The perfect (mmo)RPG

Vashra

Dear Santa,

I want an MMO that understands that being in a game, I should be able to do "everything" rather than having to have one character for crafting, another for PvE and a third that is geared up the proverbial wazoo for PvP. (Every game I've ever played)

I want an MMO with raid and quest mobs who are always in their lairs, rather than "rare spawns" that artificially extend my *cough* game-play time *cough* by making me sit on my butt in some dungeon that's 10 levels beneath me for weeks so I can finally catch the same elusive critter that 2000 other people on the server have been seeking. (Mostly EQ)

I want an MMO that has "game modes" so that if I want to go solo - even on my cleric - I can do so and not get splattered all over the wall. (Something better than the godawful shrouds of EQ)

I want an MMO that respects the idea that a mob's power and abilities should be the only thing that keeps me from killing it, and if I want to run my level 5 toon to a level 50 zone and get beaten into paste, that's my prerogative...but I should *never* need to depend on 60 people I don't know to complete a raid so I can get "keyed" to even see content for which I have already paid.

I want an MMO with an "I'm just bored and want to explore" mode so I can wander around in absolute non-agro safety (being unable to loot anything or attack anything) and just enjoy the graphics in the world. If everyone could do this, it would make for some interesting parties. If developers thought this would ruin game-play or clog up zones, then have an instanced version. Yes this does mean people would map the snot out of every zone, but that already happens so who cares.

I want an MMO with cities that make *sense* and that are *full* of buildings I can actually enter. If this means every building has to be a tiny instanced zone like in Anarchy Online, that's fine, but I don't want to see *any* fake buildings. Further, the cities should be structured such that  you need to have done some great and terrible deed to be "kill on sight" to the guards, rather than the current overly simplistic idea of murderous racism that drives so many cities in most MMO's today.

I want an MMO that thinks outside the box of "elves are good, orcs are evil" so that your alignment is wholly separate and distinct from your race/class combo. This might require being a bit more imaginative with the classes than most games currently manage to be, as it is difficult to envision a "good" necromancer or a "bad" paladin in the traditional sense of those classes.

I want an MMO where my cultural and religious decisions *matter* -- but aren't "worn on my sleeve" for an automatic faction hit with every mob or NPC who has never seen my face before. Perhaps that pendant I'm wearing that marks me as a wicked witch of Chumblespuz gets me killed because I forgot to take it off before entering a city devoted to the Happy Fluff Fairy...but if I'm not flashing my colors then the general populace shouldn't know I'm aligned with the forces of evil (or good for that matter).

I want an MMO that isn't afraid to let me own many vehicles/horses, raise kennels full of pets, and fill an instanced (for the sake of the graphics lag) house full to the brim with my trophies and loot. (SWG came close before the great nerfing)

I want an MMO that lets me stock a vendor that sells my junk when I'm offline. (SWG, AO come close).

I want an MMO that has the intricate economy of Eve Online, the graphic beauty of the best revamped parts of EQ1, the raid strategy of both EQ 1 (minus flags, keys, and insane rare pops) and WoW, the space fighting of the old SWG (pre-nerf), the "tailor made" solo missions of DnD online, and *few* enough big interesting cultural centers that the likelyhood of player ***RPG*** happening isn't a million to one -- all balanced with reasonably available supply stations so you don't have to return to said cultural hubs every hour.

I want a switch I can flip to be instantly equipped and geared for PvP anywhere in the world I happen to be, but I also want to be utterly immune to PvP when I don't want to be bothered. This switch may not function in PvP bases, land control areas etc.

And most of all, I want to be able to log in for five hours, do *something* (like the old pirate farming in SWG) productive, and make enough cash that the idea of needing to pay real money to some game nut who makes his actual living farming money for others never ever - ever - happens.

I want an MMO that recognizes that looting your own dead body is ultimately silly and wastes gameplay time and resources if I have to find, buy, or otherwise molest my fallen corpse.

I want an MMO where I can stick my character in a city and put it on "auto-function" and then be (probably not in the world but maybe if it could be coded as such) farmed out as an NPC "mercenary for hire" to the NPC or even player community, so that I could earn some level of XP even if I didn't have time to play. This would not give me any advantage, but it would let me do things like hold down a *job* while staying basically on-par with the rest of my server/group/guild whatever for advancement. It would *not* grant me any "you must do this quest" type flags or developments.

Failing the above (because if someone doesn't play for a year you don't want them logging into a max level toon they don't know how to play), I want the instant ability to "tag along" in an "apprentice" position with much higher level characters without being slaughtered for the level gap (SWG had an *almost* working version of this).

By contrast, I want the ability to instantly "lower" my level at will so that I can drop back to the max skill set for any level beneath my current level so that I can go play in "old" zones for fun or with lower level friends *without* having to feel like I'm wasting time that should be dedicated to my main. (EQ totally failed to deliver this with the shroud system).

I want an MMO where 15 minutes of my game time is never -- ever -- spent just getting from point A to point B. Oh how I miss UO where everyone could have *just* enough mage skill to teleport to wherever.

Did I miss anything that others want?

AmbassadorDvinn

Ultima Online and Darkfall

 

EDIT:  Re-reading your post made me come to the conclusion you're insane.

uncus

Ryzom fulfills most of your wishes...the "no agro" button and "all buildings are enterable" aren't in there, but really, most of the other things are - so many I can't even recall without quoting your entire post.

So why don't I play it anymore?  Time mostly, and money - I'm too cheap to sub $15/month when I can only play a few hours most weekends.

jahar

Originally posted by Vyre


Ultima Online and Darkfall
 
EDIT:  Re-reading your post made me come to the conclusion you're insane.

i concur.. some good things in there, some bad things, some rediculous

PkL728

/rant on

Your rant about your "perfect (mmo)RPG" is just a waste of space and I don't know why you wasted such a long time writing that (thank you for putting breaks in there though... some people haven't figured that out yet).  Your perfect mmorpg is not most peoples perfect mmorpg, not to mention that all of the things you want implemented would be impossible to do.  Sure some of them could be mostly implemented, but having the devs come up with a way for you to "auto-level" your character?  Come on now, let's be realistic here.  I might as well post about how my perfect car will be able to fly, have lazers that shoot out of the headlights and will automatically drive me where ever I tell it to.  It is just not possible to develop such an endevour.  Any game that tried would fail miserably (until maybe some big technological advances are made?)

/rant off

bomber009

You know there's only one way to get exactly what you want in a game and that's make it yourself, otherwise you have to deal with the cookie-cutter crap that are released.

 

Some ideas in there are good but some are just ridiculous, but if that's what you want make it.

RespyShunt

I want an MMO that thinks outside the box of "elves are good, orcs are evil" so that your alignment is wholly separate and distinct from your race/class combo. This might require being a bit more imaginative with the classes than most games currently manage to be, as it is difficult to envision a "good" necromancer or a "bad" paladin in the traditional sense of those classes.

 

That is a good idea though, make it based on the quests you do, or the deeds, like Fable.