My MMO musings and wishes Part 1.
I've played a pretty nice cross-section of mmo's in my day, maybe not as hardcore as some but I do try to keep up on as many as I can, just to follow the genre as a whole. Here is a short timeline of mmo's before I get to my wishlist:
MMO name, year I started, and for how long I played.
Ultima Online(uo)-November '97-Seven years.
Everquest(eq)-1999-for a few months after launch
Asheron's Call(ac)-1999-just a few weeks
Anarchy Online(ao)-2001-just a few days in beta
Lineage-no idea-for about 10 minutes...
Dark Age of Camelot(daoc)-2003-almost 2 years
Star Wars Galaxies-2003-couple months
City of Heroes(coh)-2004-nearly 2 years now
Word of Warcraft(wow)-2004-about a year and a half
Planetside(ps)-2004-a few months
Sims Online-no idea-about 20 minutes
Allegiance-no idea-a month
This includes most of my actual time playing, though I've tried a few other games like shadowbane and neocron that I just tested for minutes and disliked. For a few years I wasn't working, so even though it may show only a month played, that's a helluva lot of playing if it's all day long. Over the years, I've figured out some of my favorite features of mmo's, the best of the various systems and parts of the games, and want to list some of the features I'd love to somehow combine into a super-mmo, the mythic game that could rule the world!
Setting: Fantasy seems to rule this genre, it is the simplest type of setting and doesn't require much besides fancy outdoor settings, nice caves, and cool castles/villages. Modern settings are the least common, I think COH and Matrix Online are the only mmo's with this type of setting right now. With a modern-day setting, you really need to populate the world to see alive and real, otherwise it pales in comparison and it feels dead. We just kinda live it everyday, it's hard to match it without something with the dept of a Grand Theft Auto game. This is a genre that I think has potential in the future, but they need to fully exhaust the fantasy and future genre's or make some kind of life-simulator, which has some fun potential. Futuristic setting would be the other main genre, but typicaly they just seem murky, cyberpunk, mishmashes that are just very depressing to explore. I can see some people enjoying this, but I think they need a little more work on getting one that has more mass appeal and variety. Fantasy kinda just wins by default right now, based on what I've seen and played, just because it allows easy access to combat, magic, mythical beasts, and girls in leather bikini's. Winner: Fantasy
PVP: This is a tough one. Some of my favorite pvp in an mmo has been Planetside...but I'm a fan of first person shooters, not everyone is or is capable of keeping up with that type of hand-eye coordination. It basically took the 3 "realms" at war with each other idea from daoc, took the capturing of keeps/castles/bases/towers idea, and even had a form of level advancement to get other abilities and items, similar to realm abilities. Second to that game I'd have to say rvr in daoc, though I despise daoc spellcasting and will get on to that later... After that, Factions in uo. Factions is kind of 4 groups trying to capture 8 town "flags" and defend them for 24 hours(too long, but very interesting staying up all day to defend...) to capture the town itself. At that point you could actually place guards, hire vendors, set vendor prices, and just control the town itself. It was great, but uo's limited combat system kind of hindered that... Wow's battlegrounds are kinda fun in some ways, but repetitive as hell. Daoc's realm ability system and reasons for sieging/defending keeps are also quite impressive. But too much crowd control kills a game's pvp, they need to keep this in mind and really limit it. Winner: Three or more "realms" at war with each other, two just isn't enough since you have no variety. A reward system for pvp that doesn't make the hardcore players unbeatable and can reward casual gameplay as well as hardcore. And a reason to get people out pvping that can benefit your "team" so people actually want to go out even if they don't want new abilities or items. Daoc's system really helped bring the "Realm" together in certain situations.
