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Put some mystery in my MMORPGs please
Trendson
Member Posts: 18
Jedi in SWG are a perfectly example of what I mean. How freakin cool was it that no one knew how to unlock their jedi slot for the first few months after the game was released? The mystery and buzz surrounding the jedi class really added a lot to the game IMHO. The fact that no one knew how to unlock made players explore and try out different things in the game they never would have if the path to unlocking wasn't kept secret.
I remember wandering around Tatooine for hours at a time looking for the random spawning hermit that was rumored to give a quest that had something to do with becoming a jedi. During my searching I met other people who were looking for the hermit as well. We formed a group and eventually became great in game friends and went on to play other MMORPGS together. Of course later we all found out that the whole hermit quest thing had absolutely nothing to do with unlocking and that it was totally dependent on profession mastery. But no one cared that we wasted all that time because we had fun searching anyway. It was actually disappointing when I found out that all you had to do was master X number of professions. All the mystery from the game, as well a huge part of the fun factor, was gone for me.
When I look at the previews of all these new and upcoming mmorpgs, I can't help but notice that none of them have anything resembling a mysterious alpha class like jedi. It seems like everything is laid out for players and everyone knows what to expect. Just look at WoW. Everyone knows exactly what bosses drop what items. Everyone knows that they will all have the ability to become a hero class eventually. There is zero chance of failure because WoW makes it so easy that all you have to do is put the time in and you're guaranteed to get what you want. What is the fun in that? I want a MMORPG that won't hold my hand through every step of the game.
Comments
They've taken an awesome concept [MMOGs] and turned it into the equivalent of a childs tinker-toy!
No, I expect them to have to work to figure some parts out. I don't want it laid out step by step from the devs before I even set foot in the game.
It's the general attitude that everything has to be accessible to everyone that makes most MMORPGS feel lame to me. What happened in SWG was that once people realized that unlocking the jedi slot was going to be difficult, they started bitching and moaning until the devs finally caved in and started handing out holocrons to make it easy for everyone. This is when the game really jumped the shark and start to devolve into the flaming pile of dog poo it is today.
It seems that most devs are just afraid to say to players, "Not everyone will be leet. Sorry, but if you're a very casual player or a moron you probably won't do well in this game." Instead they try to cater to casual, hard-core, and moron players alike and wind up creating some suck ass mmorpg like WoW.
So hardcore players should be the only people who can play MMOs?
The problem is, it was only for the first few month of Beta. By the time the game was released I knew how to become a Jedi and I never even played till after CU and NGE when all that stuff was gone. (didn't play long, lol)
A Work in Progress.
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Sites like Allakhazam and Thottbot don't tell players things they don't already know. It's just there for convenience. No one looks at fully pimped out character in WoW and goes "Gee, I wonder where he got that sword from?" Everyone knows where he got it-- the latest dungeon that got released in the latest content patch. You just go to thottbot to look up the cords of the boss if you need to know the exact location. You can also find the best strategy to defeat the boss there too because everyone and their mother has had 200 plus attempts at him thanks to instances.
Eventually every game mechanic will be figured out by players. That still doesn't mean it can't be challenging and fun.
Take crafting in SWG for example. The crafting system was in depth. You had to mine resources, pay attention to stats, experiment, and you had to acquire some +crafting gear. Also, to make the best weapons or armor most times you needed access to rare materials that maybe hadn't spawned on the server in months. Not to mention that if you wanted to sell in bulk you also had to set up a merchant. It was a lot of work, but the end result was that only a few players on each server could make the best crap. It was an accomplishment to be a top weaponsmith or armorsmith. The downside was that most players are too lazy or retarded to go through all that and they started complaining the game was too hard.
So then WoW comes along and goes "HEEE HAW! No need to worry bout anything, retards. Just collect these generic resources and press a button. Presto! You can now make the best items on the server........just like everyone else. Oh yeah, no need to set up a store and merchant cuz that is way too hard too , just throw this stuff on our global bazaar and peace out."
So hardcore players should be the only people who can play MMOs?
No, only the good MMORPGS. You clowns can have the rest.
Would you ignore me if I gave you the answer?
I think it might be exactly what you're looking for.
- A crafting system that involves the player's knowledge, experimentation, and skill more than the character's numerical level. You could be a great sword crafter at low level if you pay attention to the properties of various materials and how they affect each other when mixed into an item, and develop recipes for desired stats. Conversely, you can be at the highest level of a crafting skill and still be a terrible crafter, if you simply grinded up and didn't bother to learn anything along the way. The best crafting recipes tend to be secret, so each crafter discovers them and maybe even creates a good recipe that no one else has.
