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Your Ideal MMO?
redcloud16
Member UncommonPosts: 221
I'll bold & color the important parts, if you want more insight you can read the non-bold descriptions.
TLDR AT BOTTOM
You don't have to explain or describe if you don't want to.
My Ideal MMO:
Openness of Oblivion/Morrowind, or UO. A questless system based on exploration and discovery. Let me use Guild Wars' example. You come across a village under siege by maruading centaurs. Obviously, killing them will gain you exp and gold and such, to advance your character. But, now that the village is now longer undersiege, its villagers can live normally once more and in payment, perhaps the master blacksmith will offer to forge a great and special weapon for you. He gives you a list of ingredients, (some of which you choose to determine the magical properties of said weapon) but doesn't tell you how or where to get them. You actually have talk tot he villagers, or go to the library or other players to go find where these things can be found. Or, the Mage Tower is now open and teh grateful wizards gve you access to their secret research, were you learn of a mysterious artifact. There would be a clue that is basically a bread crumb trail of adventure that climaxes in a dungeon with said artifact. All without quests or quest windows. Things would be told to you, and you would go out and find them.
Blizzard art style.
Current gen Graphics engine, such as RIFT, Tera, SW:ToR, GW2, etc. or better.
High Action Combat. High action, lots of dodging/blocking, strategy-on-the-fly, and abilities that require thought as opposed to simply pressing a button for one-stop-shopping. TERA has the right idea, but the combat seems alittle slow and bland for me. Probably not possible now with the current networking, but something akin to TERA, but more actiony. Like Kingdom Hearts with alittle more depth, God of War with less button mashing, or like certain characters in Dissidia: Final Fantasy.
Player Housing like in SWG, in a vast open world, with player operated cities, and guild complexes.
Craftable item depth like in SWG, or EQ2.
Crafting System depth like Freerealms. It took playing Feerealms to realise that crafting could actually be fun. In Freerealms, you pretty much play Cooking Mama from the Wii and DS to cook and to smith. You go through all the steps, like smelting, hammering, dousing, fanning the flames, pouring molten metal into molds and att eh end the amount of items you get depends on how well you you actually performed. Or cooking, chopping, mashing, boiling, stirring, etc. tocok all different recipes. This kind of thing can be applied to so much. Far mroe interesting than watching bars fill, or watching 5 bars fill and playing "Press This Button Now" like in EQ2.
Open World PvP based around Control Points and 'Keeps,' like in certain FPS' and DCUO (and what WAR was supposed to be like). For example, Guild A is taking control points in Genericwood Forest, and Guild B is doing the same. A znoe wise message goes out to every player in the region, not unlike teh warning messages during the Rikti Invasion for City of Heroes. "[Guild] Troops have been spotted approaching Genericwood Forest. All non-cmbatants are advised to seek cover." There would be special NPC-protected safe-areas for any non-participants to seek sanctuary within and play in peace while the guild forces duke it out. This would lead to certain groups of guilds (Alliances, Coalitions, etc.) having control of vast stretches of land and warring over them for teh rewards that follow, like EvE.
Endgame Encounters like EQ, WOW; but cenetered around aesthetic rewards as opposed to gear rewards. Epic bosses and unique encounters instead of tank and spank encounters like (recently) WoW, BUT not 'kill this boss in the same dungeon over and over every week'. Iirc, there was a dragon boss in EQ you would have only one chance to fight and kill, and if you missed it or failed that was that. He never showed up again or somethng like that. Yes tehre would be gear, but it wouldn't be the end all (don't know how to implement, this is a theoretical thread after all). Rewards would be like crafting items unique to the enemy that could be made to make appearance gear, or you could get a giant stuffed version of the boss to display in the guild complex.
Deep Player progression - EQ2/Freerealms - Playing on the previous statement, very many aesthetic rewards throughout the maingame and at the endgame, as I feel people just love to do that sort of thing. Pets, special gear, idols, banners, furnitures, crafting items, whatever. In addition, obviously a talent calculator ala WoW/RIF/everythign else that has a talent system; and then something like EQ2's Alternate Advancement with 'talents' that centered around crafting, socializing (as in a political system), and a myriad of ohter non-combat specialization skills; or like Freerealms with its immense amount of classes and differing professions.
