I like the direction of you're thinking OP.  I don't want to be the center of the universe.  I just want to be a tailor with a little shop, selling my wares to whoever finds them appealing. 

I don't have to have the best stat armor, the fastest speeder, the best stat weapons.  I just want the options to be me. To be an invididual living in a world with other people.

Originally posted by dave6660
I want to be the guy who puts aglets on shoelaces.  That will make me uber-"leet".

Holy fuck, I never knew what those were called. Further proof that mmorpg.com provides a wealth of knowledge.

The more you know

This is precisely why the move toward scripted encounters and events is a bad thing. They are played only one way, everything is decided before hand what will happen, the only difference is if you defeat the encounter or not.

In a more sandboxish game, with open pvp, if a giant boss npc with fat loot attacked a town, you might choose not to help the other players, you might choose to pick them off. Play such as this can't go unchecked though, that's why rampant pking should be kept in check that prevents players from randomnly killing each other. Kill a few innocents and you're flagged as a murderer, and this flag means you can't enter npc towns without being killled except for maybe one specific FFA town in the middle of nowhere. That's the price to be paid for becoming a villain.

Hell, in UO you could even be a bard and subdue a monster to stop attacking, or make it attack another monster. No such option exists in todays games.

What I speak off there sounds a lot like what options you had in UO over a decade ago. So sad how choice has been taken out of the players hand and we're all forced down the developers intended path. No wonder people are finally getting sick of this type of mmo being released over and over.

Originally posted by Ortwig
I like the direction of your thinking.  Let's get more variety in these character occupations!  :)

Originally posted by hyllstarter
One reason I like skill based games Not Level based games. Like Pre CU SWG.

 Yes definitely why one of the reason why so many people who played SWG pre NGE still loved and missed SWG.

The fact that you can make an occupation out of non-combat profession and be successful in that enterprise is good for variety and sense of immersion, imo.

The thinking with this article is refreshing to me and given the option to be good,bad or neutral people like options.

i'm sure some players would try siding with the villian over being a constant hero or being neutral and just let everything play out and you do whatever you feel like. 

i'm sure alot of players are so used to sticking with being the hero because thats been the only option for the longest time and if you weren't playing the hero it might conflict with your personal views being the hero for so long. 

atleast thats how i've gone about things almost always play the hero and get tired of saving the world or that princess to this i say screw it burn down the castle and murder that princess and let out a evil laugh as the bad guys win !. :-D

The first choice is a contradiction and impossibility. There is nothing epic about being the hero if everyone can do it. A lot of modern MMOs have you saving the "world" through some solo quest line. What is so epic about being the 10,000th person to slay the dragon and reach max level? Nothing it is like being in Kindergarten and having some over enthusiastic teacher going "yea, you win, you all win." In my book this is retarded, you are retarded, and anyone who likes this type of fake win at everything heroism is retarded.

I am the kind of person that likes real competition where not everyone wins. Many will enter but few will win type of thing. That way "if" you do win it actually means something. Star Wars Galaxies had perfected this formula with the way they originally implemented the Jedi. Not everyone could become a Jedi. You really had to work for it and put in 1000s of hours of time and still there were no guarantees. But if you did make it then you really were epic. Being a Jedi in SWG was truely epic. This is one of the many reasons why I think SWG was the best MMORPG ever made. They really had the whole motivation reward system down perfectly.

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Originally posted by Merilirem Ahem, ----------- Just because a dragon attacks the town, do I really need to fight it? Is fighting really the only path for mmorpgs? Can I not play a smith or simply prance about with my lute singing everyone else's praises? I just have to wonder why it is that I personally have to fight, to save the world, cant someone else do it? And why can't we decide the worlds not worth saving, to side with whatever master of darkness is currently doomed to fall at the hands of the "heroes". Evil never wins, because winners are always just, not because evil always loses. Just because I live in a fantasy world full of dangers, do I have to be someone special, can't I just be some guy who did what he felt like. Even if I had the skills, weapons or could simply smash those werewolves to death with my fists, does it really fall to me...am I an individual, a person, or am I a train...? Do you think the same?

