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A few concerns
AKBandito
Member Posts: 82
First off i'd like to say that i dont post here very often, Ive been reading forums on mmorpg.com for a long time and only just recently created an account so i could post my thoughts regarding games coming out soon.
Ive been waiting for something good to play since before EQ2 and WoW were released and both those games IMO were a step in the wrong direction. And every game since has been just like them; ie incredibly easy gameplay offering no challenge at all. Leveling in WoW was as fun as watching paint dry.
My main concern for Warhammer Online is, is it going to follow this same trend as these games. I dont watch to reach max level in a month, I want to feel immersed in my gaming world, I want it to be dangerous.
My second concern is, is Mythic going to put enough content in their game, and are we all just gonna get burned out RvRing constantly after a few months.
Dont get me wrong I played DAoC for over 2years from release and RVR'd ALOT but there were also other things to do besides RVRing; Darkness Falls, Dragon raid, .... etc... Also is there going to be a reason to RVR?, other than it is fun.
In DAoC you could capture/defend relics, and the bonuses from having all 3 relics of strength were significant. Capturing enough keeps to open up darkness falls was also a significant incentive for RVRing.
Thoughts /? 
Does anyone know how to make a mmoRPG anymore?
Comments
Public quests, capture/defend keeps, capture/defend cities, tons of PvE quests, RvR quests, raids, scenario RvR, open RvR, etc.
Also, instead of relics there will be certain points on some of the battlefields that I believe will give your side bonuses if you capture them, as well as Victory Points.
In short, from what EA Mythic has said, there will be lots of content - probably far more than DAoC had at release. Now, until I play the game I have to take their word for it, but I'll give them the benefit fo the doubt for now.
Along those lines, I'm curious about the level of difficulty.
When Vanguard was being developed a lot of people asked if it would have the difficulty of EQ's first years. The answer was something along the lines of 'no, Vanguard will not be as difficult as Everquest" and later it was implied that the game would attract more people because it was easier to level and keep levels.
Ever since, I've haven't expected much difficulty from MMOGs. I will exclude the older D&D related games with insane death penalties.
Examples of what I'm calling difficulty is, how easily enemies can be considered, death penalties, corpse recovery, and perhaps my biggest issue... teleporters versus traveling (I prefer traveling if anyone's curious).
I think difficulty in an MMORPG is very difficult to rate, for a few reasons.
1.) Most "difficult" PvE situations can be overcome by either more allies, more levels, or better equipment. If "an undead gnoll" is posing a problem solo, grab a friend and destroy it - easy. Instanced content designed for max level groups that cap the size of groups are the only real challenges, since you cannot just out-level it or overpower it with a bazillion people.
2.) "Difficulty" is often confused with tedium and/or penalties. I do not view a rough death penalty as something difficult - the challenge before it was supposed to be difficult (and if you died, I suppose it was). It is just the outcome for failure. Gaining back gear, experience, whatever - that is just tedium.
3.) PvP/RvR difficulty is obviously as high as your opponent's skill and numbers, so this is impossible to accurately rate, I suppose. Some days you may wreck your foe, other days they may wreck you. I guess the only part that is constant is how long it takes to get back in the action and what you have to lose. I do know that in WAR players will not die as quickly as in other MMORPGs, like WoW, so not being able to kill people in 5 seconds may influence how difficult people find things.
Anyway, I doubt the PvE content will be much of a departure from WoW in terms of what people wish to call difficulty, and I am fine with that. In fact, once you get to high-end raid content in WoW it gets very difficult, at least until you have it on farm status, so if WAR mirrors WoW in PvE challenge it will be pretty rough at the top.
I also doubt that death penalties will be heavy, as such things are becoming relics of the past. In fact, in RvR, I doubt there will be any penalty save for a setback of time and maybe some temporary stat penalties. In PvE I am guessing it will be a typical "lose some experience, take some durability damage" kind of thing.
As for travel, I remember riding a lot of horses around from town to town in DAoC, so it was not very fast (not instant, anyway), though it was faster than running it yourself. What will it be like in WAR? I dunno.
For what I know:
Death penalty will be only a bit of time lost.
There will be meanings of travel without the need to go to the places walking first as in WOW.
Well i'm not sure about that point, because if you have insane Death penalty's people will think: "There is a group there, maybe they kill me! I can sneak around or take more people with me." You understand? It is more dangerous to play. Then it's not: "Let's run in and see if they are strong or not." So you let the players fear the monsters.
Personally if you think that dieing lets you de-level 2 levels so that the game is hard or difficult, than you are wrong. This will be only bringing more grind to mmo. This will only make the game less fun which, a game is suppose to be fun! i prsonally thank blizz for coming to the mmo market so that other dev will think of more craestive ways to keep players rather than giving more levels that will cost millions of xp for each level.
This thinking is old school and should be abolish totally! Though grind will be inevitability, but lets keep it to the minimum. Will War be as easy as WoW to level up? I think it will be, but ultimately it will depend on what the end-game have to offer to keep players, rather than the process (though its important that players will have the immersion, constant story line etc).
RIP Orc Choppa