1. Huge open instance-free world
2. no handholding: learning by doing
3. earnable AA's (without limit) **
4. challenge **
5. immersion
6. community split

Originally posted by Moaky07

Originally posted by Garvon3

A virtual world without instances, little hand holding, lots of options, a focus on social interaction and player interdependency and enough innovations so that I don't feel like I've already played the game a million times the first time I log in (WAR, WoW, AoC, LotRO). 

 

Back when MMOs were innovative, each new MMO had a bit of a learning curve because they all played differently. It was exciting. Now I get bored within 5 minutes of trying a BRAND NEW GAME.

 

Also, PvP as the primary end game. Raids and such will be included but won't be important, so they can be done for fun to take a break from PvP instead of becoming a chore.

 

Hell, just give me DAoC 2.  

 Welcome to niche standing.

 

Since the launch of EQ1, PVE games have ruled the sub charts.  This was even before the influx of the casual WoW crowd.

 

If you are looking for a PVE game, one that ends in PVP....then I trust you are subscribed to DF.

 

I would take a re-image of EQ1 as it stood back in 06 when I left. I mean the whole game, just toning things down(focus on solo/small grps, no crazy camp times/med time/etc). Raids also would be no more than 10 or 15 folks....with 5 to about 8 being preferable.

 

I would also keep zones, as I liked how each had its own feel to it. I would also hope they help out a competing site, and put allakhazam out of business. Hated going there for info, knowing it was owned by a gold seller.

I am subscribed to Darkfall. And I would drop Darkfall for a DAoC 2 in a heartbeat. It had all the best features of EverQuest with none of the bad ones like dungeon/raid camping. RvR is the best end game content I've ever experienced. And its also the best system for including people that like PvE and PvP in the same game. 

For me, it would have to be more camaraderie. Mechanics that encouraged players to work together and be friendly to one another (at least within the same faction) would be great to see in any multiplayer game. And multiplayer FPS seem to have the advantage in this department in my opinion, but it didn't used to be that way. 

Many times communities have such huge gaps between veteran players and new players, that they are completely different games to play.  And there is often much animosity between players even in games that do encourage teamwork. I'm not entirely convinced that developers could even be able to do address that though. It has to start with the players in my opinion.

i would like a larger class selection, i'm really sick of the basic tank, rogue, mage, healer, ranger classes and maybe 3 more.  i want a little more of a selection.

Ok, you asked for it. In no particular order of preference, and entirely free form;

1. Knights knocking each other off horses in tourney and war. Money prizes or even trophies.

2. No magic. Stand toe to toe and resolve your differences

3. No loot driven game dynamics. Perhaps unlock a new tier of costume piece or weapon customizations after specific achievements. Might be more willing to PvP if I'm not worried about losing my +100 Uberweapon to some gank artist.

4. Combat that is skill based and doesn't require a bunch of button pushing/mouse clicking. Basically, if I have a swordsman with 10 skill and I go up against a swordsman with 50 skill, I should get my ass handed to me. With that said, a guy with 50 skill is gonna get slaughtered by 100 guys with skill 10. Even the greatest swordsman has his limits. Plus, should have dynamic graphic animations that depict various levels of skill (i.e. parry, thrust, spins, decapitation, impaling, you get the picture.) Let me auto engage in battle and actually see the animations instead of pushing/clicking special attacks.

5. Levels that only increase your rank (page, man at arms, squire, knight, champion, lord, baron, count, duke, king?) Perhaps increase health. Not sure tho, would prefer that be based on "vigorous exercise of the martial kind."

6. Realm vs Realm PvP that pits opposing armies against one another on an even keel. (no magic, no super classes, just men/women of skill against men/women of skill)

7. Risk vs Reward balance. If I delve into a dungeon for 4 hours to slay some badass mob, make it worth my time. i.e. increased fame (or infamy) or monetary reward of sufficient amount from the local lord who is much relieved for resolving his "problem." Dont give me 3 stinking gold pieces after I just saved your entire frickin village.