Politcal Intrigue - A politcal 'system.?' The ruling Guilds could meet in a Senate-type location/atmosphere and debate on the rules of their territory, like vendor prices, NPC guard taining/placement, town advancement, or things like declaring War and the rules for Official War that that would entail. Then, guilds could host Balls and Dances, or otehr Parties and gatherings and other guilds could attend and gossip and plot and scheme, with spies and assassins, and other such fun times.
TLDR:
Openness of Oblivion/Morrowind, or UO.
Blizzard art style.
Current gen Graphics engine
High Action Combat.
Player Housing like in SWG,
Craftable item depth like in SWG, or EQ2.
Crafting System depth like Freerealms.
Open World PvP based around Control Points and 'Keeps,'
Endgame Encounters like EQ, WOW;
Deep Player progression
Politcal Intrigue -
Comments
Openness of Oblivion/Morrowind, or UO.
Blizzard art style.
Current gen Graphics engine
High Action Combat.
Player Housing like in SWG,
Craftable item depth like in SWG, or EQ2.
Crafting System depth like Freerealms.
Open World PvP based around Control Points and 'Keeps,'
Endgame Encounters like EQ, WOW;
Deep Player progression
Politcal Intrigue -
World looking like AGON Darkfall.
Art style like Darkfall, TERA or ArcheAge
New gen graphic engine like ArcheAge CryEngine 2 or even 3.
Combat ala Darkfall or Oblivion.
Player housing but destroyable.
Craft system like in AC2 during legion expansion.
Open free for all pvp with full loot.
No end game just endless game made by players.
Skill based with no lvls or classes.
Bring back the ANTI vs RPK battles and politics.
No instance/loadscreens, no hold hands, no names above heads, no markers on maps or !-? above npcs heads, no simple quests like kill10x boars or goblins.
Rich and deep quest adventures with puzzles and twisted plots and major epic fights.
Free roaming world to explore no invisble barriers.
Dynamic weather system dynamic quest system dynamic mob spawn dynamic nodes for harvesting.
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
Your ideal MMO sounds like fun, makes me feel like half the stuff I was saying was holding back because I was conscious of limitations. Should've went all out :P
Player Housing and Player Cities - Like SWG
RP friendly mechanics / Player driven quests
This would be like the chronicles systems SWG uses, also worlds would have open areas with RP friendly structures like SWG.
Advanced crafting and Resource Managemenent - like SWG
Player made Items / Decay - like pre-Cu SWG
Advanced Skill system / no character levels - like SWG
I guess I see where I am going here... Make a 2011 version of Pre-CU SWG and I would have my perfect MMO....
My ideal MMO = DAoC2 without screwing it up
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Makes me woner where SWG would be right now, if they didn't ravage it.
PvP
I would like to see an open PvP system where you have the freedom to attack players without a toggle PvP system. So when you see the server that says Open PvP you know what your getting yourself into. Item, Experience, and Coin reward for PvPing to influence players to PvP more. I like RoMs ability to drop Items but it did kind of hurt if you lost that set you spent a substantial amount of time/money to build. I would like to see a negative modifier for griefing players way outside of your own level if you engage first.
RvRvR
(or Faction vs Faction vs Faction)
I would love to see a game that you build your affiliation with your faction based off of your play style and faction reputation. So for instance you can kill players of an opposing faction increasing/decreasing your repution and alligning your character with the opposing factions. Also quest chains that based on your method of completion would further alling your characters affiliation with that faction. Zone control: Zone control should change based off of the influence of each faction and control should not be shifted upon a server reset or update and should be open to change based on influence 24/7. This would influence Quests, Items, Drops based off of zone influence and help to further influence the open PvP
Crafting/Gathering
I definately liked FFXI's crafting system with the use of mob drops for energy to craft, the ability to craft anywhere not just at a set of tools or workbench. I also liked the fact that you did not need to pay for a scroll to learn recipes mearly had to talk to an NPC to find a recipe and the needed items. I would also like to see all crafts have consumables in each craft aond all have items that are permanent. In most MMOs i have played certain crafts such as your Alchemy/Apothecary/Cooking crafts tend to be the most lucrative in the long run because they are always in demand. Where-as when the AH's become flooded with weapons and gear the demand decrease with it the ability to make a profit. I woulld also like to see a high need for item use between crafts to help keep a strong economy.
