Factions- good evil and neutral Lots of war between the main to factions while neautral either picks a side or attempts to stop the fighting... heh... that would be hard...
Crafting Classes- all need to be special, for example, a low level crafter uses a knife to do a little bow and it takes a while, but a good crafter has the ability to higher elf or centaur NPCs to do it for them and costs him money but job is done faster and better.
Combat- Classes should give people centralized skills such as mage using fire ball and on and on, but they should be able to go to a trainer and say, "hey, i wanna use a spear, not a wand..." and its done, that way people could be what they want and not something guildwars turned them into. but guildwars did give people the ability to have more then one class and use whatever weapon they want, theyll just suck at whatever they do
Quests- Non-repetitive, quests that are special to each person, same people would give out missions like a peasant or a knight or sumthin, but they dont do EXACTLY the same thing they have to go somewhere else to get the job done.
World- A big map with mountains desert and forests with different enemies different places, for an example, you wouldn't see a 'desert turtle' anywhere, its imposable and even stupid.
Travel- Be it a giant bird, horse, dragon, whatever, it needs to be witty, good would have say horses hippogryph and evil would have dragons and Bats. Maybe someone is rich who has little to no weapon skill, they could have a carriage, maybe a commander need to cross the battle feild quickly, he could use a charriot.
Housing- A character could hire some different NPCs and he watches them build it, slowly it takes them about one game hour. Castles (guild halls) take maybe 3 hours and are HUGE....
Guilds- Each guild member recieves a guild cape, and the leader, once the castle is created, gets a crown with same defense as a helmet but....its a crown. and full armour that he can make for himself and commanders that represent his guild.
Races- Humans, elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs, centaurs and several other types of people that i did not mention with their own bonuses, defects and all that stuff, and they can all be whatever they want, but they would suck at it. and if people were evil or good, it would have to be connected to that class.(etc. Wizard -neutral- Summoner -good- Necormancer -evil-) And people could not choose what faction they wanted to be, but could gain special faction points from fighting people so that a dark elf for example could be a good guy.
With ALL that being said, i dont think i have missed anything, and actually ive thought this up over the years... which is pretty good since im only 13...
If it could be done.. I would like to see anytype of GURPS based game. Although, GURPS is difficult to start up. It is not however difficult to play. NO classes. Just advantages, disadvantages, and skills. It would be quite easy to see a fighter cast a spell like hold person to get a second or two to re-ready his weapon, or even get a new weapon. or the rogue type cast invisiblity on himself to get out of a bad situation. Mages weilding swords would also not be a problem. Skills could be learned by trainers, factions could be added. but then I am letting myself get carried away..
Being a little on the lazy side, lately, due to my baby daughter besieging me with philosophic sentences such as "why?" and "peepee....", I just launched myself to the ninth page of this thread.
To begin with, just one question to Jeremy something, the author of this here rant, or articlre, or call it what you want:
Have you taken the time to take a look at most of the other forums (or fora, I can't decide...)? There are a whole bunch of wannabe developpers there that spring ideas approximately every ten minutes... Being one myself, and having (partly) taken a part in the development of more than four projects, I am used to surfing the different sites and project sites, where the ideas are teeming. It's a nice touch of you to tell us all of your own appreciations. But it would be even better if you could tell us about what is actualy being said around the world.
And, for the quest system, have you considered The Matrix Online's system, with a dynamic system coupled with a bi-monthly three to five days event schedule? I know it requires quite a lot in the part of adventure creation, from the writers' part, and from the dev team, making things imagined happen. But so far, there isn't a thing in ANY MMORPG that comes as close as making me believe that my actions are actually having an effect on the world I play in.
And maybe, Anarchy Online's random quest generator is one of the best I have seen. It doesn't present many different quest TYPES, but it DOES present different configurations of "dungeons", in different places, chosen randomly. Maybe one could improve the system by including in it different types of quests, selected through level ranges. Maybe the "quests" could be anything from "Show you're a real man and help the next guy to turn up here through his tasks for the next hour or so", to "distribute equipment and/or money to characters with less than 20 hours of game time, for a total worth amount of X currency. Gain 1 Fame Point for each Y currency distributed". This could help improve the feelings of community.
I'm by no means a MMORPG vetern but I've played a few MMORPGs and have left them all after 1 month (and tons of wasted money). While some of them have a few new things, in the end (for the kind of character I play) it all ends up being the same. So below is what I want in an MMORPG:
Combat Oh man is this a big one. While it's true in real life that through hardwork you can become good, isn't there also cases were people are just naturally good? I think this aspect would make MMORPGs worth playing.
In a lot of the fantasy books there's a regular person who has natural abilities that eventually saves the kingdom. This makes it worth reading and in games worth playing because it's that whole 'average person with a little something special that changes the world-thing' that everyone feels for. By allowing full interactive combat, your character has something not many characters have, natural ability. It doesn't matter how many skill points they have or what level they are. The most unique of items. ----
This creates truely custom characters. It also levels the playing field and creates some very interesting play situations. Imagine these:
- You start playing a warrior type character and you see a monster that would usually be considered RED (difficult-impossible). In other MMORPGs you basically try and not get seen and run away. But what if, given full interactive combat, could you actually face the monster? Sure! With your skill level and weapon you'd only inflict a maximum of 1 hitpoint but if you have enough natural ability and time couldn't you kill that monster that has 50,000 hit points? Image the headlines in the major town:
Young man slays gigantic monster with only a dinky dagger!
People everywhere would know who you are. This recongnition could makes it seem like it's a single player game when it is in fact a MMORPG. This brings me to my second scenerio, PvP.
- Given a natural ability, someone that's Lvl 1 could fight with someone that's Lvl 6. This would make for some very interesting combat. In an arena setting people could make bets and maybe loose if they think a Lvl 6 will always beat a Lvl 1. Imagine how much money you could make from not only practicing but betting on long shots.
And how about inside and outside town? Sure that guy is a low level and you could kill him and take all his money, but what if he's really good at combat? Would you still risk it?
But to make combat the best it can be it needs to be handled in the proper way that's easy to get into, doesn't encourage cheating, and actually takes some thinking. ----
Here are the actual specific of combat and a possible way to include them:
Swords, clubs, staffs, knives, bare-hands/feet: - An attack ability with multiple styles & actions (thrust, blade from the side, blade from up high, etc...) - A block ability (various ways) - An endurance meter that only decreases when you miss and when you block continuously in a row - Special moves that are unlocked through levels or skill points. - Different swords give different levels of damage.
Ranged: - FP perspective to shoot that works like Rainbow 6 but speeds up as your skill point increases (or thru an item. - Various types of ammo give different levels of damage. So even if you have the worst shot, if you're lucky enough you can take down something a lot stronger than you if you have the right ammo. But that ammo might be extremely expensive or rare.
Magic/Science: - Must have line of sight to attack enemy. A way around this would be somekind of splash damage from a spell with a wider radius. - You can block a melee attack but it uses up magic points/mana/etc... This allow magic users to still use magic to engage in melee combat but at the cost of draining the magic pool for offensive and defensive spells. Think of this a a force field block. - Allow the player to load up to 10 spells that can be accessed by using the scroll wheel to select the spell (like in a FPS). - Can switch to a melee weapon at any time. - Monk type class would use Chi/Ki instead.
