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

Thanks for reading!

This one will be a little shorter then the rest, it's Friday! I write these mostly at work when things are slow, and I don't plan on being in the office too long today! Gotta make happy hour right?

Character creation and customization. I'll be using this to describe the options available at character creation and systems in place to further customize your character in game as you play. Again, this is for my "ideal" MMORPG I have in my head, being that I do not work for a development company.

The number of races available to a player is important. You want a wide variety of options to chose from. That being said, I consider racial choice to be an asthetic feature rather then a gameplay one. I don't think differnet races should have different abilities or stats or access to different careers or skill sets. I believe racial choice should be a choice based off of how you want your character to look and interact with the world, rather then fall into the "have" and "have nots" of other games.

Chosing a race based off of what class/career is available, what stat points they have, what area they start in. I don't like it. I've heard people say things like "I'll pick an Elf because they are the best with Magic, but I don't really like Elves." To me, that is total crap. You should pick an Elf if you like that race, and that's the only reason. MMOs are games in fantasy worlds, why bring in real life issues of racial difference and inequality? A Human magic user should be just as good as an Elf. That's it.

Now the question of how much customization do you have at creation? Do you have a CoH/CoV type of system with sliders for every conceivable body part? Do you go the LOTRO or WoW (or most games) approach of a handful of options, pick and match to your liking?

I believe the "sweet spot" is right in the middle. Give players a boatload of preset faces, hair styles, and other classic MMO options, but also give sliders for things like height, body type, maybe for hair length and a few other random ones here and there. The point is, you want players to be able to create a character they are comfortable with, a character they enjoy, but not have it so complex where you can't make a good looking character no matter how hard you try!

I remember having that problem with CoH/CoV and SWG, I'd spent countless hours messing around with the character creation, and was never quite satisfied. With too many options and too much customization it allows for a lot of really, really ridiculous and silly looking things to occur. Maybe I just wasn't very "good" at it, but I'd rather have dozens and dozens of pre-made parts and pieces to chose from that I know look good and combine/alter them to my satisfaction then the "everything from scratch" approach in CoH/CoV and SWG.

Afterall, the most important bit of customization is the gear/armor/clothing you wear, and sadly the most under-represented in the character creation process.

Why have sliders for 37 facial features, but have everyone start out in the same drab clothing? I'd much, much, much rather see a few dozen facial options with a slider or two, and a dozens costume choices.

That being said, I believe players should be able to chose what weapons/armor/clothing they start with, the style and the colors too. If I want to start in rusty looking plate mail with a short Roman-esque sword and large Gold round shield I should be able to!

But what's the point? As you play through you get so many gear upgrades and pieces of equipment, you never keep the original stuff so why make it so customizable? This goes into the Gear system, which I will post on later, but for now I'll put it simply.

You can keep any/all gear (even stuff you start with) as your gear will level with you. Specifics to come, don't worry.

Also, when you get a new piece of gear, whatever color or style or type is added to the "palette" of options you have for customization. I want to give players a place where they can go and customize the appereance for their weapons/clothing/armor at any time through the course of the game. Any of the options available in character creations, plus any new models and color combinations you get as you pick up new gear and items should be available so you can truly create a unique avatar that you really love.

No more of this mix and match bull, odd looking and mis-colored peices you wear simply because it has better stats, I say let the players change it and style it to what they think is cool, what they think looks good. All the artwork is in the game anyway, why not let players choose for themselves? Obviously, the higher level stuff and rare stuff you get from super powerful enemies and quests and PVP ranks etc give you models and color schemes that are more "epic" and detailed, larger and nastier, more sleak and sexy. You have to be able to show off your awesomeness, but why make players look like crap till they get the "really" cool stuff?

The same applies to hair and similar features. Why not have barbers in game? Why not be able to change facial hair? People in real life can grow hair, can shave, can try new styles, add bows and ribbons and braids etc. It's a game! Make it fun, let people do what they want! Let them style it and color it as they wish, with new styles and colors becoming available as they travel throughout the world.

See an NPC in a new town with a haircut you've never seen before? You bet your britches that style will be available from the town barber/stylist.

Another part of the customization goes into the Combat system. Details coming later, of course. To put simply, you should be able to pick how your character "looks" when you are in a certain stance. Say I'm using a 2-H sword, when I'm in an offensive stance, I want to carry my sword low and have it trail behind me, and when in a defensive stance I want to hold it out in front of me. Why make animations and "styles" specific to certain races or classes like they do in other games? The animations are in the game, let the player choose which ones to use.

The last part (the last part I can think of now) is the Guild system. Obviously, not going to go into the specifics of Guilds yet, just the customization part. Like in most MMOs you should be able to create a banner and tabard, choosing a symbol from a VERY very large list and then chose the color scheme and style. You should be able to wear tabards with your guild logo and color scheme, but also because of the gear customization details I gave before, you can alter your cloaks, armor, shields etc to match. You should also be able to add your Guild logo to capes, shields, and other pieces of equipement. Pretty basic stuff, been done before in MMOs, but why do some developers choose to not have it in game? Just silly in my opinion.

That's all I have for now. More to come later. Have a nice weekend and holiday!