Gear/Augments
I would like to see a game that is less gear/reward based and more based on permanent character augments/modifiers you can obtain. Gear would be more generic with differences based on its method of obtainment. I would like to see the ability to customize gear when it is obtained also some augmenting it when crafted.
My opinion of why the grinding through levels and such should be done away with.
I feel I would be much more interested in playing these games and also feel that others would be if there was not so much emphasis on obtaining level cap. I have noticed in more recent MMOs that it is not necissary nore even beneficial at times to take part in the low level/ mid level content such as dungeons and some quests for anything more then gaining EXP to level. In my opinion this is waisting tones of content that Devs put into games. I think rather then forcing a grind to gain level cap give more reason to spend time partaking in the low level/ mid level content. Such as making some item drops a crucial part of building your character. Certain items/titles which will greatly inprove your character instead of just gear. A generic gear based system or one where you need to obtain pieces in the lower levels and then modify them throughout the leveling process I personally feel would make the overall content in the games more apealing. Just my thoughts do to growing tired of when finding a new MMO having to run a endless grind passing by the frowned upon content do to drops that will be useless in a very short time.
Sorry going to be very boring SWTOR
It´s everything I wanted in a MMORPG .
Story/Quest that allow player interaction trough choices , thus increasing replay value .
Player housing ,
Interactive Companions. Instead of just a combat pet or decoration .
WoW style ease of Combat .
Sci Fi setting .
And MMO interaction . (dungeons raids pvp )
So I am done very boring , but was waiting ages for a developer to design something I like .
@Ravager,
There has to be some way to keep levelling up (I just find it really fun to Level Up), but still keep all of the content in the game relevant and replayable. I like your ideas though, it's very interesting to see what everyone's idea of a perfect MMO is.
Proves the point that you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.
Ah arm chair developing my favorite thing! :-) This is for a Fantasy setting, but somethings could be alters and adjusted to fit most settings. The order is based upon how one encounters the various systems in a game.
Characters/Avatars - I want to own my character and by that I mean I want the greatest customization of options from my facial features to my armor and weapons. I want to look how I want to look, not the best of 5-10 options that they give me. I want my look to be independant of level. I want to be able to change my look on a whim, I'm fine with a minor cost associated with this if need be for a gold sink, I am also fine with the some items appearances being tied to in game unlocking, but once I've earned them don't make me have to go to the ends of the earth to swap out appearances. In fact there should be multiple appearance "options/slots". Adventuring, casual, formal, ect... think Vanguard here. Furthermore, my avatar is not limited to my character, I should be able to customize my mount and other means of transportation. If it is a game that offers "henchmen" or "companions" I should be able to customize their appearance as well.
World - A "poly-cotton blend". I want a world that is a huge persistent experience, with lots of persisent areas, both social and "dungeon", but I also want that world dotted with Instanced experinces that can have the privacy to feel heroic and world changing. I want to be able to wander off into the woods and feel lost, but I also want to have the game world feel actually change and show that I've defeated the big bad threat, rather than just see him spawn 10 minutes later oblivious to my heroic efforts.
The game should have a tutorial that is skippable after your first character has completed it, and upon skipping you are bestowed all xp and items given by the tutorial. Even the best tutorials get old after a couple of play throughs. I shouldn't be punished for not have the desire to run through it more than a few times.
Travel - Also part of the game world, there needs to be a spectrum of travel options, while I love to just hope on a horse (or another mount) and meander my way through a huge world, sometimes that's not an option or time is of the essence, so there needs to be instant travel, faster travel (probably air), normal travel (mounts) and slow travel (foot speed). I know many fear that these options shrink a game, but they don't have to if you honestly want to travel the world you can, you just need to put in the time. If you don't have the time that's why the other options are there.
