Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
TOP TEN most favourite MMO features
Elikal
Member UncommonPosts: 7,912
TOP TEN most favourite MMO features
Well, mine of course. =P What did you expect? Gods final and ultimate answer? 
10. VOICE OVERS: Everquest II
Aren’t we all sick and tired of reading those endless text files? I know I am. It is something I really got used to since I play EQ2. I found especially those boxes annoying, like in VG, where one ugly box pops up, covering the screen. It so takes me out of the immensity. While even EQ2 hasn’t ALL voiceover & lip-synch, many has, and its something I really value.
9. DYNAMIC NPC/WORLD: Tabula Rasa
Something that really can bog down beautiful games is seeing all those mobs and NPCs are like glued to the ground. I am aware that moving vendors and roaming mobs may cause frustration, but when you play TR you may see what I mean. You see soldier teams rushing in, Aliens attacking in waves, instead of the sterile all-present wolves/bears/boars evenly scattered over the lands through which you can usually navigate rather safely. Such worlds, as is still common in WOW, EQ2 and the like, always felt very artificial to me, and I really enjoyed seeing a really dynamic world in TR, where even the bases may one day be Ally and then suddenly controlled by enemies.
8. NO LOOT: City of Heroes
I know ppl wont applaud me for this, likely. But when I first started to play CoH, it felt like such a big relief that the haste and run for better gear was over. In CoH you create your character and how you look is solely your creativity. If you never played this kind of MMO its hard to imagine how that can be fun, but trust me it is! Taking out the greed and envy is what I feel a big step ahead to start making MMOs fun and relaxing instead of the endless pressure of competition.
7. BEAUTIFUL WORLD DESIGN: LOTRO
We all like beautiful vistas, and while other games have them too, I never felt so compelled to just stand somewhere and watch the scenery in awe as in LOTRO. They really did a great job with it, and the best thing is, unlike in VG, its done with surprisingly low polygon counts, so its playable for a LOT of ppl without high-end computers. All the detail is really beautiful, the flowers, rivers, trees, clouds… whatever it is, its marvellous.
6. NON-COMBAT CLASSES: Star Wars Galaxies
I will always miss the big social aspect the non combat classes brought to SWG, musician, dancer and image designer. Its something you must have seen. Sure, its not what everyone wants to play, but trust me, it adds a LOT to the depth of a game to go to a cantina after a hard nights fight to relax when there are players supporting your avatars leisure.
5. CUTSCENES & MINI-EVENTS: LOTRO
I must say, playing the first instance in LOTRO forever changed my view what a MMO can be. In all other MMOs I ever played, the story was verbally told to me, and I passively listened to some nailed-to-the-floor NPC, who told me what happened. Not so in LOTRO. In every story-arc the events happened around you! You were really part of a story instead of just passive listener! It was the first time I really felt part of a world’s story in a MMO.
4. SKILL BASED GAME: Star Wars Galaxies
Alas, today its all level based. I recall the old pre-NGE days of SWG. Sure, it wasn’t balanced, not at all. I recall the frustration that my pikeman, being on the low end of balance regularly was killed by those uber Teras Kasi. But so what. It was my choice, a big pool of things to select from and build your personalized character, instead of the boring cookie cutter of today’s MMOs.
3. DIVERSE CLASSES & RACES: Vanguard
I feel VG currently has the most interesting classes. While sure most MMOs will always have straightforward warriors and mages (however they will be called!), VG has some classes with a twist. Classes like Disciple (a monk/healer crossover), Bloodmage or the VG type of Bard who is SO much more than a mere minstrel, are really interesting to play, and I wish more MMOs would make classes outside the old, boring stereotypes. I favour games with many classes and races, because I want to try out many things. Its one of the main reason I quit LOTRO, because those very few races and classes felt just too limiting to me.
2. CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION: City of Heroes
One can argue what MMO really has the best character customisation. Why an ugly, simplified character selection like in WOW ever got out of the 100k niche is beyond me. I really don’t like to look like 1000s of others, and in that aspect CoH is likely an unbeaten king. Maybe followed by SWG.
