You KNOW players want to be the monsters (Mobs) in the game. Why hasn't someone done a good game where we can play the Mobs?

It's perfect for PvP. The Mobs vs the Humanoids.

When you level, you go to the next tougher Mob, or something like that. Instead of leveling up a rat, you go from rat to coyote cub, to spiderling, to skeleton, to Goblin, to Gargoyle, etc. all the way up to Dragon, or whatever Boss Mobs you want to put in the game.

Humanoids are the usual. Elves, Humans, Dwarves, or Star Wars type aliens and Humans, whatever.

There's a bunch of ways to design it, but I think I might do something like, Mobs can attack anyone, Humanoids or other Mobs. Humanoids can only attack Mobs.

I'd do it RvR style. Humanoids have a realm where they can fight NPC monsters. Mobs have a realm where they can fight NPC Humanoids.

Then there's the Frontier like in Daoc where you can fight each other, but also NPC Humanoids and Mobs are there as well. NPC's look just like players.

No. Closest thing to that is monster play in LOTRO. And im sorry, nobody wants to be a level 1 rat all day long....

Originally posted by demonic87

No. Closest thing to that is monster play in LOTRO. And im sorry, nobody wants to be a level 1 rat all day long....

I sure hope it doesn't take you all day to get to level 2..

And I can't see this working really well.

In LotRO, you can be a goblin, spider, or warg (coyote pup). In Istaria, you can be a dragon...

Well, they actually tried this out in EQ back in the day. I remember logging into a random 'a bat' outside of North Freeport. The best thing to do is move around like as if you were AI controlled, then when a player aggro's a mob, you instantly made a b-line for the player and attacked.

...oh lord, please dont get me started on EQ...

 Most companies can barely make their base classes fun and balanced...

...and you want them to offer you 'classes' which get even less attention!?

In short - No.....

I remember playing a dragon in Horizons.  It had some interesting ideas.  The game overall was a mess though.

 The only way I can see this work is do sort of a Dungeon Keeper MMO. You can play any creature except: Human, dwarf, elf, gnome, pixie, etc. (any previous playable race).  Forget classes, monster skills. You start in a hovel or dungeon hole and expand your powers through a dungeon world.  Your endgame is raiding human (and their allies) setlements and cities or defend your lair against other enemy monsters

 yes i wonna be a hidden elite rat , waiting for my player prey at some important quest location  :)

Originally posted by Dyrtt

I remember playing a dragon in Horizons.  It had some interesting ideas.  The game overall was a mess though.

Aww, that's a sad memory for me as well. I had such high hopes for Horizons before they cut half the races. I was hyped to play a Demon or a Vampire. Or the other insect-like race, forget the name. All the races were awesome, I thought. I think there were even a few normal fantasy races like dwarves, but other than that, you got to be Giants, or Pixies, or Kobolds and even a few original creature types.

Play WoW, choose horde.

Legolas the Rat gnaws you for 34503 damage.

You die.

Legolas the Rat squeaks, "Ha ha noob, I have Heavy Mithril Fur of Human Repelling +6, Very Long Spiked Tail of Crushing +9, and Ultimate Poisonous Gnawing Teeth +6, silly noob you never stood a chance".

Legolas the Rat defecates on you.

Originally posted by Magnum2103

Legolas the Rat gnaws you for 34503 damage.

You die.

Legolas the Rat squeaks, "Ha ha noob, I have Heavy Mithril Fur of Human Repelling +6, Very Long Spiked Tail of Crushing +9, and Ultimate Poisonous Gnawing Teeth +6, silly noob you never stood a chance".

Legolas the Rat defecates on you.

Exactly. I think it would have a player base.

Ok, what players really want, is what was described earlier in EQ, where you can play a mob, and then jump on hapless players when they are low on health, which doesn't work because people find it annoying.

Originally posted by Magnum2103

Legolas the Rat gnaws you for 34503 damage.

You die.

Legolas the Rat squeaks, "Ha ha noob, I have Heavy Mithril Fur of Human Repelling +6, Very Long Spiked Tail of Crushing +9, and Ultimate Poisonous Gnawing Teeth +6, silly noob you never stood a chance".