Stealth: - Visibility dependent on skill level. Low level stealth, you can kind of see. High level stealth totally invisible. - Attack ala Splinter Cell style. - Awareness skill/rating/etc... lessens effect of stealth.
Position: - Where you stand influences the damage. This allows players to circle each other and find openings in their defense.
Armor/etc...: - Armor lessens damage but attacks that connect can never be less than 1. - Has a wear and tear level. Have to buy a new one or have it repaired. Not so fragile you need have it replaced or repaired every couple on months (unless the fragile item is a special item). - Depending on ther skills, armor might slow down movement speed.
Other: - When the endurance meter runs out from blocking too much, you stagger and leave yourself open after every block. Too many and you might end up on your back. - Combat on vehicles/mounts are very limited. Like speedbikes on Jedi Academy. The upside is you get some VERY cool joust-like battles. Must be performed with weapon that's long enough (no knives, or fists)
Fun Ideas: - Friendly combat tournaments. First players to hit the other player 10 times wins. Allows High Level players to fight Lvl 1 players. Also helps practice because hits have no value. Only a deduction. ----
A lot of these ideas draw straight from other single player games. The combat (depending on which form) might be like Jedi Academy. You could know various forms and perform strikes in more than just one way. Splinter Cell and MGS have the correct way to implement stealth. Streetfighter Alpha 3 has the solution to the constant blocking problem. I think it's important to draw from the games we like that are in non-MMORPGs.
I got some more ideas that I'd like to post. Like using a puzzle system to craft items (again, fully interactive and an option to for natural ability). High quality items are unlocked by solving simple but complex puzzles.
A game that allows the combination of solo and group play that results in charactor progression throughout the life of the charactor. Drastically reduced need for a super mega guild to progress in the end game. More like a RPG without an end, with there ALWAYS being a way to advance your charactor with the choice of solo, group, or small raid available even in the so-called end-game. Social interaction is a huge part of the game but avoid a society based on total dependancy on others to accomplish anything or have fun on a daily basis...
Strong measures to "stifle" the progression of extreme power gamers. WoW has a minor rested bonus DAoC has a minor camping penalty, add a penalty in lessened experience gain or increased fees for extreme protracted play. Reason: Devs get caught up in trying to keep that 10% of gamers with little outside RL demands...those with the game as their main source of a sense of achievement in their lives....happy and busy...and it is simply too huge a drain on their resources. So they invent high-level raid instances with "needed" very rare drops requiring repeatedly doing over and over by large raid groups with massive waves of trash mobs in the way to the needed loot so each trip takes a large amount of time. Then they have to make a harder dungeon with better loot for the power gamer that needs the loot from that prior dungeon to succeed at the new one. This causes the "needed" classes to become gods and somewhere In the process the normal gamer is left behind comparitively speaking, with the game having too little resouces left over from trying to keep ahead of the power gamers to accomplish simple bug fixing and advancing the story line.
No large repeated raid encounters that are mandatory for charactor advancement--large raids end up (after the first couple) being 1 to 5 guild- and/or raid- leaders having a challenging time with the other 35+ players simply reduced to being their "pets" with their best attribute being the ability to stay alert, play for long periods of time, and follow orders. No challenge, no risk, no real sense of accomplishment, and definitly no feeling of being a hero for the overwhelming majority. These people rarely know why, but they are rarely happy gamers, eventually leave thinking they are "burned out" and need a break.
Stop all methods for getting an "edge". No third party custom UIs, no third-party programs (even have in-game only voice programs), extremely limit player made macros to the point that only changing a name in a permanant macro is doable. Devs know you need things like an assist button and target's target buttons and maps and "locs"...make a complete game, with everyone having the same tools..it wouldn't hurt to instill the belief among players that they must use what they are given...period.
Make it as difficult as possible for fan sites to gather spoiler information. A quest should take some thinking to complete and the game should provide all necessary information to complete a task. Perhaps have a few spots in each quest line that randomly change and are locked in at the time of acquiring.
Charactor Customization..massive starter choices for a young-looking charactor with aging every few levels.
PvP---Avoid any 1on 1 pvp possible (even dualing)...it is impossible to balance 1on1 and just leads to class envy, casual v hardcore, calls for nerfs and cries of class worthlessness.
Use themed battlegrounds based on Realm v. Realm...with ONLY entrance as individuals who are placed in an automatic raid group (negates the dreaded LFG and keeps a megaguild from owning them).
In the long run, a player should be able to EVENTUALLY get high level gear whether solo PvE, group PvE, raid PvE, merchant/tradeskiller, or battleground PvP or a combination of any of those.
Alas, although these concepts seem logical for a successfull, long-term, profitable and heathy game...they are unlikely to happen..because Devs are almost all formor hardcore players who were the Guild leaders and Raid Leaders of massive guilds and raids, they are the ones who developed those custom UIs that gave them an edge, and for them huge raids and megaguilds were fun and challenging....they look with scorn on on anyone who wants to solo when he wants or wants a guild which is small enough so he has some imput and everybody actually know him....casual player means wimp to them and soloists are anti-social.
More solo or small grouping = less power for the mega-guild leader types
Couldn't agree more the one thing that most MMORPG's miss out on is those of us who can not be bothered to the hours and hours of whinging, whining, moaning, complaining, stroming off, coming back, argument, reconilliation, accusation, defence, counter etc etc etc, That goes on in any large raid and guild.
I like to have lots of people around but I like to be able to move off somewhere and play the game on my own when the hassle of other people gets too much. The lack of this in EQ2 is what made it a no go. The move in EQ1 to stop bards, druids, wizards and someday necros from soloing is a design flaw.
As to the other comment in this thread...
1. GRAPHICS Not so important give me a good fun game to play and as long as the graphics aren't dire its ok by me.
2. Character Customisation - City of Heroes is about the right level
3. Crafting - Complete waste of time, if I want to make money I can do that in the real world.
4. Player housing - Complete waste of time
5. Quests - City of Heroes is perfect, never ever have to do anything but tasks, great variety of tasks available with more variety being added with every FREE expansion.
6. Cost of game - The days of paying a sub and paying for expansions are OVER. I will never do both again one or the other don't mind which.
7. Customer Service - City of Heroes is the best customer service I have ever known, both in game and in forums. They keep players updated as to what is happening. Some games seem to treat their customers as an annoying interference.
8. Raiding this should be kept to sensible levels 54 is just too many, 24 is an ideal maximum especially if graphics are to get much better or they'll be expecting everyone to upgrade computer every year.
9. Players who play too much - if you play more than 8 hours a day then you need emergency psychiatric help. Keep in mind it is just a game having millions of platinum or being the hardest player on your server doesn't make you special, it makes you a sad nerd who can't handle real life.
For me City of Heroes is the ultimate MMORPG and gets better with each new expansion.
Should just have renamed the article: "Star Wars: Galaxies. Why it's great, but could be better.
"Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." - Don Corleone (The Godfather, 1972)
I would have to admit Star wars galaxies got alot of things right.
