MMO WK

Behind this mysterious title I'm hiding some hard work that might be published someday ;) The purpose of this blog is to share thoughts with you who love/hate MMO.

Author: Deewe

Sometimes you are a few feet from a mob ganking another and it doesn't even raise an eyebrow.

You might have been playing MMO for so long that you find this behaviour normal: you aren't in it's aggro range or it isn't a social creature.

Too often challenging mobs does not mean smart ones, but high or even insane health and resists. Add timed actions and windows of opportunities and voila.

Also have you never been frustrated not able to heal NPCs or creatures? Doesn't it breaks your immersion?

We all know this is due to the fact most of the MMO game play is kiting walking exp/loot bags.

==> Don't you think you deserves a bit more than that?

Would you spot an armed specie or a dangerous looking creature, in an unsafe place, wouldn't you either shoot or run instead of waiting to what will happen next?

In the FPS, you have a gun, they do and well when they see you they shoot first ask questions after. I agree sometimes they even see you way before you are able physically to spot them.

I think it's time to improve MMO game play in terms of AI.

- I'd replace the aggro zone with sight/smell/sense view. As soon as a mob/creatures spot you it reacts either:

• fleeing
• chasing you
• calling for help
• keeping a safe range from you
• ...

Mobs could even lure you into a ambush.

- A second change needed is the detection system.

Hiding in plain sight in front of a mob without magical or electronic devices is just plain stupid. Same thing for animals not even able to smell you 2 feet away.

- Another change would come with the level ranges.

Levels are supposed to represent the combat expertise of characters and mobs. Too often it makes the high level untouchable.

For example even the most experienced and armed warrior will have no chances of survival against a few peons ready to die against him.

I agree this system could make venturing alone really dangerous. But it could also improve socialization and knowledge of the game.

Wile wandering you would learn what which to avoid, safe routes to take, tricks to lure creatures.

I'm not really an hadcore PvPer but lately PvP is boring and mostly a gank fest: no more real challenge, no stress of dying or loosing something, no fear of the opponent.

Now on a perma-death server not only you have to be careful but also you should avoid ganking people. This because ganked people have friends and well, things can turn really bad very fast if you play like a jerk.

On a perma-death server you know people by their names and there comes respect, feeling of being part of a community  and so socialization.

I saw Dofus implementing that and the server queues are always full (what I'm being said).

They where very clever in their implementation because:

• Leveling is faster
• Drop rates are increased
• In case of death, the opponent can take the victim’s items, Players or NPC alike!
• They display the ranking on their web-site

On these ruleset servers the real PvPers will gather.

I would add even for casual gamers it would be interesting and fun to make an alt here.

Another solution would be some huge death sickness, like you can't play your character for a few hours. Still you would be able to play your alts.

Thoughts?

TR is dead.

How strange... I was about to buy the CE edition just the exact day it was announced.

Immediately my memories brought me back to SWG. The precious moments, great people... the community that made it special.

Projecting it into TR, I thought about all the players who are still there till shutdown and I was sad for them. How about all the people who worked for years to bring this to life? 

We all know these are virtual world, so why is it so hard to let it go?

Maybe we enjoy dreaming awake, venturing into these neatly designed worlds.

Or maybe because behind these tiny pixels there are also others human beings.

Before anything else, could we just stop having non intelligent species from dropping gold, weapons, clothes? It's pointless and kills the immersion.

Not that I'm against a huge mob, having eaten a few npcs, being stuck with some equipment inside...

How about, in MMOs, when you kill a mob/npc the looted gear is more scavenged from it than looted?

If a NPC was bashing you with a sword don't you expect to be able to get it out of his, still hot, body. As you would get teeth, hides, claws, scales from monsters.

Maybe that item would not be in premium condition, so you still could  improve it or at least get subcomponents.

Also when you are hunting for... flying pigs, would you not like getting at least one intact pig leg per mob, if not more? Don't you feel the devs are taking you for an idiot with the quest saying get me 10 legs when they know you'll need to kill 100+ mobs? How that's FUN?

Now about RAID loot distribution, how come people accept to spend 3+ hours in an instance when you know there are very real chances you'll get nothing for your efforts? This contrary to the guy/girl next to you who did nothing more.

I'm for a system that rewards all players for their participation:

• Let's say at the end of a RAID each player gets randomly one or multiple tokens. (ie: from 1  to 3)
• Each token as a base roll % (15%)
• Optionally tokens can be spend to access to higher loot tables (3 token table +1, 7 tokens table +2)
• A second option could be the token value decrease depending on the loot table. (table = base value, table = 50% base value, table 3 = 25% base value)
• Tokens can also be stacked (4 tokens = 60% roll)
• All used tokens are lost even if the roll is a miss.

This system would be rewarding both for the casual and hardcore gamer. High end items would still be rare but not anymore impossible to get in the long term for anyone.

The main difference is everyone gets something and the choice of the roll is now in the hands of the player. Plus it let players choose how much they want to gamble.

Thoughts?

As you all know a few non MMO games tried to replace health bars without much success.

Both for PvE and PVP, being able to see them turns the combat into a statistical thing. It is even worse when you are able to know the exact amount of hit points.

The consequence is players tweaks their macros like formula one engines, removing any stress and hazard form the equation.

Still I think we need 2 systems embedded.

   1) Give a precise feedback to player of the actual status of his character.
   2) Give only a general feedback of the enemy status.
 

With the first one, the actual health bar system would not be changed. So the player still has the control of his character.

For opponents the bars would be replaced with general status icons/colors/txt. For example it could be Healthy, Lighly Damaged, Moderately Damaged, Seriously Damaged, Dead.

This would make combat and particularly PvP more appealing and challenging.
Still, there’s the question for allies and group mates. Maybe something in between would work, not sure.

