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The Perfect MMO
Bayen
Member UncommonPosts: 41
Hello
What would be YOUR perfect MMO?
I have chosen what I think is the best MMO for each game system, please use my list and substitute what you think is the best MMO for each category.
I'll go first.
GENERAL
Combat: Tera
Crafting: Star Wars Galaxies
Lore: World of Warcraft
World Design: Lineage 2
Class Design: Star Wars Galaxies
Housing: Star Wars Galaxies
PVE
Questing: Star Wars the Old Republic
Small party instances: World of Warcraft
Raids: World of Warcraft
World Bosses: Lineage 2
PVP
Open World: World of Warcraft
Battlegrounds: World of Warcraft
Arena: World of Warcraft
Guild vs Guild: Tera
Siege: Lineage 2
Large Scale: Elder Scrolls Online
My list is quite limited because I only ever liked a few MMO's as you can tell, I would be very interested in what the community thinks best fits each category, and If I missed any important categories then please add your own.
Comments
I'll just post what I wrote in another thread that was written years ago then got locked due to necro'd. So I'll just re-post it here. It's basically features in my own personal game design..
- Top heavy PVE oriented gameplay. Hardcore PVE needs to make a comeback but implemented correctly.
- Realistic graphics, (no towers for shoulder item graphics) a world that has a balance of realism and fantasy.
- A vast seamless world that will captivate you to explore and adventure on a single shard server. Possibly no instances.
- In-depth class design which will immerse you directly into a class. Classes are easy to learn but hard to master.
- There are dozens of ways to play a class, completely up to the player
- Stats are universal and are not dependent on a set of archetypes.
- A player driven economy with separate crafting classes where player can establish their own markets.
No matter what game mechanics you put in ,
the MMORPG still far from perfect without real people who run the game as gamemasters (GM in p&p , not nowadays GM).
Key element to the perfect MMORPG are system that allow the GMs to direct run and manage the Environment
Twinking and clever, fiddly skill allotment: Anarchy Online
Size of game world: Anarchy Online
Ability to progress without being led from one place to another by quest givers: Anarchy Online
Housing: I didn't get to really play it, but I hear good things about SWG. Project Entropia also has amazing open world housing.
House building: Everquest Landmark is shaping up nicely.
Story: The Secret World and SWTOR.
PvP: My kid says League of Legends. At least he isn't getting crushed by premades all day when he pugs. So however it is they do that, some other MMO needs to copy it.
Lots of different stuff to do that also makes the gameworld feel alive and different: ArcheAge maybe. I hear Star Wars Galaxies was like that, too.
Clothing options: Anarchy Online, Guild Wars 2 for dyes.
Beauty of design: Guild Wars 2 is a beautiful game, as is Guild Wars. I have to say, in spite of huge overall disappointment, I think Earthrise was beautifully designed, too. Something about the light.
Combat: Age of Conan
PvP and PVE areas: Mostly Eve. It manages to keep both PvPers and carebears playing without too much rage from both sides. Though personally I prefer different server rulesets instead.
I did kind of enjoy the crafting in Fallen Earth and the fiddly crafting/gathering in Xsyon.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
~Albert Einstein
GENERAL
Combat: Everquest
Crafting: Everquest
Lore: Everquest
World Design: Ultima Online
Class Design: Everquest
Housing: Ultima Online
PVE
Questing: Star Wars the Old Republic
Small party instances: No such thing in my perfect MMO
Dungeons (non-instanced): Everquest
Raids: Everquest
World Bosses: Star Wars the Old Republic
Doesn't have to be bad, I agree with you that something new and totally awesome would be better then something old. But I don't see this thread as something more then a picking out your best parts from the games you played and put them all togther the way it would be perfect.
Yes but what if you mixed Taco Bell with Pizza hut and made something of a perfect pizza? That would also be AWESOME!!!
Seems the annual "Perfect mmo" thread is here again - true, with a bit more details this time
Still, there's no such thing. There can be close candidates (different to each person), but not One mmo to rule them all.