Crafting, customization, and skill trees. I wish it would look as beautiful as EQ2. What I would like to see made is an MMRPG based of the Shadowrun series. If anyone is not familiar look it up. But its a future semi post apololytic world where nano technology, body modification, magic, and hacking work together. It would make an awesome world. Tweak SWG a little, add some quests/missions, you got an amazing game.
Well I agree with Jeremy on alot of what you said regarding the Manufatureing and collection of resources. But there were a few things that I thought he definetly left out that needed to be addressed. I'm sure if he could of written a book on this subject he could of filled it.
One feature I love about my favorite MMORPG Eve-Online is that you can be working on skills and makeing your charcter a little bit better in real time while your away from the game and your computer.
You can also setup bases that can harvest minerals and different resources for you. Which frees up more of your time to accomplish quests or just start different buildings and meet up with different friends.
I think the one thing that Eve-Online definetly needs to work on though is the character interaction. But I may be saying this because there really are not enough people that play the game. I believe the maximium I have seen online at a time was somewhere around 12,000 players on at once.
The last modification I would make to the game is an Auto-Pilot that you can setup specific trade routes telling it what to buy and sell on that route and have it be able to take care of that while your away at work. I believe this would help alot of people free up a bit more time from earning isk to be able to hang out chat learn and experience the interaction of more people.
Anyways enough about that. I hope everyone enjoys there MMORPGs and I hope we all have fun and come together in a single game at some point.
"I actually believe the only true MMORPG we all have is real life, I hope to see you there some time. ". - Alex Autrey
Greetings everyone, here's my 2 cents (probably someone said that already, but I'm not going to read throught all 9 pages :P ) My major concern on a drem game would be the level of configurable options for players! some love difficult games, some, like me, are simply stupid and can't play difficult games! many don't have time and so on... Some settings can be inserted in games to make them playable to all categories! the weak should have the same fun as the powerplayer! Most games support lowbie play very well, but they all expect the player to become a killing machine after a certain level! No fair :P
Well, what the games currently have, and what would be ideal in my humble opinion:
Customization is the soul
!- Avatar customization, as Jeremy said, allows players to start the game feeling good! when playing CoH, I created many characters, just for fun! CoH have a good deal of start-up customization, but player crafted stuff from SWGalaxies rules! As Jeremy said, uniqueness is vital!
- Skill configuration: open skill tree rules! Why classes? give people skills to choose and let them play! I found EVE-Online to be the best skill system around.You train whichever skill you want! You go to some stations, buy a trainning book, and if you meet the requirements for the skill, just have to start training, which takes time instead of XP! This allows you to create a nice balanced avatar for the begin, and deep specialization once you define what in the game appeals you mostly! The skills you can get are unlimited, but the timetable required caps the powerplayers! My Ideal MMORPG would have a open skill tree for me to get whetever I want!
-Housing: Absolutely agree with Jeremy about SWGalaxies! it's amazing the level of customization you can get in the player housing! A shame players can't choose the house color, but that would eb a littel too much :P
Gameplay is the heart!
-Combat: While I never played Neocrom, I'm really curious to check this mixed system mentioned. I guess your skills would define whetever you hit or not, for good or for bad... Let's say the game gives you a certain radious reticle to use as targeting, and wherever is your target on the reticle (ok, I mean BIG reticle), the stats are rolled to determinate the hit! but my dream MMORPG would have a selectable interface! some days you're simply not in the mood to go around shooting! you REALLY wanna click just 1 button! Gameplay customization also rules!
-Mining/Resources/Crafting: Gathering resources and crafting is a must have, but I agree partially with Jeremy. SWGalaxies has a great system of crafting and mining, but the resources shift from place to place and simply disapear from time to time! And teh time is not enough in my opinion! If you're not able to play the game daily, until you found a good spot of a certain mineral and start mining, the shift is almost upon your head! and they just don't change the location of mineral, they get new types always! this made me give up grinding when I first played the game (before vehicles and cities, a long time go) cause it took a damn long time to find it! I haven't tried now, with survey droids to assist the task and all, but I'm still traumatized with the 3 shifts in a row I got once :P So to the dream game: automated mine, resources shifts to prevent monopoly from harvesters already placed, but always give, if necessary lesser versions, avaiable more commonly!
- Gainning SKills: Open skill tree, but whatever you do, you get XP for that, much like TES:Morrowind (which give XP for jumping!) but instead of having to get 100 xp to get to lvl 1 and then your abilities raise, you'd get the percentual relative to the ammount! Quite simple: instead of "100xp lvl1= +10jump", you'd get +0,1jump for each XP you get! And to make players go train in masters and all, that xp would buy the definitive level so the player starts up a new escale, with a 1000xp top! And automated stuff like minning (will get there) would also add XP to player upon setup! Makes sense if you do setup correctly a waterpump in your farm, you learned how to do it and next time will be easier!
- Vehicles/pets/mounts: Fast travel is absolutely a must have! I guess I've read 2 or 3 books on my first experience in SWGalaxies, due the long walks I had to do to hunt! just set on autorun, check the rader once in a while for agressive animals and read on! Very annoying! Now they have vehicles, and while not still fast enough, the player city network allows players to PLAY with their paid time, instead of walking! EVE online, as a space based game, require people to use "jumpgates" to travel from system to system... Sometimes you need to get 8 jumps... Dude, just open a book or comic, cause it'll take a while! I guess Devs make travelling so damn boring to make sure players face danger and all that, but I must say: players must have the right to choose! Oh, and make all pet;mounts/vehicles customizable :P
- Difficult: Devs nowadays assume every player is: 1-Awesome game rat, ready to jump into deadly action wherever they go and if you refuse to, you get XP like a crippled lhama. 2- counterstrike fanboy, if it's another player, I wanna fightfightfightfight!!! Refuse PvP and it'll take several years to the goods! What I'm saying is not cap the diff of games and who cares... I'm saying players must have the right to choose! Now how to insert a difficult slider on MMORPGs? I guess the ideal is to set Easy to Hard game zones, like city of Heroes! The game get this right, with one problem: sometimes there's a skill jump on the enemies that almost prevent some players from entering the zones they're supposed to be! once you get, let's say, level 30, you are assigned to contacts in a 30-35 zone! so if you're stupid like me, you'll get killed A LOT until you reach lvl31 and there's finally enemies weaker than you around! If they set all zone to -2 and +2 levels( 28 to 37 lvl enemies), I'd still be playing that game! Well balanced difficulty zones are definetely in my dream MMORPG! Same goes for PvP! With the new combat upgrade, SWGalaxies got a nice PvP system, which is only screwed nowadays cause everyone is a jedi except you! You go to your Imperial officer and decide to be PvP or not! simple as that! The player must be able to choose! I was playing EVE-Online few hours ago and got my ore robbed by another player! Instead of this triggering the PvP stats, when I shot the player, the game police jumped on me and destroyed my ship! that's an example of poorly balanced PvP.
