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Going Forward: What are some new features we want to see/ become standard in MMOs
MMOExposed
Member RarePosts: 7,400
Going Forward what are some new features we want to see/ become standard in MMOs in the future?
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Comments
We ready have all the features we need for MMOs , it just that the maker failed to meet the standard of customers .
This is not to say that all characters should be gods able to do anything and everything at once; of course there should be limits, be it switching classes (FFXIV) or only a subset of skills being useful at a given time (EvE), but the sooner MMOs do away with having to 'jump on a alt*' just so you can have a different play-style (tank vs. healer, stealth ship vs. captial ship, etc.) or craft a perticular item, the better.
* This is also not to say that 'Alts' should not be an option, but they should be viewed more as an alternative Character, not just an alternative Class.
So you have your clan leader as one character, the number 2 in another character slot who can be a son or daughter or whatever, and also any other options that a player wants to design.
So you can have:
1) a king, a queen, a prince, etc., plus various court royalty or whatever.
(Now here's where it gets interesting, in my opinion)
2) a mage, an apprentice, a familiar (yeah, play that Imp), same with a special pet (play that giant eagle), a fighter hireling, a head guard for your tower, etc.
3) A temple head Cleric, etc., etc., you get the idea.
Now, with this, you can have all the characters online acting as NPCs, and the player simply takes control of any one of them at any time.
There wouldn't have to be a limit on "slots". A player could start with a created character(s) as normal and build up these extras by finding them in game and winning their loyalty (and maybe modifying them some at that point, or training them as desired).
You can also add perma-death if you want to with a system like that.
Or not.
Once upon a time....
The most lacking aspect besides freedom.
Once upon a time....
Very few MMOs allow you to have a lasting effect upon the world you inhabit. SWG allowed you to build houses, player cities and harvesting equipment in the real world. It was fairly basic in terms of layout / customisation, so most player cities on a planet looked very similar, but it meant each server was subtly different.
Camelot Unchained is developing it's CUBE system which should allow for much more varied buildings to be designed by the community and built in game which should result in each server being very different and constantly giving you new places to explore and fight over.
I'd like to see this sort of feature become standard.
2) Proximity-based Tanking / Collision Detection
I've never seen this implemented before, but it's an idea I came up with that I'd like to see. I don't like the current threat-based tanking methods, it's an extremely artificial way to replicate real life.
Instead, I'd like to get closer to real life. When in a real sword fight, you wouldn't walk past a swordsman in order to get to the healer or archers. The reason you wouldn't is first because that swordsman is going to cause you harm when you get too close, and second that swordsman is physically in the way.
So, I'd like to see tanking become aura- and size-based, combined with collision detection. If you get within 5m of melee dps, your movement speed starts reducing. The closer you get, the slower you walk. This mimics the need to defend yourself against attacks. Combine with collision detection.
The result would be a vastly higher importance being placed of movement in combat. The enemy will be constantly on the move, trying to skirt around the "tanks" in order to get to the squishies. The tanks will have to reposition themselves in order to keep their slowing effect on the enemy. Melee can start forming walls to prevent enemies getting through. In raids, the melee might form a ring around the healers to prevent adds getting at them.
Then, add in character weight. Your line of 5 knights might successfully hold back 10 goblins, but a 15ft troll should be able to push them out of the way and will care less about taking damage.
I think this implementation of tanking would add so much more depth to group combat and result in loads more variety in tactics and group setups etc.
3) Horizontal Progression
MMO.....massively-multiplayer online.......we're supposed to be playing games with 1000s of other people. Vertical progression segregates the community and makes it harder to play together. It makes 99% of content redundant within a few hours of playing it. Most of the time, it doesn't actually change the way you play the game, it just makes some numbers get bigger, so it's actually a very boring way of progressing your character.
Horizontal progression is the solution. Very few games have tried it and few have succeeded so it is risky, but done right it could be the saviour of the genre. I think it would really help bring communities together and help us remember what this genre is all about - playing with other people. I also think it would make progression more interesting.
Same thing with LFR which has pretty much single handedly made guilds obsolete.
More MMO's with proper crafting systems that produce items worth wearing/using. Maybe even BIS items.
More MMO's that stop trying to please everyone and failing by including both PvP and PvE, pick one and run with it.
I'll stop there before this turns into a rant.
I liked WildStar's/Guildwars 2 sub-class/distraction things like pretend exploration (to see a planned vista) and other triggerable events.
