Mortal Online: A Brief Look at Mortal Online

Stradden · May 2009

MMORPG.com Mortal Online Correspondent Phil Penman writes this introductory overview of some of the features in Star Vault's upcoming MMO.

Star Vault have been developing a new MMO for the past four years which is entering the final stages of Beta readiness, Mortal Online.

Utilising the third generation Unreal Engine the game looks stunning, with some fantastic alpha screenshots and excellent in-game preview movies released for public viewing. So graphically at least, they appear to be on the right track. However as with all MMOs, success will depend on more than eye-candy. The devs at Star Vault are well aware of this and are blending well proven elements from existing MMOs with some neat new features.

Read A Brief Look at Mortal Online

daylight01 · May 2009

I am looking forward to MO and will indeed pick it up at release,The only fear I have is that the entire game community will be running around naked and without a silver coin in there pocket....not because they have been killed but because they fear getting killed and losing everything they worked long and hard for,if they have some sort of bank in game I very much doubt anyone will be going out with there house key in there pocket.

While 1st person view does help alot with immersion....a game full of naked warriors running around does very little for it :P

magnazul · May 2009

Well 1st person view only sounds interesting, the immersion will be surely increased, but there are also players who want to customise there characters: putting on a cool shield wearing nice robes when in the city to make your character seem like a rich noble etc. Those kinds of things will get pointless if you can only see the back low left corner of that cool shield of yours and you can't even see your own character. Maybe the developers should add 3rd person camera angle, but if you attack something or something hits you it automaticly switches to 1st person view.

Having combat immersion is good, but being able to see your character once in awhile is also good for character immersion.

naihasu · May 2009

Originally posted by magnazul

Well 1st person view only sounds interesting, the immersion will be surely increased, but there are also players who want to customise there characters: putting on a cool shield wearing nice robes when in the city to make your character seem like a rich noble etc. Those kinds of things will get pointless if you can only see the back low left corner of that cool shield of yours and you can't even see your own character. Maybe the developers should add 3rd person camera angle, but if you attack something or something hits you it automaticly switches to 1st person view.
Having combat immersion is good, but being able to see your character once in awhile is also good for character immersion.

I believe that kind of thing would be easily remedied via a paperdoll feature (dress up your character in the equipment/character menu)

either way im fine with it, ive been waiting for this game for a while and i hope its as beautiful as it sounds!

PS: good informative overview article by the way lol

Salvatoris · May 2009

Free PvP? Yes, the game mechanics will never stop one player from attacking another and unlike MMORPGs which claim to be "full" PvP, there are no areas where players are entirely safe from attack. Even when in town and under the protection of the town guard, players can still freely engage in bloody combat.

You are free to steal from other players, anything, anywhere and at any time. The game developers are currently discussing the possibly of stealing mounts and have already confirmed that a player's house key could be stolen, in effect meaning so is the house.

NO thanks. This game sounds like the the opposite of fun to me. Sounds like they actually found a way to make a gankfest less fun.

kishe · May 2009

It's all just hype untill there's a "BUY" button on their website.

Mrbloodworth · May 2009

Sounds great.... On paper. Many of the proposed systems will need a fine balance to achieve "fun" for everyone. But they will always straddle a fine line.

Things such as the combat, I really hope the animation system is varied and unique, if the only cues we have are "reading our foe" animations will need to be top notch, and include things like visual cues and tells.

From what i have seen so far, they are not up to snuff.

I remain skeptical, but intrigued. The lack of safe zones will be an issue, unless the law system if nicely fleshed out.

I remain sceptical.

tigris67 · May 2009

sounds 10x better than Darkfall.

Sovrath · May 2009

Originally posted by Salvatoris

Free PvP? Yes, the game mechanics will never stop one player from attacking another and unlike MMORPGs which claim to be "full" PvP, there are no areas where players are entirely safe from attack. Even when in town and under the protection of the town guard, players can still freely engage in bloody combat.
You are free to steal from other players, anything, anywhere and at any time. The game developers are currently discussing the possibly of stealing mounts and have already confirmed that a player's house key could be stolen, in effect meaning so is the house.

NO thanks. This game sounds like the the opposite of fun to me. Sounds like they actually found a way to make a gankfest less fun.

I'm with you. I'm glad that this game is being made and even suspect that it will release in decent shape. However, I'm not wired in a way where having things taken from me or killed in town or having my house stolen is considered fun.

kishe · May 2009

Originally posted by tigris67

sounds 10x better than Darkfall.