8. Customization beyond anything we've seen thus far. 

9. A game that immediately lets you feel heroic almost from the start. Along the lines of Oblivion perhaps.

10. Dynamic physics graphically. Come on, they can make a cape swirl in CoH but every other MMO cloak looks like an unfolded pizza box?

11. Graphics: Light & Shadow devs, light and shadow. Armor should shine, cloth should bunch and wrinkle.

12.  A player based economy where you can't buy anything worthwhile (other than crafting components) from an NPC after level 10 or 20. Give those craftsmen that work so hard on skills a market to sell their blood, sweat, and tears too. Btw, the "armor & weapons" they make are customization items only. Not entirely sure how to work that dynamic. Still adamantly against loot based systems.

13. Give those blasted romantics an in-game option to go see a priest and arrange an ingame marriage for a princely sum o' cash. Even in real life extravagant weddings aren't cheap.

14.  Houses of Ill Repute where a mercenary can spend his "hard earned" coin.

15. Lively taverns with musicians, bards, patrons. Give me a reason to go to a damn tavern other than to sell my goods and get a stinkin quest started.

16. It's called "Heroic fantasy" for cryin' out loud! Gimme a heroic task to undertake. Kidnapped princess? Dragon terrorizing the country folk? Black Knight and company preying on merchants? Make the damned quests mean something.

17. How bout a little intrigue? Not only do kingdoms have to worry about the enemy kingdoms, they hafta put up with opportunistic jerks too. Player choice on alliances with the lords n' ladies o' court.

18. If I hafta drink one more potion I'm gonna vomit. Wounds heal over time. If a Knight is too stupid to remove himself from the lists or battlefield when suffering severe wounds, he deserves what he gets. Go see a freakin surgeon... hey! new player profession?

19. Battles at Sea. No nation ever achieved empire without a navy.

20. The ability to beat the crap outta anonymous snot nosed jerks using my skill based abilities. Or, if the snot nosed jerk is better than I am, to gather 100 of my skill 10 buddies to slaughter his ass.

I want a new MMO to be as cool as the new Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer.

(on a side note I also want DX3 to be as good as the new trailer)

At least SE can do FMVs, they still got that much going for them.

Shadowrun/Cybperunk MMO take notice.  Make it that cool and you're gold.

Read lots of William Gibson, some Shadowrun, watch the Matrix, I don't care.

I want a good MMO that's cyberpunk.

I know..I know...I might as well walk on water as ask for that....

Here's at least hoping WoD online is as great as it can be, cuz the Secret World will probably suck as well as Cryptic's next MMO that looks sorta like it.  I'm talking out my rear, but let's face it, they'll blow.  I just can't sugar coat MMOs anymore.

Where's the modern day/near future MMOs...and have them actually be...you know..good..and..well...fun?

I've settled for the fact that WoW is as good as an MMO gets, aside from Eve which is in its special little happy place.  Eve isn't my thing but I have a ton of respect for CCP.  And I hope they take that same level of polish and dedication to WoD online.

And before I get flamed for my above comment on WoW, I came from text MUDs including the one the ever infamous Brad McQuaid got his ideas from that spawned Eq1 as well as beta tested Eq1 and Ultima Online, so I don't want to hear it.

WoW gets a ton of flak, but they did a hell of a lot right and all that's mostly come since then is clones of it, which have paled in comparison.  WoW isn't the best there can be, it's just what developers and shareholders think is the pinnacle because they see $$ signs.  Most of the best games in history don't have overly impressive sales.  Think Deus Ex 1, Planescape: Torment, Fallout 2 etc. compared to Halo and MW2 (just a broad comparison, not hating).

You don't have to have WoW numbers or COD: MW2 sales to impress, just make a good game...is that really so hard to ask these days?

To put it simply, what I want from a new MMO is

FREEDOM

CHALLENGE

voice overs + cutscenes + storytelling

THIS is what I want, and am not gettin it, and see alot of people quiting games because of not having this, use these ideas for free, hope to see them someday used in games.

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Damage dealers should be able to max thier stats and beyond for super dps.