-Groups and Teams: I like teams! Made some good friends around the globe with teams and groups and guilds... but for vader's sake, I wanna play a game without having to be on a team 24/7! Some Devs must think of players as stupid geeks that don't know any other human being so they must make friends! Mandatory! (well, I agree some people out there really need this incentive, but not everyone! :P ) So if you wanna venture yourself when your guildmates are doing unnecessary things like working, you'll get your skin nailed to a NPC stronghold wall! Another point where the player shoulda be able to choose! Teams should not be so demanded!
-Quests: "THE" problem everywhere... I found the story arc idea of CoH a great one, cause makess teh game progress as your character gets a higher level, but the mission gamma is extremelly low... Get inside, find bomb/hostage and kill teh baddies... over and over and over and over again... SWGalaxies is just as bad, cause save for the themeparks, which are fairly easy and made for fans, the quests are a pain! recently introduced witht he combat upgrade, it's as annoying as CoH's. What can be changed? What if they used diablo-like dungeons, instanced for each quest? Let's be fair, they can't change this much, but some chain random missions could break the deja vu! "Oh I saved the princess but she needs her pink dress which is being used by the evil troll, so let's kill the troll! but without swords to not damage the pink dress!"
Well, that's it! I guess some of you will say "hey, but you don't like most aspect unique to MMORPG!" oh no, I like them! As I repeated over and voer, I just think the players must be able to choose when they get into each feature!
One thing i feel that all ppl leave out and most games today have left out, that i would feel would make any mmorpg or fps more interesting to us ( the Players). This would be interactive backgrounds. For an example; let's say your a wizard in any game and you fire a firebolt at an enemy, it miss the enemy just barely but wizzez by him anyhow. The firebolt nails a tree in the background, This is where i think it would make ppl more interested in a game if all of the sudden the tree burst into flames and burned down. There could always be a respawn of new trees but at the same time why not make it so ppl have to plant new ones to make it more realistic. That's what most ppl want in games today is realism and more interaction. I know what i have posted here isnt perfect i just think it makes a good point.
Originally posted by blvdog The firebolt nails a tree in the background, This is where i think it would make ppl more interested in a game if all of the sudden the tree burst into flames and burned down.
As founder, leader, and sole remaining member of the group Herbacious rights Enforcement in On-Line Play (HELP), I must protest in the outright promotion of tree destruction in the above post. Online trees and other plants are just as sacred as offline trees, and deserve the same respect. How dare you suggest that the mutilation, desecration, and outright persecution of online trees would be interesting in a game.
Burning sacred trees is horrible, not entertainment.
I have a game idea that will breakdown the norm for rpgs. It doesn't offer player housing, but rooms within inns you rest at. (Which require you to pay.)
First, Ive played video games since the days of Sega and Atari. As I grew up I played old DOS game in the early PC days, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Playstation, Dreamcast and Playstation 2. My favorite games were roleplaying games, fighting games and games with mini-game features. My three favorite games of all time where Final Fantasy Tactics, Dynasty Warriors and Super Smash Brothers.
The game features fantasy elementals, fast gameplay, mini-games and the ability to build your own character. I was also a person who you could find often at the arcade scene. I was fascinated by the fast past games and beauty of graphical artwork of the arcade games. I had always hoped to make own game one day with the same fast-gameplay of arcade, fantasy roleplaying, mini-game feature and with the option of building your own character. The problem I was a made of ideas, but I could not apply my work as a computer or graphic designer could.
I could write a good story, good dialogue, but I couldn't draw or digitize my ideas. Instead of the video game business, I tried my hand at the comicbook business. Unfortunately, I was repeatedly told I had good storytelling ability and original ideas, but without an artist, I couldnt expect to break into the business of comics. So I stopped writing for a while, trying to look for place were my ideas could of use. I do not pride myself in being a good writer because that is for you to judge, but I thought it would appropriate that I mention it.
I began to check video games companies all over and thought I could do well here. Within a couple of months, I brainstorm ideas for a new game that I believe would change the industry. I took from past games I love and popular present games. Hopefully, you enjoy my presentation.
My video game idea
Landon: Epic Battle is an Action Real Time Strategy Massive Multiple-player Online Roleplaying Game with the option of going full Player-vs.-Player and Player-vs.-Environment. Players who are not good at fighting can enjoy the PvE aspect, which has it own rewards and doesnt lack in entertainment while Player vs. Player gives players who wish not to adventure any further the option of testing their build and skills out on the next player.
In Player-vs.-Environment, you can continue growing through fames and youll gain more quests to do, fight more bosses and more treasures to wield. There is no end point to the PvE, you may engage the Environment as much as you like and continue gaining more quests. Where in other games, once youve reach a high point in the Player vs. Environment, you are force to stop to Roleplay, but in this game, you may grow higher on the scale of fame.
The Player-vs.-Environment feature mini-games that do not require you to PK your opponent and show off your moves, but to test memory or reflexes. The PvE mini-games require the team to compete with another team through competitive events or to aid each other for a common goal.
In Player vs. Player, it is the same thing. One may fight as much they like with no end and without it conflicting with the game play of others. In the PvP, players cannot take any special equipment with them except the equipment that you forged. There will be no imbalancing equipment that can be taken over the PvP area to tip the scales of battle, only the forged equipment the characters brings with them.
The player vs. player also features familiar mini-games such as Elimination battles and Duels, but also features mini-games that have a secondary aspect such Route, which forces the team to protect a person or special object. PvP in Landon: Epic Battle is very fast-pace and requires strategy and motivation rather than a good build.
The battles of Landon are very different from past MMORPGs. They border on arcade, but keep the roleplay aspects constantly apparent. The games battle is in some ways similar to Super Smash Brothers, Kingdom Under Fire, Dynasty Warriors and Dungeons and Dragons. The players can combos and special attacks against there enemies. Ive noticed in past MMORPGs that players knew how to sequence spells or skills in a certain order based on the skills or spells skill for heavy damage. Normally such tactics were used in fighting games, but Ive come to realize the same combo tactics can be used in todays games if applied right. The game pushes the physics engine to its limits with ability to launch your character up into air or hurl them at your foe, which isnt a common in many roleplay games today.
Gone are the races of humans, elves, gnomes and dwarves that plague cliché roleplaying games and the usual classes Paladins, Rogues and Warriors. Instead the game introduces Animal humanoids or animorphs with choices of different classes (or should I say titles) based on either the players tactics or race. Each race has it own racial class, which emphasis on racial abilities.
You no longer have to spend hours figuring out what class you are going to be at the character creation screen. You start out without a class, which is why I call them titles instead of classes. You can explore the world for your own and find out what you want to be. You have to build your character literally from the ground up.
The game and world of Landon is very realistic in physics, but cartoonish at the same time. The game steps slightly away from the grim backdrops of normal roleplay games and it gives it more of lively feature. The environment is effort changing through day and night and in-game seasons features and some quests, monsters and rare items are not available except at one of those times.
Finally, Landon features a competitive guild system and ally option. Guild and team can consist up to 10 players at a time and a guild can ally themselves with another guild to gang up against other teams or help each other out on quest. The small, but efficient guild system does not limit their game and they still have the option of joining other teams.