Legolas the Rat defecates on you.

i just lold out loud. thank you

 In some games you can play monster races, EQ 1&2 and Vanguard have a lot of those, I think VG even have a gobbo.

But to change from one to another as you level just sucks, worst part of LOTRO and we don't need more like that.

I could imagine a game where you had castles and dungeons as guildhouses and if someone invaded the players of the guild could control the minions that they had gathered or bought earlier or some similar system.

I could also imagine a MMO where half the team played monster racces, like winter wolfs, umber hulks or whatever but in that case you should not change type, your monster should just be larger as you level. Because humanoids or not doesn't matter so much, you just have to focus more on the character and less on gear and bling bling.

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Originally posted by Palebane

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Originally posted by Dyrtt

I remember playing a dragon in Horizons.  It had some interesting ideas.  The game overall was a mess though.

---

 
Aww, that's a sad memory for me as well. I had such high hopes for Horizons before they cut half the races. I was hyped to play a Demon or a Vampire. Or the other insect-like race, forget the name. All the races were awesome, I thought. I think there were even a few normal fantasy races like dwarves, but other than that, you got to be Giants, or Pixies, or Kobolds and even a few original creature types.

---

I use to like the crafting in that game. I would craft a lot. I stopped playing for a bit them came back and they moved stuff around so I just gave up.

And for this whole playing as a mob thing...sucks to run into me in an MMORPG I'm the guy that has all the best gear and just trucks through everything.

 Horizons, remember you can be dragon and also the cat-alike-character aswell as the lizard.

also i remember the crafting , could build a own house and it was hard work also first experience of  huge world time to time quite empty but you could spent quite alot of time just adventuring around new places.

I remember Horizons but the game ran so badly even though it had crap graphics.

I don't know if anyone remembers this but EQ did this briefly, but it was not exactly like your system you are proposing. There was a button on the character select screen of EQ that was play monster or something like that. Once you pressed it you would login in as a random monster in a random zone somewhere in the world. I remember one time I was a level 1 snake in Freeport, and another a orc in Oasis of Marr.

It wasn't a indepth system really. It was just fun to play and it was interesting to run into a mob that looked like it was smarter then the rest of the pack. I forget all the details to it but I believe it was permadeath for you if you were killed and you would just go back to character select screen.

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

You KNOW players want to be the monsters (Mobs) in the game. Why hasn't someone done a good game where we can play the Mobs?

It's perfect for PvP. The Mobs vs the Humanoids.

 

When you level, you go to the next tougher Mob, or something like that. Instead of leveling up a rat, you go from rat to coyote cub, to spiderling, to skeleton, to Goblin, to Gargoyle, etc. all the way up to Dragon, or whatever Boss Mobs you want to put in the game.

Humanoids are the usual. Elves, Humans, Dwarves, or Star Wars type aliens and Humans, whatever.

There's a bunch of ways to design it, but I think I might do something like, Mobs can attack anyone, Humanoids or other Mobs. Humanoids can only attack Mobs.

I'd do it RvR style. Humanoids have a realm where they can fight NPC monsters. Mobs have a realm where they can fight NPC Humanoids.

Then there's the Frontier like in Daoc where you can fight each other, but also NPC Humanoids and Mobs are there as well. NPC's look just like players.

Hm, what do you mean with Mob? Mob is short for mobile which is used together with AI to say AI Mobile. I assume you mean players playing the various monsters/non humanoids that inhabit the world or?

If so then it is a good idea and I would like to play such an innovative MMORPG. Problem that I see is that non-humanoids rarely use weapons and armor so you would need to find a replacement for that or it could become quite dull playing a monster.

Originally posted by VirgoThree

I don't know if anyone remembers this but EQ did this briefly, but it was not exactly like your system you are proposing. There was a button on the character select screen of EQ that was play monster or something like that. Once you pressed it you would login in as a random monster in a random zone somewhere in the world. I remember one time I was a level 1 snake in Freeport, and another a orc in Oasis of Marr.

It wasn't a indepth system really. It was just fun to play and it was interesting to run into a mob that looked like it was smarter then the rest of the pack. I forget all the details to it but I believe it was permadeath for you if you were killed and you would just go back to character select screen.

The problem with this system is it unbalanced  the PvE. PvE in most games is balanced on stupid Mobs that players can pull and kill at their own pace.