For example to me the prefect ones are LotRO, AoC, TSW and STO (but I haven't played with my VAs since the last anniversary sadly, so STO is falling a bit behind nowadays...)
And just for the fun, let's see your detailed list:
GENERAL
Combat: who cares? if not totally broken, I'm good. But if I have to pick, AoC's combo system.
Crafting: AoC's revamped one, if FC finally finishes it
the plans are great
Lore: see above, LotR, Hyboria, Ragnar's Secret World setting, and Roddenberry (ok, STO is not exactly fit for canon, but still...) I'm all about lore and story, that's the core of any rpg.
World Design: LotRO is fine for me
Class Design: TSW, Rift, STO, any game with massive theory-crafing capabilities
Housing: Rift
PVE
Questing: TSW, both the system and the writing. AoC for the conversations. SotA for bringing back conversations and text parser.
Small party instances: TSW, AoC
Raids: AoC
World Bosses: pass, never liked the concept. AoC's current 'one boss every month' event is not bad though.
PVP
like the combat above, who cares? Non-existant, preferably
Or if that's not an option, then LotRO's Ettenmoors.
"If I missed any important categories then please add your own."
Maybe the most important one, the core of mmo's, Community. And for that LotRO, hands down. And TSW.
And roleplay. For that, also LotRO and TSW.
GENERAL
Combat: Dofus
Crafting: A Tale In The Desert
Lore: hmm... Uru has pretty good content but the delivery system is lacking. WoW has a pretty good delivery system, and so does Skyrim, I'm not sure how much of that ESO successfully duplicates.
World Design: Ryzom, maybe? zOMG isn't bad either. There aren't any I really really like, which is why I'm driven to make up my own.
Class Design: No classes. Players all start classless and customize their abilities within the game.
Housing: use a single player system like Harvest Moon or The Sims 2 or 3
PVE
Questing: Hybrid between WoW and Skyrim
Small party instances: There are so many good ones... but the important thing would be that all dungeon instances should scale to party size so they can be soloed as well as done in small parties.
Raids: I don't like raids, at all. Perhaps a series of small party battles, either PvE or PvP, could happen side-by-side instead.
World Bosses: I don't like world bosses much; putting a dungeon boss where players passing by could see and hear it being fought without being in danger from it would be cool though.
PVP
I don't really do PvP, but if I was designing a game and it had to have PvP I'd go with an arena system that rewarded fights mainly with gold (which PvPers would generally spend in the auction house to buy items from crafters), and had NPC factions to give story context and faction-specific ranks and rewards.
Nothing wrong with your list, the yellow is just my opinion.
I generally don't like the breakdown presented by the OP so I'll just use my own, primarily because things like Housing is just a feature I would have in any game (really not much options if we think about MMO's that actually implemented Housing) etc.
Combat: I think mostly, its the same across the board, its a matter if you want more of an FPS action style (very rare in MMO's) or the traditional hotkey setup, to me it doesn't matter personally, I can do with either.
Economy: EVE Online. I want to think this is what you really meant when you said Crafting, to me crafting is mostly the same in all MMO's, put items A, B, C in inventory, hit craft button and you make product D. I think the how resources are gained, how items are produced and then how these are allocated is a much bigger portion of an MMO. I personally think EVE Online's the best mostly because of having localized economies which is pretty much unique to that game, if it can be combined with an improved version of the old Star Wars Galaxies resource system, it would be even better.
Social Organization: FFXIV ARR. I think this is probably the most important part of an MMO, I'm thinking of everything from LFG tools, to guild structures etc., I think overall, FFXIV ARR is the best, it has just about every possible way for people to organize themseles whether its formal or informal.
Progression: EQN or old SWG. To me, this can vary especially because pure sandbox and pure theme park seem to be the two sharp contrasts in terms of progression i.e. horizontal vs vertical. I think what's best is a hybrid. It's hard to choose a single game here as the newer more modern games seem to be heading in this direction anyway, ideally as much varied activity combined with depth for each activity is I think what most people can agree on or want. IMO EQN has the best potential to find the sweet spot between these two. If I had to choose what's currently out there or was out there probably old Star Wars Galaxies had a good system and was also a hybrid.