Comments
Hmmm... fantasy will use for good examples
Factions- good
evil 
and neutral
Lots of war between the main to factions while neautral either picks a side or attempts to stop the fighting... heh... that would be hard...
Crafting Classes- all need to be special, for example, a low level crafter uses a knife to do a little bow and it takes a while, but a good crafter has the ability to higher elf or centaur NPCs to do it for them and costs him money but job is done faster and better.
Combat- Classes should give people centralized skills such as mage using fire ball and on and on, but they should be able to go to a trainer and say, "hey, i wanna use a spear, not a wand..." and its done, that way people could be what they want and not something guildwars turned them into. but guildwars did give people the ability to have more then one class and use whatever weapon they want, theyll just suck at whatever they do
Quests- Non-repetitive, quests that are special to each person, same people would give out missions like a peasant or a knight or sumthin, but they dont do EXACTLY the same thing they have to go somewhere else to get the job done.
World- A big map with mountains desert and forests with different enemies different places, for an example, you wouldn't see a 'desert turtle' anywhere, its imposable and even stupid.
Travel- Be it a giant bird, horse, dragon, whatever, it needs to be witty, good would have say horses hippogryph and evil would have dragons and Bats. Maybe someone is rich who has little to no weapon skill, they could have a carriage, maybe a commander need to cross the battle feild quickly, he could use a charriot.
Housing- A character could hire some different NPCs and he watches them build it, slowly it takes them about one game hour. Castles (guild halls) take maybe 3 hours and are HUGE....
Guilds- Each guild member recieves a guild cape, and the leader, once the castle is created, gets a crown with same defense as a helmet but....its a crown. and full armour that he can make for himself and commanders that represent his guild.
Races- Humans, elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs, centaurs and several other types of people that i did not mention with their own bonuses, defects and all that stuff, and they can all be whatever they want, but they would suck at it. and if people were evil or good, it would have to be connected to that class.(etc. Wizard -neutral- Summoner -good- Necormancer -evil-) And people could not choose what faction they wanted to be, but could gain special faction points from fighting people so that a dark elf for example could be a good guy.
With ALL that being said, i dont think i have missed anything, and actually ive thought this up over the years... which is pretty good since im only 13...
the ultimate mmorpg would allow for the combination of a variety of skills and genre to make fun of all the other mmorpgs out there.
so that a Dark High Elf could smite a StarCruiser with a golf club.
My name is...
If it could be done.. I would like to see anytype of GURPS based game. Although, GURPS is difficult to start up. It is not however difficult to play. NO classes. Just advantages, disadvantages, and skills. It would be quite easy to see a fighter cast a spell like hold person to get a second or two to re-ready his weapon, or even get a new weapon. or the rogue type cast invisiblity on himself to get out of a bad situation. Mages weilding swords would also not be a problem. Skills could be learned by trainers, factions could be added. but then I am letting myself get carried away..
Being a little on the lazy side, lately, due to my baby daughter besieging me with philosophic sentences such as "why?" and "peepee....", I just launched myself to the ninth page of this thread.
To begin with, just one question to Jeremy something, the author of this here rant, or articlre, or call it what you want:
Have you taken the time to take a look at most of the other forums (or fora, I can't decide...)? There are a whole bunch of wannabe developpers there that spring ideas approximately every ten minutes... Being one myself, and having (partly) taken a part in the development of more than four projects, I am used to surfing the different sites and project sites, where the ideas are teeming. It's a nice touch of you to tell us all of your own appreciations. But it would be even better if you could tell us about what is actualy being said around the world.
And, for the quest system, have you considered The Matrix Online's system, with a dynamic system coupled with a bi-monthly three to five days event schedule? I know it requires quite a lot in the part of adventure creation, from the writers' part, and from the dev team, making things imagined happen. But so far, there isn't a thing in ANY MMORPG that comes as close as making me believe that my actions are actually having an effect on the world I play in.
And maybe, Anarchy Online's random quest generator is one of the best I have seen. It doesn't present many different quest TYPES, but it DOES present different configurations of "dungeons", in different places, chosen randomly. Maybe one could improve the system by including in it different types of quests, selected through level ranges. Maybe the "quests" could be anything from "Show you're a real man and help the next guy to turn up here through his tasks for the next hour or so", to "distribute equipment and/or money to characters with less than 20 hours of game time, for a total worth amount of X currency. Gain 1 Fame Point for each Y currency distributed". This could help improve the feelings of community.
I'm by no means a MMORPG vetern but I've played a few MMORPGs and have left them all after 1 month (and tons of wasted money). While some of them have a few new things, in the end (for the kind of character I play) it all ends up being the same. So below is what I want in an MMORPG:
Combat
Oh man is this a big one. While it's true in real life that through hardwork you can become good, isn't there also cases were people are just naturally good? I think this aspect would make MMORPGs worth playing.
In a lot of the fantasy books there's a regular person who has natural abilities that eventually saves the kingdom. This makes it worth reading and in games worth playing because it's that whole 'average person with a little something special that changes the world-thing' that everyone feels for. By allowing full interactive combat, your character has something not many characters have, natural ability. It doesn't matter how many skill points they have or what level they are. The most unique of items.
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This creates truely custom characters. It also levels the playing field and creates some very interesting play situations. Imagine these:
- You start playing a warrior type character and you see a monster that would usually be considered RED (difficult-impossible). In other MMORPGs you basically try and not get seen and run away. But what if, given full interactive combat, could you actually face the monster? Sure! With your skill level and weapon you'd only inflict a maximum of 1 hitpoint but if you have enough natural ability and time couldn't you kill that monster that has 50,000 hit points? Image the headlines in the major town:
People everywhere would know who you are. This recongnition could makes it seem like it's a single player game when it is in fact a MMORPG. This brings me to my second scenerio, PvP.
- Given a natural ability, someone that's Lvl 1 could fight with someone that's Lvl 6. This would make for some very interesting combat. In an arena setting people could make bets and maybe loose if they think a Lvl 6 will always beat a Lvl 1. Imagine how much money you could make from not only practicing but betting on long shots.
And how about inside and outside town? Sure that guy is a low level and you could kill him and take all his money, but what if he's really good at combat? Would you still risk it?
But to make combat the best it can be it needs to be handled in the proper way that's easy to get into, doesn't encourage cheating, and actually takes some thinking.
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Here are the actual specific of combat and a possible way to include them:
Swords, clubs, staffs, knives, bare-hands/feet:
- An attack ability with multiple styles & actions (thrust, blade from the side, blade from up high, etc...)
- A block ability (various ways)
- An endurance meter that only decreases when you miss and when you block continuously in a row
- Special moves that are unlocked through levels or skill points.
- Different swords give different levels of damage.
Ranged:
- FP perspective to shoot that works like Rainbow 6 but speeds up as your skill point increases (or thru an item.
- Various types of ammo give different levels of damage. So even if you have the worst shot, if you're lucky enough you can take down something a lot stronger than you if you have the right ammo. But that ammo might be extremely expensive or rare.
Magic/Science:
- Must have line of sight to attack enemy. A way around this would be somekind of splash damage from a spell with a wider radius.