Imagine any situation in an MMORPG where the Mobs actually decide when to attack you, not just when you decide to pull one. You're screwed. Mobs would not just stand their waiting on you to get full health and mana and then attack them. Players wait till you're down to one hit point and no mana, and THEN attack you.

Originally posted by Yamota

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

You KNOW players want to be the monsters (Mobs) in the game. Why hasn't someone done a good game where we can play the Mobs?

It's perfect for PvP. The Mobs vs the Humanoids.

 

When you level, you go to the next tougher Mob, or something like that. Instead of leveling up a rat, you go from rat to coyote cub, to spiderling, to skeleton, to Goblin, to Gargoyle, etc. all the way up to Dragon, or whatever Boss Mobs you want to put in the game.

Humanoids are the usual. Elves, Humans, Dwarves, or Star Wars type aliens and Humans, whatever.

There's a bunch of ways to design it, but I think I might do something like, Mobs can attack anyone, Humanoids or other Mobs. Humanoids can only attack Mobs.

I'd do it RvR style. Humanoids have a realm where they can fight NPC monsters. Mobs have a realm where they can fight NPC Humanoids.

Then there's the Frontier like in Daoc where you can fight each other, but also NPC Humanoids and Mobs are there as well. NPC's look just like players.

 

Hm, what do you mean with Mob? Mob is short for mobile which is used together with AI to say AI Mobile. I assume you mean players playing the various monsters/non humanoids that inhabit the world or?

If so then it is a good idea and I would like to play such an innovative MMORPG. Problem that I see is that non-humanoids rarely use weapons and armor so you would need to find a replacement for that or it could become quite dull playing a monster.

 

You could give Monsters (you're right "Mob" is confusing) various abilities and skills. Plus some Monsters DO use weapons, skeletons, Kobolds, Ogres, Giants, things like that.

You could also do a sort of skill tree, only with Monsters instead of skills. Which Monster you pick to become next determines which Monsters will be available in the future as you level.

I've never been that interested in collecting gear, I find it an annoyance. Oh my gear is getting underpowerd for this level, I have to sell, buy, repair, do a quest for a new piece, whatever. But apparently a lot of people are really fond of collecting gear.

I found CoH refreshing because I didn't have to worry about collecting gear.

Adventurer class in Anarchy Online can transform himself in different beasts, last one being a dragonish flying mob.

You can be a Leet to improve you concealment ability, flying bird to improve your speed or different types of dog/tiger (one with 2 heads) to improve your combat skills.

Or, if you want to be a beast for your life and level it, you can play a dragon in Istaria (formerly Horizons).

Originally posted by VirgoThree

I don't know if anyone remembers this but EQ did this briefly, but it was not exactly like your system you are proposing. There was a button on the character select screen of EQ that was play monster or something like that. Once you pressed it you would login in as a random monster in a random zone somewhere in the world. I remember one time I was a level 1 snake in Freeport, and another a orc in Oasis of Marr.

It wasn't a indepth system really. It was just fun to play and it was interesting to run into a mob that looked like it was smarter then the rest of the pack. I forget all the details to it but I believe it was permadeath for you if you were killed and you would just go back to character select screen.

Project-M

I don't think I ever laughed so hard playing EQ like I did during Project-M.  You would spawn as a level 1-3? MOB, and you couldn't pick where you spawned.  But sometimes you'd get in a noob zone lol, you could actually as a skeleton, start killing other skeletons and gain levels.  Of course theres nothing better to do with these new levels than go terrorize some noobs =D  I remember having leveled up a skeleton in Nektulos, I was stalking this noob, waiting for him to get low on HP, walking in a straight line for a few seconds like the AI does, then I spot this other skeleton that looked a little odd.  I went closer and realized this skeleton was also a player, I think he saw me too because right after that we both raced for the noob, killed the unsuspecting noob in a bloody rage, and then turned on each other lol!  Sometimes I'd spend several hours getting XP for my skeleton, it was fun to see how high level I could get =)

I think it went downhill when the people spawning in low level dungeons started training the entire dungeon to the entrance, killing all the poor adventures in there along the way.  It's too bad developers can't do wild and creative stuff like this anymore, they must be all so scared of losing subs =P  but Project-M was AAA fun if you ask me!