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[mod edit] How many of you would willingly use optional difficulty?

MMOExposedMMOExposed Member RarePosts: 7,387

ESO gets options to turn off quest markers.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/406051/page/1

So How many of you would willingly use optional difficulty?

This been a subject and solution for many years here on MMORPG.com.

The idea of giving players the option to make the game harder for themselves and themselves alone.

But what about OPTIONAL Death Penalty?

Does this same rule apply? Would optional harsh death penalty have the same appeal?


Seems we have a large fanbase on this forum for people that love Harsh Death Penalty.

Well how about optional perma death for players that like that sort of thing? Die, and character get deleted automatically for you after a certain amount of times. Can be turned on, or off.

Would you Harsh Death Penalty fans use such a feature?
 

Philosophy of MMO Game Design

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Comments

  • Squeak69Squeak69 Member UncommonPosts: 959

    this is a little silly and i say this for one reason only, we already ahve the optional death penalty, how you ask its simple if your charecter gets defeated just delete him.

    ya know what is really funny about that, all these people who clamor for perma death never use this option really. why? its simple because its not that they want to lose their char its that they want to gank lowbies for laughs.

    ok that isnt actully true i know a few people who do want perma death for the right reason but this is what actully would be happening in games with perma death.

    F2P may be the way of the future, but ya know they dont make them like they used toimage
    Proper Grammer & spelling are extra, corrections will be LOL at.

  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441

    Optional death penalty only works if it is a server setting, and preferably one where that server have a slightly better droprate of good stuff.

    MMO players do tend to like Risk/reward things and if there is no reward then perma death just wouldn't work. Then again maybe if the perma death thing also came with a huge buff in magic find it might still work.

     

  • rojoArcueidrojoArcueid Member EpicPosts: 10,722

    Count me in for no quest markers.

     

    Harsh death penalty? as long as Harsh does not mean Game Breaker penalty (like permadeath or FFA loot) then yes, sure count me in.

     

    HOWEVER, If the game is going to get more difficult i believe the right way to do it is to happen for everyone in an mmo, not optional. Unless its a server specific rule.

    If I choose lower difficulty and my friend picks hard difficulty and we go questing and he gets slaughtered by the bunnies i've been one shotting in TESO I would probably quit as it kind of breaks immersion if he and i are the same level and similarly strong.

     

    Its an mmo, not a single player game. The same difficulty needs to be shared by everyone at least in the persistent world.





  • 5Luck5Luck Member UncommonPosts: 218

    One of the things that made older games great was the drop loot on death. Not because you can loot other players but when your char dies and you stand to lose nothing what happenes... You log out.

     

    Yea thats it now you can spend hours subconsciencely hating the game and posting how bad the game is. Whre as if you needed to go back and loot your body and were successfull you probly wont log out at that moment. You're more likly to log out after a succesful event or better yet with the feeling of WIN!

     

    Thats a big deal....

     

    Making it so when a player ends a game session and being sure its on good terms is more important to the health of a game then the actual game play. I mean it how many hours have you spent at work thinking of what your are going to be doing in game when you get home/off work. In most cases its more time spent then in game.... basement dweleers withstanding.

  • LisaFlexy22LisaFlexy22 Member UncommonPosts: 450
    I will be playing without the quest markers
  • ProblemProblem Member UncommonPosts: 77
    Originally posted by LisaFlexy22
    I will be playing without the quest markers

    I'll just turn off my monitor then!

    Citizen: Preach your filth elsewhere!

  • Ryoshi1Ryoshi1 Member Posts: 139

    Permadeath in pvp but you get your character back leaving home/guest server :D

     

    /whereisyourzergnow

  • GoldenArrowGoldenArrow Member UncommonPosts: 1,186
    I think The Secret World showed that people much rather follow a guide to finish ASAP than actually spend 2-4 hours on a single mission.
  • reeereeereeereee Member UncommonPosts: 1,636
    Personally I'll be trying to avoid all the PvE I possibly can in this game, so no, not using anything that will make the PvE take any longer than it absolutely has to.  And as for PvP, I don't really feel like voluntarily nerfing myself would be productive.
  • keenberkeenber Member UncommonPosts: 438
    there would have to be differant servers for that option to work but i am all for harsh death penaltys. But in no way would i play a mmo if it had perma death
  • 5Luck5Luck Member UncommonPosts: 218
    Originally posted by reeereee
    Personally I'll be trying to avoid all the PvE I possibly can in this game, so no, not using anything that will make the PvE take any longer than it absolutely has to.  And as for PvP, I don't really feel like voluntarily nerfing myself would be productive.