Housing - This is vital to a game to help me establish my own place in the world. While I want to see a game that has competitive territory control, there should also be a space in the game world where I am safe, and housing should fit that role. It should range from a room in an inn to a Keep in the middle of a lake. There should be both persistent and instanced housing. The housing that is you're safe haven should be instanced, while other places you conquer or build should be persistent (see below).
Character progression - It should be multi-layered and filled with gameplay options, ranging from heroic soloing to large scale empire building and defending, explanation follows:
My ideal MMO would mimic the way legendary and mythical heroes develope. The first phase is training, this is not a tutorial, but the process of making the player and character familiar with their abilities and role in the game. Even in a purely "skill" based progression one needs time to find where their chosen skills fit into the game world and with their fellow players.
The second phase would be the rise of the hero(es), this is the part where the hero(es) face monumental challenges and save the world (sometimes multiple times). For this would be the part of the game where it is a band of heroes faceing epic adventures, I could also see the use of (NPC) "companions" for those with less time for groups or less desire, but balance needs to be considered here.
The third phase of the game should be the transition phase from hero to leader. This to me is what MMO's are missing, the next logical step from saving the world is to leading (a part of it). I'd love an MMO to transition into a competitive RTS and resource management game. Think Mount and Blade or Total War here, but with an MMO world and competitve gameplay. I should be able to gather a band of heroes (NPC's), then an army, and then build my empire. I should have to defend my empire through battles as well as through alliances with other players. I should be able to return to the second phase of the games "heroic adventures" at any time I feel like.
Skills/Classes - I'm torn between wanting an open skill system like Obilivon or a mult--class system like DnD 3/3.5 systems. If a seamless hybrid is possible I think I would love that, but I'm not sure how that might work. What I want is freedom with some definition in roles. I'm not familiar with Rifts system, but it seems close to what I'm after. This aspect of the game should be tiered like character progression, there should be "trainer" skills, heroic skills and finally leardership skills. My character should always feel like it is growing in either the heroic arena or the leadership arena.
Gear - Because I want to "own" my character's appearance gear should either grow with me, or it should not alter my appearance unless I choose for it to do so. I tend to prefer the idea of gear that grows with the character. This doesn't mean there shouldn't be loot, but loot could be two fold, either special appearance items that you unlock or stat/ability agumentations for your gear.
Crafting - Crafting really is a subset of gear. In my ideal game crafting would be something I hire NPC's to do. While I can manage crafting on a micro level, I could also set it to be automated. So for instance, I give the NPC's a goal of "I want my chest plate upgraded with X stats", or I can "oversee" the process which would effectively be "crafting" it myself.
I'm sure I'm forgetting somethings, and while this is my ideal game I know that it most likely will not fit everyone's needs or desires, so keep that in mind.
@Leoghan,
I like your idea about 'unlocking' gear items, similiar to City of Heroes where you can earn and unlock new costume pieces.
A friend of mine had a good idea. Crafting could be it' own progression bar, like in EQ2. However, making a Steel Helmet is virtually the exact same at Crafting Lv.1 as it is at Crafting Lv. Max (or whatever.) The only differences are that the item is at a level that your crafting level is at; as well as adding materials to the recipe to add more bonus, such as adding a magic crystal to add +10 Whatever-stat. Then bosses and such would drop crafting materials that, while not necessary, have the sole function to change the appearance of the item you were making.
Like adding Eldritch Metal Twist to your boring old Steel Plate Shoulders recipe let you add a golden flair of design work to it, and there would be a vast number of these items, all with vast customization options.
I'm sorta iffy on crafting. Sometimes I love it sometimes it just feels tedious. That's why my ideal game would have the option to do it or to let NPC's do it.
Regardless though, I think customization of appearance is vital for all items, crafted or looted. The days of having to carry a lame looking sword because the art team thought that fit your level 20 build should be over, my appearance should be mine to command.
