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Examples of new ideas that can refresh the STALE state of MMORPGs
wizyy
Member UncommonPosts: 629
Would you like to have some of these ideas implemented in a game:
Character creation – let's make appearance make a difference - instead of really tiny looking people having the strength of big people (which can hardly be explained in any logical way), how about this:
Body - Small frame: has +5% more chance to be missed by an opponent
-5% on constitution
-5% strength
Body - Large frame: -5% chance to miss in melee combat
+5% constitution
+5% strength
Regular body, of course, would not have any bonuses or weaknesses.
Quests – we all played through so many quests, one dude gives you quest, you solve it, go to another NPC, rinse and repeat. If you had done that quest with another character or you saw it when your friend was playing – you know exactly what to expect and it's always kinda “spoiled”.
How about – random quests? Let's say every NPC can give you one of several quests and you never know which one you will get? Everyone loves surprises.
Also, when you are on the way to solve that quest, why not an ambush on the way? I know, it's common in mmorpgs - every mob on the map can “aggro” you, but with some knowledge (and the fact that mobs are usually way too static) you can go around them. Randomness, surprises are needed to get you on your toes and to get rid of that “chore” feeling when you do quests. Basically, my idea is to add a chance for an ambush on you or your party when you are taking a quest. It would add a level of fun, at least for me (you can get this “ambush” from real people on PvP servers in current games, so this idea is mainly for PvE).
Combat (slow-motion) animations – most people love “fatalities” in Age of Conan, it's a solid concept and fun when it works. But why not add even more cool animations in a fight? It's done great many times in single-player games (some beautifully done moves in Batman: Arkham City), why not in MMORPG? I know, while you watching animation, someone may be killing you 
But, it can be easily done in “instances”, boss-fights, you name it... Why not see yourself doing warrior-like crazy stunt, or block a boss with your shield in slow-motion, or... pick whatever combat move in slow-mo you would like to see, it CAN be done.
PvP: I love PvP. But I don't see it done right in recent years. It's all “battlegrounds”, “arenas”... not enough world PvP. We need more zones exclusively made for PvP, with resources in them that are worth fighting for – materials to give to crafters for making better equipment. We seriously need more of that and I'm happy to see it being made in ArcheAge, but we can only hope that game will be released in the West.
Weapons: I would love to see the introduction of “fumble” element in a MMORPG. For example, if you're using a huge-ass sword, you're prone to do something nasty to yourself or someone near to you if you drop it or it slips away from your grasp while you swing it. The chance for fumble can be really, really low, but when it finally happens, can be a moment to remember
Repercussions of the said fumble could be a “cripple” effect, where you are slowed or forced to use only one arm, and if you're not healed by a potion or a spell, you would have to go back to town and have it cared for. This is where a mount would be more than useful, and “come prepared” mindset would be advised to players. Maybe introduce a potion of “vanish” so when it happens that you're crippled you can get away from fight and heal (nice revenue boost for cash-shop games? Heh).
What about “racial” weapons? The ones that can be used only by certain races, or easier wielded by certain races? Hasn't been done much in MMORPG, but it's quite familiar in pen-and-paper RPG. Or, the ones that have a “bonus” damage against certain races? Let us have some of that...
I hate “soulbound” concept. I really do. You can't use the weapon someone else used, because it's bound to his soul? Lol. What would I want is to go back to crafter-made weapons and equipment which is damaged by use, can be repaired, but ultimately losing it's efficiency, just like in real life.
Appearance: We all love to look good in our games. To look bad-ass. How about this: by participating in combat and surviving, you get SCARS. BUT they vanish if you die and you're respawned. The more scars you have, it's obvious to every one looking at you that you survived many fights. These may seem unimportant, but believe me, many gamer's hours are spent just looking at your character or others. It would at least somewhat taken away the obsession about person's gear and how he looks in that gear.