Darkfall sounded best thing since sliced bread right until it was released

oobilytoob · May 2009

Way I see it, It's not a big of an item-centric game as others, ie .You won't have some "Epic" Shield of shineyness for slaying some dragon, which in one mistake you will lose forever. It seems it's going to be a lot more player created and managed economy. I'm right along with everone else saying that they aren't too keen on being raped in a dark alley and having hard earned thigns pried from them, yet from the sounds of how things are being put in place, I'm definatly willing to see how it goes and I think it has a great potential.

L1ghtsabeR · May 2009

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Salvatoris

NO thanks. This game sounds like the the opposite of fun to me. Sounds like they actually found a way to make a gankfest less fun.

I'm with you. I'm glad that this game is being made and even suspect that it will release in decent shape. However, I'm not wired in a way where having things taken from me or killed in town or having my house stolen is considered fun.

You need to let go of the preconceptions you have when it comes to MMORPG's. This game will not be like the average MMO people have gotten used to over the few years. If you don't like PvP at all, then this game will not be for you, but that doesn't mean people need to be heavily PvP focused to enjoy it. There will be pleanty to do for crafters, explorers and socializers. They just have to come to terms with the fact that they are not playing a safe PvE game and they will be able to enjoy it.

Getting killed and loosing your gear over and over again is something that you can avoid, if you know how to play the game and work together with other players. This game is about player interaction. If you get killed in town and your gear gets stolen the killer will most likely also die by the hands of city guards or other players. Then his corpse can be looted and all the gear he stole from you will be there. Then it's up to you to persuade other players to give or sell it back to you, if you were unable to loot all the gear back faster than others.

If you carry your house key with you and someone steals it, then it's your job to hurry back to your house and defend it. Whether with your sword or simply by beating the thief to the house and exchanging the locks. You need to remember, there will be hundreds or even thousands of houses in the world, the thief most likely won't know which one is yours. On the other hand, if the thief is smart and follows you after you exit your house, then he deserves to get the goodies.

To Phil Penman: A well informed and well written review. The best I've seen in a long time. Keep up the good work.

DarkPony · May 2009

Too bad this leaves out some other interesting aspects which have recently been released, such as crossbreeding system at character developement; you also get to pick the races of your parents and grandparents to customize your looks, stats and background story to a high degree from the start on.

Also the crafting system which is material based and offers a huge amount of possible combinations looks awesome so far.

Or what about monsters, occasionaly controlled by GM's?

All in all realism, immersion and freedom are the core aspects for the team it seems and they value a great roleplaying environment just as highly as the freedom in pvp.

daylight01 · May 2009

Originally posted by L1ghtsabeR

or simply by beating the thief to the house and exchanging the locks.

How can you exchange the lock if you dont have the key to get in?

.

L1ghtsabeR · May 2009

Originally posted by daylight01

Originally posted by L1ghtsabeR

or simply by beating the thief to the house and exchanging the locks.

How can you exchange the lock if you dont have the key to get in?

.

Keep a spare key somewhere? Hire a locksmith?

Salvatoris · May 2009

I just know what I enjoy, and this doesn't sound like it at all. I'm not hating on it. I'm sure a lot of people are waiting for a game like this. I am just not one of them.

I understand that a lot of people enjoy the simulated risk, but I am not one of them. there is plenty of risk vs reward in my real life, I play video game to have fun. Getting ganked and having my house stolen while I try to do a quest doesn't sound fun to me at all. And honestly, I don't think I want to play an RPG where gear is of so little importance that it isn't a big deal to lose it.

Mrbloodworth · May 2009

Originally posted by DarkPony

Or what about monsters, occasionaly controlled by GM's?

This never works out. Willing to be suprised though.

Sovrath · May 2009

Originally posted by L1ghtsabeR

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Salvatoris

NO thanks. This game sounds like the the opposite of fun to me. Sounds like they actually found a way to make a gankfest less fun.

I'm with you. I'm glad that this game is being made and even suspect that it will release in decent shape. However, I'm not wired in a way where having things taken from me or killed in town or having my house stolen is considered fun.

You need to let go of the preconceptions you have when it comes to MMORPG's. This game will not be like the average MMO people have gotten used to over the few years. If you don't like PvP at all, then this game will not be for you, but that doesn't mean people need to be heavily PvP focused to enjoy it. There will be pleanty to do for crafters, explorers and socializers. They just have to come to terms with the fact that they are not playing a safe PvE game and they will be able to enjoy it.