I wish more games would take a hint from EvE for the ability to use character abilities to actually track down content (scanning to find combat(read raid) sites or similar).
______________
I actually like the reduction in healers in new games. Though I wish they would just remove all healing from ANY class. Would be interesting in a game that focuses more on stealth mechanics (taking hints from Mark of the Ninja: http://store.steampowered.com/app/214560/ and other games that have done it right), and maybe with a helping of puzzles (with very directed procedural generation).
Need crafting more tied to advancement. Things like food you eat causing which attributes level, impossible to pass some parts of a dungeon without a crafter, more ways to modify weapons, and trade-offs like raid gear grants additional abilities while crafted gear has higher stats.
Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent.
"At one point technology meant making tech that could get to the moon, now it means making tech that could get you a taxi."
One thing that should already become standard is that all games should have wasd or gamepad movement. Mouse-only movement is simply not acceptable in an MMO, unless it's an MMORTS or something where you don't have an avatar that can walk around in the game world.
But the acronym MMMORPG now currently means Microscopic Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. Kappa.
Daily events like a besieged or Campaign or invasion where the whole server can take part to defend the realm.
Better yet,tell me one new feature a game has introduced in the last 5-10 years?The last idea i have seen was in ROM where by you can take stats and imbue onto other gear via Runes.
The only new ideas i have seen are in marketing and monetary ways to operate a game,seems devs spend more time worrying about money than the game they are making.
FFXI allowed players to play the mobs in the games but seemed not enough interest so they gave up on it.We need to see this idea rehashed.
Pet breeding,so they can become different species/colors/speed/endurance sort of like a cross between Chocobo breeding andWiz 101 pet breeding but even better.
class/race meaning something and not just visual sliders.You have a large character,he can carry more,but is slower,swings weapons with more power but less often,can see over top easier but also easier to see.
Gods that release extremely rare things into the world,randomly dropped so if a player is lucky enough to stumble upon it he would have first crack at attaining said godly like item/mount/weapon etc etc.
Mobs/Bosses ONLY drop what they are wearing/using.
Tons more ideas but i am too hungry to think anymore lol.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Don't confuse my suggestion with the current Nostalrius drama.
There is HUGE potential in the community making its own game. To the point where I can put some addons to WoW so that I can play it with a controller. Granted, I can only do leveling this way, but... it's already pretty good.
If I can go as deep as a whole server being modded, then OMG the potential there is HUGE!
The thing is, these days, you just can't because it's illegal. But it's really easy to put in place, honestly. In fact, it could be a great way for a publishing company to make some extra money - by making the developers pay for hosting and providing an API.
And even the developers could make money that way, because they could setup a Patreon and allow their biggest fans to support them.
Seriously, how many currencies does a game have to implement? It's like traveling to a different country every hour. Solve it some other way.
~~ postlarval ~~
WoW and RIFT have bgs.
ESO have the beautiful world and amazing mounts and costumes designers.
Warhammer and the old DaoC have the smaller contested areas, which are small enough to otherwise make it feel like the large majority of the world is safe to travel in.
Wildstar have the deep housing customization, not a fan of Wildstar art at all in any way or form, but being able to customize houses as much as Wildstar allowed, absolutely amazing.
WoW has flying mounts.
Both ESO and WoW have found each their way to do auction vendor/housing in a way that appeals to me.
CU will have a deep crafting system, would like to have seen that in more games. A Crafting class, brilliant idea.
Ashes of Creation will have 4 seasons changing, should really be a standard in all new games from now on.
BDO has mount breeding, cant say the system has to be exactly like BDO, but the idea is still great.
WoW has pet battles, mog tabs, accountwide mount collection tab, which has a nice design, show you what you have in those with big nice pictures. All great things.
CoE will have characters that can age and die, also a great great great concept if implemented well.
Id say we already have the recipe for succes, if developers would pick already existing features in other games and bring them together in one game.
So there is not really anything I am missing, I just want things brought together in the right balance. With PvE, PvP and RP servers to choose between.
like moba and gw2 spvp
1. Collision detection. I should not be able to walk through an enemy, nor should my 'dodge stat' determine whether I dodge. Rather, my 'dodge ability' should determine how quickly I can dodge and how much energy dodging consumes.
2. A bullet is a bullet. I may have a 14th century arquebus and you may have a futuristic laser gun, but if you don't pay attention and I hit your head, you should still die, or take heavy damage. Similarly, armour should not be so powerful that an undergeared enemy is not be able to kill an overgeard AFK player.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests