Developers Corner

What feature do you like the most in an MMO? Are there features you dont see in current MMO's that you would like in future ones, everything from singing contests to wet t-shirt?

Exploration.

I need to be able to travel in any direction i want from the newbie area. And not follow a linear path.

I don't know if you'd call it a feature or not.

I like soloing the most. It's my favorite thing to, and it really gets on peoples nerves that I like to solo in a social game enviroment.

    What feature do you like the most in an MMO?

1. Character customization and customization originality.  I like games not in particular MMOs only that you can import your own custom images or graphics that appear on your character.  Character originality and independence that differs from the original default look.  I basically don't like my character to look like everyones character.  Complete character facial and body morphing feature and being able to change your appearance again and again when ever you want too without having to create another character.
2. I like a somewhat scripted major lore driven quest line that you can choose to follow if you want to or not and maybe just pick back up on it later on.  Sorta like the same feeling you get when you have GPS navigation in your car... it just guides you and eliminates the stress and confusion.  I also like it when you can stop of in certain towns or cities and do what ever you want to and explore or do off story quests.
3. I like well imaginative driven artwork and fluidity in character animations.  Basically I don't like a character that just stands there like a motionless statue.  Character animations and reactions to environments would be nice.  Like if a character walks into a cold or snow stricken zone maybe that character could freeze to death and would have to make a fire to survive?  That would be interesting and challenging situation.., then again it might be too much trouble.
4. I like player housing, camps, outposts and being able to customize those structures.  SWG would be a fine example of the player housing I like.  I would like to see if developers can make it so you can also customize your players house in the same way you would be able to customize your avatar's appearance but also have some limit to it.  I like stuff that is unique independent. ( Not Second Life,  I really don't consider that an MMO even though it is. )
5. Faction based PVP and a good and evil type environment.  Blue VS. Red, Alliance VS. Horde, Aliens VS. Humans.... etc. 
6. Skill based combat, weapon evolution and crafting.  Being able to do want you want to and be unique.

All I can think of right now... but those or my main concerns.

I have done all those and had fun doing all those before, except ganking, I find that to be an ethical problem.

Really asking what my favorite part of an MMOG is, is like asking what my favorite band is, it will change depending on my mood.

I would say exploring is my favorite if I had to pick,  and I really could go without dungeons, they are fun once or twice but doing the same thing over and over again gets old.

On your point of other activities, I like the idea of events, mass scavenger hunts, races, dance offs, why not?

These could easily be developer launched activities and could happen periodically.  Though players do them too, reminds me of costume contests in CoH.

Player interactions! Everything from being ganked (it's not that bad, people) to guilds...

I don't like games that limit people too much on what they can do in terms of interacting with others... like if someone says something contrary to me or KSes my mob, I want to be able to retaliate then and there, which is why free pvp is important to me, and if I want to offer someone a free 1,000 gold for accidentally targetting them, I want to be able to do so without being flagged or stopped by antifarm measures.

I'd like to see more support for players to make their own stories and property within the game instead of "same birth, same path, same impending boredom".

I chose exploration as well, but I have to add a qualifier. If it's just static scenery then I don't care about exploration at all. What i like are finding cool places where stuff feels like it's going on. A Tale in the Desert is a good example. The scenery is really boring, but for me it's a lot of fun to walk around and see what everyone is making and what is happening in the world, and find cool little places that no one has seen before; like figuring out where I would like to build. Another example, in Lord of the rings and everquest 2, you can get bonuses for finding new places, this makes it sort of an exploration metagame. Without the metagame though, I would not have a lot of incentive to explore, because those games pretty much keep you to a set path of what you ought to be doing.

For other combat, I would like to see the whole system reinvented. The hit monster, spam spellbar, has been a tired mechanic for 5 years. I'm not saying it should go away, I would just like more variety. Maybe a sniping mode with arrows, where you have to calculate the shot based on wind, distance and power. Or when swinging a sword, you have different stances based on real fighting styles and some sort of combo system that works with that and enemy blocking. Just some things to mix it up.

For features, i think there aren't enough tasks that really involve more players - which is what mmorpg's should be all about. There could be house decorating contests with a prize to the best decorated house, or musicians could get together to try and be the best band. (There could even be character values to it, like what musician arch type you are and how well that works with the rest of the band). Basically, I think more non-combat activities would be a win. With everything focused on combat, it feels like the platform is wasted.

Im surprised I must say, where I all my fellow Daoc fans? or maybe we never really were that many. I guess Realm vs realm is not so hot anymore.

Almost 50% wants a huge world to explore. I can only think of a few games where this was actually a focus, like Entropia or the old UO. Wow was not what you can call an exploration game due to its level based limitations.

And what are those 30% "other features" ?

Free style pvp in the open(mordred) or RvrR(daoc style)