Originally posted by Amathe Immersion. I want to feel like I am in an interesting world. Most mmos are just hamster wheels. Do this, get that. I like the ones where I am in awe of my surroundings and can't wait to see what is beyond the next bend.
Bingo! This trumps all other arguments.
Community: Every game can have a community and a good one, doesn't mean I'll enjoy the game enough to keep logging in though.
Freedom: This basically falls under the immersion factor.
Combat/Mechanics/Housing: Again, this has been done time and time again in tons of FTPs as an example, and some very well, and yet, about 95% of FTPs lack the immersion factor.
Even the allegory to restaurants fits here. I'm more apt/prone to eat at the restaurant I feel comfortable in as opposed to some side of the road food stand. Immersion!
I agree with the idea that the community is what makes an MMO. Although one of my favorite aspects of an mmo is the pvp diversity, as in that one player can strike fear into the hearts of other players as a great PKer.
Well, there are many great parts of MMOs (and some less great) but my favorite aspect is the fact that you learn to know so many different people from different parts of the world.
My least favorite aspect is that it seems like every single of them spent too much work on the early play and too little on the endgame, there are so many more options than just to PvP and raid.
Combat system: This is the most important because fights are won or lost because of it. A good combat system let people make decisions. The best example is DAoC where positioning and situations like evades/blocks/parries made new (better?) styles available for a limited time. The worst is probably my LotRO hunter who performs the same styles over and over as their timers recycle. In PvP the balancing between classes is even more important. Nothing makes a game fail like unbalanced PvP, especially if that is the end-game.
Game world/Immersion: A great game world looks good, is large, but have little 'wasteland'. If you have to run through the Sahara every time you need to do something, it gets boring. A large world does not necessarily mean a great world. The Hundred Yard Forest of Winnie the Pooh can have been that big, but it was teeming with adventure. Most worlds are made so large that the content within suffers.
Group mechanics/level progression: A good game allows people to log in, kill a few mobs, and then log out, if they have little time. However, if you plan on staying online, it should be in your interest to group up. A good game offers players benefits from teaming up, instead of running around on their own. Quests: Good quests give people a purpose for doing them. Old games did not really have them. Modern games has too many. There need to be a balance between questing and grinding. Not just run to town grab a boatload of quests and head back out to do them.
Housing/crafting: Important parts of a world which are rarely done right. These aspects should be part of the immersion experience. Having a separate instance where housing is located? The easy solution which satisfies no one. Housing has to be close to, or better, where people hang out. "I have this awesome house on the dark side of the moon. You should check it out sometimes." Would you?
Did I ? Then maybe I should check that one out. Didnt get on my radar so far.
P.s.: Anyway, my best match to this experience was Vanguard so far. It also teached me some things, like Healers dont need to be boring passive heal- and buffbots like in D&D or Lineage 2.
The most important aspect of an MMO anno 2010 is: ...
Play and have fun within your time and place of availablity.
You have 2 hours, 30 minutes or 5 hours at 10 AM, 04 AM or 9 PM: you would play without any problem in exactly the content you would want without much hastle... and be that in a group or solo play. Your choice
... and this wish needs to be fulfilled now.
That's the CORE offer all new MMO's will need to give as of now.
It means several things; clustered servers to regroup player numbers. It means concentrated play of players on line. It means auto formed grouping.
The day you have to wait 2 or 3 hours to form a group and do content in which you have to wait another 3 hours before a world boss would spawn are over. You can be sad about it with nostalgic glasses but this is how a succesful MMO will be designed.
Clean, mean, slim and fast grouping of players: organised in small easy grouped up guild play or pug play.
All the rest is history and so niche it won't make sense to even invest in.
There's lots of stuff to agree with in your post. I'm all for merging servers for a larger pool of players and matchmaking those players. I'm even cool with drastically reduced or even instantaneous travel. But really those don't affect the overall game design of the mmo. They improve the experience, but don't affect the world.
The one argument from your post that does affect the world is removal of world bosses. OK, that's just one small aspect of a mmo. Do world bosses get you upset enough to start throwing the nostalgic insult and bold claims that "the rest" (whatever that may be) is history? What exactly are the mechanics you're so in disagreement with?
Are you more interested in removing the seamless world and the competitive group-based elements and focusing the competition to an instance-based instantaneous experiences? I think that could work, it's sort of like a next gen diablo, but it's not a mmo.
Or are you just talking about the removal of travel time in a normal mmo still with competitive open world elements? For example, you could solo zip to a high level zone and start gathering resources in competition against other players, or you could zip to a raid instance with 39 other people.
Ultimately, it's the competitive open world elements that's the underlying principle here. After all, if you have no competitive world elements (for example world bosses or limited resources), what need is there for a seamless world. You might as well instance the whole game. However, if the whole game is instanced, it's not a mmo anymore.
So rather than me putting words in your mouth, what are the actual gameplay mechanics that you believe will soon be history? What is your version of a mmo that puts the rest out of business? Or are you really not talking about a mmo at all but more of a next generation Diablo or Guild Wars?
For me, I need stats when I level up, not just skill points.
Making unique builds is the best part of any rpg, and it really gives me that extra ensentive to keep leveling up.
Without stats to add as you see fit, it just makes everyone the same the next person and gameplay = totally item dependant. Who ever has the best items wins, and more often than not that means spending money in a cashshop for the absolute best gear.