What do you think?
 

Some of you knew it would come so here we are!

Tell me, who really like the decay concept?

Supposedly in crafting economies it helps players have recurring income. It is also a money sink.

As a former SWG crafter, there are a few things I don't like in decay and I think the hassle is bigger than the benefits.

First of all, with permanent decay comes the issue of keeping your equipment. Players are writing stories with their items.

Then, where is the fun to be obliged to look for the same item again and again?

In a WoW like game play, without permanent decay, it's a bit like paying a tax each time you are hit. Guess the smart ones are playing ranged support classes...

There is the feature to make equipment less efficient with decay. Sounds an interesting concept till you realize you didn't pay for X stat equipment but for X minus decay.

A thing I totally disagree with is doing some random instance and finding yourself with worn out items. It is even worse if you have no way to repair them till you get back to the normal world.

For my part item decay is a poor design system to oblige players to spend their hard earned gold, creds... and eventually buy new stuff.

Now what I would think acceptable is specific decay. Few examples:

For a rifle / laser: you need ammos they deplete = replace them but keep the weapon. What you could also have is in the long term a trigger, muzzle, or lens could slowly decay. As a note the ammos would not add stress to the inventory so let them sit in specific free slots bags.

How about a sword? Well as any knife don't you need to sharpen it after some usage? So how about using some sharpening stones? In the long term there could be possibilities for the core to take damage but without diminishing the effect of the weapon till it finally breaks. Now you would take it back to a blacksmith and have it fixed. The wise would have their weapons inspected, by skilled crafters from time to time, to be sure there aren't any internal damages hidden.

For armors, I'd start saying you have to be really lucky to hit an already damaged spot, unless the armor is torn out. So I'm for sub decay that doesn't remove the efficiency of armors till they reach a certain amount. Then, the player being aware of the progression of the damage knows he needs to have it fixed. If he doesn't each time he's hit there is a chance the hit isn't fully absorbed by his armor. Still his armor is efficient when "not hit" in a weak spot.

What do you think?  

So the new big title, read SWTOR, will have levels.

Not that I'm surprized even a bit disappointed. Altough I do understrand the choice Bioware did to level down the learning curve and to lower the difficulty to balance the game.

Sadly I don't have more experience of non level based MMO than SWG.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the pros and cons of levels.

In the end they really lack the feeling of character customization and ownership.

I read Bioware would answer to the later with storyline. I am afraid it isn't enough.
It is an interesting feature, but when people will realize their (hero?) story is quite the same as most of all others [insert class name here] they will be disappointed. Moreover when they'll find the supposedly choices would limit the character story.

At first I thought, in SWG, the ability to choose your skills was really the only part that made it interesting vs levels. Then I found out a few embedded layers.

The first one is there where no mandatory templates to join a hunting group. As long as you could hold a weapon you would be welcomed. I also liked how 20++ grouped, noobs, players could still kill a dark jedi... after many cloning and aggro management.

The second one that's often forgotten was switching skills. Usually in a MMO you have to delete and redo either all your skills or your character. SWG had this really smart feature: you delete a skill only when you needed skill points. So going from Master BH to master Cook you would slowly loose your uber combat skills. Yes it's some kind of grinding, still where much difference between your toon and a fresh new one.

The third one is zone limitations. Contrary to level based MMOs in SWG you could venture to anywhere in the world, provided you knew how to mange aggro or being grouped with the right people. There where very few places where you would be 1-2 shots killed because of  "levels" differences

The fourth one is equipement. There where much less feeling of having items only for a few levels then switching them for higher ones. Was it a bad thing? I don`t think so. The crafting system made it so players could keep looking for better crafted items. (Note that I'm against decay, explanations will come in another blog)

Thoughts?

I still remember in SWG the issues it brought as players were able to keep characters knocked down.

Even I don't understand how designers keep implementing the root feature in MMOs.

I have been playing WAR lately and well, in PvP you really feel like someone's taking away your keyboard.

I ask this question: where's the fun? It's like beating a dead horse.

It would work in slow paced combat but now 90% of the time the root = death.

Unless the root has a huge draw back on its user I don't see it as an interesting mechanism.

Maybe the solution is to keep it for PVE only.
 

As a gamer I went from very hardcore to semi-casual gamer.
I guess we all do, more or less. Families, kids and work put a huge constraint on play time. We all age and so time becomes more precious.

Moving to new games, we experienced the loss of time invested in virtual characters.

But for the younger players, (no offense intended), we aren't looking anymore for achievements in game but for FUN. Something to take us away from the reality and melt with others.

I understand the constraints designers have to solve but I think, the more it goes the more players will be looking for games they can play casually and still aim for top end content in a matter of decent time play.

With the MMO industry looking forward the console masses, I bet casual play will be the standard. Not only the learning curve will have to be shorter but also the time sinks.

Though, there will always be unhappy zergs rushing through content.

I think mixing casual gameplay with hardcore lead to big challenges and issues.

Maybe it's time to separate games in two makets as it's done for PVP and PVE oriented MMO.

Don't you think the market is ready, population wise, to have casual MMO in wich you don't have to invest insane amounts of time to enjoy "end content"?

The more it goes the more players switches games faster.

Not that they don't want to play their "old" MMO anymore. They want to see new virtual worlds, experience new content, or wait till games get "fixed".

Some of us subscribe to the publisher's newsletter. Though there is barely one letter a month and lately patches tend to be delivered faster than ever.

Another issue is, the complete list of the patch notes are sometimes only accessible to subscribed players. You have to do your homework and search for them on players topics.

I remember a few times when I accidentally found patch notes of a game I didn't play anymore... to finally pull my credit card and log back in.

Don't you think It would be interesting if you could subscribe to get the full patch notes delivered to your mail box?