If you made your own MMORPG what would make it great?

[Charismatic]

Just give me Tales of Eternia Online in English and we'll call it a day.

Hell, I'd be content for them to just bring it back, even in Japanese.

[Genosync]

Just give me Tales of Eternia Online in English and we'll call it a day.

Hell, I'd be content for them to just bring it back, even in Japanese.

I'd probably play it anyway. Beta didn't go well?

[Charismatic]

Well, it made it out of beta and had a 1 year run...
I don't think it was popular enough so they just shut it down.

[Genosync]

Well, it made it out of beta and had a 1 year run...
I don't think it was popular enough so they just shut it down.

Shitty. Tales is fun as hell with 3 or 4 people, hell, even just two people. Trying to coordinate ridiculous combos with a mage and melee at 2am can make for some hilarious times.

[Maguspk]

There was an online Tales game? What the fuck was the world doing not instantly getting that shit? Damn. To this day me and my friends still get together and play ToS for shits and giggles, have yet to finish the entire game because every time we have someone new who is like "lol how i do spellz gaiz?" so we restart and let them learn.

[Genosync]

There was an online Tales game? What the fuck was the world doing not instantly getting that shit? Damn. To this day me and my friends still get together and play ToS for shits and giggles, have yet to finish the entire game because every time we have someone new who is like "lol how i do spellz gaiz?" so we restart and let them learn.

We got to a point where, at this place on campus, ~10 different people would switch off playing the same playthrough of ToS, and we'd just leave a strategy guide open to where we were in the game so people would be able to know where they left off.

[Brill Weave]

I would really aim for character individuality. Let the players create their own guys from scratch. It's no fun having cookie cutter players who all look the same more or less.

Make every single NM a random lottery spawn with no restrictions. Make all gear the equivalent of R/Ex and eliminate the ability to buy and or sell gear except through an NPC. I would make currency be available only by killing monsters and then returning to an NPC who will distribute currency based on how difficult a monster is etc. Said currency could then be turned in to another NPC to buy gear and weapons. I would also make it so ALL gear could be upgraded and modified kind of like Baldur's Gate II for the PS2/Xbox.

At least it would eliminate RMT's.

[Gares]

What do you guys think would be the best combat system for a MMORPG?

I think it would have to move in real time, and attacks/defenses would be commanded, not robotic.

[Brill Weave]

Ever play Resident Evil 4? The cut sequences where you have to hit certain buttons in order to live etc. At least combat would never become boring lol...

[Khamsin]

What do you guys think would be the best combat system for a MMORPG?

I think it would have to move in real time, and attacks/defenses would be commanded, not robotic.

How would you prevent spamming the attack button (and sore fingers) being the basic strategy?

[Charismatic]

What do you guys think would be the best combat system for a MMORPG?

I think it would have to move in real time, and attacks/defenses would be commanded, not robotic.

How would you prevent spamming the attack button (and sore fingers) being the basic strategy?

There's too many ways to prevent that...
Here's one of many
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RJ8BFz9Vnug

Notice, different combos of actions did different things.
Also, because he stood there mostly attacking and not doing any defending or dodging he took damage.

In that game, that's a fair amount of damage taken for such trash mobs.

[Gares]

I'd put delays Khamsin. Your character's attack speed stat(s) would determine how often pushing the attack button would yield an attack, & you'd have to make it so that spamming the attack button is only going to work against very weak monsters. What's to stop them from spamming the defense button and throwing in an attack inbetween your swings?

[Eratosthenes]

I'd make the combat controlled by mouse movement: click and drag in the direction you want to swing your weapon. A player would want to draw attacks that follow-through and combine together nicely, but would also want to be wary of being countered by his opponent.

[SamanosukeShiva]

that'll sux if u gotta do that for hours,

no

[Eratosthenes]

that'll sux if u gotta do that for hours,

no

Well, my goal is to make combat more like playing an FPS than rolling the dice over and over again like in most RPGs. There'd be no need for any sort of level grind; I'd probably eliminate character levels altogether.

[Khamsin]

that'll sux if u gotta do that for hours,

no

Well, my goal is to make combat more like playing an FPS than rolling the dice over and over again like in most RPGs. There'd be no need for any sort of level grind; I'd probably eliminate character levels altogether.

So it'd be like FF2?

[MisterBob]

Check out combat in Asheron's Call (especially from the perspective of a Mage) if you want awesome combat.

That game, to this day, had the best skill-oriented PvP of any MMO. The best part was that it emerged by accident haha

[Isiolia]

I would shift away from set character classes and levels. Something more like the Elder Scrolls system, but I would try to balance it more and allow for someone to become great at most everything in time.

To me, this would allow for more instinctual gameplay. Go, play how it occurs to you to play, and your character will become better at what you choose to do. To balance that, having skills that fade when not used (though with an accelerated growth if returned to), and bonuses/restrictions on what's practical. For example, restrictions to archery or certain spells when in heavy armor, bonuses to different types of magic by following the rules of a deity, etc.

As an extension of that, I would make interaction with the world more interactive than it is in most games. The main reason being to allow players to move beyond simple stats. For example, casting a spell would be something like tapping out a key combo. Effectiveness would be a coupling of both your in-game experience with magic, and the actual timing/accuracy of the inputted command. It'd make things more like in an FPS, where you can actually just be good at an aspect of the game without grinding out stats.
Basic inputs would stay the same, but more advanced ones would be revealed with practice, and be specific to a character. Maybe you could copy someone else's move and be somewhat successful, but it wouldn't reach full strength for you until your character really "mastered" it for themselves through practice.


To continue with that, I'd try to steer away from traditional quests. What would be hard to do, but perhaps more interesting, would be to place characters in a random starting environment. Instead of the grinding out of basic levels, have it be like some single player games have done, and play through portions of your character's childhood. Based on how you do will determine your character's beginning when you start the game. Maybe you start as a magic academy student. Maybe you need to escape prison, or the family business, or finish your debt to the military.
Instead of quests, you'd have jobs that would result in repeat work. Or you'd get a lead with no specific direction to take.


In general what I'd try to do is move an MMO away from stats and grinding into something that you can just enter into and "be" a character. Something where a quest/item database site is pointless outside of making the lore of the game deeper.

[Defconnexion]

Players, upon logging in, would find their avatars, which are based on their credit score, all waiting in line at a coffee bar. The point of the game would be to get to the front of the line via social jockeying and the monthly cost of the game would be based on the performance of the player, adding a "real life" incentive to the game. The game would send e-mails and text messages to the player while they are logged out in order to keep them informed as to the progress of their rivals and to remind them to return to the game after work, provided they have a job, which shouldn't last long due to the level of involvement required for the game. The player will be able to interact with local food delivery services in game and the game will be able to contact emergency medical services should the player have too lengthy of an idle time while logged in. And whenever Tempyst is not around, all of the NPC's will be saying things like "Where is Tempyst?"

[Plow]

Weekly (maybe daily) discussions between people hired specifically for their ability to communicate well both with players and developers/programmers, and constantly changing groups of the most successful players in the game.