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What do you feel are essential core gameplay features or mechanics that an Open World MMORPG must have to be an Open World MMORPG.
My list:
XP Disable
De-level
Balanced PK
No auto-logout/time-out
Kill Stealing
Being able to drag monsters into other players and passing aggro (can't remember formal name of this)
While it has been argued overtime that alot of these features can be abused the truth is alot of the features actually give the players a way to contest and are key to balance imho, especially in an open world which can easily be locked down by every lazy player in existence with a stopwatch.
As a side note XP Disable and De-level should be in EVERY mmorpg, open world or not.
Comments
this funny part is you can have every single thing you listed in an instanced, non mmorpg, small scale lobby game.
My list:
no instances.
no battlegrounds
no arenas
no lobbys
no teleport to dungeon that you just que'd for.
no insta travel.
I don't mind those two being included in an open world sci-fi MMORPG as it can easily be justified. And manually traveling to every destination may kill the immersion for me in said MMORPG.
The things I want from future MMOs. Fully open world or not. There is no need for it to be fully open world, if having zones will allow for X more things doable.
- Stop the individual loot. Show things on the ground.
- Sandbox elements, player run towns and cities.
- Material nodes being FFA. No instanced "this is mine" and no one can steal it.
- PK, preferably somewhat balanced. Allow to kill your allies, but it should be a last resort and should put you back in some regard.
- Chat bubbles, no nameplate on enemies to allow for proper ganks. Surprise attacks.(Targeting them would show name)
- Cross faction chat, let us talk to our enemies. It makes the world more alive.
- Quests. Properly made, long, hard quests. That are actually rewarding.
- Unique bosses with unique drops, that spawn randomly to an degree.
- No instant travel, very few res spots per area. Preferably region.
Sounds like heaven to me.
This would be an MMO that would have my full attention.
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
What is wrong with individual loot? You hoping to get more out of it that your equal share?
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Most games that have it, you simply not see what other people get. More or less is not my issue. It is an MMO after all. It just strips another layer out of the MMO genre.
Remember those games that announced rare loot that players got? It adds to the experience. Oh, that lucky guy, maybe I will get that some time.
Grats dude! Never saw that item dropped before!
Things like this are rarely the case anymore, everyone playing their own game, with their own loot.
In the end, for me. It adds depth to the game, just like player trading instead of cross server Auction Houses where you find whatever you want. It takes away the player interaction in MMOs.
Whether current games have done it right is another thing. I would not really mind individual loot, if everyone around you could see what dropped for you/allies, or enemies.
My problem with sandbox games as they currently exist, is that they all work so hard to create the illusion of player freedom while failing to create a world that players actually want to inhabit.
Right now my number 1 desired feature of a sandbox game is a believable world. I want a game that feels alive whether players are present or not. That means well thought out npcs, factions and pve that make the world feel compelling and dangerous on its own and encourages players to socialize and work together to survive. On the other side of that coin, that world will provide competition over contested content and thus, enemies, without the need for the gimmicks that the previous generations of PvP mmos relied upon.
If that can be first accomplished, and thats a BIG IF, I like pretty much the same features as most pvp players and sandbox gamers.
A crafting system with depth and ideally the ability to not only create rare and unique weapons, but to design them. Not just crafting equipment either, I'd like to see crafting become bigger so that you could literally craft anything a person would normally want including the armor and saddle for your horse, or picture frame or furniture in your house. I think much more of what you normally comes standard in an mmo, crafters should be responsible for creating. I'm tired of getting free mounts in games or purchasing them off vendors. I think animal husbandry could provide a fun experience on its own in an mmo. I could see a lot of players playing the game just to raise animals if its done right. Especially if your mounts can die and theres a on-going need for fast or sturdy mounts.
Open world PvP with absolutely NO instances ever.
A world filled with lore and backstory, but WITHOUT ANY character backstory. In other words, I don't want to hear the same tired tale of how my character used to be some hero or how I'm on the path to become the greatest hero ever. Thats the easiest way to ruin immersion in a game. The thought that every person in the world hears this same stupid story is not believable to anyone! Just STOP.
Partial or full loot (the albion partial loot system is interesting).
A player driven economy with both crafted and dropped items.
Conquest and politics. Claiming territory and building/destroying castles and keeps.
Art. I'd like to see painting, sculptures and composing as well as the crafting and playing of musical instruments to be part of a game.
Meaningful npc factions and quests, but no hub quests or linear storyline quests. No quest should exist unless there is a real story to be told and a real task to be completed. No more killing 10 wolves or picking 10 flowers... ever.
Some of these things are more out there than others. I don't anticipate crafting or art on the level I suggested here, but these things are already starting to be done. The ArcheAge composition system was a great idea.
While these are all good features a lot of them are also un-related to an 'open world mmorpg'
specifically:
unique bosses
quests
cross faction chat
chat bubbles
player run cities and towns (sandbox while awesome has a different meaning than open world mmorpg example: minecraft has player built cities but is not an open world mmorpg)
Good point, I could see it making sense in certain situations, however some games overkill it. (GW2)
Your post has little to do with your thread title. The features you list are features that you want in a game, and really has nothing to do with whether the game is open world or not.
But cnutemp tried to bail out the thread by giving a list of "this is what makes an open world" in the first reply.
Why do you consider Arenas not open world? Are you saying that if a player(or guild/player-city) wants to spend the money to build a gladiator arena that kind of sandbox feature isn't open world?
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"