Getting killed and loosing your gear over and over again is something that you can avoid, if you know how to play the game and work together with other players. This game is about player interaction. If you get killed in town and your gear gets stolen the killer will most likely also die by the hands of city guards or other players. Then his corpse can be looted and all the gear he stole from you will be there. Then it's up to you to persuade other players to give or sell it back to you, if you were unable to loot all the gear back faster than others.

If you carry your house key with you and someone steals it, then it's your job to hurry back to your house and defend it. Whether with your sword or simply by beating the thief to the house and exchanging the locks. You need to remember, there will be hundreds or even thousands of houses in the world, the thief most likely won't know which one is yours. On the other hand, if the thief is smart and follows you after you exit your house, then he deserves to get the goodies.

To Phil Penman: A well informed and well written review. The best I've seen in a long time. Keep up the good work.

Oh, I love pvp, but I'm pretty certain that the game mechanic of looting corpses (myself doing the looting as well) and stealing just is not fun for me.

I was being pretty honest when I said that I'm not wired that way.

I would never loot someone. I have no desire to do so, even if I wasted 20 guys with my awesome power (and why wouldn't it be awesome? ; ) ) I still wouldn't loot them.

And I certainly don't enjoy the idea of losing what I've made. I don't "get" the fun. The only answer to that is "well, part of that is that it makes pvp meaningful" but the huge mistake of a statement like that is that what is meaningful to me is what "I" say is meaningful.

Full loot and stealing is not meaningful for me.

as a side note, there is another thread where someone is talking about hating large scale "zerg" battles. To me I like them and that is meaningful to me.

To put it in perspective, I loved the Lineage 2 siege system before they removed the xp loss from the siege deaths.

That system was meaningful to me.

But again, I'm glad they are making a game like this. The genre needs it.

Looting? Stealing? Not so much.

Ozmodan · May 2009

Let me set everyone straight. I have done the house key thing in Ultima. It did not work there and won't work here. Housing is expensive and if a thief can steal a house, you can bet what all the ass hats will be playing.

Stealing is another item that does not work well in a MMO unless there are limits and consequences.

If they leave thieving wide open, the game will die a quick death. Nothing wrong with dying and being looted, but loosing things to thieves is just another thing. UO had to eventually curb the thieves, it just does not work well in a MMO without controls. The problem with thieves, they tend to find just about every exploit available. Not great when you lose an item because someone used an exploit.

Hope they reconsider how they are designing this game. I have no problem with pvp or full loot, it could be a great game.

darkath · May 2009

Check out the the detailed flagging system :

http://www.mortalonline.com/files/flagging/MO_Flagging.pdf

This is very complex and guarantees consequences for all griefing issues, you can't steal/loot/gang gank without consequences like in darkfall for instances.

About the key : stealing a key don't provide ownership to the stealer, and it don't provide him the location of the house either, in addition your house would be most likely in a secured area with guards, so that a trespasser can't make it to your house.

Pantura · May 2009

A real life thief would have been incarcerated or hung. Even with the penalty systems thieves and murderers would just pop up from their binding stone or whatever and come back.

I really like the idea of having totally free world and even the less lawful players. I just hope the system works well both ways.

Ozmodan · May 2009

Thanks for the heads up on the flagging system. Seems like they have put some thought into this. Going to need a "guards" macro to play this game.

They need to include a safe area or heightened security area around the bank, otherwise it becomes a cluster point for thieves.

Salvatoris · May 2009

People always say open PvP is more "realistic". Lets go all the way with it. I'll play an open PvP game with real consequences. How about an ingame prison system for murderers and thieves. They could still play the game once arrested, they would just be relegated to playing inside the prison until their sentence was over. Lock them in a small area with all the other thieves and murders and let them have at it.

Sovrath · May 2009

Originally posted by Salvatoris

People always say open PvP is more "realistic". Lets go all the way with it. I'll play an open PvP game with real consequences. How about an ingame prison system for murderers and thieves. They could still play the game once arrested, they would just be relegated to playing inside the prison until their sentence was over. Lock them in a small area with all the other thieves and murders and let them have at it.

I like that. But let's take it one step further. After all, it is a game.

Make it so that if I murderer or thief is caught they are sent to some deep underground prison. And in order for them to leave they have to figure out not only how to get out but they have to overcome whatever special guardians are down there.

The flipside of that is that if their sentence is done before they can get out, they are released.