- A living world with many places to explore, and filled with natural wonders and ruins as well as rich mysteries and history. Pictograms on buildings, items, armor, roads, etc. that actually mean something - but players must figure out the meanings themselves. Tribes with semi-intelligent plants residing in their camps - equal allies or domesticated pets? Why do the Darkening Sap keep a toxin-spitting fungus mound in their camp? Why do some tribes have Kitins (insects which nearly destroyed the civilizations several generations ago) captured in their stables? Why are most primates aggressive primitives, while a few organise themselves into tribal camps and interact intelligently with players? Animals interact with each other meaningfully, with herbivore/carnivore relationships, herding, migration, etc. A carnivore might kill a herbivore, then run off to brag to its pack, then return and linger at the corpse for a while. A curious creature might run over to a player and sniff them, or maybe pee on their shoe. Some missions require you to find a wandering NPC to deliver something to them - meaningless and mundane tasks on the surface, with the only direct tangible reward being fame with a tribe/race/faction; but these tasks force you to spend some time exploring and maybe seeing places and things you wouldn't have if you hadn't gone out of your way. There are no "stealth" skills, so sneaking through dangerous areas requires skill and observance on the part of the player. Further, the locations of animals change with the seasons and other factors, so what might have been a safe route in spring might be full of hungry carnivores in autumn (see "there is no 'I WIN' button"). The tribes, races, and factions have deep histories and cultures. There are temples for each faction (which were built by players during a major event, by the way) that you can visit to read the factions' propaganda, but there are also aspects of history and current events that you can only learn by word-of-mouth. Oh, and...why are we here? One of many questions, with answers slowly developing over the course of the game (see "roleplay").
- There are still things that no one has done. For example, two years after release, no one has yet mastered every branch of the skill tree.
- You can't see and do everything within a few months. If someone claims they did, they are incorrect - it's simply impossible. There is just so much to explore and discover. After fifteen months of playing, I still see and learn new things about the game/gameworld almost every day.
- There is no "I WIN" button. The gameworld keeps you on your toes at all times - even at, say, 230 2-Handed Sword, being careless in a level 50-100 region can get you killed. You don't easily "pwn" everything that is below your level.
- The developer of the game didn't, and does not, shy away from having a steep learning curve and a niche appeal in exchange for a game that is deep, complex, and unique. After the trial island, there are no quests to hold your hand and spoon-feed you. However, the community is willing and happy to help each other, especially new players. Still, if you can handle the lack of being dragged through the game along a linear path with everything handed to you, you may find a very enjoyable, challenging, and immersive experience.
- Rumors of roleplay's demise have been exaggerated.
In this game, there is plenty of support for roleplaying, especially if one joins one of the several RP guilds. The storyline is revealed and advanced via live, dynamic events, rather than static and meaningless quests. Each event is an experience that will never be repeated, and your place in it is yours alone. There are also ever-fluctuating politics between tribes, guilds, races, and factions, fuelled by outpost wars (PvP in the form of guilds vying for control of small pieces of territory, the distribution of which affects the state of race and faction politics).
=P "Not everyone will appreciate this game. Sorry, but if you're a shallow twit with a deficiency of imagination who wants everything served up on an amber platter, you not only won't do well in the game, you'll probably quit after an hour of playing and post some lame rant on the forums about what a horrible game it is." Of course, the devs are too nice and helpful to say it in those words, but it's what is expressed by the game itself, and by the players who respond to said lame rants.Disclaimer:
I'm on PMS at the moment: some portions of this post may be offensive or aggressive.
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In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on August 13, 2008.
Ditto!
The last time I remember half the fun of D&D paper was the journey, the other half was figuring out what you should do on your journey. Leveling where never a major focus for any D&D module.
What is more funny is that these MMO Devs think that the best way to get a person to stay playing a game is to keep increasing the level cap and loot. Wrong!!
First and formost make advancing in any MMO worth your while. I would like riddles, puzzles (word, visual and physical puzzles to get you thinking), Mysteries to actually solve would be great but even better if the Mysteries were weekly events held by GM in game.
the SWG Jedi task was both ok and bad. Yes you didnt know how to become a jedi at the beginning so you would have to find these cubes and it would tell you what to master. But as time progressed this didnt make to much sense.
Jedi's had trials they had to undertake to show they are ready to move on to the next tier with in the Jedi Ranks. Grinding out Holocubes was not a trial. What should have been implement is a series of test that would need to be accomplished SOLO! You could not die and regen while taking the test and it had a timer on it.
The test would consist of Puzzles & riddles (all based on Star Wars canon). Mysteries that you have to carry out alone. Example: Clone wars: when anikin had to understand that the large hulks on the planet he was sent for his trials were actually the former hunters of the tribe he was trying to help free themselves from being oppressed. Finally but not least the battle should always end with a fight against your DarkSide who is in Jedi Form. All these task once completed would give you an epiphany and your new found Force Sensitive slot will also unlock a beacon that will take you to the planet where the Cavern of the Jedi crystals lays. When you find it You alone must DIG out a crystal for your self.
Then the training begins from there. I actually recommended something similar to that to SOE. But we all know how well they listen to us customers. It was funny how the IP pretty much told you how everything worked but you still cant seem to wrap your mind around the idea. *Sigh*
Faranthil Tanathalos
EverQuest 1 - Ranger
Star Wars Galaxies - Master Ranger
Everquest2 - Ranger WarhammerOnline - Shadow Warrior
WOW - Hunter
That's right I like bows and arrows.