- You can block a melee attack but it uses up magic points/mana/etc... This allow magic users to still use magic to engage in melee combat but at the cost of draining the magic pool for offensive and defensive spells. Think of this a a force field block.
- Allow the player to load up to 10 spells that can be accessed by using the scroll wheel to select the spell (like in a FPS).
- Can switch to a melee weapon at any time.
- Monk type class would use Chi/Ki instead.
Stealth:
- Visibility dependent on skill level. Low level stealth, you can kind of see. High level stealth totally invisible.
- Attack ala Splinter Cell style.
- Awareness skill/rating/etc... lessens effect of stealth.
Position:
- Where you stand influences the damage. This allows players to circle each other and find openings in their defense.
Armor/etc...:
- Armor lessens damage but attacks that connect can never be less than 1.
- Has a wear and tear level. Have to buy a new one or have it repaired. Not so fragile you need have it replaced or repaired every couple on months (unless the fragile item is a special item).
- Depending on ther skills, armor might slow down movement speed.
Other:
- When the endurance meter runs out from blocking too much, you stagger and leave yourself open after every block. Too many and you might end up on your back.
- Combat on vehicles/mounts are very limited. Like speedbikes on Jedi Academy. The upside is you get some VERY cool joust-like battles. Must be performed with weapon that's long enough (no knives, or fists)
Fun Ideas:
- Friendly combat tournaments. First players to hit the other player 10 times wins. Allows High Level players to fight Lvl 1 players. Also helps practice because hits have no value. Only a deduction.
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A lot of these ideas draw straight from other single player games. The combat (depending on which form) might be like Jedi Academy. You could know various forms and perform strikes in more than just one way. Splinter Cell and MGS have the correct way to implement stealth. Streetfighter Alpha 3 has the solution to the constant blocking problem. I think it's important to draw from the games we like that are in non-MMORPGs.
I got some more ideas that I'd like to post. Like using a puzzle system to craft items (again, fully interactive and an option to for natural ability). High quality items are unlocked by solving simple but complex puzzles.
Overall
A game that allows the combination of solo and group play that results in charactor progression throughout the life of the charactor. Drastically reduced need for a super mega guild to progress in the end game. More like a RPG without an end, with there ALWAYS being a way to advance your charactor with the choice of solo, group, or small raid available even in the so-called end-game. Social interaction is a huge part of the game but avoid a society based on total dependancy on others to accomplish anything or have fun on a daily basis...
Strong measures to "stifle" the progression of extreme power gamers. WoW has a minor rested bonus DAoC has a minor camping penalty, add a penalty in lessened experience gain or increased fees for extreme protracted play. Reason: Devs get caught up in trying to keep that 10% of gamers with little outside RL demands...those with the game as their main source of a sense of achievement in their lives....happy and busy...and it is simply too huge a drain on their resources. So they invent high-level raid instances with "needed" very rare drops requiring repeatedly doing over and over by large raid groups with massive waves of trash mobs in the way to the needed loot so each trip takes a large amount of time. Then they have to make a harder dungeon with better loot for the power gamer that needs the loot from that prior dungeon to succeed at the new one. This causes the "needed" classes to become gods and somewhere In the process the normal gamer is left behind comparitively speaking, with the game having too little resouces left over from trying to keep ahead of the power gamers to accomplish simple bug fixing and advancing the story line.
No large repeated raid encounters that are mandatory for charactor advancement--large raids end up (after the first couple) being 1 to 5 guild- and/or raid- leaders having a challenging time with the other 35+ players simply reduced to being their "pets" with their best attribute being the ability to stay alert, play for long periods of time, and follow orders. No challenge, no risk, no real sense of accomplishment, and definitly no feeling of being a hero for the overwhelming majority. These people rarely know why, but they are rarely happy gamers, eventually leave thinking they are "burned out" and need a break.
Stop all methods for getting an "edge". No third party custom UIs, no third-party programs (even have in-game only voice programs), extremely limit player made macros to the point that only changing a name in a permanant macro is doable. Devs know you need things like an assist button and target's target buttons and maps and "locs"...make a complete game, with everyone having the same tools..it wouldn't hurt to instill the belief among players that they must use what they are given...period.
Make it as difficult as possible for fan sites to gather spoiler information. A quest should take some thinking to complete and the game should provide all necessary information to complete a task. Perhaps have a few spots in each quest line that randomly change and are locked in at the time of acquiring.
Charactor Customization..massive starter choices for a young-looking charactor with aging every few levels.
PvP---Avoid any 1on 1 pvp possible (even dualing)...it is impossible to balance 1on1 and just leads to class envy, casual v hardcore, calls for nerfs and cries of class worthlessness.
Use themed battlegrounds based on Realm v. Realm...with ONLY entrance as individuals who are placed in an automatic raid group (negates the dreaded LFG and keeps a megaguild from owning them).
In the long run, a player should be able to EVENTUALLY get high level gear whether solo PvE, group PvE, raid PvE, merchant/tradeskiller, or battleground PvP or a combination of any of those.
Alas, although these concepts seem logical for a successfull, long-term, profitable and heathy game...they are unlikely to happen..because Devs are almost all formor hardcore players who were the Guild leaders and Raid Leaders of massive guilds and raids, they are the ones who developed those custom UIs that gave them an edge, and for them huge raids and megaguilds were fun and challenging....they look with scorn on on anyone who wants to solo when he wants or wants a guild which is small enough so he has some imput and everybody actually know him....casual player means wimp to them and soloists are anti-social.
More solo or small grouping = less power for the mega-guild leader types
Couldn't agree more the one thing that most MMORPG's miss out on is those of us who can not be bothered to the hours and hours of whinging, whining, moaning, complaining, stroming off, coming back, argument, reconilliation, accusation, defence, counter etc etc etc, That goes on in any large raid and guild.
I like to have lots of people around but I like to be able to move off somewhere and play the game on my own when the hassle of other people gets too much. The lack of this in EQ2 is what made it a no go. The move in EQ1 to stop bards, druids, wizards and someday necros from soloing is a design flaw.
As to the other comment in this thread...
1. GRAPHICS Not so important give me a good fun game to play and as long as the graphics aren't dire its ok by me.
2. Character Customisation - City of Heroes is about the right level
3. Crafting - Complete waste of time, if I want to make money I can do that in the real world.
4. Player housing - Complete waste of time
5. Quests - City of Heroes is perfect, never ever have to do anything but tasks, great variety of tasks available with more variety being added with every FREE expansion.
6. Cost of game - The days of paying a sub and paying for expansions are OVER. I will never do both again one or the other don't mind which.
7. Customer Service - City of Heroes is the best customer service I have ever known, both in game and in forums. They keep players updated as to what is happening. Some games seem to treat their customers as an annoying interference.
8. Raiding this should be kept to sensible levels 54 is just too many, 24 is an ideal maximum especially if graphics are to get much better or they'll be expecting everyone to upgrade computer every year.
9. Players who play too much - if you play more than 8 hours a day then you need emergency psychiatric help. Keep in mind it is just a game having millions of platinum or being the hardest player on your server doesn't make you special, it makes you a sad nerd who can't handle real life.