Halfmad · May 2009

Hey folks - Just wanted to point something out. The preview was written a few weeks ago and seeing as it's in alpha and a constant state of development flux, I wouldn't be surprised if things have changed so I appologise in advance if they have

I did try to get some new screenshots but I think they're too busy developing, so I think we can all forgive them. The latest screenies and footage was released after submission and looks fantastic though, really wish the dev team all the best in getting this one up and running to beta ASAP!

Nevulus · May 2009

I've noticed alot of concern regarding the full loot system, I found this interesting post in the MO forums for an alternative full loot system that still retains the risk vs reward of the full loot system as well as deter naked zerging and using the same skill system that MO will employ: www.mortalonline.com/forums/17-we-listening-you-27.html#post209534

I'll paste it here as well:

A new spin on the full loot system:

First let me clearly state I enjoy full loot PVP with no restrictions and the below suggestion was just an idea at work I was entertaining.

In other words relax, it's just an idea, do not resort to name calling, flaming, or trolling.

So I was thinking the other day about a way to lessen the "ouch" factor of full loot PVP to the newer generation of players who aren't accustomed to the harsh "full loot" PVP system some of us enjoy so much. And I came up with this idea:

A "Search" skill for all players.

This skill will allow newer players, who will most likely be together hunting around the same racial areas at the beginning, a chance to hunt/quest/pvp without losing everything at the start yet reward the experienced players, who will most likely be able to travel far & wide, with the ability to rape a player's corpse for all its worldly belongings.

How does it work?

The higher your "Search" skill is, the more loot you can pillage from someone's hulking corpse. It gives players a very slight chance of keeping a few items after death while still allowing the concept of full loot to seasoned veterans who have put in work in leveling their skill.

Break down the victim's inventory into percentage. Now depending on your "Search" skill, the higher it is the more loot you get from the corpse.

You can even make it so that rarer items (for example a very rare sword or material component) a lesser chance of being looted as opposed to a common drop such as a regular longsword. Or larger common items have a higher chance of being looted as opposed to smaller common items. Obviously the higher your "Search" skill, the lesser that matters because you will be able to loot it all.

How will I increase my "Search" skill?

The more dead player bodies your loot the higher your "Search" skill becomes using a similar scaling system to the rest of the skill set in-game.

Eventually your "Search" skill will be so high that you will most likely always loot everything on a player's corpse. So we still have the full loot system die hard player love, but we also have a learning curve for those who aren't used to it but want to give Mortal Online a chance.

But can't I exploit it by just inviting my friend who has a higher "Search" skill to come hunt players with me?

Yes, that makes grouping more prominent and easier to identify those who have put in PVP experience as leaders of hunting parties without forcing a grouping option to those that just like to hunt players alone.

If three players are in a group and one of them loots a PVP corpse, all party members should get the appropriate skill up relative to their current skill level.

Wouldn't you rather group with an experienced PVPer or would you waste your time with "LeetLegolas911" who just joined the game? I'd rather group with the more experienced player.

Also looting the same player corpse over & over in a limited time will offer diminishing returns to stop players from exploiting each other by killing each other over and over to loot each other and raise their skill.

Wait, but is this for PVE as well?

No, leave it as a PVP skill only. And it should only be allowed to be leveled up by PVP kill looting. All players should be able to loot all drops from a NPC creature they have killed.

Hey that's not fair! So an experienced player can full loot me but if I engage him and risk more, shouldn't I be allowed a larger reward?

Whose to say a player on a mount in full epic gear has PVPed enough to have a higher "Search" skill then you? This is a sandbox game. Someone who has spent their entire career PVPing but has crappy gear will easily have a higher "Search" skill and therefore have a near excellent chance of getting ALL that player's epic gear that hasn't PVPed much at all. So if you opponent has better gear than you, and you attack them, you end up risking more because the odds might be against you, but if you win, your reward is "oh so much" better.

Now as for those who PVP and PVE alot, obviously you should watch out for them. They have put in the time to become "great" for a reason, and should be feared.

"Hark, this is Sir Rogerlynn III, this 'skill' thou speakth of has not the REALISM I desire!"

Slow down there big fella RPer. While I do enjoy the RP aspect of MMOs and do love the realistic direction MO has taken, we do need to remember that in the end it is still just a game. It is not very realistic to be able to loot someones armor in the speed it takes you to click it over to your inventory.

How can I miss something as big as an armor if I failed my skill check?

Just because you didn't have a high enough skill check to loot everything does not mean you missed it.

It could mean you just didn't understand how to unequip it from the corpse. Ever seen a samurai adorn their armor? it is a long process with many intricate locks and overlaying flaps of studded leather.

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Mortal Online: A Brief Look at Mortal Online

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