Heerobya's Random Thoughts
My random thoughts about MMORPGs. A bit of critique, suggestion, debate, and insanity. Enjoy.

So I've gone through my history with MMOs and opinions of them, and I've alluded to the current State of the MMORPG and also where I think the genre is going. I was flamed a bit for only spending really "serious" amounts of time with UO, SWG, and WoW but that's ok. I've at least played trials/demos of everything else, and I've had decently long stints with FFXI and E&B. I've also played a lot of single player RPG's from the Final Fantasy series to the Morrowind series to Knights of the Old Republic and more.

So the next couple (maybe more) entries to this blog will be descriptions and ideas behind what I would consider to be an extremely exceptional, truly next generation MMORPG.

The most popular character advancement system (I'll use CAS for short) we see today in MMORPGs (by most popular I mean what most devs put into their games) is a level based system. You gain experience from killing mobs and completing quests, and when you get enough XP you advance in level. We've all played these games; we've all played that extra hour to gain that next big level. As you level, you generally gain access to more abilities and better gear, advancing your character's power.

The second CAS is a skill based system. This is more of a throwback to systems like UO and SWG, where you have no levels. You advance your skills, and thus your character, by using the skills. You use a sword in combat and you gain sword skill. We've probably all played games like this too.

You can't talk about skill vs. level based systems without talking about classes / jobs etc. Most (if not all) level based CAS use classes to differentiate characters, and most have different sub-systems in order to diversify within that class. Like the talent system in WoW or the sub-job system in FFXI.

Skill based CAS tend to be more open, you are not defined nor limited by a specific class or skill set, but rather have the freedom to advance the skills you want to advance, not those which are a generic part of your class.

So why would anyone use class/level systems over skill systems? The reason is balance and the ease of creating level appropriate content. All level 30 characters should be about the same level of power, and thus you can create content appropriate for that level of power for players to partake of. It's not necessarily a "cop-out" by devs in order to make their job easier, it allows a lot more of a fine tuned and "polished" experience then would otherwise be possible. It's a lot easier to balance. In my previous post about SWG I stated that there was a large problem with "flavor of the month" skill builds after patches. It's very hard to balance skills in comparison to levels/classes.

But is that acceptable? Are we content with generic cookie-cutter classes where are only freedom is min/maxing developer determined statistics? I'd say no.

What about combat? Most MMORPGs use a semi-real time, semi-turn based combat system coupled with imaginary "dice rolls" of a multitude of numbers. You hit your opponent based off of your weapon skill number versus his avoidance numbers, and your damage is based of your weapon's damage, your characters strength, your opponent's armor, and any status effects etc (just a rough example). Where is the skill in that? The "skill" comes in knowing when to engage, when to retreat... also when to use certain abilities to maximize their effect, but in many modern MMOs your level is gear is equally important if not more important. Also, because of the level based CAS combat between players/mobs of different levels becomes very skewed. Hence, why we see most PVP reserved for the "end game" when players reach maximum level to help balance the equations.

True, there are those who are trying to expand on this idea and reach outside the box. We see games like The Chronicles of Spellborn with Oblivion style FPS combat, or Age of Conan with the ability to choose what body parts you aim for, and also eliminating the auto-attack. We see MMOs with more "depth" in terms of pre-combat strategy and selective skill use like Guild Wars and WAR. Or combo and skill chain systems like FFXI. But is it enough? One of the biggest hurdles for more fast paced, player controlled skill-based combat is latency and client performance. You can play a FPS game with a few dozen people with decent frame rate and little latency issues on a strong connection, but what about in a MMORPG where you have thousands of players occupying the same space? It's very hard to aim a strike/spell if you and your target are lag-jumping around the place.

Is that acceptable? Are we content with min/maxing stats and gear-based combat? Are we content with the only skills we need is knowing when to hit our macro keys? I'd say no. 

We've seen crafting systems near perfection with old school SWG. I thought resource gathering was too "hardcore" in SWG due to the necessity to have resource harvesters and maintain them, but the ability to create custom parts and the depth behind the factory and schematic systems was unparelleled.

The PVP and PVE content, as well as questing and storyline elements I got into a little on my last post, and will go into them in much greater detail with later posts.

What about character customization? We've seen the extremes of character creation with games like SWG and City of Heroes/Villains. But what about in game customization? Few games have gone as far as good ole' Ultima Online, where you could change hairstyles and facial hair at any time, including color, and you could dye any piece of armor or clothing. Why did games move away from that? Instead they give equipment designed to what they devs think looks cool, but only if you get the whole set. Not only does this lead to everyone ending up looking similar as your progress through the gear "progression" grind, but it also leads to ridiculous looking miss-matched gear.

True, the advantage is you can see what your opponent wields/wears and judge their ability / difficulty accordingly, but in such gear based, level based games it's generally the only consideration made. "That noob is in ___ gear, I'll own him no problem" and they usually do.

The point of all this is, all systems in a game are interrelated. The character advancement system is dependant about the combat system, how gear works, how crafting works, on what is available for PVE and PVP... it's all related. I see many posts on these forums and others suggesting changes to this or that, this system or that one, however little consideration is given to how it would affect the other game play systems of a game.

Even a player skill based combat system will fail if there is too much gear dependency, or the game uses levels and the difference in power between levels is too great. How do you create level based advancement without having gear and abilities get more progressively powerful?

These questions and more is what I hope to address and solve, in my own way. I'm tired of so many games taking the "we know it works" approach as WoW did and most games post-WoW have done. I think most of us are tired of the same old thing, however at the same time we shy away from things that are too different, too radical. We need a balance between new/innovative and tried and true.

And if we can find it, we will find not only an evolution of the MMORPG, but a revolution. A revolution that will bring us into the Next Generation of the MMORPG.

Details and specifics on all the crazy game systems in my mind to come with subsequent postings!