Building the perfect MMORPG

[SUPA FRANKY]

You've all probably seen Gameinformer's take on the perfect controller. So lets try to apply the same concept to mmorpgs! Your free to add.

Infinite ways to customize your character.

You can add facial features like freckles, how clean or messy their hair is, their posture, their build, the size of their body parts, how they hold their weapons. That voice synthesizer from Saint's Row 2 would be cool too.

Quest

Rather than killing X amount of Y, quest should be will be more varied in this mmo. Along with the typical Guide stranger to this town or Kill X amount of Y, there will be quest that involve game play changes into different genres. Crows are attacking a farmers crops! Get on a flying mount and shoot them down Shoot'Em Up Style!

Combat

Enough of that click it until it dies crap! Make combat more strategized, yet at the same time fast paced, sort of like a Vindictus. Also, I think it would be cool if there were ways to dodge any attack, that way a low level character could take down a high level character if they have enough skill. You get bonuses for being high level, but combat is based on strategy and skill, not just "my numbers are bigger than yours".

Monthly Fee

I'm not sure about these. I don't like them, but developers need money somehow. ( I HATE Item shops). Probably around the $7-10 dollars range.

 

[dangitall]

Probably overhaul of the generic skill-point and stat-point engine. I've been thinking about something of that variety, but I don't have the sufficient math skills to back it up.

 

[Space Spoons]

I'm probably gonna catch a lot of flak for this, but playing DC Universe Online made me realize how great using an Xbox 360 controller in an MMO can feel. I've never been much of a PC gamer, and the one thing that's always turned me off MMOs has been the controls. DCUO, though, felt completely natural. It was like I was playing a console game (which, in a way, is precisely what DCUO was designed to be), and really boosted my enjoyment of the game.

I think I'd probably be able to get more into MMOs in general if they all functioned using similar control systems.

Also, I'd be all for tossing monthly fees out the window. When monthly fees start getting involved, I begin to feel obligated to play the game more often than I'd like, to justify the expense to myself. My free time's limited enough without having to worry about getting my money's worth for a game I've already paid for, thank you.

 

[Baralak]

I'm probably gonna catch a lot of flak for this, but playing DC Universe Online made me realize how great using an Xbox 360 controller in an MMO can feel. I've never been much of a PC gamer, and the one thing that's always turned me off MMOs has been the controls. DCUO, though, felt completely natural. It was like I was playing a console game (which, in a way, is precisely what DCUO was designed to be), and really boosted my enjoyment of the game.

I think I'd probably be able to get more into MMOs in general if they all functioned using similar control systems.

I know DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online) was designed to work with controllers, but you can tell it was designed to work with keyboards first. Still, it's there.

Also, I'd be all for tossing monthly fees out the window. When monthly fees start getting involved, I begin to feel obligated to play the game more often than I'd like, to justify the expense to myself. My free time's limited enough without having to worry about getting my money's worth for a game I've already paid for, thank you.

 

[Random Fella]

Making it for mac, if it isn't for mac then you make me sad.
I know there's not as much consumption in a mac designed game or a game that allows for mac compatibility due to costs of this but I don't own a pc. (Please don't tell me the solution is to purchase a pc like many of the monkey on a keyboard pc enthusiasts)

 

[RatRace123]

It can be single player as well, it doesn't force you into the MM part.

 

[2xDouble]

I'll just leave this here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1906-The-Future-of-MMOs].

I have little else to add.

Except to note that this [http://www.guildwars2.com/en/] meets mostly everything the Extra Credits crew talk about for the future. (/fan plug)

 

[Composer]

your quests can be be boiled down to kill X before Y dies/time expires
in fact if you think about it you can boil all quests down to fetch this item/kill X amount of Y/ get here before before time runs out/ect.


also wtf is with the ad captchas

 

[Da Chi]

I remember a Counter-Strike mod called "World of Warcraft". You could pick a race, skills and abilities as well as your load-out. Being a high level is a plus but not entirely nessisary because bullets still hurt and Health changed by only marginal amounts on high levels. This is a good MMO type game. Maybe not an RPG, but fun to mix up the classes and try something new with very little penalty and great shooty fun. None of the tedious level grinding and no collection quests. On a larger scale, with a bigger map, hell yeah, you have a perfect MMO.