Normal tanks should be able to hold hate no matter what, why should dps pay for having more dps then they should, they earned it, they should be able to use it even with crapy tanks.

Incentives for maxing stats beyond normal means faster xp with dps, everyone will want to max thier dps out, and get the enjoyment of being a great dps.  This will also get rid of dps trying to swap out a tank for another dps in party to fill the role of tank.

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Tanks will be able to hold hate no matter what happens, without penelties of any kind for it (no power loss, no agro loss to dps classes, ect). This will be the main reason they are invited to groups and raids.

They will have a slider bar, making dps stronger and defense weaker, dps will be 75 percent of a melee at max dps, and 25 percent dps at min. defense will be 25 percent of a tank at max dps, and defense will be 100 percent at max Note: percentages need to be looked at and should make it so that melee are not all wanting to be tanks and vice versa.

Tank stats should just determine how good thier defense is going to be not thier hate or agro, maxed stats will allow them to tank better monsters by having a scalable fixed damage intake.

There should be normal mobs and stronger mobs with greater rewards, the more maxed out the tanks stats are the easier it is for them to tank mobs that are stronger/hit harder and drop more rewarding loot, but the mobs should have same hp's as other mobs so dps can do same damage on them.

One of the main objects of tank will be to jack up defenses as high as they want or low as they want to fit the toughness of mob, or to add to dps in exchange for some of the defense they have, without having to have multiple gear sets.

Get rid of repair bills all together.  No one wants to be a tank when people you dont know log with loot for your repairs.

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mobs will have same hps in all experiance points Camps, some will hit harder then others, the ones that hit harder will give greater rewards, all mobs will have same xp as each other.

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Healers will be able to set thier bars to allow them to do both damage and healing, a precentage bar will allow the healer to adjust how much of a heal will be given, and the other remaining percentage will go stright into pure dps at a decent rate, the dps at 100 percent will be that of a dps at a 75% rate of a mage or other. This will give great merit to healers being in party instead of just swaping them out for another dd or tank that can heal itself.

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Casters will be casters, they will be outside of aoe, they will have slider bar to adjust thier defense and dps. the amount of defense will be half that of a tank at full defense while thier atks will be 50 percent of normal dps

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Melee will be melee but do as much damage as a caster but allowing them to stand inside aoe damage, again they will have slider bars to adjust thier defense and dps.

when they jack up thier defense to max thier defense will be that a tank, and dps will come down to 50 percent normal dps with 0 ability to hold hate, all healers will get agro without a tank and mob will attack everyone at random based on who hit them last.

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Will add a resistance gem slot, all characters will have two of them, to block all damage of a certain afinity. there will be three lesser gem slots with a slider that will allow you to adjust a percentage of resistance between the three sharing 100 percent. this will allow melee's to stay in the aoe range of a mob to do just as good dps as any casters standing outside of aoe with no damage intake whatsoever

gear should be reserved for stats only, and the gem slots for resistance as a completly seperate system.

?

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all gear will be crafted and can be sold to merchant for profit upon completing of craft.

items should be allowed to sold to standard merchants so the reward of game money is well worth it, things should be cheap enough in game to not really make you have to farm extensivly. Let the currency flow nice and big, everyones going to be rich if they want to be.

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all mobs will drop crafted items that can be made into profit by skill level.

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main source of income will be from killing mobs and crafting them into items to sell to merchants.

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auction system will be an order system... items in game a person wishes to buy will be orderd, and people will be able to fill that order if they get an item in game farms it or crafts it. they will all have price limits.

No cap limit on items that are raided or other

all items obtained through raiding will have a timestamp on them of when they were obained and who looted the item.

everyone in a raid area will see the rolls of other people.

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when named mobs in a zone are defeated, everyone in zone is alerted that the mob has been downed, when named mobs are in a zone, you will get messages in that zone that are aprox every five mins to ten, that have something to do with the lore of that named mob.

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named mobs should be soloable, if more then one person helps they all get the same reward and the mob is upgraded to a challenge of the number of people in the party that atks it.