Do we feel good in a MMORPG when we take down higher-level opponent? And when we do it alone, without assistance? I know I do. How about a victory shout when you take down such an opponent? Let's say, that “roar” would give you a 20-minute 20% increase in damage. BUT, with a 4-second cast, so if anyone HITS you while you're “roaring” you get +10% on received damage for 10 minutes, feeling very humble about being hit in the moment of triumph :P
How would you feel if you could be in the place of “boss” npcs for at least a while? I've got this idea: what if there's gods, dieties that each race worships, that can enter the body of a worshiper (player character), making him huge and powerful so he can mow down armies of enemies? I think that would be epic. Let's say that each day at random time, for about 2 hours, one player is randomly chosen to do just that – and if he accepts he can go to PvP zone and help the fight for resources. GM help would be probably needed for the possible asshat behaviour (not doing anything, for example), or when the player is disconnected, but those kinds of peculiarities would be easily worked out.
Now to extend this idea further, and to tickle the imagination of those who are familiar with pretty standard races of many high-fantasy role-playing games, I give you this graph:
You can see there 4 main races, each worshiping their own god who represents the forces of Light, Order, Dark and Chaos, and 4 possible more for those who are “in-between”. Races who are opposite to one another would really hate each other and would do 50% more damage when hitting the opposite race, making fights between them really fast and furious, because... deep hate does that. Worshiping another god could be made available, with intriguing possibilities of race-betrayal, deep hate towards betrayers and maybe even physical change mirroring a change in worship.
Those are just a few of ideas thrown about, that I feel could really impact the horribly stale MMORPG market. Implementation of any new ideas can be hard, and also can be done right or wrong. I just feel that I won't pay another dime to play any of the same-old with different graphics. We need something new and fresh.
What do you think? This may seem it's not much (well I have more ideas if you want them, I just want to see if there's any reactions), BUT I bet there's more than a few of you who are thinking the same, and who are even mulling over a few ideas of their own. Feel free to let them be known here (if you're not scared of them being stolen, lol)!
P.S. I made a blog here on mmorpg.com with all this, but it seems that only forums are active, hardly anyone reads blogs, and I would really like to see some opinions...
Comments
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Nice attemp to try fresh up with ideas.
But if i look at all the mmorpgs on market and how many millions play them im affraid the so called stale mmo's keep in a stale state.
Race weapons done in Darkfall and every race who made there own race weapon could give sell or lose it to other races every race weapon could only be made by the race compatible with the same race weapon weapon but Darkfall have no evil soulbound luckly.
The combat you discribe and want, pls no, omg i hope not its typical console action oriented combat moves i hate implemented into PC games.
The races UGHH
Why oh why always same races in every god damn game, the same races. Why not invent original new races like in Asherons call 2 tumeroks or lugians or in Darkfall the Mahirim wolf race. Or even the races from Skyrim humanoid Argonians lizards and humanoid khajiit cats.
Im also TOTALLY FED UP with all the ADONIS TYPES AND SUPER MODEL LOKING BABES in games every goddamn game have super sexy halfnaked babes and adonis looking brad pitts bah:( I want a game where the characters are looking more dirty dark grim seasoned and that dont mean they have to be evil you can be looking seasoned dirty and down right ugly but super cool and good:)
For me, its all way to themeparkee how you discribe your game, but still nice you try:)
Hope to build full AMD system RYZEN/VEGA/AM4!!!
MB:Asus V De Luxe z77
CPU:Intell Icore7 3770k
GPU: AMD Fury X(waiting for BIG VEGA 10 or 11 HBM2?(bit unclear now))
MEMORY:Corsair PLAT.DDR3 1866MHZ 16GB
PSU:Corsair AX1200i
OS:Windows 10 64bit
Eh, combat I didn't describe - the thing I was describing is just a SLOW-MOTION move, for the dazzle effect, to freshen up the constant boring combat animation. Nowhere did I say which type of combat I prefer.
The races - ARE JUST FAMILIAR PLACEHOLDERS - the real new thing is how you implement racial hatred - the opposite races on the graph would hate each other and give 50% more damage to the opposite race (regular damage to all other races). I do not really care if the game is high-fantasy or sci-fi or borrowed familiar races, or completely new ones. I just care about good, solid, fun game.
Where did you see themepark in any of my ideas?