 

[Avaholic03]

World of Warcraft (world size, general gameplay, leveling, quest variety, etc.)
+
Starcraft (universe...I prefer futuristic over fantasy)
+
DC Universe Online (from what I've seen, the combat system is actually interesting)

That would just about do it. Although I've never been the type to get sucked into a MMO or a RPG, so I'm probably not the most qualified to say what aspects would make a good MMORPG.

 

[Exia91]

I'll just leave this here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1906-The-Future-of-MMOs].

I have little else to add.

Except to note that this [http://www.guildwars2.com/en/] meets mostly everything the Extra Credits crew talk about for the future. (/fan plug)

I wholly agree!

OT:
Everything described in the Future of the MMO vid by Extra Credits.

 

[viranimus]

Elements:

Playstyle balancing. Build enough content to satisfy Soloists, groupers, and raiders alike.

Extensive faction system. EQ in the Verant days got this SOOO right, its sad I really havent seen another game do this viably again till Fallout New Vegas and that was only a tiny glimmer.

Backstory Backstory Backstory along with Plot, Plot Plot

Take a page from Deus Ex and allow major events to be viably approached in a wide variety of ways.

Meaningful PvP, as well as optional meaningless pvp

High learning curve and extreme degree of difficulty. If you can go out into your noob area and just flashfarm your way to level 10 in say an hour, your doing it wrong. Make an MMO where Progression is just insanely slow by incorporating challenging but fair enemy encounters that take both skill and strategy.

Ive got about a million more ideas, So ill just leave it at that. My ADD is kicking in.

EDIT: One last one. Auto compensation for combat. You see a wandering skeleton around and your in a group with three friends and you go to attack it, make it so that the skeleton summons three friends to compensate for your groups size once the mob has been engaged.

 

[acosn]

Payment Plans, not Demands
Subscription systems are kind of a thing of the past, and while there are people who would genuinely not mind paying it, holding it against the players who would rather not makes no sense. There's a fine line to be drawn, but games like Company of Heroes Online and League of Legends tend to have the right idea- free to play, but you can access the same content anyone else does, only faster, if you're willing to shell out some cash. Give people who subscribe the fillet mignon of your game, but don't make it a, "We're rubbing this in your face" kind of thing. Things like loyalty rewards, not "here, have a nuke."


Ditch the Carrot on a Stick Approach
Anyone who's played WoW knows what I'm talking about when I say that you never really get to only need to go to a dungeon just once. Especially at higher levels there's always something that doesn't drop on your first time through. Honestly this is a bad approach and only holds peoples attention for so long before people catch on. Right around when there's a single item you're running the same dungeon upwards of 25 times before giving up it starts to hit you that its not fun anymore. More on this later though.

Extras should do what they're intended to do
Another WoW example, the badge system doesn't work as intended half the time. The whole point to it was to implement a way of being able to reduce the size of loot tables by cutting out obscure items that maybe one class, or even just one specialization of one class could actually use. Instead what we're getting is a mild replacement for what we would find in dungeons anyways, and more often than not I'm still finding myself blowing through an entire dungeon to kill one guy who has a one in five chance of even dropping the thing, never mind having competition. It starts to beg the question- why not simply have the badge / point system be used to simply let you buy gear that didn't drop in dungeons? It certainly would make more sense to have the game tell you, "Oh, that one item wasn't in your share of the spoils" than, "Oh, that item you wanted phased out of time and you'll have to do this place again on the off chance that it does drop."

Decide who you intend to cater to
WoW does well because it aims to be everyone's game and does a fairly good job of it. Anyone from the hardest core player to the most casual of players can pick up WoW and feel rewarded after putting time in, whether it's 10 minutes or 10 hours. It doesn't even apply to just one game set of mind. WoW speaks to players on many different levels, both as a social game and a single player game and tends to understand that not everyone wants the same kind of game. Then again, not everyone has that kind of budget. It makes more sense to build a game that caters to a niche and do it well, then to try and do cater to everyone and fail miserably.

Another strong example of this is the achievement system. Players who are hardcore and really make up maybe 5% of the player base, at best, have ways of distinguishing themselves. In WotLK encounters like 0-light yogg'saron (to put it in perspective, one guild actually managed to get it done before Blizzard had to nerf it) are extremely difficult, but the tangible rewards are minor. The gear isn't that much better, and otherwise it's an achievement. That's a pretty far cry from, say, Old-school naxxaramas where maybe less than 5% of the player base even saw the main point of an entire patch.