Hmm, personally I think there's a fairly large amount of variation in housing systems in existing MMOs, even though none of them is perfect. Here are some examples:
Dofus - Houses are not instanced, and the number of them in the game is severely limited. Only a guild master can buy a house, which is lame, and the house's appearance isn't modifiable, also lame, but the house does provide storage, a teleportation point, and optionally a crafting workshop. Additionally a mount-breeding paddock can be purchased as an addition to a house.
Wizard 101 (WildStar is similar) - each player gets an instanced "dorm room" which the players are encouraged to upgrade into a house on a personal island. This house can be decorated with wall hangings, sculptures/statues/plants, crafting workbenches, and the player's pets can wander around within the house. The house is also where all plant growing sim gameplay takes place, and all crafting is done. Other players can visit.
A Tale In the Desert - Houses are non-instanced and built by the player out of modules, on a square grid, much like houses in The Sims 2. In previous versions of the game houses could be painted, but I think they removed that ability as a graphics optimization. An assortment of storage chests and crafting appliances can be built within the house, while other types are built outdoors, around the house, and plant-growing sim gameplay is also done here, plus gathering of whatever resources the house is built near.
Minecraft - Houses are built out of blocks (voxels), making the house as much a sculpture as a functional object.
Landmark - Building crafting is very flexible and the results can be very pretty. I don't have information about their functionality.
The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot - The house is a dungeon for other players to attack. The player can change out and rearrange rooms, then place a variety of traps and monsters. Players must beat their own dungeon to activate it for other players to challenge.
Plus, lightsabers!!!
Originally posted by laokoko
"if you want to be a game designer, you should sell your house and fund your game. Since if you won't even fund your own game, no one will".
I have to agree with DMKano, taking parts of MMO's is fun to conceive of a "ideal" Frankenstein version of what you envision of an MMO, but ultimately taken those systems separately from different MMO's does take a lot away from the fact that these systems were designed around each other to fit together as a whole. Sure, we can break down MMO's in terms of its system but like a craft system isn't entirely defined by the actual crafting (imo) as it is also defined by how the resources are spread out in the world and how they are acquired and gained and then redistributed etc. When we think in terms of Economy, we have to think in terms of combat, accessibility, social organization etc. too and vice versa for all those things.
Generally these games are designed as whole worlds with parts that fit together, I don't think its as simple as "blending" features (from your favorite MMO's) together and hope they magically work properly without including the other parts that help support that particular feature as well. Star Wars Galaxies wasn't just great because of one feature, it was a sum of its parts, i.e. OP's original list of his picked features, half of them were from 1 MMO even across all the categories that he established.
1.) Never will be a perfect MMO. No matter how well it is built there will be something that will have a flaw.
2.) What you may like may not be what someone else likes.
Just the way it is.
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
"mmorpg.com forum admins are all TROLLS and losers in real life"
My opinion
The problem is not the "can't be done" part, the problem is the effort / result ratio. -> it can be done, for 1 (or a handful) player(s).
"if we are designing a new MMO using a list of favorite parts of existing MMOs" - no such thing as we, and favourite is different to everyone. Just look at this very thread, with only a dozen replies, but still, you won't be able to "frankenstein" together a so-called perfect game for just their needs, let alone a much larger playerbase. That's why I and many others said above, there's no such thing as perfect mmo. Even if someone would make a perfect one for your needs, you would find parts in it you don't like 100%, or what other games are doing better.
All you can do (from dev's point of view) is either stick to your own favourite aspects and hoping that the resulting game won't be too niche and will lure in enough players - if you're an indie who wants to build his love project. Or, on the other hand the suits will give you the parameters based on lots of research, of which areas and in what amount you must put in the game, and where should your focus be, etc. to make a common ground for the largest possible share of the playerbase.
As a player, your only option is searching for games which suits you the most. If you find a prefect one, good for you. The market nowadays is stuffed with games anyways...
Today my perfect mmorpg is ArcheAge.
Tomorow i dont know