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Magic rare but powerful?
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1) Perma-death
Surely this is the simplest solution? Make wizards an alpha class, but give them perma-death. If they can make it to endgame then I'd expect them to be crazy over-powered, but a single death and thats it, back to square one. If that is too extreme, just make them lose a level or something with each death.
2) Server Caps
Another simple (but frustrating) solution - only allow a limited number of wizards to play simultaneously. Say, 20 per faction at a time?
3) True glass cannons / group-based
In today's solo age of mmos, make them so squishy that they're virtually impossible to level solo and even when maxed, so squishy that they're a ballache to play without a well co-ordinated group.
4) Restricted progression
Kinda of similar to the server caps, make it so that wizards can only progress through a collage of wizards type hierarchy. There can only be one arch-mage, 20 masters, 100 council members, 1000 intermediate and unlimited apprentices. Only the arch-mage has access to all spells, the masters have slightly less etc etc. Progress up / down the hierarchy a combination of in-game actions (like most pvp renown earned), voting and randomness.
I'm personally a fan of alpha classes as long as you can restrict their population. Seeing my first jedi in SWG was an exciting event, seeing them in combat was even better. Only became a problem when too many people became jedi as it upset a lot of the balance.
There is nothing "vulnerable" about a titan, it is the hardest ship to kill in the game by a long shot. Period.
EVE isn't based on ship "vulnerabilities".
Players immediately begin trying to grind out the lottery win. Hooray for disappointment!
Its hard to make something good and limit it by gameplay. Maybe Mages could have hunters that attack randomly. Limit the things they can do in game comparative to others.
I recall saving 3 months for a million adena to purchase a "bug bear" spell book, (which was the doorway for wizards to become money making machines)
The gods of RNG smiled on me however, I got an ultra rare invisibility spell book that few would sell (I didnt) because of their scarcity.
Despite playing that Wizard for 6 months I never got all the higher level spells either by purchase or drop, so definitely players who had then all were actually rare and usually only the most hardcore of grinders.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Hell, this would even work for other classes/skills.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
It'd be fun for the community also to be around when one of those events goes off.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
So you might have spells that would help with harvests or fertility, to assist in the construction of major works like castles or bridges, changing weather patterns, scy far off lands, mind reading, Psychometry...there are many ways to go to make magic both interesting and less appealing to masses at the same time I believe.
I am hoping for this type of magic from COE where it would be cool to have magic abilities but not necessarily something everyone would 'need' to have.
I also thought about magic causing serious physical debuffs when used. Kind of like magic sickness for using powerful spells. Maybe permanent great physical decaying for greater spell power.
There is the old once per level cooldown joke. So if your cap is 80, you can cast the spell 80 times or once per level. Cooldowns are a nice way to control things.
But what makes a spell rare in a game? Are talking about a simple "rare" drop rate where over time more and more people will have it? Are we talking about a server with 1000 magic-users and only 10 of them can get the spell?
Can the power of the spell vary with the number of people who have the spell? A rare spell does X damage when the first person has it. But as more and more mages get the spell the damage goes down.
Material components are a nice things too but I seriously doubt the player base will put up with that.
How about a control when in an instance? You can choose a list of spells to freely cast, or you can combine spells together for a different result but at a cost. Or you can combine all the spells on this list into one spell that you can cast once in the instance meaning you can't cast anything else during the instance. So the team will have to carry you but your spell might be critical for the final encounter.
Back in the days of dnd, I would put experimental/powerful spells on items like wands. Back then wands had limited charges and are destroyed when the final charge is used. NOTE: You don't know the number of charges. So if you make it a unique item with one charge that is hard to acquire, you can make it "rare" from a certain point of view.
You could do the same thing as a spell that you need to get a charge from. Such as a priest from a specific altar. Make it limited use or lost upon death.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Oddly enough, I like working for things for other people too. I had the most fun in games like AO helping my Nanotech friend find all his high end nanos, or helping guildies in EQ work toward their epics.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
You get only one chance per day to get that drop then the character is flagged. The player doesn't know this and is free to grind for it.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Make the cost increase with the greatness of the cast.
Forget just losing exp, a truly epic spell should obliterate your character permanently.
Might work with COEs model.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
"Also on a sadder note, we mourn the loss of our loyal wizard, Stitch, who's life was cut short in the epic battle against Xargois the Destroyer. He is survived by his wife, Delores and his 3 children..."
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
Nobody ever said the Titan wasn't powerful. But it's a tool, not a swiss army knife. I suggest you make an effort to understand EVE a bit better than you do.
To put such constraints on a player class creates massive problems. How does that class progress and grow? How do they function at low and intermediate levels? What non-overpowering skills can they employ to earn those levels and gear necessary to function at the highest levels? Then there would be difficulties with rarity once one gained that powerful level. Almost all MMORPG combat relies on multiple uses of the same skill to accomplish anything.
For myself, I'd think this would be a nice conceptual idea, but absolutely useless to try to implement as a player class. It would be unpopular, and if anyone did achieve that powerful level, there would be an outcry of 'nerf that class' due to the perceived imbalance.
If I had to attempt a 'rare, but powerful' magic, I think the easiest would be to remove that magic from the players hands, and if at all possible, from normal combat. Put that kind of magic in the hands of the NPCs, where the developer can actually control the frequency and power of the effects.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Well I agree with a lot of what you said there, but one of the best ways to have powerful magic is to make it not obey rules like science.
Have it wax and wane for weird reasons
Have it require sacrifices or rituals
Have it always have variable results
The problem is that as soon as it enters the mmorpg player population magic becomes the entitlement of evry person to play the game. If you don't grant it to everyone and make it equal the butthurt factor grows to gamebreaking levels.