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Items: Strategy versus Superiority on MMORPGs
Routver
Member Posts: 383
Items in some MMORPGs usually mean a linear progression path: you get more and more powerful ones, yet I never felt any of them was "unique" (lacking a better word really) or had an edge over another item that has the same function (ie. sword and axe dealing the same amount of damage).
By making all items differ only on how powerful they are, you just eliminated a lot of possibilities you could have with items suited for certain situations. Pros and cons.
But by making itemization more strategic can bring problems with balance and such, as if classes/skills weren't bad enough in some titles. It's a hard thing to do, but maybe if properly done would add a lot of healthy variety to a MMORPG environment.
What's the deal with it?
Comments
Do you mean things like spears having longer reach, mauls having a possibility of knocking enemy back, axes destroying shields effectively, etc?
I think that would be wonderful, if done well. By adding more variety you make it more difficult to find an optimal solution to any one problem and also add more possible roles to combat, which promotes grouping. Also NOT having a system like that is somewhat immersion-breaking.
i like your idea it was tried in many games but the probelm that befell the game is listed below.
the problem with this is the same problem with the world.
to make a game with freedom to where the ones that work for something can get what ever they work for.
and they do not have to support the ones that just cry about how they wish they could be something with out working for it.(or like the other one’s worked for it)
Freedom to be all you can be. and to be able to climb to the top.
we should not have to support the ones that do not wish to work.
this balancing of games is destroying more games then anything.
this should be a wake up call to the people playing them and making them.
sure not everyone is going to put the same amount of time in to playing a game as everyone else.
but the people that put a lot of time in to playing a game should be able to advance to much higher level then anyone else. to many times the socialistic Ideas destroys a game.
Where letting the group or people or a person as long as there willing to put the work in to it to climb as high as there willing to work hard to get to. (Makes a Game that much better.)
Many people hated EQ1 but many more worked as hard as they could to become vary powerful. The ones on top would help the ones they saw fit to help get to the top of the hill. (most of the time it was someone that was working vary hard to get there and would have made it on there own)
Many people wanted to be the one on the top of the list and some people made it.
The ones that made it, just let everyone know they could do it if they worked as hard. Some people worked as hard as they could to get as high as they could go.
Others just cried that it was just to hard, no one wanted to group with them or help them (these where the socialist cry babies)
that never tried to work as hard they always where thinking someone was holding them back. And never did much of anything But they still wanted to be on the top. So they started getting others like them to send in e-mails to the Dev’s to get the game changed to take away the powers of the powerful. To make people want to help them more.(seeing they did not want to work as hard as the ones on top had to.)
But no one wanted to help a person that believed that deserved to be help by someone doing better. Most of the time they never even helped the ones below them they only cared about themselves and hated the ones that where doing better then them.
We need to Open our Eyes to this mindset and release our selfs from it and so we can have a game with Freedom and a world where we can be free.
Seeing if no one could be better then anyone else in the game no one would want to play the game. Not even the socialistic people would want to play a game that they where no better then anyone.
www.DigitalMindz.com
Which would be a very apt description of roleplaying. Roleplaying is being somebody you'd like to be, for a while at least, without having to go through all the training and rigorous experience that becoming that someone would entail.
A game should not be about work. The fact that some players think it should be is a symptom of the ambiguous nature of the MMORPG genre.
On the topic, itemization should be precisely aimed at providing unique tactics to a player's characters and adventure situations. Simply being stepping stones of power has created a horrible inflation in most MMOs that actually limits diversity and gaming interest, rather than creating it.
It's a casualty of almost all MMORPG combat being the same.
Games with different types of combat, like Atlantica Online, what weapon you have does make a difference. For instance, Axes damage 3 opponents in the row, while spears will hit 2 deep.
R.I.P. City of Heroes and my 17 characters there
I think weapons having different effects and tactics involved makes things more interesting, like hammers can stun people, swords can lower defense or some such.
However I would not want the game to become a situation where you basically need to use this weapon against this type of enemy because it has high defenses against everything except slash damage and the like, otherwise all the weapon variety you created is for not when we can't use what we want and are forced to use something.
Don't you worry little buddy. You're dealing with a man of honor. However, honor requires a higher percentage of profit
Which would be a very apt description of roleplaying. Roleplaying is being somebody you'd like to be, for a while at least, without having to go through all the training and rigorous experience that becoming that someone would entail.
A game should not be about work. The fact that some players think it should be is a symptom of the ambiguous nature of the MMORPG genre.
On the topic, itemization should be precisely aimed at providing unique tactics to a player's characters and adventure situations. Simply being stepping stones of power has created a horrible inflation in most MMOs that actually limits diversity and gaming interest, rather than creating it.
i am not talking about type or class here. i am talking about being the best at what you are doing.
most people do not play a game to be just like everyone else. they want to be able to be the best at something.
and to be the best at something you have to put time in to it. lets say someone wants to have the fastest runner (Run Speed) in the game. maybe in real life they can not walk. yet to become the fastest runner in the game they have to work to get all of the gear to incress there run speed and rase there STA. stats so they can sprint longer.
there is work you have to put in to become the best at anything. stoping someone from being the best just so you can all be the same does not work.
now in EVE you can have your charicter train at something when there off line. i like this idea. in the game Dark and Light you could leave your pets attacking anything around you wile you set in game this would level you up some not the fastest way but you could gain XP and level up your pets wile you where AFK.
my point is you can not have a Good game if you do not let people have Freedom. to be the best or to be what ever they want to be. if there willing to put the time and work in to it. then they should be able to do that. the fun in doing this should be the adventure in doing it but alot of the time the fun does not start until you are on the top end. if there is no fun on the top end the game dies when they get to it.
this is why i think a game should start with a low level and fill the levels with many types of adventures then start working on the next set of higher level stuff at a slow pace.
www.DigitalMindz.com
The differences in weapons will be present in the game I am designing. Here is my stance on the subject:
Not all weapons are created equally.
Weapons are created with certain functions in mind, and not all of them are useful in the same situations. A Katana will not be useful in a fight with a fully armored knight with a bastard sword. A Crossbow however, will puncture that plate armor very effectively. A dagger isn't the prime choice against an opponent armed with a longer weapon, but if you get in close...
To properly include weapons in a realistic manner in a game research is key. Not only researching documents, but hands on research with people trained in such weaponry as well (not your twelve year old brother, you'll use him for portraying unskilled use).
H A D O K E N !