Intelligent mob grinding AI... you kill a rat, get 10 XP... you kill another rat, you get 6 XP... another rat 2XP... another 0 XP. Keep killing rats, get 0 XP. You kill a bunny, get 10 XP... you kill another bunny, you get 6 XP... another bunny 2 XP... another 0 XP. Keep killing bunnies, get 0 XP. This repeats itself until you've killed every type of NPC in game until 24 hours has expired from the time you killed the last NPC rewarding 0 XP.
This prevents you from farming mobs endlessly for XP. You will have to move on to new mobs to kill continuously until you've either run out of NPC types or are no longer within level range to do damage to them. You can still gain quest XP for completing quests but you will not gain additional mob XP for killing a particular mob if you have zeroed out your XP for that NPC type.
Instead of punishing players for killing the same mobs over and over again, what you want to do is reward them for not doing so. And this can be accomplished with good design.
As a simple example, imagine if there was variety in the amount of experience mobs granted that extended beyond levels and difficulty. Maybe a mob that hasn't been killed in several hours gives you more XP than the easily accessible, but otherwise equal, mobs that everybody picks on all the time. A simple mechanic like that makes it worthwhile to explore a little and be pickier with your enemies. You can still grind away mindlessly if you'd prefer, but it would require more kills to net the same amount of experience.
Which kind of leads me to my biggest hang-up about fighting in MMORPGs: the ridiculously low time-to-kill. If taking on a monster of appropriate level meant committing to a battle that lasts at least 3 minutes then maybe players wouldn't take mob grinding so lightly. Selecting mobs for the slaughter needs to be an art in and of itself, a meta for veterans to master and impart onto newbies. As it is, in most cases, mob grinding entails nothing more than running around aimlessly looking for bigger numbers. Plus, killing dim-witted AI opponents that never stood a chance is not my idea of fun.
Ultimately, I think that a lot of people's distaste for mob grinding stems from its image as a mind-numbing, repetitive task. But it doesn't have to be like that. It's just an unfortunate circumstance that it is in most cases. So instead we have quests. But they really aren't all that different, are they?
Intelligent mob grinding AI... you kill a rat, get 10 XP... you kill another rat, you get 6 XP... another rat 2XP... another 0 XP. Keep killing rats, get 0 XP. You kill a bunny, get 10 XP... you kill another bunny, you get 6 XP... another bunny 2 XP... another 0 XP. Keep killing bunnies, get 0 XP. This repeats itself until you've killed every type of NPC in game until 24 hours has expired from the time you killed the last NPC rewarding 0 XP.
This prevents you from farming mobs endlessly for XP. You will have to move on to new mobs to kill continuously until you've either run out of NPC types or are no longer within level range to do damage to them. You can still gain quest XP for completing quests but you will not gain additional mob XP for killing a particular mob if you have zeroed out your XP for that NPC type.
Instead of punishing players for killing the same mobs over and over again, what you want to do is reward them for not doing so. And this can be accomplished with good design.
As a simple example, imagine if there was variety in the amount of experience mobs granted that extended beyond levels and difficulty. Maybe a mob that hasn't been killed in several hours gives you more XP than the easily accessible, but otherwise equal, mobs that everybody picks on all the time. A simple mechanic like that makes it worthwhile to explore a little and be pickier with your enemies. You can still grind away mindlessly if you'd prefer, but it would require more kills to net the same amount of experience.
You just described DAoC.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I don't think I could get into the game just playing for 20 minutes at a time. I've always had that issue with games. When I play them I usually play them at least a 1 hour, but many times 2 or 3. 20 minutes doesn't seem enough time to get into the a game.
I'm not sure where the "doing a good job" part came from. Diablo 3 feels like a job to me though. You are basically repeating the same thing over and over again with no rest. In WoW you are repeating the same thing over and over again, but at least the quest and traveling around breaks it up a bit.
The 3rd/1st person wasd movement also is a lot easier on the hands.
1) Uh? Just do 3 20 min dungeons and you get an hour. The beauty of short dungeon is that you control your schedule. It can be 20 min. It can be 60 min. It can be 3 hours.
2) Feels like a job to you .. feel like a game to many. Repeating the same fun things .. that is what make video games. You repeat shooting in FPS, you repeat using skills in RPGs, you repeat controlling armies in RTS .. you get the drift? And if nothing break up the repeat better than random dungeons.
3) Well, that is just a preference on playstyle. There are those who like isometric more, there are those who like FPS shooting style more.
Intelligent mob grinding AI... you kill a rat, get 10 XP... you kill another rat, you get 6 XP... another rat 2XP... another 0 XP. Keep killing rats, get 0 XP. You kill a bunny, get 10 XP... you kill another bunny, you get 6 XP... another bunny 2 XP... another 0 XP. Keep killing bunnies, get 0 XP. This repeats itself until you've killed every type of NPC in game until 24 hours has expired from the time you killed the last NPC rewarding 0 XP.
This prevents you from farming mobs endlessly for XP. You will have to move on to new mobs to kill continuously until you've either run out of NPC types or are no longer within level range to do damage to them. You can still gain quest XP for completing quests but you will not gain additional mob XP for killing a particular mob if you have zeroed out your XP for that NPC type.
There is no need for such complexity. Just let people pick from an option menu where to go, and what to kill (disguise that as bounty, or whatever) ... and all have same levels of xp.
So it is a matter of getting sick of killing spiders in the forest, click and now I am killing ogres in caves (hopefully with different tactics and combat variations).
Comments
Instead of punishing players for killing the same mobs over and over again, what you want to do is reward them for not doing so. And this can be accomplished with good design.
As a simple example, imagine if there was variety in the amount of experience mobs granted that extended beyond levels and difficulty. Maybe a mob that hasn't been killed in several hours gives you more XP than the easily accessible, but otherwise equal, mobs that everybody picks on all the time. A simple mechanic like that makes it worthwhile to explore a little and be pickier with your enemies. You can still grind away mindlessly if you'd prefer, but it would require more kills to net the same amount of experience.
Which kind of leads me to my biggest hang-up about fighting in MMORPGs: the ridiculously low time-to-kill. If taking on a monster of appropriate level meant committing to a battle that lasts at least 3 minutes then maybe players wouldn't take mob grinding so lightly. Selecting mobs for the slaughter needs to be an art in and of itself, a meta for veterans to master and impart onto newbies. As it is, in most cases, mob grinding entails nothing more than running around aimlessly looking for bigger numbers. Plus, killing dim-witted AI opponents that never stood a chance is not my idea of fun.
Ultimately, I think that a lot of people's distaste for mob grinding stems from its image as a mind-numbing, repetitive task. But it doesn't have to be like that. It's just an unfortunate circumstance that it is in most cases. So instead we have quests. But they really aren't all that different, are they?
You just described DAoC.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
1) Uh? Just do 3 20 min dungeons and you get an hour. The beauty of short dungeon is that you control your schedule. It can be 20 min. It can be 60 min. It can be 3 hours.
2) Feels like a job to you .. feel like a game to many. Repeating the same fun things .. that is what make video games. You repeat shooting in FPS, you repeat using skills in RPGs, you repeat controlling armies in RTS .. you get the drift? And if nothing break up the repeat better than random dungeons.
3) Well, that is just a preference on playstyle. There are those who like isometric more, there are those who like FPS shooting style more.
There is no need for such complexity. Just let people pick from an option menu where to go, and what to kill (disguise that as bounty, or whatever) ... and all have same levels of xp.
So it is a matter of getting sick of killing spiders in the forest, click and now I am killing ogres in caves (hopefully with different tactics and combat variations).