So yeah it is 3am here and I am bored. So let me share one of my idea with you (if anyone will read this).
Many people nowdays complains about grinding in MMO without thinking. Grinding - repetitive action to achieve some sort of goal: advance to next level, get extra rare drop, gather materials for crafting, everything to advance, to become stronger, better. So it is really impossible to remove grinding, as life is mostly is grind itself (99,(many nines)), only few chosen gifted with extremely learning abilities or money and interested in everything can always enjoy every seconds. But common people have to train in sports, learn boring stuff and so on. SO it is essential part of life.
But what really annoys me in MMO is that you cant change world, cant shift it. No matter how much you grind and how strong you become you just cant do it. You just forced to grind for nothing at end-game. Yes there is some thing which can occupy you for some time, like pvp tournaments, sieges, guild versus guild, live events( we dont see those these days anymore :/). And so it comes that you grind for months (it may be enjoyable, may not), enjoy end game content for bit and there is nothing else to do.
Only way I see to solve this problem is very complicated in both - conception and programming. It is to make Live world which will change according to players actions (single person would be too much and world would be thrown in chaos at first hours, but by large numbers of players working towards one goal) like eradication of entire NPC races/nations (it would suggest that there would be just one PC race) by waging massive and long wars with territorial conquests, destruction and massacre.
But that rise big problem: game must be extremely well balanced so that wars would last for months or at least weeks and wouldnt end in like few days. For example making thousands of players cooperate to siege enemies capital cities.
If made correct and adding content at normal time intervals it would be possible, but very stressing on devs. And also if they would make some mistakes game could "end" in matters of hours (bug or just imbalance).
Still if they done correctly it would contain exploration for years, as after one conquest always must come another (if you stop you will be eaten by you own size or will have to go to defense) and so you will meet another races, explore new lands and so on.
After all it is still grind but it looks very attractive to me. Uhh.. Nice dream, isnt it? Time to go to sleep and dream about perfect MMO LOL
Concerning grind.
You are right, you can't avoid it and it will remain there. Either it's
for training professions or making your character stronger.
There is a difference in quality, though.
In my earlier CRPG-experience, level caps were pretty low. Somewhere in between level 5 and level 20. The games that I played mainly didn't have an infinite number of monsters spawning. And if the game had random encounters, it was either dangerous (e.g. an ambush at night while your whole party was sleeping except the one on watch) to grind XP or didn't earn you much XP (e.g. in a less dangerous area). The bottom line is that it wasn't worth grinding xp, as you would gain enough xp while exploring and fulfilling storyline objectives, especially if you would play smart
and careful.
In MMOs it's quite the opposite. Level caps might be at 60 or a lot
higher. Encounters aren't that dangerous too. So it's a rather safe thing in MMOs to grind experience by just killing monsters. ("good" effort/return ratio if you don't mind spending time that way).
The older CRPGs didn't have crafting. Newer ones have it. The way
D&D/Neverwinter Nights did it, appeals most to me. You are not forced to create items you'll never use, just to increase your proficiency skill. Instead (depending on your character's intelligence) you distribute skill points to various skills (including professions).
Provided your skill is high enough you can have a try at crafting. All
you need is the required materials. Like I alkready said, in MMOs you are forced to craft things you'll rarely use, especially since equipment is abundantly dropping off monsters.
Concerning the idea of a dynamic virtual world.
I've been thinking about this too. I'm not sure what you exactly mean by balancing. Maybe the balance of the different classes and class abilities?
If you introduce dynamic elements to a MMO you partly give up control of the virtual game world. To stay with your example of a war between a NPC faction and another NPC faction or players, the developer would have to set up some "campaign goals" for the NPCs and players. Else it would just be a big chaotic battlefield simulation without goals.
A company/developer has the most control over the game world when relying on static content. Then they have an easier time changing quest lines, changing drop rates of certain items, changing monsters, changing areas.
I'm no big fan of PvP MMos, but given your description that would be something you are looking for, with sieges / faction wars, etc.
Sun Sep 27 2009 1:00PM ReportA live world isn't THAT hard to do. MUDs and certain other online games regularly update every week, or even other week. They don't have to be radical changes either, simple faction updates are also progress - the world doesn't have to be turned on it's head all the time.
Mon Sep 28 2009 5:58AM ReportI think that Shattered Galaxy did a fantastic job of doing what you're talking about - and I have never seen a side be beaten in their own base in that game. It is pretty great, and would be a nice thing to see in a new game (enter: Global Agenda)
Mon Sep 28 2009 8:06AM ReportMMORPG.com writes:
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