MMO's and Toril 2.0: Moving forward... (escalation!)

[Tasan]

Perhaps the greatest problem with the game in its current state is the virtual ceiling one hits after spending enough time here. Much like console games that are unchanging once purchased, our game seems to lack the persistant and ever-evolving world that other MMO's have been able to adopt.

WoW just released a new expansion bringing the total number of levels available to 70. They introduced new content to keep those who'd achieved everything at level 60 playing the game.

I think to survive in the world of MMO's, we need more content that puts the emphasis on building the character(and a playgroup/guild/association), not on building sets of equipment. Equipment should be useful and varied, but should not make up for flaws in the character. Adding new ways to spend time on the game would not only increase playability, but could also help in creating a viable economy system which in turn could support a robust Kingdom code. Give players the ability to "go beyond" level 50 or 20 or whatever it will be. Give players a reason to stick around and play here other than doing the new zone for the 5th time in 2 weeks because... it's the new zone.

To that end, I open the discussion up to ideas on:

• Overall design aspects for game abilities(crafting, tradeskills)
• Implementation of things you've liked in other games(PvP, Exp systems etc.)
• Means to improve the high end game to keep people interested(prestige classes, remorts, attribute modifiers etc.)
• The role of equipment in character development(bound eq, level locks etc.)

In order to keep the thread readable, I ask that you preface your ideas with bold headings so that they might be searched through in a more timely manner. If we go with a base template such as this:

Crafting
I think crafting would rock if...

Then we should be able to keep the discussion manageable. Remember that this isn't a plea for things to include in 2.0 but rather a discussion of MMO gaming as a whole and how we can better adapt this game to suit the players we want to play and retain as a community.

[Gormal]

Lets face it, players want to be rewarded for their time spent on a game. A new shiny, a cool spell, something. Currently, once you hit 50, there is nothing to really do other than try to get more equipment. I'd love some form of tradeskills, hell it might even stimulate our pathetic excuse for an economy.

Another thing that WoW offers is the ability for any class of any level to do something productive with even a half hour of playtime. With eating/drinking there to assist your natural healing, any class can solo at any level. Toril seems to take hours to get anywhere, and you need a group to do the vast majority of things (especially if you play a class with no real solo capability.) Not sure how well 2.0 will fix this, but I'd like to see eating/drinking made useful... the WoW cooking skill is kinda neat to go along with it.

Summary: Tradeskills are good.

[Birile]

Prestige Classes/Remorts

I know that Shevarash has mentioned that this is something the staff is considering implementing already, but I wanted to discuss it a little here.

First of all, the whole idea of prestige classes and/or remorts should be to add some (more) variety to the game as well as add a whole new dimension to gaming for the player, as well as give the player something to work toward.

I think, though, this sort of option should not be easily available to just anyone who can level their umpteenth alt to level 50. This would be a PRIME use of the prestige code. And tack a difficult quest onto the whole deal, too. Don't make it easy. Make it uber-difficult. Make the player LOVE their character for all of the hard work they put into it, rather than achieving the top level within a week via pleveling. Level 50 isn't what it used to be, let's face it. No character should be considered top level when the character's player spent all of 48 game hours getting to know the character. Make players truly invest.

[Tasan]

Well you all suck then... where the hell are all the vocal troll rangers who got all worked up in the ranger thread... sheesh.

Kingdom Code

My personal experiences with different types of kingdom code stretches from merc to circle to diku to LP derivitives and in each instance the implementation dictated its success.

At one place I was able to mine for materials at mines that could "load" anywhere and that provided only a fraction of what you would need for the most grand estate type dwelling. Mining itself was a skill you needed to learn and then practice to achieve higher yields etc. Through mining I was able to create a small 5 room "castle" that I could decorate(through purchases), describe to my own liking and camp within. It was something I could show off to other people that could be customized to my own liking. I didn't have to kill anything to get it(though I did need money for the items within) and it was something I could do when there wasn't much else going on.

I liked this implementation a lot because it allowed flexibility and above all a way for me to personalize my own bit of the world. I believe that everyone that plays a/the game wants to be a unique individual and have their own accomplishments and things to show off to people. Right now our only real accomplishments are equipment(lame), capped experience(lamer) and prestige(lamest). Saying you did this or that quest doesn't even rate as an accomplishment anymore since quest information is shared much more readily now.

Kingdom code is just one way of allowing players to carve out their own little niche of the world. It also would help lay a foundation for a real economy system which in itself would be an excellent addition to the game. Other things that would help would be additions like decorations for dwellings, restrings, player run shops(for crafting) and I'm sure there are plenty of more ideas floating about. So let's hear them...

[Botef]

When I used to play Gemstone eons ago they had a lot of random little side features that kept people entertained.

There were a lot of different automated organizations you could could join in, provided you met the prereqs. (Alignment, class, etc) and had the funds, that offered different missions and activities.

One was a group of clerics that paid you money as well as levels of rank in the organization for killing ghouls and bringing them ghoul nails. There were church organizations for different deities that offered missions and activities aimed at opposing mobs, etc. The jist was you could only belong to one or two of these groups at once, and the benefits of being in them varied.

What was particularly cool about this system is that it was entirely automated and somewhat random. You could go to the mob that commanded whatever group you were in and ask for a mission and it would randomly generate some kind of encounter for you to take on that was only available a limited period of time. So you could ask for a mission, the mob would tell you your task and you'd have to go out and figure out where and what your supposed to do before time runs out.

What I particularly liked about these is it played heavily on your personal knowledge of the mud. Because the encounters were usually fairly random, the only thing that really gave you an upper hand was knowing where you might need to go or how to go about completing your task. Because it ran on a limited time frame, you couldn't wait around for someone to hand feed you the information before continuing. Plus, it was something fun to do that got you out and about in the mud and away from your hometown when nobody else was around.

I think this would be an awesome addition and a way to add some incentive for exploring and knowing the mud in detail, and not sharing that knowledge with anyone who sends you a tell asking for quest info. It could also integrate heavily into other features proposed for 2.0 like deities, domains, specilization, etc.



In terms of an economy system, I'd like to see a varying and contrasting value on various commodities from place to place, something that is constantly changing and allows a player who does a bit of research on any particular boot the chance to make a few bucks moving a cartload of stuff from place to place...but not without some risks, of course! Maybe even base the value changes from place to place on other outside variables like what zones are getting done. Trade routes being effected and all that jazz.


All really good ideas in here.