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[Column] General: Five Overlooked Features that Every MMO Needs

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  • NildenNilden Member EpicPosts: 3,916
    Originally posted by Kyleran
    Originally posted by MadFrenchie
    Originally posted by Kyleran
    Originally posted by Horusra

    It seems people against Group Finders do not like PUGs...yet standing in a city calling out LFG creates a PUG.  If you are not in a PUG then you are in a know group and thus would not have to be using a Group Finder.  Is it that people miss the "LFG for X" spam all the time in chat?  I fail to see how the feature destroys the community of a game.

     

     

    They really don't, the removal of downtime mechanics and some other things removed the socialization aspects of the random PUG, not the fact that is now being put together via a LFG tool rather than through shouting.

    Cross server LFG however does negatively impact the community, but even then in this new megaserver era the point becomes moot.

    I was specifically referring to cross-server grouping.  More specifically, the type of group finder that models itself after MOBA match finders.  It's the antithesis of player interaction masquerading as a system that moves said interaction forward.  I lasted about 4 dungeons runs last I played WoW using the finder before I decided that any other activity in the world (e.g. sticking my junk in an oven) would be more enjoyable than doing another silent run, mindlessly rinsing and repeating ad nauseam.  It's an activity I personally will never participate in again.

     

    Not sure if that was the intended result of the group finder when Blizzard implemented it.  But that was the end result in my experience.  A bunch of mutes spamming abilities as quickly as possible simply to keep from falling asleep at their keyboards, I imagine.

    You experience with group finders mirrors mine, and why I no longer play modern MMO's, as they all pretty much have this in place.

    Might as well just be playing with NPC's like GW1 used to let you do, they actually were more social as I recall.image

    Koss that is one hero from Guild Wars 1. Look at the dialogue and quotes. You saying this seriously made me realize just how bad it is when npc heros from GW1 are more social than actual human beings doing dungeon runs in WOW. That's the state of modern MMOs facilitating socialization.

    "You CAN'T buy ships for RL money." - MaxBacon

    "classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon

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  • DullahanDullahan Member EpicPosts: 4,536
    Its this sort of thinking that has driven me away from the genre.  Just what "every game" needs, more convenience to make it more gamey and less like a virtual world.


  • MMOGamer71MMOGamer71 Member UncommonPosts: 1,988
    I would add to the list a mobile app allowing you to view account, characters and clan chat like WoW and Rift have/had.
  • Dreamo84Dreamo84 Member UncommonPosts: 3,713
    Problem with too many convenience features is you start to lose the RPG.

    We have seen this slippery slope slowly change the genre into something often unrecognizable.

    image
  • AnirethAnireth Member UncommonPosts: 940

    A wallet is a temporary work-around, not the solution. A solution is to not have that many currencies that you would need a wallet. Neverwinter does have such a thing, but it can't hold half ot the currencies you need. Well, okay, maybe it can technically hold all currencies, but only one stack then, and one stack is far from enough.

    Same thng with inventory sorter. I won't say no to it, i use it often enough when it's available, but surprise, there are games where you don't miss it, because there are only so many items you need to carry around at once, including loot.

    A bigger problem is when items of the same kind don't stack due to some hidden stat, like, mob A drops "broken sword", mob B drops "broken sword", but it's a different one for some reason, even though you can't do anything with it besides selling it as trash. Or even worse, items don't stack at all. Like, many games do not allow you to stack equipment, only resources, potiions and the like. Worst of all, some games do not just make note that you found 5/10 swords that you need for a quest, but you need to carry them all in your inventory, and  they do not stack.

    Many  games also have arbitrary (often low) limits for some things. Like, you can stack resources up to 999, potions up to 250, candles up to 17, and food only 3 per stack.

    Fix both these things, and you don't a wallet, inventory sorter or remote deposit.

    I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
    And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
    Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
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  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332

    As the author mentioned Mentoring is good but needs to be done right.

    We pretty much see the term of "content" meaning SOLO anyhow in almost every game,so not sure why the author thinks mentoring has any benefit towards CONTENT since friends would solo it anyhow.

    Actual grouped content has pretty much been a one item ordeal anyhow, only done for the reason of loot.So again ,if you want to help friends then better make sure the mentoring does not dumb down the fights so they are so easy the friends do not experience any challenge or fun.What i also have seen is mentoring is just an exploit to power level a friend or the content or their alts.

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

  • CloudberryCloudberry Member UncommonPosts: 16

    Actually, instead of multiple type of currencies in a game (copper/silver/gold), mmos should have one type; it's too confusing to see icons and letters for them and try to discern one from another.

    Another thing that'd make mmos more interesting is a battle system like TERA and Dragon Nest's; mashing buttons is more entertaining than just pressing certain keys every second.