    Finding a complex system and working out the cleanest and most streamlined "path" through it is what you consider "gaming" or gaming the system. Anything short of the "best solution" to the problem or even the best solution to any prevoius problem will always feel shallow or incomplete.

     

    Finding a "system" to work with in and feel comfortable needs to have a degree a familarity and a degree of chalange.

     

    What your posting here makes it sound like you want to remove the chalange...? Or is PvP so superior in "chalange" all else seems meaningles?

     

    Maybe you want something more PS2 or maybe a nice RTS game might help you assosiate that "in system streamlining" effect as most RTS games have suffered a worse blow then MMOs.

     

    Why drag that into an MMO. MMOs have had a too unfocused vision for too long. Maybe we should help developers focus genras instead of blobing more crap into them.

     

     

  • MsPtibiscuitMsPtibiscuit Member Posts: 164

    I'd love too, but it is impossible to play without the quest markers, the dialogs doesn't give you enough information to find the place to go, not even N/S/E/W.

    Unfortunately, atm, MMORPGs have chosen to take the path of over-casualisation: questmarkers, closed/free/instantaneous fast-travels, linear dungeons, map directly entirely revealed and so on. About death penalty, I think they should put something to make people fear the death of their character, but if the game has a instanced RvR and not a totally free one, it gets "useless" to put a death-loss mechanic.

  • ScalplessScalpless Member UncommonPosts: 1,426
    Originally posted by MsPtibiscuit

    I'd love too, but it is impossible to play without the quest markers, the dialogs doesn't give you enough information to find the place to go, not even N/S/E/W.

    Yep. This is what people who say you can just turn them off always forget. I can't think of a single game with quest markers that lets you ask where your objective is.

  • MsPtibiscuitMsPtibiscuit Member Posts: 164

    LOTRO, I think, and WoW.

    But WoW didn't have any questmarkers at first, so I don't really know if it counts. :p

  • ShodanasShodanas Member RarePosts: 1,933
    I don't mind somewhat harsh death penalties to exist in single player RPG's, NOT in the MMO's i play. As for the no quest marker option sure, if the quest description is comprehensive enough then i would use it in a game like ESO. 
  • Flyte27Flyte27 Member RarePosts: 4,574
    The main problem with optional anything is you are handicapping yourself in a competitive game.  Since I am going to end up doing a lot of solo and PvE (because it's oriented in this way) I probably will turn off quest markers.  I don't see how having an optional death penalty (losing experience) would hurt.  I might consider using it to make the game a little more challenging, but if I started to feel like I sucked so badly that I'm not making any ground I'd probably just turn it off.  Usually the point of having a death penalty is to weed out people who are really bad at the game and prevent them from progressing if they die fairly often.  If the death penalty is optional it would probably defeat the purpose.  On the flip side having the option to turn of quests markers is a good thing for people like me who would like to explore.  If it ever got to frustrating trying to find something you could always turn the markers back on.
  • maplestonemaplestone Member UncommonPosts: 3,099
    I fear I like quest markers too much.  Sure, I have a little nostalgia for parsing quest text and wandering around, but only in very small doses.  Overall, I prefer the flow of being immersed in data about my environment rather than being left searching for needles in a haystack.  My rule of thumb is that if a problem can be solved more easily by googling than by playing, I'm usually not going to enjoy it.
  • nariusseldonnariusseldon Member EpicPosts: 27,775

    Looking for stuff is not difficult, just tedious .. so no i am not turning it off. They should have a difficulty option for combat though, because i like challenging combat.

     

  • MardukkMardukk Member RarePosts: 2,222
    I will be skipping quests, if possible.  Based on my brief experience, the PvE was incredibly boring and lacked challenge (mob difficulty low).
  • Arkade99Arkade99 Member RarePosts: 538
    Originally posted by Squeak69

    this is a little silly and i say this for one reason only, we already ahve the optional death penalty, how you ask its simple if your charecter gets defeated just delete him.

    ya know what is really funny about that, all these people who clamor for perma death never use this option really. why? its simple because its not that they want to lose their char its that they want to gank lowbies for laughs.

    ok that isnt actully true i know a few people who do want perma death for the right reason but this is what actully would be happening in games with perma death.

