Here's the concept.

Gear is for looks only. Gear is still traded, and still costs money, but the gear does nothing for your character stats.

You could say there's no real crafting, OR players could craft gear which only affects looks.

All stats are based on your character. Laser beams, healing powers, spells, ability to take massive damage, crowd control, mana buffs, damage from your sword, etc., etc., is all based on your character, not which weapons or armor you have.

"Shinys" are just that. They are shiny, but don't do anything else.

So this is similar to City of Heroes, only in Sci Fi or Fantasy settings. You can wear full PLate Mail, bikini armor, furs, robes, whatever you like, doesn't change your armor rating, or damage resistance. Taht's determined by your character stats.

YOu could have a level system, skill system, or some hybrid. The point is, no gear taht does anything besides change looks.

Would you play, or miss collecting gear?

Alternatively gear activates some abilities, but the strength of the ability depends on you, not the gear. For example, you need a laser pistol to shoot laser beams. The pistol by itself does 1 point of damage, and anyone can shoot it. It can do much much more damage, but that depends on your character stats, not a better laser pistol.

You mean old UO right? 

AoC tried that, and now they have redesigned all the gear last patch

Spellborn has this pretty much and I don't see it rolling in subs.

Personally I like to gear up and set small goals for my toon. I think gear makes you feel like you are making progress.

Look at Anarchy Online, gear can be fun.

 Guild Wars basically works like this. While gear does have stats, the impact is minimal and anyone can easily obtain gear strong enough to compete with the best gear available. 

that's a pretty dumb idea actually. alot of people find finding that super awesome sword the best part of playing MMOs.

My favorite MMOs have little to do with gear, UO, Guild Wars, Planetside.  I like to progress as a player it's more rewarding to me than say progression only through my character.  I can understand both sides but I will always lean towards gear being less of an issue when it comes to gameplay.  Sadly in my opinion MMOs that try to focus on this are usually really really terrible these days.

Originally posted by Drealgrin

that's a pretty dumb idea actually. alot of people find finding that super awesome sword the best part of playing MMOs.

"LOLOLOL I GOT MY LEVEL OVER 9000 LEET SOWRD. Now what?"

Well it'd also be about story and exploration.

Designing a game with no progression in terms of levels / skills means you can have progression via CONTENT, through elements of story, unlocks, achievements, and true character building in terms of reputation, infamy, that kind of stuff.

It doesn't have to be about gear at all, but people do like their shiny epics so might as well throw them a bone, as gear progression in terms of power tiers is very popular and motivating for many a MMO gamers in both PvE and PvP.

As people have said there are already games like this. Guild Wars, CoX, Spellborn. *shrug* Personally I don't like games that base stats heavily on gear though a little is okay.

Sounds exactly like The Chronicles of Spellborn. You've got all the gear, but its just for looks. You can even craft all kinds of new vanity gear.

Its a nice idea, but I prefer having gear. Its fun to lust after things you don't have.

Hell, I'd spend countless hours getting the perfect look for the character I'd be playing. So it wouldn't change much for me.

I personally do like games that have an emphasis on gear. However, it shouldn't be the gear that completely determines the person's stats (other than the type of defense the gear provides), it should be the person's stats themselves that determines the player.

You see, I'm that kind of person that likes collecting gear, amping it up with enhancements, then selling it off for gold (or whatever the game's money is). And I'm very sure there are others out there like me, so to say gear is bad in a game isn't quite the right idea. Gear shouldn't play the complete role, but there should be gear in a game for purposes other than showing off your looks. A game with no gear would scare off people that like being sellers or auctioners.

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Originally posted by glord

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Originally posted by Drealgrin

that's a pretty dumb idea actually. alot of people find finding that super awesome sword the best part of playing MMOs.

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"LOLOLOL I GOT MY LEVEL OVER 9000 LEET SOWRD. Now what?"

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Lucky for you the developers just implemented a new dungeon in the latest update! The new dungeon is the old dungeon but in different colors(!) with the same bosses but they now do slightly more damage and got slightly more health, and of course have a different color(!). There you can now get a super leet sword that's over over 9000. And when you get that there will always be a new dungeon...