For me City of Heroes is the ultimate MMORPG and gets better with each new expansion.
Should just have renamed the article: "Star Wars: Galaxies. Why it's great, but could be better.
"Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." - Don Corleone (The Godfather, 1972)
I would have to admit Star wars galaxies got alot of things right.
Crafting, customization, and skill trees. I wish it would look as beautiful as EQ2. What I would like to see made is an MMRPG based of the Shadowrun series. If anyone is not familiar look it up. But its a future semi post apololytic world where nano technology, body modification, magic, and hacking work together. It would make an awesome world. Tweak SWG a little, add some quests/missions, you got an amazing game.
Hmm my perfect RPG huh.
Well I agree with Jeremy on alot of what you said regarding the Manufatureing and collection of resources. But there were a few things that I thought he definetly left out that needed to be addressed. I'm sure if he could of written a book on this subject he could of filled it.
One feature I love about my favorite MMORPG Eve-Online is that you can be working on skills and makeing your charcter a little bit better in real time while your away from the game and your computer.
You can also setup bases that can harvest minerals and different resources for you. Which frees up more of your time to accomplish quests or just start different buildings and meet up with different friends.
I think the one thing that Eve-Online definetly needs to work on though is the character interaction. But I may be saying this because there really are not enough people that play the game. I believe the maximium I have seen online at a time was somewhere around 12,000 players on at once.
The last modification I would make to the game is an Auto-Pilot that you can setup specific trade routes telling it what to buy and sell on that route and have it be able to take care of that while your away at work. I believe this would help alot of people free up a bit more time from earning isk to be able to hang out chat learn and experience the interaction of more people.
Anyways enough about that. I hope everyone enjoys there MMORPGs and I hope we all have fun and come together in a single game at some point.
"I actually believe the only true MMORPG we all have is real life, I hope to see you there some time.
". - Alex Autrey
Thanks,
KingWylim
(Everquest II - Bring it)
Greetings everyone, here's my 2 cents (probably someone said that already, but I'm not going to read throught all 9 pages :P )
My major concern on a drem game would be the level of configurable options for players! some love difficult games, some, like me, are simply stupid and can't play difficult games! many don't have time and so on... Some settings can be inserted in games to make them playable to all categories! the weak should have the same fun as the powerplayer! Most games support lowbie play very well, but they all expect the player to become a killing machine after a certain level! No fair :P
Well, what the games currently have, and what would be ideal in my humble opinion:
Customization is the soul
!- Avatar customization, as Jeremy said, allows players to start the game feeling good! when playing CoH, I created many characters, just for fun! CoH have a good deal of start-up customization, but player crafted stuff from SWGalaxies rules! As Jeremy said, uniqueness is vital!
- Skill configuration: open skill tree rules! Why classes? give people skills to choose and let them play!
I found EVE-Online to be the best skill system around.You train whichever skill you want! You go to some stations, buy a trainning book, and if you meet the requirements for the skill, just have to start training, which takes time instead of XP! This allows you to create a nice balanced avatar for the begin, and deep specialization once you define what in the game appeals you mostly! The skills you can get are unlimited, but the timetable required caps the powerplayers! My Ideal MMORPG would have a open skill tree for me to get whetever I want!
-Housing: Absolutely agree with Jeremy about SWGalaxies! it's amazing the level of customization you can get in the player housing! A shame players can't choose the house color, but that would eb a littel too much :P
Gameplay is the heart!
-Combat: While I never played Neocrom, I'm really curious to check this mixed system mentioned. I guess your skills would define whetever you hit or not, for good or for bad... Let's say the game gives you a certain radious reticle to use as targeting, and wherever is your target on the reticle (ok, I mean BIG reticle), the stats are rolled to determinate the hit! but my dream MMORPG would have a selectable interface! some days you're simply not in the mood to go around shooting! you REALLY wanna click just 1 button! Gameplay customization also rules!
-Mining/Resources/Crafting: Gathering resources and crafting is a must have, but I agree partially with Jeremy. SWGalaxies has a great system of crafting and mining, but the resources shift from place to place and simply disapear from time to time! And teh time is not enough in my opinion! If you're not able to play the game daily, until you found a good spot of a certain mineral and start mining, the shift is almost upon your head! and they just don't change the location of mineral, they get new types always! this made me give up grinding when I first played the game (before vehicles and cities, a long time go) cause it took a damn long time to find it! I haven't tried now, with survey droids to assist the task and all, but I'm still traumatized with the 3 shifts in a row I got once :P So to the dream game: automated mine, resources shifts to prevent monopoly from harvesters already placed, but always give, if necessary lesser versions, avaiable more commonly!
- Gainning SKills: Open skill tree, but whatever you do, you get XP for that, much like TES:Morrowind (which give XP for jumping!) but instead of having to get 100 xp to get to lvl 1 and then your abilities raise, you'd get the percentual relative to the ammount! Quite simple: instead of "100xp lvl1= +10jump", you'd get +0,1jump for each XP you get! And to make players go train in masters and all, that xp would buy the definitive level so the player starts up a new escale, with a 1000xp top! And automated stuff like minning (will get there) would also add XP to player upon setup! Makes sense if you do setup correctly a waterpump in your farm, you learned how to do it and next time will be easier!
- Vehicles/pets/mounts: Fast travel is absolutely a must have! I guess I've read 2 or 3 books on my first experience in SWGalaxies, due the long walks I had to do to hunt! just set on autorun, check the rader once in a while for agressive animals and read on! Very annoying! Now they have vehicles, and while not still fast enough, the player city network allows players to PLAY with their paid time, instead of walking! EVE online, as a space based game, require people to use "jumpgates" to travel from system to system... Sometimes you need to get 8 jumps... Dude, just open a book or comic, cause it'll take a while! I guess Devs make travelling so damn boring to make sure players face danger and all that, but I must say: players must have the right to choose! Oh, and make all pet;mounts/vehicles customizable :P
- Difficult: Devs nowadays assume every player is: 1-Awesome game rat, ready to jump into deadly action wherever they go and if you refuse to, you get XP like a crippled lhama. 2- counterstrike fanboy, if it's another player, I wanna fightfightfightfight!!! Refuse PvP and it'll take several years to the goods!
What I'm saying is not cap the diff of games and who cares... I'm saying players must have the right to choose! Now how to insert a difficult slider on MMORPGs? I guess the ideal is to set Easy to Hard game zones, like city of Heroes! The game get this right, with one problem: sometimes there's a skill jump on the enemies that almost prevent some players from entering the zones they're supposed to be! once you get, let's say, level 30, you are assigned to contacts in a 30-35 zone! so if you're stupid like me, you'll get killed A LOT until you reach lvl31 and there's finally enemies weaker than you around! If they set all zone to -2 and +2 levels( 28 to 37 lvl enemies), I'd still be playing that game! Well balanced difficulty zones are definetely in my dream MMORPG! Same goes for PvP! With the new combat upgrade, SWGalaxies got a nice PvP system, which is only screwed nowadays cause everyone is a jedi except you! You go to your Imperial officer and decide to be PvP or not! simple as that! The player must be able to choose! I was playing EVE-Online few hours ago and got my ore robbed by another player! Instead of this triggering the PvP stats, when I shot the player, the game police jumped on me and destroyed my ship! that's an example of poorly balanced PvP.