    Giving us the option doesn't create the same fear of consequences as having only 1 option. People will always choose the path of least resistance.

    As far as turning off the quest markers, I likely won't because the quest text isn't written in such a way as to always point you in the right direction. Without the quests markers, I would have no idea where to go in many cases. If they want to rewrite the quest text and provide directions (Northwest beyond the temple, within a grove of pine, there lies a...), I'd be all for it. Wandering around and hoping I find it won't enhance my immersion.

  • nariusseldonnariusseldon Member EpicPosts: 27,775
    Originally posted by Arkade99
     

    Giving us the option doesn't create the same fear of consequences as having only 1 option. People will always choose the path of least resistance.

     

    Why not? You choose the PD option, and then you cannot turn it off ..

    And what do you care about others? I don't think you should force your preference on others, particularly when that has NOTHING to with your own death penalty. D2 & D3 has PD option .. how is that not create the same fear if you choose it?

    An option is the way to go.

  • dave6660dave6660 Member UncommonPosts: 2,699
    Originally posted by nariusseldon

    Looking for stuff is not difficult, just tedious .. so no i am not turning it off. They should have a difficulty option for combat though, because i like challenging combat.

    Within the context of the quest then it just makes no sense.  The NPC tells you he lost his underpants and need you to find them.  Then the game puts a big "X" on the map showing you where you can find them.  What's the point of the quest, to make me walk to an X and back?  The best part is they give XP and loot for doing this pointless chore.

    I wish game makers would just 86 these types of quests once and for all.

    “There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.”
    -- Herman Melville

  • TheLizardbonesTheLizardbones Member CommonPosts: 10,910

    I would not turn the quest markers off.  I might play a game that doesn't have quest markers, but if they are there, I'm going to use them.  To me, looking for locations is tedious, especially considering the only difference between two locations close together on a map is that one contains what I need, and the other does not.  I suppose if the quest description is pretty specific, and I'm using clues within the world to find the correct location, that would fall under solving a puzzle, and would be fine, but most of the time the locations aren't differentiated from other very similar locations and it's just a cr@p shoot.  I can do without the cr@p shoots.

     

    **

     

    I wouldn't use an optional harsh death penalty either, unless there was some benefit beyond just being mean to yourself.

     

    I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.

  • dave6660dave6660 Member UncommonPosts: 2,699
    Originally posted by lizardbones

    I wouldn't use an optional harsh death penalty either, unless there was some benefit beyond just being mean to yourself.

     

    A death penalty slider could work really well.  Tie the players risk to his rewards.  Choose no penalty for losing and you receive no reward for winning.  Choose max penalty for losing and get the best rewards if you win.

    “There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.”
    -- Herman Melville

  • Arkade99Arkade99 Member RarePosts: 538
    Originally posted by nariusseldon
    Originally posted by Arkade99
     

    Giving us the option doesn't create the same fear of consequences as having only 1 option. People will always choose the path of least resistance.

     

    Why not? You choose the PD option, and then you cannot turn it off ..

    And what do you care about others? I don't think you should force your preference on others, particularly when that has NOTHING to with your own death penalty. D2 & D3 has PD option .. how is that not create the same fear if you choose it?

    An option is the way to go.

    If it can't be turned off, that's one thing. But the question arose based on the change in ESO where quest markers can be toggled on or off at will. That is what I responded to. I said nothing about forcing it on other people, or even that I would choose that for myself, but I understand how it changes the way the game is played.

    D2 and D3 are single player games. You can't compare them with an MMO. Having an MMO where 95% of the players don't suffer perma-death and 5% do isn't going to work unless you segregate those people onto different servers. In the interest of fairness, everyone should be playing by the same rules. Do it with different server rulesets and I'd be in favor of them adding it. Do it by adding a toggle (whether it can be turned off or not) and I'm not in favor of it. 

    Imagine you are playing in a group and someone dies. They suffer permadeath. That will affect your gameplay since now you'll have to find someone else, and you may already be too far along. Everyone who is playing together needs to play by the same rules, whether it's perma-death, no death penalty, or something in between.

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