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I don't play games to be a blacksmith. In terms of gameplay experience, i have never seen any crafting or singing, as fun (for me) as good combat mechanics.

The other types of mechanics i like is stealth.

So .. no .. i don't think like the OP .. and i like combat centric games.

Originally posted by hyllstarter
One reason I like skill based games Not Level based games. Like Pre CU SWG.

Same here. SWG, UO, and EVE are three games where you can actually enjoy the game and be relatively unrestricted in your chosen area of advancement if you travel a path other than fighter.

Originally posted by hercules
My weaponsmith in swg did not fire a single shot in months and i could easily play 12 hours a day back then.

I had a Tailor/ Armorsmith. Same thing.

Even my Swordy/ Ranger while he killed a million Gurrek I think I had him in PvP twice in 3 years? Oddly though, I had a 'rep' with him. A few times people would go hunting with me and I would trot up to a Spiders nest and people were like "AAK, don't hit the lair"!

So I would proceed to smash it to bits and slaughter the doezens of spiders that rolled out. They really had no idea how much a hammer wielding Swordy could dish out close range. Even the "leet" TKM's were silenced when I was pummeling for meat and hides. I was good at what I did and there was a place for me. We all had a real role to fill. Miss ya SWG :(

well OP you get to sound like a lazy bastard....go out there kill the dragon and safe the world! Oo

have to agree with you though, the more, indepth, options the better, would love to be able to do alternative meaningful activities, not just the "dragon" killing....as for the bard finding epic notes that makes a diffrence, the easy answer to the diffrence it would make, could be something as simple, as the possibility of buffing people with rare effects ; ), I would fully expect alot of whine on the games forums though,...no one is allowed to be special anymore, by the masses

Originally posted by Merilirem

Originally posted by Ortwig
I like the direction of your thinking.  Let's get more variety in these character occupations!  :)

 

In all honesty I can't seem to think of anything I didn't cover. The focus was less occupations and more "how" you most enjoyed, or would enjoy your game time. If you or anyone else an think of a new facet which I missed then please say so. Also to the one who associated bards with classes. I do not consider the "bard classes" in games a legitimate representation of bardic playstyle. All classes after all are an outdated crutch mechanic which limit the possibilities and personality of a persons gaming experience. With how much we have progressed I believe we need to shed the old ways the industry has become so entrenched in. I beleive the sad fact is that while some would actually prefer a simple grind on tracks most are simply unable to imagine a better way, while others know somethings wrong, but cannot finds the words or lack the ability and or time to figure such things out. So now I place my hat into the ring. Whether Anyone likes or accepts my ideas and questions is up to them. I only wish for them to listen, if but for a moment.

Hehe -- I wasn't asking you to think up more occupations (you captured a great list), but rather it was a general call to work in more variety into character occupations in game.  I like the idea of a range of occupations that can be everything from non-combat bakers and jewel makers to full out dragon slayers.  It just makes for a very nice variety in the world, and would lead, I believe, to a great community of specialists and traders.  The economy would certainly be interesting.  Looking forward to seeing what EQNext comes up with.

Originally posted by nariusseldon

I don't play games to be a blacksmith. In terms of gameplay experience, i have never seen any crafting or singing, as fun (for me) as good combat mechanics.

The other types of mechanics i like is stealth.

So .. no .. i don't think like the OP .. and i like combat centric games.

Originally posted by Marirranya
i dont try to be leet but i want to play my characters as best as i can :3

 OP your thread title is totally inaccurate and dose not do your post justice.

 If the question is do you have to be leet and you have to ask a bunch of strangers to make up your mind then probably yes.

 If however your post as you more accurately state is weither MMos should have different paths and not just the solo heroic save the world role frequently forced on players then I'd also have to say yes.

   Good post, terrible thread title. One shows alot of thought the other ... well not so much so