Have the game make sense, especially monotonous parts
No, not in the sense that you can be shooting fireballs out of your hands and that's not possible, but in a more practical sense. If there's a specific guy I need to kill for a daily, why does he keep coming back? Didn't I kill him yesterday? Why is it that of all the factions in the game, amongst the new ones the organization of druids being led by a dragon aspect actually has no gear specifically well-tuned for druids? Why does the organization of bumpkin Dwarves living in the sticks that didn't know what a Night Elf was 2 years ago have the best selection of gear for me? Why does the organization of shaman have no good gear for shaman? IF I'm going to spend my time doing something incredibly monotonous there had better be a real strong reason for why I'm doing it rather than repeated insults to my intelligence.

And I could go on.

 

[TAGM]

Monthly Fee

I'm not sure about these. I don't like them, but developers need money somehow. ( I HATE Item shops). Probably around the $7-10 dollars range.

Simple way to solve it - Make a donate button, and give the donators some sort of special object when they pay $10 or something. Then, they trade that item (or 2, or 5.) for powerful stuff. I've seen it work before.

 

[OniaPL]

I have said this before and I will say it again. Once Fallout MMO will be made, perfection will be achieved as long as someone doesn't screw up big time.

Yes, you could call me a Fallout fanboy.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I will post something simple that I think is a perfect small point. Crafting visuals.

I love Lord of the Rings Online for its crafting visuals.

I played LotRO before I did my WoW trial. When I did my WoW trial, I was surprised by how boring crafting was because there weren't interesting visuals. Example comparison of the two.

LotRO
------
Cooking: I see my character with a mixing bowl mixing stuff. Nice sounds. Simple but effective.

Smelting Ore: I see my character hammering away on an anvil, with nice hammering sounds.

Tailoring: I see my character sewing at a table, looking like he's using a little needle. Minimal sounds of course.

WoW
-------

Cooking: My character twiddles his fingers, and you hear, sshhhwwwoooopppt.

Smelting Ore: My character twiddles his fingers, and you hear, sshhhwwwoooopppt.

Tailoring: My character twiddles his fingers, and you hear, sshhhwwwoooopppt.

 

[vxicepickxv]

If PVP is going to be done, make sure the classes are balanced. If you can't balance the classes then the most broken classes get played the most.

Make sure you have a way to entertain your players while crafting. I'm not talking about QTEs for quality checks, just something they can do to kill time while they build stuff. I hate having to wait two minutes while I'm crafting something because it's higher level with nothing to do. I also hate crafting being forced to play a mini-game to ensure I can craft something properly.

Don't have breakable equipment. Nobody actually enjoys it. Nobody wants their work to go up in smoke because they didn't bother to pay to have it fixed.

Balance your economies. Have a way to remove in game currency so that you don't have so much of it that it's worthless, and don't make it so that it's impossible to keep ANY money. Try to make sure that if there's a player marketplace that you don't have one person who has a lot of money able to buy up all of something, and then turn around and charge a lot more for it because they're the only supplier.

Give players choices. If all of the best skills are on one skill tree, everybody's going to use that tree. If all of the best gear for everything is one piece of gear, everybody's going to use that one piece of gear. Make a variety of gear to fit a variety of great skill options.(If anybody played Dark Age of Camelot then you know that you can pick out dwarf healers by looking for a hammer, because all the good melee weapons were swords or axes, and healers could only use hammers.)

Give players the ability to look different. I'm not just talking about being able to customize character appearance, because once the gear goes on, everybody looks the same. I'm talking about being able to make a set of armor have different optional visual appearances. If you're going to have PVP, ensure that you can't mask a set of armor with another set by an appearance option though, because then you would see everybody with starter clothes in appearance blocks so nobody could see what you actually had.

 

[Delusibeta]

Ignore WoW wholesale. Do something completely unlike WoW. Otherwise, all of your players will try your game for a week and then go back to WoW.

 

[beniki]

I'll just leave this here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1906-The-Future-of-MMOs].

I have little else to add.

Except to note that this [http://www.guildwars2.com/en/] meets mostly everything the Extra Credits crew talk about for the future. (/fan plug)

In total agreement. I'll be seeing you there my fellow fanboy.

 

[Random Fella]

I'll just leave this here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1906-The-Future-of-MMOs].

I have little else to add.

Except to note that this [http://www.guildwars2.com/en/] meets mostly everything the Extra Credits crew talk about for the future. (/fan plug)

In total agreement. I'll be seeing you there my fellow fanboy.

Count me in!