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Good ideas for end game progression?
charlesf
Member Posts: 52
Good game developers should be tapping into forums for good ideas in terms of end game progression.So how come none of the big name developers come up with some thing innovative that they can stick with, rather than switching between the standard 'treadmills' ?
How about stuff like, (not saying they are good, but pls feel free to comment, always nice to hear a diff. perspective)
Some sort of score that is redeemable against future paid content. (helps keep ppl arnd, a games greatest assest is its player base and its inherent inertia)
Player controlled boss fights ? Down a boss, use his avatar, power whatever for a limited duration in pvp and crap like that.
Guild control of towns, who then earn a fraction of the entire economy of that town, (auction house, waypoints, trades, whatever)
I dont think horizontal progression via addl. skills etc is viable it prob will wreck other elements of the game.
Comments
GW2 does have a suggestiion area on their official forums. I'm sure Anet does look at them. However most suggestions are filled with dissenting views on the ideas posted. As the saying goes to each their own.
Coming to a site like this would around heed very little. Where a large majority of the original posts are negative or simplistic like I like the game. Every now and then someone will post constructive ideas that no one pays attention to and usually gets buried within hours if not minutes.
I don't think they do - they just want what they have not what could possibly be. People are afraid of change, it is a fact.
But no one wants to pay a sub,there is only so much you get with the B2P model,can't have it both ways. Who will pay for all the extra content on top of what they are doing now.
You could put together a few solid suggestions based on multiple people giving input here, then posting in the suggestion section.
It would give you a chance to develop a suggestion and refine it alongside other players rather than just posting something you wrote down on a napkin earlier at dinner.
I'd like a more personal take on player housing. I'd like a house in the country with a farm where I could grow my own produce (cooking mats). I'd like to attract NPCs and have them work for me (allowing crafting stations).
A jet pack and a sniper rifle would both be nice, too. Oh, wait, wrong game...
Unicorns!!! Can't go wrong with unicorns.
And a pet cat for my elementalist. Like a familiar. In fact, I had a pet cat in a different MMO. I loved that cat. Hated the MMO after a while, but loved the cat... Especially when he used his lightning bolt spell... Quite the lifesaver that cat... I have a miniture Rytlock pet, but it's not the same as a realistic moggie. Especially as he doesn't do anything...
Oh, and more realistic armor. All these spikes and things.. Yeah, not so smart as they're just catch points to bring the weapon INTO YOU instead of deflecting it. Sure, I know people like it and I'm cool with that. But for me, I'd like more realistic armor. Especially for the FEMALE characters. Chainmail bikinis are so 1970s...
They can release content - like they are actually doing, with a very nice dungeon.
They could add a leaderboard for that dungeon, allowing people to be ranked by how far they can get.
They could add Guild Halls.
They can add diferent games modes, like a MOBA style, using GW2 engine.
They can add instances for higher number of people.
They can improve their DE's by scalling them with better/smarter AI mobs.
They can add more content like the halloween event.
They can add personal housing and introducing challenges of skill that will reward you woth trophies to display in your house.
They can expand the skills/traits, allowing for more complex and varied builds, etc.
They can add events like the battle royale from the BWE.
They can add the mini games that were promised.
All of this content consume more resources than gear progression but it is much more interesting.
But Anet seem to have good tools - this new dungeon seems very interesting and it is an example of good content. Shame it was coupled with the rot carrot of stats progression.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
Problem is, game developers are often tapping into outside resources for content ideas. Hell, arenanet had convention assemblies where they let fans design parts of GW2.
The issue is, it's easy to sit on the forums and post what sounds good, and would theoretically be an awesome feature. It's an entirely different thing to actually implement it and have it work. There's a saying when it comes to designing anything. 'A good designer has 100 good ideas a day, but may only get to use a couple.' How many 'good' ideas have we really seen on these forums? Maybe 100 total?
Furthermore, just because a design sounds good on paper, doesn't mean it'll play out as you intended. This is a common problem most developers learn early on. Hell, just look at some of the content in GW2. They implemented features to encourage players to explore and try new things. What does the average person do? They try and farm the same thing over and over.
Now you have a new problem, and most players won't give you enough time to properly fix it. And the cycle continues.
- As to endgame progression. What needs to happen has already been said countless times. First, players need to be trained to forget about the whole 'endgame' mentallity. And yes, I mean trained. Most gamers are so far gone that they can't help it. They don't even know they've been indoctrinated to think this way by over a decade of MMOs. Until that happens, it's going to be nearly impossible to push forth any real innovation when it comes to 'endgame' progression. Players will just do what they always do, compare it to WoW, and then get mad that it's not WoW, while at the same time asking for innovation.
Once players learn to abandon (or at least be open to) the idea that a game doesn't need 'endgame progression', there are a TON of possible ways to structure a game. Horizontal progression is key. Unlocking new skills (similar to what GW1 had). Exploring new areas. Constantly fluctuating map control. Housing, or even city building. Any form of discovery, from dungeons to puzzles to crafting.
If you stop looking at MMOs in a box, and look at what games in other genres have done, you will find that there are actually a lot of features that could work in a multiplayer setting. The problem is, introducing any form of vertical progression tends to confuse this, and will often subconciously trigger a desire for most gamers to chase the carrot instead of playing the game.