mistakes make the game more random perhaps even testing your skill more.

2/ Forget levels all together. PVE, PVP, raid, solo its all there for anyone day one, get rid of this I have worked hard to get here and swap it for hey I’m having fun, look at all the people here playing! The pen and paper concept of levelling was designed for a level or two a weekend at best. Where gaining a level was a long slog. Some games are almost there. Mobs classed as solo-able, group, raid. Just throw the level system away! Go full on with points instead ... this wont work you say. Try planetside, although pure pvp you can take out a high level player after a few levels (few hours play), it takes skill yes but its possible. Technically planetside has almost no levelling as levels do not increase stats. Focus is points to spend on better equipment.

If you remove levels it creates a rather fantastic concept all content is accessible to everyone at any time, not a fleeting memory as you level 2 times and on to the next area. Add solo mobs, group, and raid and were done.

Items, Crafting and Getting the Edge.

Gaining Items crafted or dropped, its all about squeezing your stats up. Then they cascade by an even more smaller degree to effect the meat of your character, mana/power health dodging attacks etc. Most items are throw away. You will get a replacement almost every 2 to 4 levels via a drop. Repeat and rinse. Almost every game I have played follows this pattern. Crafting has killed grouping up with players for me in the past, i grind away. And for what, I make some powerful level items for low levels or face months to a year of grinding to get to the end game, only to find a few hundred others all targeting possible sales to those lvl 50-100. Why did I waste my time! Lets face it there are 2 reasons for crafting, giving your friends and yourself the edge and making money. However money can be made from drops, so lets say the primary reason for crafting is for the edge.

Conclusion

1/ To be honest some games have added weapon/armour buffs/procs. But why not go to the next step. Each weapon class does the same damage with minor adjustments of cause. You pick a weapon because of the look of it. Although the fantasy genre follows fantasy books and films. Do you see main characters dumping there weapon every level? No, so have the weapon able to have types of damage and procs. Let the skills determine overall damage, some could be passive much like Guildwars. Let the player keep the weapon he/she loves. Ive had weapons I love the look of but a few hours later its useless. back to the grey stick like sword. Have drop/quest/raid that look cool, no uber stats but real damage bonuses vs creatures or damage type. If your going hunting Ice Golems your damn sure you want to complete the quest that gives you The Flaming Demon Sword of Melting before hand. Have a few equipment fit outs you can switch between at the bank and you have an interesting game. Crafting in turn could be to make these critical weapons/armour vs a certain type of monster. No more lists of irrelevant weapons from lvl 1 to 99 but every weapon you can make IS useful to someone. Bingo now you have a market. In fact if you take the point that there are no more levels anymore you could make the wearing out of an item a reality. Because no level means you do not need to find a crafter to make the lvl item you need. You by the types you need. The more risky the mob the more careful you will need to be with the equipment you take with you.

2/ Forget drops and crafting and all that camping / grind. Go with points and let you select the items you want. The higher you go the more range available. Make the game all about quests / pvp / raids. Quests unlock unique items, dragon slaying etc. A crazy thought but 3 games come to mind in part have this. Planetside, Guildwars (PVP), and Savage. Savage is not an mmorpg, but it did provide the idea of buying items to fit your character out. and for its faults was great fun. This replaces crafting with understanding what you need for a raid or pvp.

3/ What if items gave your character skills? You can go out with your two handed sword and wizards hat, which gives you melee combat and a fire ball spell. each I item also effects your health and power. So you can create any class you can think of, just vary your equipment. OO perhaps this is to progressive for mmorpg!



Thanks for putting up with this topic / first post lol ^^

WARCRYtm

I will say GW and EVE, this games are ahead of this time