Spellcasting: All games seem to have a form of magic, even if it's under a different name. I hated sepllcasting in everquest, very clunky and required you to pre-plan what you could use. Daoc spellcasting had good elements, but the spell interruption system was total ass in its absolute interruption and "interrupted mode" based on what you were being hit with. Wow does a very good job with its casting, very little chance of a spell being totally stopped, mostly it's just slowing. Uo is kind of in between, you can only get interrupted if you are hit in the middle of casting and it doesn't have the interruption mode aspect that daoc has, it's very logical. Uo also has a self-buff that allows you to avoid being interrupted at all but with some side effects to make you reconsider, a nice option though. Coh basically has only about 5% of its "spells" being interruptible, the rest just happen instantly or just after the animation goes off, but not stoppable once they start. I do like this system quite a bit, it leads to very fast-paced action and very few situations where you are going to get frustrated, but I'm not sure if this system would work in a fantasy setting. Winner: I'd love a combination of coh and wow. A lot of spells with short/no actual casting times but maybe longer animation times that disallow doing something until it's over, so you can get your effect out there instead of feeling useless. Also some spells that do have casting times but have a casting meter like wow, so you can get it out eventually(or die trying)
Melee: Daoc's styles, to me, are kinda crappy. I like the idea of positionals, but the idea of chains to me are just a way to make combat annoying instead of action-packed. Also the fact that endurance was eaten up so quickly and regen'd sooooo slowly really made it unenjoyable without an endurance regen buff. Wow's melee is quite good but I hate the warrior's rage system, it should be more like city of villain's fury system(instead of hitting/being hit as the only way to use abilities and attacks, fury just raises your damage dealt as your fury bar builds) Rogues in wow are very nicely done, very quick regen on their "energy" Coh melee is basically just like the spellcasting with nearly no range, there is no "auto attack" that uses no endurance, it's all things you have to do yourself. Uo's combat has improved over the years, but is too simplistic still. Winner: Fast-paced combat where you have "stamina" that regens quickly enough to not require a buff to have fun. Fun "styles" and abilities with good variety among the melee classes. Possibly even different fighting styles per-class, for more variety. Melee that is balanced so it's not better or worse than ranged classes like casters.
Crafting: Daoc's crafting sucked. Tedious and time consuming, plus uber-expensive. Wow's crafting is kinda fun, though of limited use in endgame because of items from raids and such. Uo's crafting has evolved over the years, at this point I think it's very enjoyable and has a lot of depth, a great combo of decorative items and items useful to even endgame players, plus a lot of housing options. Swg probably has the most amazing crafting system in a game ever. NPC's sell *nothing* in swg, *everything* in the game is player crafted. Every single weapon, piece of armor/clothing, player building, spaceship, vehicle...it's all player crafted. I think that's a great idea. Also, uo and swg have a much more enjoyable resource-gathering system than daoc(ha!) and wow. With swg and uo, you can have a character with no combat skills and still be able to go around and gather your resources, you can have a character that only gathers resources and/or crafts. I think that's great, the ability to skip combat and make a character that is just a "merchant" if you want to, instead of being forced to level or hunt to make money or advance. Winner: Swg's crafting system, but slightly less tedious(building a space ship takes hundreds of items you make invidually...it makes sense but who wants to do that?) and a tiny bit more automated.
Housing: Daoc's housing was good in a couple ways. The buying of plots the way they did it, and the pre-arranged villages also were good ideas. But all the houses looked too similar and it made it boring and bland. Interior decoration in daoc was just ok, a bit boring though. Swg had a bit more variety in exteriors and interiors I think, plus you could create player-run towns that were recognized in the game and have a government. Uo's housing system was kinda mediocre at first, but eventually when they allowed locking items down, it allowed people to express their creative sides more. About 3 years ago, uo added a feature to allow you to *totally* design your house, tile-by-tile, with a huge variety of styles and items. This is a game of its own, I've known people to spend months just redesigning their homes over and over. Winner: Housing on pre-arranged lots that are sold by auction, for fairness. Quick transport around the housing areas. Housing that is also in some areas you hunt/explore in instead of just "housing zones" This allows for a more cohesive feel to the world and the ability to be a part of said world.
Hmm, there will be another part to this that I'll post in the coming days, I didn't know I'd be this verbose. I apologize for the thoughts being arranged very haphazardly, I usually go through a few drafts of what I type but this is just too much for me to go through and fix/edit...I'm lazy donchaknow.
