A lot of the "static-ness" of MMO's has to do with the limitations of the technology.
Ideally creators of MMO's (at least the sandbox variety) could truly build a living breathing world.
By that I mean a world that had:
Dynamic landscape with geological (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, continental drift), meteorological (seasons, weather patterns, freak storms, tides, floods etc), & cosmological (day, twighlight, night cycles, aurora borealis, meteor showers the odd asteroid, star systems rotating planet & moon cycles) events.
Differing climates, terrains, deserts, forests, frozen wastes, river hewn canyons, glacial mountainscapes, lush jungles, plains, plateaus, hills, estuaries, swamps, grasslands, underground cave systems, geothermal areas, & combinations of all these all in a seamless zoneless world with rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, continents, islands, atolls, coral reefs.
Animals, creatures, humanoids, birds, other flying crap, burrowers, nesters, insects, mutants, dwellers suited to their environments, bands of creatures, lone creatures, swarm creatures, armies of creatures...all of varying evolutionary states & intelligences, some with pack behaviours, some with mob mentalities some with strategies.
Multiple races, varying levels of AI.
And all of them leading existences with purposes, like meeting a Goblin band that are out at night trying to ambush lone travellers, or an Orc Warparty ransacking a village just after you arrive & you have to help defend it, or you're asked to go kill some livestock killing wolf-pack or a man-eating lion.
Some villages/races will treat you well or try to recruit you to their cause to craft/farm/defend for them, or a band of robbers that want you to help them steal some artifact or kill some sherrif.
And about a billion other things that would eat up too much processing power to even attempt in a poor facsimilie.
Dungeons that had puzzle-based sections for additional bonuses, find a piece of a key, find another piece, figure out where they go, what it unlocks, traps, hazards, (Raiders of the Lost Ark dungeon my inspiration here).
One day some of those things will be possible, but in the meantime, I think MMO need to look at "scaling", scaling what the game environment does in relation to who is in it, and what is to be achieved, like a WAR ublic quest that knows who is in range & adjusts how many mobs are around, adjust how hard they are, & what rewards they will give all based on what classes are near, what rank they are, what gear they wear, how skilled they play.
STOP READING THIS FORUM AND PLAY AGE OF CONAN YOU IDIOTS.
Why would I do that? Its a failed, overinstanced, buggy, poor performing, shallow, and empty excuse for an MMO. And I guess its filled with people that are yelling at me to shut up and hop on the sinking ship? Well, the ship is already underwater, I'd have to get my scooba gear on first.
Vanguard is probably the best MMO on the market right now, which isn't saying much. But its a very good game, compared to the others.
Why?
0 instances or load screens, best graphics on the market, BIGGEST and most detailed game world to date, much like an Elderscrolls game in design. There are great quests at EVERY level. I once had an absolutely cinematic encounter in a tomb in the desert, with one of the most challenging boss battles I've ever had, and it was just a level 20 dungeon. There are dozens of those. There are hidden details all over the world, some dungeons that players haven't even found yet.
And... I know this is going to be hard to believe, but Vanguard has some of the best classes ever designed in an MMO. I've ALWAYS played a tank in MMOs, tried many casters but it never took, but man, Vanguard changed my mind. Then you have the rangers, where you really do feel like a ranger. Charing pets, making your own arrows, creating camps in the wilderness. Its great.
Also, their dungeons are massive in size, and beautiful in art direction. Best dungeons I've ever played.
Now you might color me a fanboy of this game, but hey, I'm not playing now. I'm just giving credit where credit is due.
Vanguard is probably the best MMO on the market right now, which isn't saying much. But its a very good game, compared to the others.
Why?
0 instances or load screens, best graphics on the market, BIGGEST and most detailed game world to date, much like an Elderscrolls game in design. There are great quests at EVERY level. I once had an absolutely cinematic encounter in a tomb in the desert, with one of the most challenging boss battles I've ever had, and it was just a level 20 dungeon. There are dozens of those. There are hidden details all over the world, some dungeons that players haven't even found yet.
And... I know this is going to be hard to believe, but Vanguard has some of the best classes ever designed in an MMO. I've ALWAYS played a tank in MMOs, tried many casters but it never took, but man, Vanguard changed my mind. Then you have the rangers, where you really do feel like a ranger. Charing pets, making your own arrows, creating camps in the wilderness. Its great.
Also, their dungeons are massive in size, and beautiful in art direction. Best dungeons I've ever played.
Now you might color me a fanboy of this game, but hey, I'm not playing now. I'm just giving credit where credit is due.
In normal circumstances, 0 instances would generally make a game worse, not better. But since Vanguard is a veritable ghost town, instancing would probably be redundant.
Can you post some screens of these beautiful dungeons?
____________________________________________ im to lazy too use grammar or punctuation good
There hasn't been innovation in the area of AI or content since the inception of the genre. There has been efforts put forward to improve graphics but its stil button mashing standing lemmings.
All mmos suck.
However difficult it is to program a line of sight or a hearing range? That is OLD technology done in many SP games.
The issue is not that we cannot do better AI. The issue is whether we want better AI. Make it too difficult for players will just drive them away. Remember hack-n-slash games (like most MMOs & Diablo) exist to let players butcher through a large number of creatures, not to kill the player every 5 min.
I think the aggro range of mobs are intentionally being kept low so that dungeon runs are manageable. It would not be fun if every time a party of 5 shows up to a dungeon, all 200 mobs inside rushed out right after the alarm is sound.