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When people raid they will all get a credit toward the best item in the game for thier class -maybe 10 credits/raids to get a piece of gear thats the best in the game, a coffer at end will have money for the whole raid, and a reward item for everyone in the entire raid that makes it worth doing

single credits can be turned in for sizable amount of game money also. amount will be based on the time of crafting items for profit for a rate of five times the time of the raid of continuous crafting.

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there should be an option of a voice over of the whole game or just text, or both.

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always a voice service for raids, guilds, and groups.

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never put in a game market where you use real cash to buy items, mounts or anything releated to content. only transfers and services should be in a marketplace with easy access. too many loyal fans will have just one more reason to quit. You may make some money off of it, but you'll alienate alot of players because of it. profits long term have to be looked at, not short term. Though this may not be the main reason enough why they walked to the next game, its definatly going to be one of them and will hurt chances of getting returning players.

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will have instance waiting areas, where you meet up with group or other. When you zone into this area, youll have the instance entrance and a means to summon your group members, but as you zone into the waiting area, the whole lore and history of the instances will be in a cinima style storytelling cutscene up to five mins long about the instance your about to enter, so the mobs inside the instance will have meaning and understanding of why they are being killed or what the goals inside the instance is suppose to be.

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each zone in the game will have its story to it that must be told, when you zone into a new area another storytelling cutscene should be given at a length of atleast five mins long, again to tell you what the purpose of the mobs are and what the goals and over all overview of the zone is all about. This should bring the player closer to the zone and what they do inside of it in thier imagination.

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storytelling is a treasured part of our history, librarians, history teachers, and storytells should be brought onboard to tell a great story of fantasy and to mix the entire story together with great details and suspense, etc.

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all npcs should use bodylanguage and experssions that match what they say, as to almost bring a movie to the person whos playing. To make the game feel look and sound alive, of movie quality and not just an npc with walls of texts.

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as your killing and a lore item or historic importance item drops, perhaps a quest item, youll get a cinamatic cutscene of your character picking up the item and reading it or doing whats nessacary. example: when you get a lettter off a mob, the cutscene, may be of you walking up to the mob, and pulling a letter out of the pockets of the mob and then reading it right there, so the story is being told with sounds and movie quality video. or if its an object you have to use, then show the character picking up that object and figuring it out.

these cutscense should have an on and off switch so players can skip them if they want, or just with a tap of button during cutscene can just exit it and carry on about thier buisness.

all cutscense preformed in the field should be triggerd by the death of the mob/encounter/combat and take the player out of harms way from being mauled by other wandering mobs or pvp battles.

?

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Pirates, they love visuals of gold and chests and everything nice, give the players what they want when it comes to treasures, throw some treasure under that waterfall every once in while.

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secluded areas, x marks the spot, exploring is fun, the getting ready, going to secluded areas AND MOST OF ALL grabing up some hidden treasure where no one would have botherd to look, arg matey.

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factions are not fun if you have no clue what they are for, all mobs should be tagged what faction they are with along with a lore cinematic about that faction inside a character tab, and probably most important, have great quests and treasures for any factions you put in game. No matter what factions you choose to favor, youll be knowing that youll be getting something nice for not slaying them all.

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have the hp of all mobs, the power of all mobs, and in some cases, loot visible on all mobs, being completely transparent to everyone who inspects it.

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If you kill a named, you will get a item, and so will everyone who helps you.

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If you kill an end raid mob, you will get an item, and so will everyone else.

Everyone will get a tradeskill crafting item that is marked no trade, and will be specific for the crafting skill they have chosen even if its not maxed out, and will make special items. days of leaders hoarding things from guildies is over. everyones getting thier piece of the cake

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transparent loot messages to entire raid on what droped and rolls of everyone on it, with the option of leader to distribute it manualy. days of hidden favoritism with items you helped get is over. No more hiding loot after a raid mob dies.

Originally posted by Garvon3

I am subscribed to Darkfall. And I would drop Darkfall for a DAoC 2 in a heartbeat. It had all the best features of EverQuest with none of the bad ones like dungeon/raid camping. RvR is the best end game content I've ever experienced. And its also the best system for including people that like PvE and PvP in the same game. 