MMO name, year I started, and for how long I played.
Ultima Online(uo)-November '97-Seven years.
Everquest(eq)-1999-for a few months after launch
Asheron's Call(ac)-1999-just a few weeks
Anarchy Online(ao)-2001-just a few days in beta
Lineage-no idea-for about 10 minutes...
Dark Age of Camelot(daoc)-2003-almost 2 years
Star Wars Galaxies-2003-couple months
City of Heroes(coh)-2004-nearly 2 years now
Word of Warcraft(wow)-2004-about a year and a half
Planetside(ps)-2004-a few months
Sims Online-no idea-about 20 minutes
Allegiance-no idea-a month
This includes most of my actual time playing, though I've tried a few other games like shadowbane and neocron that I just tested for minutes and disliked. For a few years I wasn't working, so even though it may show only a month played, that's a helluva lot of playing if it's all day long. Over the years, I've figured out some of my favorite features of mmo's, the best of the various systems and parts of the games, and want to list some of the features I'd love to somehow combine into a super-mmo, the mythic game that could rule the world!
Setting: Fantasy seems to rule this genre, it is the simplest type of setting and doesn't require much besides fancy outdoor settings, nice caves, and cool castles/villages. Modern settings are the least common, I think COH and Matrix Online are the only mmo's with this type of setting right now. With a modern-day setting, you really need to populate the world to see alive and real, otherwise it pales in comparison and it feels dead. We just kinda live it everyday, it's hard to match it without something with the dept of a Grand Theft Auto game. This is a genre that I think has potential in the future, but they need to fully exhaust the fantasy and future genre's or make some kind of life-simulator, which has some fun potential. Futuristic setting would be the other main genre, but typicaly they just seem murky, cyberpunk, mishmashes that are just very depressing to explore. I can see some people enjoying this, but I think they need a little more work on getting one that has more mass appeal and variety. Fantasy kinda just wins by default right now, based on what I've seen and played, just because it allows easy access to combat, magic, mythical beasts, and girls in leather bikini's. Winner: Fantasy
PVP: This is a tough one. Some of my favorite pvp in an mmo has been Planetside...but I'm a fan of first person shooters, not everyone is or is capable of keeping up with that type of hand-eye coordination. It basically took the 3 "realms" at war with each other idea from daoc, took the capturing of keeps/castles/bases/towers idea, and even had a form of level advancement to get other abilities and items, similar to realm abilities. Second to that game I'd have to say rvr in daoc, though I despise daoc spellcasting and will get on to that later... After that, Factions in uo. Factions is kind of 4 groups trying to capture 8 town "flags" and defend them for 24 hours(too long, but very interesting staying up all day to defend...) to capture the town itself. At that point you could actually place guards, hire vendors, set vendor prices, and just control the town itself. It was great, but uo's limited combat system kind of hindered that... Wow's battlegrounds are kinda fun in some ways, but repetitive as hell. Daoc's realm ability system and reasons for sieging/defending keeps are also quite impressive. But too much crowd control kills a game's pvp, they need to keep this in mind and really limit it. Winner: Three or more "realms" at war with each other, two just isn't enough since you have no variety. A reward system for pvp that doesn't make the hardcore players unbeatable and can reward casual gameplay as well as hardcore. And a reason to get people out pvping that can benefit your "team" so people actually want to go out even if they don't want new abilities or items. Daoc's system really helped bring the "Realm" together in certain situations.