Comments
A lot of the "static-ness" of MMO's has to do with the limitations of the technology.
Ideally creators of MMO's (at least the sandbox variety) could truly build a living breathing world.
By that I mean a world that had:
Dynamic landscape with geological (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, continental drift), meteorological (seasons, weather patterns, freak storms, tides, floods etc), & cosmological (day, twighlight, night cycles, aurora borealis, meteor showers the odd asteroid, star systems rotating planet & moon cycles) events.
Differing climates, terrains, deserts, forests, frozen wastes, river hewn canyons, glacial mountainscapes, lush jungles, plains, plateaus, hills, estuaries, swamps, grasslands, underground cave systems, geothermal areas, & combinations of all these all in a seamless zoneless world with rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, continents, islands, atolls, coral reefs.
Hamlets, villages, towns, cities, outposts, trade lodges, mountain cabins, military encampments, castles, forts, brick shithouses......
Animals, creatures, humanoids, birds, other flying crap, burrowers, nesters, insects, mutants, dwellers suited to their environments, bands of creatures, lone creatures, swarm creatures, armies of creatures...all of varying evolutionary states & intelligences, some with pack behaviours, some with mob mentalities some with strategies.
Multiple races, varying levels of AI.
And all of them leading existences with purposes, like meeting a Goblin band that are out at night trying to ambush lone travellers, or an Orc Warparty ransacking a village just after you arrive & you have to help defend it, or you're asked to go kill some livestock killing wolf-pack or a man-eating lion.
Some villages/races will treat you well or try to recruit you to their cause to craft/farm/defend for them, or a band of robbers that want you to help them steal some artifact or kill some sherrif.
And about a billion other things that would eat up too much processing power to even attempt in a poor facsimilie.
Dungeons that had puzzle-based sections for additional bonuses, find a piece of a key, find another piece, figure out where they go, what it unlocks, traps, hazards, (Raiders of the Lost Ark dungeon my inspiration here).
One day some of those things will be possible, but in the meantime, I think MMO need to look at "scaling", scaling what the game environment does in relation to who is in it, and what is to be achieved, like a WAR ublic quest that knows who is in range & adjusts how many mobs are around, adjust how hard they are, & what rewards they will give all based on what classes are near, what rank they are, what gear they wear, how skilled they play.
Vanguard is probably the best MMO on the market right now, which isn't saying much. But its a very good game, compared to the others.
Darkfall Travelogues!
Why?
Why would I do that? Its a failed, overinstanced, buggy, poor performing, shallow, and empty excuse for an MMO. And I guess its filled with people that are yelling at me to shut up and hop on the sinking ship? Well, the ship is already underwater, I'd have to get my scooba gear on first.
Darkfall Travelogues!
Why?
0 instances or load screens, best graphics on the market, BIGGEST and most detailed game world to date, much like an Elderscrolls game in design. There are great quests at EVERY level. I once had an absolutely cinematic encounter in a tomb in the desert, with one of the most challenging boss battles I've ever had, and it was just a level 20 dungeon. There are dozens of those. There are hidden details all over the world, some dungeons that players haven't even found yet.
And... I know this is going to be hard to believe, but Vanguard has some of the best classes ever designed in an MMO. I've ALWAYS played a tank in MMOs, tried many casters but it never took, but man, Vanguard changed my mind. Then you have the rangers, where you really do feel like a ranger. Charing pets, making your own arrows, creating camps in the wilderness. Its great.
Also, their dungeons are massive in size, and beautiful in art direction. Best dungeons I've ever played.
Now you might color me a fanboy of this game, but hey, I'm not playing now. I'm just giving credit where credit is due.
Darkfall Travelogues!
Why?
0 instances or load screens, best graphics on the market, BIGGEST and most detailed game world to date, much like an Elderscrolls game in design. There are great quests at EVERY level. I once had an absolutely cinematic encounter in a tomb in the desert, with one of the most challenging boss battles I've ever had, and it was just a level 20 dungeon. There are dozens of those. There are hidden details all over the world, some dungeons that players haven't even found yet.
And... I know this is going to be hard to believe, but Vanguard has some of the best classes ever designed in an MMO. I've ALWAYS played a tank in MMOs, tried many casters but it never took, but man, Vanguard changed my mind. Then you have the rangers, where you really do feel like a ranger. Charing pets, making your own arrows, creating camps in the wilderness. Its great.
Also, their dungeons are massive in size, and beautiful in art direction. Best dungeons I've ever played.
Now you might color me a fanboy of this game, but hey, I'm not playing now. I'm just giving credit where credit is due.
In normal circumstances, 0 instances would generally make a game worse, not better. But since Vanguard is a veritable ghost town, instancing would probably be redundant.
Can you post some screens of these beautiful dungeons?
____________________________________________
im to lazy too use grammar or punctuation good
Other than maybe Aion i don't see anything special listed on the boards. Maybe some mmo will suprise us this year but for now it looks bleak.
However difficult it is to program a line of sight or a hearing range? That is OLD technology done in many SP games.
The issue is not that we cannot do better AI. The issue is whether we want better AI. Make it too difficult for players will just drive them away. Remember hack-n-slash games (like most MMOs & Diablo) exist to let players butcher through a large number of creatures, not to kill the player every 5 min.
I think the aggro range of mobs are intentionally being kept low so that dungeon runs are manageable. It would not be fun if every time a party of 5 shows up to a dungeon, all 200 mobs inside rushed out right after the alarm is sound.
When?