Permadeath, 1 character per server, skill-based for mechanics with no fast travel. Subject matter (any fantasy based is fine but if I had to choose I would love to explore the early days of mankind living in caves, hunting in groups with a world where survival is the key,) Player justice only with no dev involvement except for cheating. Crafting while not something I take part in normally would be key to creating simple tools and weapons, clothing of a sort, fire making ect. Players would be forced to work together to survive.
I just personally don't care for games that make all of the early and midgame content almost pointless after most players have reached cap and been playing in endgame. If your new to a game but a late arival or simply leveling an alt because you love to, it realy sucks to get in the game only to face a seemingly endless grind to reach Cap while skipping/rushing through all of those great instances/world events/dungeons that where put in the game at launch. It cheapens the game play for new players and not all are simply interested only inEndgame. It also richens the players skills to understand how they are used. I am mainly speaking of my game play beeing a late arival to RoM and WoW. Both games you had little to no interaction for your first like 50+ hours of game play untill you reach cap. This made me lose interets very fast. I am a FFXI fan I loved the game it was my first MMORPG. I love the rich story, rewarding feeling you get when obtaining your AF and Relic gear but I tried to go back and trying to get through the content again untill you could level efficiently was very boring. I am currently playing Rift and it is deep with content and things to do on your way to cap but you level much to fat in my opinion. Some poeple have reached cap in prob about 5-7 days of playtime, and skipped a large portion of the game in doing so. I just feel that if the game was more about obtaining permanent skills/abilities rather then level and you had to obtain these things in order to successfully defeat further dungeons/raids/sieges it would be a much more imersive game.
Some great ideas in this thread. Have to wonder if someone will ever do it in this age of rushed, cookie cutter, clone mmos.
Only thing I would add is dynamic weather. It's a minor thing but adds a lot of immersion when it is done right. Could be combined with equipment effects.. so if you have a flaming sword but it is raining, that flaming sword gets penalties.. or if you are wearing bikini armor in the snow, you get a frostbite penalty, or massive plate armor in the desert you get heat exhaustion.. and so on.
edit: Wouldn't let me post after I quoted. But I agree totally as weather can really add to the game but as far as I know it's never really been used except as window dressing. I think it would add greatly to a game.
The main thing I want to see is an MMO with PvE that's designed to hunt and kill players.
Get rid of all the static spawns and other crap. Get a nice post-apocalyptic fantasy world that's just been overrun by demons, dragons or the undead ( or anything else that rocks your boat. )
Then design AI so there will be packs of weaker creatures hunting for you. Finding the nearest player and heading straight for them. If that player doesn't run or have friends with him then he'll eventually be overwhelmed and killed.
Have rare spawns of extremely strong monsters roaming the game world. If they get killed they're dead for over a week until at some point they spawn again and the rumors start on the server about it being back killing solo players without blinking and even wiping whole groups of players. It will continue to ravage until a serious large group of players get together to kill it.
Combine this with sandbox elements to allow players to rebuild this fantasy world.
Without using the actual IP ( you'll just ruin it. ) base it off the books from Peter V. Brett ( The Painted Man and The Desert Spear. ) It's a midieval world where every night demons rise from the underworld. The only weapon against them are runes. Defensive runes are used to ward buildings, towns or even fireplaces at night so the demons can't enter and kill everyone. Offensive runes are lost so demons are nearly unkillable ( nearly, not totally ) and require multiple men fighting together to take even small packs down.
Make the demons permanent, night and day. Players get a single defensive rune circle to ward a small piece of land where they can build stuff. The runes need to be redrawn like every month or else the demons destroy whatever is inside. As soon as you leave your safe rune area any nearby demons will automatically start tracking and hunting you down. You can kill stragglers for loot but if you don't keep moving while alone you die.
Larger groups can actively go demon hunting until they run into rare but larger demons that can wipe whole groups. Larger guilds can claim more land to build on but doing so automatically opens them up to PvP. So guilds have the choice, get more land to build with the advantages of that but risk FFA PvP or stay smaller and be free from PvP unless mutually agreed upon by a war declaration ( mutual consent. ) guilds that claim more land automatically accept any war decs against them.