I'm a big fan of sandbox! But any of ideas can be implemented in any type of MMORPG.
NEW IDEAS that can refresh the STALE state of MMORPGs
While I agree that the market is becoming stagnant with WoW clones and the Fantasy genre itself has been done to death... unfortunately most of the ideas are ones that aren't exactly new, just easily dusted under the rug due to the general failure of the game to survive in the shadow of WoW.
Appearance = Stats - Have seen this one before in a F2P, forgot the name in a sea of F2Ps that only held my attention for a short while.... Dang I'm going to spend 3 days on google trying to remember which game that was lol
Anyway moving on...
Random Quests - Anarchy Online did that.
Bullet Time - Matrix Online as well as Age of Conan did that.
Botched Roll - Included in many PnP games but might actually be an intersting idea to try in an MMO. I think PvPers would rally against it because luck systems take away from the desired skill based outcome.
Racial Weapons - The idea of racial restricted equipment is hardly new, it goes back as far as Everquest and even further still.
Scars - Really only appriciated by top end gaming systems. If you look at most scars on anything by the highest settings they are either non-existant or blurred to the point of seeming like a rash.
Play as Boss NPC - Try the Everquest Monster Mission that let's you and your team play as a Raid Encounter and survive against wave after wave of NPC Raiders ^^ That actually was kind fun but still not new.
Faction Wheel - Fallen Earth. Ability to change allignment from one diety to another was in Everquest as well though sometimes resulted in bad things happening (Killing the Goddess of Nature and Life as a High Elf made for a really long grind to not be hated by every NPC in the game... but the loot was so nice!)
Some of them are good ideas, some not so much but with so many failures having tried so many different things it's become a generic wash of things that have been seen before. Somebody's really going to have to break the mold but that in itself alienates the client base who will go back to what's comfortable and familiar in short order...
Wow, you're a walking-talking MMORPG encyclopedia
I can't say that I've played any of those games, but I half-expected some of ideas to be already implemented as somewhat similar in a game, but so many.. wow.
I could (and have already) developed the ideas further, with actual characterizations of particular workings, but in general I don't think there's great many people (I played many MMORPG since my first, SWG) who actually encountered any of this "generic wash of things that have been seen before" in any game.
Actually, those are things that I would gladly jump-in game to play for, but not just in ANY game. The game has to be skillfuly developed and be attractive to be popular. The good ideas are wasted in games like Fallen Earth (which is IMHO very poorly done), or never even seen by the modern gamer, 'cause they are now way too old/dead (Anarchy Online, Matrix Online, Everquest). Anyway, if some ideas don't look like they're new, doesn't mean they're bad, maybe they were just badly implemented.
While I wait for ArcheAge, I can only fantasize of the things I would like to see in a MMORPG... and hope there's more people like me, hungry for the break of the current mold.
NEW IDEAS that can refresh the STALE state of MMORPGs
There's some interesting ideas in the OPs list. I'm definitely in agreement that some new (or old) ideas are needed to spice up the gameplay within current MMORPG models.
Here's some comments on specific topics
Slow Motion animation
The slow-motion animation comes with a huge fundamental problem -- all MMORPGs run off of the concept of a static clock. For example, let's imagine a wicked-looking slow motion death stroke, which is just a special sword attack that kills someone. The animation for the normal sword attack takes 1.3 or so seconds, but the slo-mo attack takes 6.5 seconds. When someone triggers this slo-mo kill sequence, the game must either slow the game clock for everyone on the server (very bad) or slow the player's client, keeping any nearby action synced (difficult). If the game has any kind of PvP, or multi-mob agro, then it could become hazardous for the character to kill something, because the mobs / enemies might kill him while the animation is playing.
I expect that features such as slow-motion will have to remain in SP games, or buried in instances (where everyone in the instance is on the same clock).
Fumbles
Parts of a mechanism to incorporate fumbles was in EQ1 with the ability to Disarm an opponent. I think this was removed to prevent some exploits / potential expolits about the time NO DROP items were introduced. It was a horrifically clunky thing to pick up a dropped weapon and re-equip it in the middle of a fight if an orc disarmed you. The Disarm mechanism just didn't work well, and I can expect it lead to a lot of deaths and probably an equal number of Customer Support petitions. And with EQ1's rather wild combat algorithms, disarming that rusty dagger from the orc was probably not a good idea, as the orc's damage could increase noticably.