-Groups and Teams: I like teams! Made some good friends around the globe with teams and groups and guilds... but for vader's sake, I wanna play a game without having to be on a team 24/7! Some Devs must think of players as stupid geeks that don't know any other human being so they must make friends! Mandatory! (well, I agree some people out there really need this incentive, but not everyone! :P ) So if you wanna venture yourself when your guildmates are doing unnecessary things like working, you'll get your skin nailed to a NPC stronghold wall! Another point where the player shoulda be able to choose! Teams should not be so demanded!
-Quests: "THE" problem everywhere... I found the story arc idea of CoH a great one, cause makess teh game progress as your character gets a higher level, but the mission gamma is extremelly low... Get inside, find bomb/hostage and kill teh baddies... over and over and over and over again... SWGalaxies is just as bad, cause save for the themeparks, which are fairly easy and made for fans, the quests are a pain! recently introduced witht he combat upgrade, it's as annoying as CoH's. What can be changed? What if they used diablo-like dungeons, instanced for each quest? Let's be fair, they can't change this much, but some chain random missions could break the deja vu! "Oh I saved the princess but she needs her pink dress which is being used by the evil troll, so let's kill the troll! but without swords to not damage the pink dress!"
Well, that's it! I guess some of you will say "hey, but you don't like most aspect unique to MMORPG!" oh no, I like them! As I repeated over and voer, I just think the players must be able to choose when they get into each feature!
C-ya ppl!
DMordred
One thing i feel that all ppl leave out and most games today have left out, that i would feel would make any mmorpg or fps more interesting to us ( the Players). This would be interactive backgrounds. For an example; let's say your a wizard in any game and you fire a firebolt at an enemy, it miss the enemy just barely but wizzez by him anyhow. The firebolt nails a tree in the background, This is where i think it would make ppl more interested in a game if all of the sudden the tree burst into flames and burned down. There could always be a respawn of new trees but at the same time why not make it so ppl have to plant new ones to make it more realistic. That's what most ppl want in games today is realism and more interaction. I know what i have posted here isnt perfect i just think it makes a good point.
As founder, leader, and sole remaining member of the group Herbacious rights Enforcement in On-Line Play (HELP), I must protest in the outright promotion of tree destruction in the above post. Online trees and other plants are just as sacred as offline trees, and deserve the same respect. How dare you suggest that the mutilation, desecration, and outright persecution of online trees would be interesting in a game.
Burning sacred trees is horrible, not entertainment.
My name is...
First, Ive played video games since the days of Sega and Atari. As I grew up I played old DOS game in the early PC days, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Playstation, Dreamcast and Playstation 2. My favorite games were roleplaying games, fighting games and games with mini-game features. My three favorite games of all time where Final Fantasy Tactics, Dynasty Warriors and Super Smash Brothers.
The game features fantasy elementals, fast gameplay, mini-games and the ability to build your own character. I was also a person who you could find often at the arcade scene. I was fascinated by the fast past games and beauty of graphical artwork of the arcade games. I had always hoped to make own game one day with the same fast-gameplay of arcade, fantasy roleplaying, mini-game feature and with the option of building your own character. The problem I was a made of ideas, but I could not apply my work as a computer or graphic designer could.
I could write a good story, good dialogue, but I couldn't draw or digitize my ideas. Instead of the video game business, I tried my hand at the comicbook business. Unfortunately, I was repeatedly told I had good storytelling ability and original ideas, but without an artist, I couldnt expect to break into the business of comics. So I stopped writing for a while, trying to look for place were my ideas could of use. I do not pride myself in being a good writer because that is for you to judge, but I thought it would appropriate that I mention it.
I began to check video games companies all over and thought I could do well here. Within a couple of months, I brainstorm ideas for a new game that I believe would change the industry. I took from past games I love and popular present games. Hopefully, you enjoy my presentation.
My video game idea
Landon: Epic Battle is an Action Real Time Strategy Massive Multiple-player Online Roleplaying Game with the option of going full Player-vs.-Player and Player-vs.-Environment. Players who are not good at fighting can enjoy the PvE aspect, which has it own rewards and doesnt lack in entertainment while Player vs. Player gives players who wish not to adventure any further the option of testing their build and skills out on the next player.
In Player-vs.-Environment, you can continue growing through fames and youll gain more quests to do, fight more bosses and more treasures to wield. There is no end point to the PvE, you may engage the Environment as much as you like and continue gaining more quests. Where in other games, once youve reach a high point in the Player vs. Environment, you are force to stop to Roleplay, but in this game, you may grow higher on the scale of fame.
The Player-vs.-Environment feature mini-games that do not require you to PK your opponent and show off your moves, but to test memory or reflexes. The PvE mini-games require the team to compete with another team through competitive events or to aid each other for a common goal.
In Player vs. Player, it is the same thing. One may fight as much they like with no end and without it conflicting with the game play of others. In the PvP, players cannot take any special equipment with them except the equipment that you forged. There will be no imbalancing equipment that can be taken over the PvP area to tip the scales of battle, only the forged equipment the characters brings with them.
The player vs. player also features familiar mini-games such as Elimination battles and Duels, but also features mini-games that have a secondary aspect such Route, which forces the team to protect a person or special object. PvP in Landon: Epic Battle is very fast-pace and requires strategy and motivation rather than a good build.
The battles of Landon are very different from past MMORPGs. They border on arcade, but keep the roleplay aspects constantly apparent. The games battle is in some ways similar to Super Smash Brothers, Kingdom Under Fire, Dynasty Warriors and Dungeons and Dragons. The players can combos and special attacks against there enemies. Ive noticed in past MMORPGs that players knew how to sequence spells or skills in a certain order based on the skills or spells skill for heavy damage. Normally such tactics were used in fighting games, but Ive come to realize the same combo tactics can be used in todays games if applied right. The game pushes the physics engine to its limits with ability to launch your character up into air or hurl them at your foe, which isnt a common in many roleplay games today.
Gone are the races of humans, elves, gnomes and dwarves that plague cliché roleplaying games and the usual classes Paladins, Rogues and Warriors. Instead the game introduces Animal humanoids or animorphs with choices of different classes (or should I say titles) based on either the players tactics or race. Each race has it own racial class, which emphasis on racial abilities.
You no longer have to spend hours figuring out what class you are going to be at the character creation screen. You start out without a class, which is why I call them titles instead of classes. You can explore the world for your own and find out what you want to be. You have to build your character literally from the ground up.
The game and world of Landon is very realistic in physics, but cartoonish at the same time. The game steps slightly away from the grim backdrops of normal roleplay games and it gives it more of lively feature. The environment is effort changing through day and night and in-game seasons features and some quests, monsters and rare items are not available except at one of those times.
Finally, Landon features a competitive guild system and ally option. Guild and team can consist up to 10 players at a time and a guild can ally themselves with another guild to gang up against other teams or help each other out on quest. The small, but efficient guild system does not limit their game and they still have the option of joining other teams.