Good chance that I will never want to leave aiming/dodging and the realistic Darkfall feel for anything though . ..

Freedom.

Originally posted by aleos

Freedom.

Something challenging. PvP is weak in every game and lacks any sort of difficulty.

Most of all I hate the fact that there is a guide for how to do everything. Make the game always changing so this cant happen. 

Websites with all the armor and weapons are nice but a game without that somehow would be nice. Having  a list of every weapon = cookie cutter setups. 

Variety of gameplay experience within a single game.

There is no reason why a virtual world should have a limited number of gameplay modes. If you already have all this immense amount of graphics and underlying game systems in place there is no reason to limit the gameplay to questing, raiding, arena PvP.

I.E.

PvP - different PvP modes - from small arenas to world RvR, I don't understand the rationale for limiting you to only one of those modes... Why no bgs/arenas in Aion for example?

PvE - minigames - why should everything be "kill mob"? I just loved the minigames in GW.. Tired of killin stuff? Lets go racing!

In addition  If I have an instanced house, I'd like to be able to have a garden attached that I can grow funny fluffy plants in, for example.

Town/non-combat clothes. I can see some folks playing the game just to get the most swanky outfit to show-off while dropping down to the AH.

Put in some board games in there. I'd love to find a checkers table in some mmo city that I can play with passers-by, maybe even for in game gold.

IMO this is one of the main differences between "game" and "world" approachs to MMOs.. So far traditionally mmos were sen by devs as "game with a world attached"  however imo this is wrong and ultimately wasteful. MMOs should be seen as "worlds with gameS attached". If you see the MMO as a world, basically an engine that you can put stuff in, then really there is no limit to what you can add to it.

I'd like an mmorpg which offers:

- a sandbox world

- a skill-based system (where you improve individual skills as oposed to choosing a class and levelling up)

- the possibility to play roles other than fighting roles (cf. the original Star Wars Galaxies where you could be a dancer, or musician, or a miner, or a forager, or a politician, or specialise in a dozen different crafting professions

- a player-run economy, with player crafting, player housing, player cities

The best stories and experiences I've ever had in any MMO came from interaction with fellow players, not pasted on voice overs or being sternly guided through some unmemorable rehashed linear story.

That's the developers/ writers stories, and though they're probably quite talented and put a lot of effort into it, it's only my personal stories that stand out over the years. Some of the situations friends and I have managed to get into and out of  over the years have become legendary among us and though some took place a decade ago, are yet to be forgotten. As a matter of note, NONE of these experiences took place during a collection,kill 10 boars or delivery quests.

(Of course the opportunity for these dynamic situations are almost non-existant in many mainstream MMOs these days due to tightly controlled content and group dynamics...)

To sum it up, I'd like an MMO with 0 'Quests' of the collect 10 sea shells variety, an MMO where these mindless tasks that pass as content are non existant.

Instead I'd like to see the focus on building an in depth world that's fun to explore and packed with plenty of challenging dungeons that take longer than 5 minutes to complete, and ideally challenging enough that their completion might require that you actually communicate instead of 'click join, spam AEs, get loot, disband'.  A world in which word of mouth might actually mean something again would be nice, instead of a world which is easily roadmapped by countless websites dictating the most beneficial quest hub.

Less develeopment time spent on absurd mindless tasks, more time creatively fleshing out the world and environments players will get to explore.

A while back i was asked by a friend : "What if you could make a MMO and had the funds ? ".

I repeat here what i said then is it aswered both the questions.

I would make a MMO that would be based around Mercenary's and the merc company's.

There is your aswer :).

But what do i mean when i say that, well here goes( in a not so little nutshell ).

This game could play in any time period and any setting but for my world id make it future.

So SciFi not to far but space flight has to be a option.

Then id make a game that is 2 games in 1 first its skillbased yes you need to get skills to use stuff and no there are no lvls.

The char would have 2 skill tree's 1 for combat that can be split in as many parts as you want to place the skills in there that are needed to fight in this game.

The second tree would have all the noncombat skills anything for a pilot licence to a degree in advanced robotics.