    *KABOOOOOM*
    ...Whoops, was that how I was supposed to do that?

  • vadio123vadio123 Member UncommonPosts: 593

    Based in themeparks mmorpg yes

    i can agree

     

  • ElikalElikal Member UncommonPosts: 7,912

    1. Chat Bubbles: for RP

    2. Auction House everywhere accessible, a la GW2

    3. huge diversity of playable races (NOT only human variants a la SWTOR)

    4. vast open world a la SWG, UO

    5. non combat classes a la SWG and UO

    People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert

  • CloudberryCloudberry Member UncommonPosts: 16
    Originally posted by vadio123

    Based in themeparks mmorpg yes

    i can agree

     

    Or at least a collision-based hack-n-slash system

    *KABOOOOOM*
    ...Whoops, was that how I was supposed to do that?

  • NexusCZNexusCZ Member UncommonPosts: 56

    Aside the inventory sorting insulting at least

  • AntiquatedAntiquated Member RarePosts: 1,415
    Originally posted by Dreamo84
    Problem with too many convenience features is you start to lose the RPG.

    We have seen this slippery slope slowly change the genre into something often unrecognizable.

    We have seen the genre evolve away from the direction of games at the turn of the century.

    It's dubious if the "RPG" ever existed in any MMO. But the "RPG" was from games of the 80s so....

  • AntiquatedAntiquated Member RarePosts: 1,415
    Originally posted by Cloudberry

    Actually, instead of multiple type of currencies in a game (copper/silver/gold), mmos should have one type; it's too confusing to see icons and letters for them and try to discern one from another.

    I suggest half-groat, groat, farthing, florin, ha'penny, penny, thrupenny bit, sixpence, tanner, shilling, two bob bit, half crown, crown, sovereign, guineas.

  • RemyVorenderRemyVorender Member RarePosts: 3,991
    Originally posted by mmorobo
    Originally posted by remyburke

    Here are my top 5:

     

    1. Huge Open World

    2. Terraforming

    3. Housing anywhere

    4. Intelligent and dynamically spawning AI

    5. Survival Elements

     

    P.S. No full loot PvP

     

    Can you figure out from where my frustration stems? That's right, they don't make this game. 

    Well, 4 of the 5 are Minecraft.  Intelligent and dynamically spawning AI is so poor in Minecraft that you can say that it is not there.  But the next update (combat) might give us a weak combat system.  While not really a Mmo, some servers have 100-200 players at a time.

    WURM is the closest thing to what I want from my MMO. A game between WURM and Minecraft would be amazing.

    Keeping a close eye on LiF's MMO release. 

    Joined - July 2004

  • MadFrenchieMadFrenchie Member LegendaryPosts: 8,505
    Originally posted by remyburke
    Originally posted by mmorobo
    Originally posted by remyburke

    Here are my top 5:

     

    1. Huge Open World

    2. Terraforming

    3. Housing anywhere

    4. Intelligent and dynamically spawning AI

    5. Survival Elements

     

    P.S. No full loot PvP

     

    Can you figure out from where my frustration stems? That's right, they don't make this game. 

    Well, 4 of the 5 are Minecraft.  Intelligent and dynamically spawning AI is so poor in Minecraft that you can say that it is not there.  But the next update (combat) might give us a weak combat system.  While not really a Mmo, some servers have 100-200 players at a time.

    WURM is the closest thing to what I want from my MMO. A game between WURM and Minecraft would be amazing.

    Keeping a close eye on LiF's MMO release. 

    I've been trying to get into that game since you mentioned it here.  The character creation process is combined with the registration process..  Yikes.  Once I got in, I enjoyed myself until I left the tutorial area, but was told I ported to the wrong continent and should probably make a new character..  Then found out you can't actually delete characters.  -_-  So I had to go through registration all over.

     

    I feel like maybe whoever designed the registration/character creation process should be let go.  Hopefully I'll find the game is worth it once I get into the meat and potatoes, though.

    image
  • TibernicuspaTibernicuspa Member UncommonPosts: 1,199

    Most of these are only necessary in themeparks/WoWclones/poorly designed MMOs.

     

    Many of these features you can make very good arguments as to why they aren't only unncessary, but not having them is a solid design decision.

     

    But then again, MMORPG.com doesn't care about that, they just want to rile people up and get their clicks.

  • bloodborne12bloodborne12 Member Posts: 20
    Group finder and auto sorting are the two that every MMO needs imo. The other 3 should be depending on the mmo type. Like a non-crafting mmo doesn't need remote deposit as much as games like diablo 3. But still this is an interesting topic.
  • skyhawkeskyhawke Member UncommonPosts: 16
    City of Heroes had the Sidekicking/Mentoring thing down pat.  I miss COH...
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