Spellcasting: All games seem to have a form of magic, even if it's under a different name. I hated sepllcasting in everquest, very clunky and required you to pre-plan what you could use. Daoc spellcasting had good elements, but the spell interruption system was total ass in its absolute interruption and "interrupted mode" based on what you were being hit with. Wow does a very good job with its casting, very little chance of a spell being totally stopped, mostly it's just slowing. Uo is kind of in between, you can only get interrupted if you are hit in the middle of casting and it doesn't have the interruption mode aspect that daoc has, it's very logical. Uo also has a self-buff that allows you to avoid being interrupted at all but with some side effects to make you reconsider, a nice option though. Coh basically has only about 5% of its "spells" being interruptible, the rest just happen instantly or just after the animation goes off, but not stoppable once they start. I do like this system quite a bit, it leads to very fast-paced action and very few situations where you are going to get frustrated, but I'm not sure if this system would work in a fantasy setting. Winner: I'd love a combination of coh and wow. A lot of spells with short/no actual casting times but maybe longer animation times that disallow doing something until it's over, so you can get your effect out there instead of feeling useless. Also some spells that do have casting times but have a casting meter like wow, so you can get it out eventually(or die trying)
Melee: Daoc's styles, to me, are kinda crappy. I like the idea of positionals, but the idea of chains to me are just a way to make combat annoying instead of action-packed. Also the fact that endurance was eaten up so quickly and regen'd sooooo slowly really made it unenjoyable without an endurance regen buff. Wow's melee is quite good but I hate the warrior's rage system, it should be more like city of villain's fury system(instead of hitting/being hit as the only way to use abilities and attacks, fury just raises your damage dealt as your fury bar builds) Rogues in wow are very nicely done, very quick regen on their "energy" Coh melee is basically just like the spellcasting with nearly no range, there is no "auto attack" that uses no endurance, it's all things you have to do yourself. Uo's combat has improved over the years, but is too simplistic still. Winner: Fast-paced combat where you have "stamina" that regens quickly enough to not require a buff to have fun. Fun "styles" and abilities with good variety among the melee classes. Possibly even different fighting styles per-class, for more variety. Melee that is balanced so it's not better or worse than ranged classes like casters.
Crafting: Daoc's crafting sucked. Tedious and time consuming, plus uber-expensive. Wow's crafting is kinda fun, though of limited use in endgame because of items from raids and such. Uo's crafting has evolved over the years, at this point I think it's very enjoyable and has a lot of depth, a great combo of decorative items and items useful to even endgame players, plus a lot of housing options. Swg probably has the most amazing crafting system in a game ever. NPC's sell *nothing* in swg, *everything* in the game is player crafted. Every single weapon, piece of armor/clothing, player building, spaceship, vehicle...it's all player crafted. I think that's a great idea. Also, uo and swg have a much more enjoyable resource-gathering system than daoc(ha!) and wow. With swg and uo, you can have a character with no combat skills and still be able to go around and gather your resources, you can have a character that only gathers resources and/or crafts. I think that's great, the ability to skip combat and make a character that is just a "merchant" if you want to, instead of being forced to level or hunt to make money or advance. Winner: Swg's crafting system, but slightly less tedious(building a space ship takes hundreds of items you make invidually...it makes sense but who wants to do that?) and a tiny bit more automated.
Housing: Daoc's housing was good in a couple ways. The buying of plots the way they did it, and the pre-arranged villages also were good ideas. But all the houses looked too similar and it made it boring and bland. Interior decoration in daoc was just ok, a bit boring though. Swg had a bit more variety in exteriors and interiors I think, plus you could create player-run towns that were recognized in the game and have a government. Uo's housing system was kinda mediocre at first, but eventually when they allowed locking items down, it allowed people to express their creative sides more. About 3 years ago, uo added a feature to allow you to *totally* design your house, tile-by-tile, with a huge variety of styles and items. This is a game of its own, I've known people to spend months just redesigning their homes over and over. Winner: Housing on pre-arranged lots that are sold by auction, for fairness. Quick transport around the housing areas. Housing that is also in some areas you hunt/explore in instead of just "housing zones" This allows for a more cohesive feel to the world and the ability to be a part of said world.
Hmm, there will be another part to this that I'll post in the coming days, I didn't know I'd be this verbose. I apologize for the thoughts being arranged very haphazardly, I usually go through a few drafts of what I type but this is just too much for me to go through and fix/edit...I'm lazy donchaknow.
posted by Ocho at 2:20 AM
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