This is to allow the player to advance in both or only one direction he want crafting is part of the second tree and would have anything from basic weapons, armor and ammo to cars, planes and in the end space ships.

Now i know what you think O heck that is going to be a huge game but there is the funny part it can grow you see you start of building a char for a ground based game then The devs  get to add sea, air en lastly space to the mix.

The quest givers are also easy, you are a merc, so you go to the hangouts or offer your services at one of the megacorps.

Here also the second skill tree can be used to add skills of a more nonviolant interactive nature.

The quest can be done solo but you could also get some people together and form a unit now you get to hire out as a group and the reward goes up also the type of missions go up as you get access to missions you dont have solo as its hard to do 5 jobs at ones :)

Then after a little while you get to know each other you can make a merc company and be a freelance group or start working for one of the big megacorps.

Again the game becomes bigger now you have a group that is so big they need a base of operation so there you go off to build a base at one of the country's that allows you buy a small island or a spot in the desert in the middel of nowhere.

Now the second tree becomes even bigger as now you get nps that can do work for you repair weapons refit combat vehicles heck you can even make it so you can craft stuff your self or be a forman telling them what to do and wait for it :)

 But this place to hang your guns has a disadvantage remember those megacorps you attacked to get all the cash and loot to affort this place ? Well they can hire a merc company to attack you and take there stuff back !

Or remember that merc group you had agains you in that job a while back ? They realy like your base and want to take it.

So there is your pvp and for those that dont like pvp you can always build in the nice savezones that you start in but then you will miss out on tons of fun and not to forget LOOT :).

This is the beginning of the game you can add sea battles, air battles and even space battles to it but it all builds in this basic beginning.

And remember the 2 games in one, in the end it will be not only 2 games thanks to the skill tree's 1 combat 1 noncombat but also a land sea air space game!

As long as there will be corps willng to pay you there will be options for you to fight for them no matter the weapons, no matter the location.

P.S. Forgive the spelling english is not my main language :)

yeah, all of this

A complete overhaul of how controls are used in MMOs. throw out of WASD and give us more options...

There are other keys! Can't we have mouse movements instead of WASD for traditional melee fighting? There has to be more interaction as far as fighting goes as well as fewer and harder monsters...

Not every knight slays 100 goblins a day so why should we? Bring epic monster fights to the forefront coupled with a well worked mouse combat system. MMOs should ATLEAST be based on 50% skill, nothing less will sufice.

That lvl 50 is ganking your lvl 10? No matter, you managed to flick your mouse just perfectly to hit him in the ribs making him suffer a fatal bleed wound.

Now that would be a game I would play...

 Based on gear? No. Based on reaction and "skill"? Yes

Well at first, give us a huge world. And if i say huge i mean HUUGE. And because the world is so huge, we dont need a lot different servers, which are all mirrors from the same world. Instead of mirrors of one and the same thing, let the servers be different kingdoms. If my friend is playing in an other kingdom(server) i can make a journey to him, which needs time. One day if its a near kingdamom. Maybe a week or 2 if its far away.

Implement guilds and factions like in other games, but also implement nations. Every kingdom (server)is a own nation which can make war to other nations. After war has been declared, people has to move to the borderzones within a week and at weekend will be fougth 2 days.

Because the world is so huge, housing do not need to be instanced. Set areas for settling here and there, so the players can build citys. Divide the area into parcels, which can be bought by players, to build houses. If a player buys 4 adjacent parcels, he can became farmer. Or maybe raise horses or cattles on his land. So he can produce leather or meat, warhorses or mules for miners. Set city areas near ozeans, for players who likes to be fisherman. Areas near mounains for miners.

Imagine a huuuge world, with one million players divided into 50 countrys. If u dont like it anymore to play in your country, u can sell your house, pick up all your stuff, and relocate to a northern nation, which is a bit like the vikings. Or how about an island nation at southsea?

For sure there ara a lot of dungeons also, an many monsters, and great adventures. I dont wanna design a copy of second life!

Only a few thougts out of my dreams...;)