Scars
While cosmetic scars could be interesting, what about more drastic wounds? There would need to be a lot of animations of amputated limbs. And this would require extensions of the character models to show the various animations, and the information pushed to the client would need to include this. And players would rebell against any mutilations unless there were ways to repair them. And let's not underestimate the potential for griefing that this would enable in any kind of PvP environment. That alone might keep many developers from attempting a disfigurement system.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
lol Yeah I been on the scene for more years than I'd care to admit...
Many of the ideas were and are really good, as you said they were just used in games that were otherwise sorely lacking. I guess I was playing devils advocate a bit because of how unwilling many people are to give something a second chance. Some of the references were obscure and that was more for my own OCD and not wanting to completely ignore any of your ideas which were all worth mentioning imo.
I guess I could say my fear is enough of those good elements have been done badly (poorly balanced or buggy) or packaged with horrible ideas in the past that the skeptical MMO audience as it is now would pick it apart and cite examples like the ones I gave as reasons the game is destined to suck.
"lol They ripped off 20 different games and every one of them was a flop. Epic fail" - ForumTroll1337
You can see the same thing if you look at any forum or review of Funcom's next game because of the launch with AOC... Despite the fact that once the ironed the kinks out AoC became a polished and engaging game neither the company or the game is going to be remembered for anything more than a horrible launch and empty promises.
I really enjoy this discussion, this is exactly I was hoping for.
AoC is the perfect example of great ideas pretty much ruined by the general lack of understanding what makes gamers "tick", what they consider fun and what bores them to death, how important is the polish, pleasing color palette, attempt at class balance... and maybe most of all, how promises must be kept.
NEW IDEAS that can refresh the STALE state of MMORPGs
To be honest I'm not really sure how this can be applicable to the current generation of MMOs. Yes they are enjoyable, but I don't know if their application is possible at the moment.
My Blog About Hellgate Global, an ARPG/FPS hybrid MMO:
http://kashiewannaplay.wordpress.com/
Hellgate Global Official Fan Blog
http://t3funhellgate.wordpress.com/
Currently Playing: Hellgate Global, LoL, Skyrim, Morrowind
Recently Played: Cardmon Hero, Cabal, Oblivion
My Blog About Hellgate Global, an ARPG/FPS hybrid MMO:
http://kashiewannaplay.wordpress.com/
Hellgate Global Official Fan Blog
http://t3funhellgate.wordpress.com/
Currently Playing: Hellgate Global, LoL, Skyrim, Morrowind
Recently Played: Cardmon Hero, Cabal, Oblivion
A lot of the things he brought up are probably better suited to today environment than the were at the time. The body-build mechanic (and in the game example I used earlier even a Large Female got slightly different yet balanced and sensible bonuses compared to the large male) for example is not that far a stretch from racial bonuses so that's no big deal. As for Organic I fail to see how a 6'7 300lb assassin or a 5'0' 110lb tank seems organic to current games.
Bullet time is possible without major time warping with MXO's example as it put the player and target NPC for that move in a 1v1 duel at the middle of a much larger battle for the duration of the move. Certain criteria needed to be met but it also allowed more interactive fight sequences for pure eye-candy.
The one I'd most like to see given a second birth is probably random quests. Random Missions in Anarchy Online were one of the first examples of Instanced content, a technology and idea that has come a long way since. You check the bulletin board. Then they give you 6 options that more or less fit the mold and offer an xp/coin/item reward (1 item per group member). When you pick one, one of the dozens of doors or cave entrances in the area would hold a dungeon that was generated from a pool of several hundred pre-build rooms being randomly assembled and populated. Team dungeons had multiple floors and a boss (complete with boss loot tables) at the end. 100 people might use the same door as you but they all had a completely different challenge awaiting on the other side.