The largest demons would require entire raids against them and can make certain areas extremely unsafe for long periods unless dealt with.
No levels or any of that. The entire world is max level and out to kill you. You either have to group or be smart and lure demons to other groups so you can go about your business. At all times demons can find you and kill you. The only safe place is your small rune-circle.
The entire economy is crafting based. You can't get crafting nodes inside your rune-circle unless you use the expand option which opens you to PvP. You either need teamwork or stealth to get resources. Then combine this with an inventive crafting system where a player can only remember a few recipes and item quality and durability is determined by a tactical mini-game. All items decay. On dying your items take a further hit to their decay. Once totally decayed the item is destroyed and you need a new one. Markets are player-run by the guilds who claim larger areas ( and thus PvP ) where players can access trading houses, pay a small tax to the owner and do their business.
Smaller guilds have the option of assisting bigger guilds. Automatically taking on any war-decs against that guild ( neither the larger guild nor their enemies can prevent this. ) so that small guilds who have settled in the vicinity of a certain big guild can help them out and thus get a bit of PvP on demand without always being in FFA PvP.
We are the bunny.
Resistance is futile.
''/\/\'''''/\/\''''''/\/\
( o.o) ( o.o) ( o.o)
(")("),,(")("),(")(")
While I love the idea of interesting weather effects and dynamic weather (I hear AA is supposed to have seasons), I'm not keen on penalties associated with them, it really penalizes those with short play times the most.
You know you could take something like the nemesis system from CO and really have a lot of fun with the above idea. Think of it as if you're nemesis sending their hencemen out to get you, so occasionally you might find yourself ambushed by a pack of weaker NPC's. The best way to implement it would be to allow for a "difficulty" setting so that player could pick how often and how difficult these attacks are.
The main thing I was going for was to create a hostile agressive world that kills players. There's no content save for the crafting, sandbox, PvP between bigger guilds and of course angry demons everywhere hunting and killing you.
If you implement a difficulty slider you're kind of beating the whole point. Set it to easy and you've won the game!
It's meant to create a world ( not just game ) that's kept exciting by never knowing when a pack of angry demons will show up. And if they do how many? How big? Are any other players nearby? Should I quickly kill this single demon or does he have allies nearby that will rip me to shreds? Should I run and potentially miss out on the loot and that nice crafting node over there? Should I call friends and share the spoils?
Even during big PvP battles some big demon could suddenly show up and force both sides to focus on him or get slaughtered. Even when you're on your little own happily mining that nice iron vein a pack of smaller demons could come in and overwhelm if you don't notice them fast enough and run.
We are the bunny.
Resistance is futile.
''/\/\'''''/\/\''''''/\/\
( o.o) ( o.o) ( o.o)
(")("),,(")("),(")(")
Well that's the point of this thread though, our ideal games are different but still we can find core ideas and enjoy them (differently) for our own visions of a ideal game.
Ah sorry then :P. Was a bit confused by the "You could take", which I interpreted as a suggestion for my idea instead of you using it for your own idea.
Happy to inspire you then I guess
.
We are the bunny.
Resistance is futile.
''/\/\'''''/\/\''''''/\/\
( o.o) ( o.o) ( o.o)
(")("),,(")("),(")(")
Ah sorry, it was more of a generic "you" I should have used "one could", but I do love the idea and would add it to my own game if I had a dev team of my own :-)
I would have to say a mix of the classic nature of Asheron's Call, high-end graphics and the features/extras that we currently see in W.o.W.
Games Played: World of Warcraft, Dark Age of Camelot, Asheron's Call, Asheron's Call 2 and Star Wars Galaxies.
Mine:
* Incentives for group play.
* Very intensive crafting.
* Fun combat.
* Realistic graphics. (The only cartoony ones that I find acceptable for my taste are the animes.)
* PvE focused, with a few PvP.
* Extensive character customization.
* Worthy content. (Quality first before quantity.)
* Players who are cooperative first and competitive second. Shaiya has completely turned me off as far as PvP games. Overleveled players were challenging me while I was barely starting.
Intensity beats extensity everytime...