And to OP: that's how GW is really. And I love it too. That's one of the things WoW did so bad: your character looks really bad if it doesn't have epic gear, and then it will almost always be mismatched pieces of different sets. Looks mean a lot, and it's kind of disappointing to see that the character you've put 1000+ hours into looks horrible because you've not managed to get a full set. WoW would really have been improved if you could choose skin and then add stats to it, while still having epic skins of course.

Disregarding WoW however, as I said looks mean a lot. People will put money into looking good and as long as there's epic expensive armor to get it will be a motivation. If the stats are exactly the same is insignificant really since you'll still have shiny new epic gear that no one else got. That you then don't automatically become a better player because of it isn't as important as you still look like a better player, and a hawter one too.

I like the idea personally. You remove the unfair and idiotic superiority given to players that simply got no lives and favor players that are good, regardless of how much they play. Having played a lot shouldn't by itself be enough to make you better, only skill should do that. If the game has PvP this is pretty much a must since the way to PvP is balance, and differences in gear will make PvP unbalanced and less a matter of what it should be - fair competition where the winner wins by skill.

As a final note your question ("Would you play, or miss collecting gear?") is kind of wrong since you will still have different gear to collect, most likely even more than before, only this time you do it because you'll look better - better as in hawter and better as in a better player.

Originally posted by Godliest

 

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And to OP: that's how GW is really. And I love it too.

Actually, that's not exactly how GW is.

I"m not talking about getting rid of progression, just gear.

A level 50 would WTF!! PwN! a level 10 player. A skill level 50 in sword swinging would WTF!! PwN a skill level  10 in sword swinging player.

The only difference would be the sword they were swinging would make no difference.

It's my understanding fo GW that it does not work like that.

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

So this is similar to City of Heroes, only in Sci Fi or Fantasy settings. ...

Not similar, exactly like CoH.
In CoH/CoV:
How you look does not change your stats. 
You can still craft items for appearance.  (But most you just use for free).
There are items for stats but they are not equipment and do not change how you look

Originally posted by Bullwinkle

Look at Anarchy Online, gear can be fun.

 

That is entirely true, although I'd really like to see a lot of the uber gear be NODROP.  It ought to be something that you have to go and get for yourself, something that you can't just pay through the nose for and get right off the bat.  Far too much gear, weapons, nanos, etc. on AO is freely available at ridiculous prices on the open market, most of the people who buy it wouldn't have the slightest clue how to make it on their own.

I played and enjoyed CoX, so gear isn't absolutely crucial to a game...but CoX's lack of gear progression was a (small) factor amongst the ones which caused me to leave the game. Because well-made gear progression adds to just about any game out there.

I would not play.

To me, an RPG with no gear (well, no gear of any consequence) is as stupid as an RPG where every character wears 25 pieces of gear and each piece of gear affects a dozen different stats of the character. There should be a balance between the character (stats, racial features, level), the attacks/powers/spells that character uses, and the gear that the character wears.

A fighter with no sword and no armor should be an easy kill. But a fighter with mundane gear shouldn't be only minimally more effective than a naked fighter. A fighter with magical gear shouldn't be able to absolutely crush anyone who isn't also in magical gear.

A wizard shouldn't be wearing gear that gives him more hit points or armor... he should be wearing gear that makes his spells better, and his spells should be to him as a sword and armor are to a fighter.

Etc.

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

Originally posted by Godliest

 

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And to OP: that's how GW is really. And I love it too.

 

Actually, that's not exactly how GW is.

I"m not talking about getting rid of progression, just gear.

A level 50 would WTF!! PwN! a level 10 player. A skill level 50 in sword swinging would WTF!! PwN a skill level  10 in sword swinging player.

The only difference would be the sword they were swinging would make no difference.

It's my understanding fo GW that it does not work like that.

Nah, Guild Wars still pretty much works like that, although lower levels really aren't going to fight higher levels. Basically, there is a max stat on each weapon and piece of armor that is very easy to obtain. You can get max armor by level 2.  Max weapons aren't difficult to obtain either.

Once you have max gear and armor and are max level, the thing that determines your ability to do anything is where you put your attribute points and the skills in your skill bar.

The thing that limits your ability to do stuff is the primary class you choose, and the armor rating they are allowed to have. Softies can only have 60 armor per piece, scouts 70, and tanks 80. Beyond that, anyone can do anything based on their skills and attributes.

So it isn't EXACTLY like your idea, but it's very close, and I love GW for it.