1. SHORT WAY TO FUN: World of Warcraft
For many reasons WOW never was my pair of shoes, but one thing they did introduce into MMOs was, make the way to start the fun as short as possible. They made those symbols popular which quest-givers have over their heads, as example. Before WOW ppl had to talk to EVERY possible NPC to find out things. One lesson of WOW is: people don’t want to make monthly schedules and follow 10+ pages walkthrough printouts to get to the fun. I feel its one of the prime reasons for WOWs success. You can log in and get to do something funny or exciting right away. Even if you aim for something more complex, you can coordinate or wait for ppl to gather and in the time do something else. It’s one of the things EQ2 is really weak in, and despite the fact EQ2 is a real quality game I guess it’s the biggest reason why EQ2 never got out of the “niche” it is in. You may also count penalties into the bag. It’s a great wisdom of the WAR makes that they aim to make penalties low. Essentially it means to penalize ppl for playing the game. It has become an unquestioned habit in making MMOs to hinder players from getting into the fun fast and penalizing them for failures. I really hope we see MMOs evolve past this ridiculous ideology. Essentially it means to keep ppl from doing what is fun before and afterwards. (I say “corpse run! Hello Vanguard.) People want to start their quests and their combat, because that’s the fun part of a game. Everything before or after must be as short as possible.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Comments
8) characters that matter and a character design that discourages rerolling and having alts.
7) skill based system. classes suck I want my own choices and not be told what to do. I have RL to be told what to do, sadly you can't ever escape from someone being the boss of you.
6) political influence. vangaurd had something close I guess you could say. though being able to actually control the towns policy with enough work and support(from other people and organizations) would be sweet.
5) be a part of a few guilds(none really, maybe second life)
4) player politics, that matter. melodrama and conflicts for the win. and it saves me from having to turn on the TV.
3) crafting, that matters, and is a main focus of the game. mainly being able to go so far as to being able to have crafting be your profession without having to fight.
2) player made towns or eqivlancy. home sweet home with a few friends to share it with.
1) territory control. home sweet home.
these are all VERY powerful wants, that's just a logical order for me.
edit: copy and paste hates me.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
taken from one of my favs
1) fun exploration with cities overflowing with activity (UO)
2) skill based (UO), or freeform (Fury), or no grinding for skillz (starport)
3) good PVP/PVE in the world itself no instances (starport)
4) can progress anyway i want via duels, crafting, killin mobs, etc (UO)
5) player skill (starport) or at least great movement (city of heroes)
6) Impact (starport, UO, EVE)
7) well thought out death penalty (EVE Online / Starport)
8) chat using onscreen bubbles (UO, city of heroes) and would be awesome if ingame chat worked in conjunction with this
9) good custimization (city of heroes)
10) support powers turns a weakling into a superman (city of heroes)
10) Epic Quests. (Oh boy, it's been a while)
9) Diverse/Flexible Classes. (None I've played recently)
8) Player run economies. (EvE, PotBS, etc)
7) Sandbox. (EvE, UO)
6) Seamless world. (WoW)
5) Skill based system. (UO)
4) Player run government (FoM)
3) Player built cities. (AoC, SWG, etc)
2) Good communities. (Sometimes hard to find)
1) Most of all, good PvP.
Thats sums it up pretty good imo.
#1: Open FFA PvP (No faction side junk) (UO , EVE)
#2: Skill System (SWG, UO, EVE)
#3: Housing (Player housing is a big deal to me, I liked SWG and UO's the most)
-------------------------
its like a raid in wow ?
maybe a Elite mission in GW ?
10. Portable Bases you need to defend, and use to help survive (Fighting Legends)
9. Seige Warfare (Like DAoC)
8. Battlegrounds (Like DAoC or WoW)
7. Personal Housing (DAoC was closest to having it right, but i'd like it more if the houses could be in the playable world not seperate zones)
6. Quest Logs (Alot of trees died for my quest log in Everquest)
5. Mailboxes (Don't know who had the first or best but it would be weird without it)
4. Tier Based Strategic Combat (The Chronicles of Spellborn)
3. Active non Twitch/auto targeting combat (The Chronicles of Spellborn)
2. Player impact on the world, permanent world iconic rewards (The Chronicles of Spellborn)
1. PvP and PvE mixed throughout the world (WAR and of course The Chronicles of Spellborn)
Kazer
"Baning Smokers from public places is like baning people from water who like to pee."