Whereas if you can actually build your character's stats, no one character is alike, gear is not always as important, and that makes gameplay much more dynamic and overall just more interesting.
Comments
Freedom.
Bingo! This trumps all other arguments.
Community: Every game can have a community and a good one, doesn't mean I'll enjoy the game enough to keep logging in though.
Freedom: This basically falls under the immersion factor.
Combat/Mechanics/Housing: Again, this has been done time and time again in tons of FTPs as an example, and some very well, and yet, about 95% of FTPs lack the immersion factor.
Even the allegory to restaurants fits here. I'm more apt/prone to eat at the restaurant I feel comfortable in as opposed to some side of the road food stand. Immersion!
I agree with the idea that the community is what makes an MMO. Although one of my favorite aspects of an mmo is the pvp diversity, as in that one player can strike fear into the hearts of other players as a great PKer.
Economy/Crafting and immersion. Every single modern fantasy mmorpg lack these things
Well, there are many great parts of MMOs (and some less great) but my favorite aspect is the fact that you learn to know so many different people from different parts of the world.
My least favorite aspect is that it seems like every single of them spent too much work on the early play and too little on the endgame, there are so many more options than just to PvP and raid.
No game can succeed without a number of aspects:
Combat system: This is the most important because fights are won or lost because of it. A good combat system let people make decisions. The best example is DAoC where positioning and situations like evades/blocks/parries made new (better?) styles available for a limited time. The worst is probably my LotRO hunter who performs the same styles over and over as their timers recycle. In PvP the balancing between classes is even more important. Nothing makes a game fail like unbalanced PvP, especially if that is the end-game.
Game world/Immersion: A great game world looks good, is large, but have little 'wasteland'. If you have to run through the Sahara every time you need to do something, it gets boring. A large world does not necessarily mean a great world. The Hundred Yard Forest of Winnie the Pooh can have been that big, but it was teeming with adventure. Most worlds are made so large that the content within suffers.
Group mechanics/level progression: A good game allows people to log in, kill a few mobs, and then log out, if they have little time. However, if you plan on staying online, it should be in your interest to group up. A good game offers players benefits from teaming up, instead of running around on their own. Quests: Good quests give people a purpose for doing them. Old games did not really have them. Modern games has too many. There need to be a balance between questing and grinding. Not just run to town grab a boatload of quests and head back out to do them.
Housing/crafting: Important parts of a world which are rarely done right. These aspects should be part of the immersion experience. Having a separate instance where housing is located? The easy solution which satisfies no one. Housing has to be close to, or better, where people hang out. "I have this awesome house on the dark side of the moon. You should check it out sometimes." Would you?
- complex and difficult to master classes, healers are more than passive healbots, no sitting down to regenerate mana faster etc
- challenging opponents with varying strengths and weaknesses
- complex, long and winded questlines that arent too much grind-y
- seamless, stylish, beautiful, varied, huge gameworld to explore
- only meaningful PvP (arena, PvP areas, castle sieges)
- complex, powerful and fun crafting
- strong focus on forming alliances with other players (grouping, guilds, castle sieges etc)
- slow leveling. Leveling is more than just the prelude to the endgame. Preferably leveling is already like endgame.
Did you just describe FFXIV, oohoooh~
Did I ? Then maybe I should check that one out. Didnt get on my radar so far.
P.s.: Anyway, my best match to this experience was Vanguard so far. It also teached me some things, like Healers dont need to be boring passive heal- and buffbots like in D&D or Lineage 2.
There's lots of stuff to agree with in your post. I'm all for merging servers for a larger pool of players and matchmaking those players. I'm even cool with drastically reduced or even instantaneous travel. But really those don't affect the overall game design of the mmo. They improve the experience, but don't affect the world.
The one argument from your post that does affect the world is removal of world bosses. OK, that's just one small aspect of a mmo. Do world bosses get you upset enough to start throwing the nostalgic insult and bold claims that "the rest" (whatever that may be) is history? What exactly are the mechanics you're so in disagreement with?
Are you more interested in removing the seamless world and the competitive group-based elements and focusing the competition to an instance-based instantaneous experiences? I think that could work, it's sort of like a next gen diablo, but it's not a mmo.
Or are you just talking about the removal of travel time in a normal mmo still with competitive open world elements? For example, you could solo zip to a high level zone and start gathering resources in competition against other players, or you could zip to a raid instance with 39 other people.
Ultimately, it's the competitive open world elements that's the underlying principle here. After all, if you have no competitive world elements (for example world bosses or limited resources), what need is there for a seamless world. You might as well instance the whole game. However, if the whole game is instanced, it's not a mmo anymore.
So rather than me putting words in your mouth, what are the actual gameplay mechanics that you believe will soon be history? What is your version of a mmo that puts the rest out of business? Or are you really not talking about a mmo at all but more of a next generation Diablo or Guild Wars?
For me, I need stats when I level up, not just skill points.
Making unique builds is the best part of any rpg, and it really gives me that extra ensentive to keep leveling up.
Without stats to add as you see fit, it just makes everyone the same the next person and gameplay = totally item dependant. Who ever has the best items wins, and more often than not that means spending money in a cashshop for the absolute best gear.
Whereas if you can actually build your character's stats, no one character is alike, gear is not always as important, and that makes gameplay much more dynamic and overall just more interesting.