Botches are also easy in todays games. Hit/Miss and Damage are still based on background "dice rolls"... you roll a full on 0 and you wack yourself with the hammer or cut you hand on the sword or shoot yourself in the knee with an arrow.
Edit - Sorry for wall of text, wasn't that long in my head but as the OP pointed out ... MMO encyclopedia..
Actually I put a second post (just above your post) to re-examine his ideas..
My Blog About Hellgate Global, an ARPG/FPS hybrid MMO:
http://kashiewannaplay.wordpress.com/
Hellgate Global Official Fan Blog
http://t3funhellgate.wordpress.com/
Currently Playing: Hellgate Global, LoL, Skyrim, Morrowind
Recently Played: Cardmon Hero, Cabal, Oblivion
Yeah and got that one in while I was editing the first to rant less about instanced missions and include your follow up lol
Not to damper the coversation but most good ideas probably are too hard to do, take up too many resources, not possible due to technology, etc. I'd love to see a complete random quest creator where only the beginning (reason to do it) and end (reward/completion) are preset-the rest is completely randomized for each person. Would be great, but not possible with current tech/programming). I'd settle for enemy AI to be at least a little random or challenging. I agree some of the lack of originality is due to fear of failure, so they do what is already proven to work, but there are technical reasons for a lot of it too.
Even when we cannot do the idea complete justice due to technical reasons, we can attempt to capture the essence of it.
For example, if we can't create a random generator for quests at every NPC giver, we CAN create - let's say, 20 quests in some area, where there are 4 NPCs, who could give players some of those quests in random order.
Point is, randomness, surprises and mystery give player a reason to walk the same path again... Did you ever level your alt character through the area you already experienced, and got really bored? To the point you stopped playing? I know I did.
It's a real pity when some of the best regions in a MMORPG are deserted when players go right to the "end game" and never go back to them. At least it could be done that regional quests could be different for each class.
NEW IDEAS that can refresh the STALE state of MMORPGs
Guild Wars 2 is attempting to do this with Dynamic Events.
There are three things I absolutely demand from any MMO worth considering my time:
1. Subscription based, not pay to win (buy to play and actually free are of course OK too)
2. Third person perspective / no realtime aiming / not shooter-like with acceptable view on the surroundings
3. Item focussed, with no permanent item decay, no treadmill gaming (treadmill = you have to work to stay in the same place)
As the OP already violated rule 3, I'm not highly motivated to contibute to this thread.
I would love to see a phased server architechture applied in an MMO.
It means everyone would be playing on the same "server", but on the busiest spots they would be separated in multiple instances.
The benefits would be that each and every zone would always have near-optimal population and never again would you have to worry about ending in a dead server (unless the whole game dies) or sitting in a queue to log in.
Drawback would be that it would not allow open world PvP in any meaningful way.
Actually, it is quite the opposite. The earlier crowd was far more tolerant of consequence of actions and the ability of other players to affect their character.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
That's been done in dozens of MMOs going as far back as Earth and Beyond. It's rather common for MMOs to do that now.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Can you name any decently populated and/or recent MMOs?
Age of Conan
Mabinogi
Vindictus
Aion
Eden Eternal
Dragonica / Dragon Saga
I wholly expect you to refute those as being invalid or 'not counting' for one arbitrary personal reason or another, but we'll start with that list and work from there.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
cybersex w/ centaurs
and a 3 digit lvl cap at the Auction House
Age of Conan had several servers with the same ruleset, not sure if it does now that the population is down a bit. Not sure if you got what I meant by really putting all players on the same server (obviously one server per ruleset would still be needed).
I do know phasing is already working in many games, but AFAIK no large-population game has yet to attempt cramming all players on the same server yet (except EVE, but they don't have phasing and can't have due to the nature of the game).
What I'm waiting is an AAA MMO to try this.
Systems like this tend to fall into the 'different but same' trap. They are random and technically uniqe but play out pretty much the same each time.
SWG had terminals for random mission. However, they ware all just a variation on 2-3 templates and once you done them a few times, it was the same experience as doing daily quests in WoW.
If the quests really feel different than that is new content. Otherwise it is just procedural 'copy and paste'.