All Posts by Alcuin

Originally posted by medafor

Ive tried 3 classes, up to level 8ish. I had no problem with the animations or models. i came from WOW, LOTRO, and CONAN. The animations are better than or just as goods as all 3...

I agree that the animations are on par with LOTR, both feel paper doll-ish to me.

But WoW, with it's less intense graphics needs has much better animations in my opinion.  Sitting breathing kneeling, jumping, swimming, riding a mount...  WoW wins, hands down. 

It seems pretty unpopular to praise Wow, and I know that people may not like the art syle, but the animations are superbly done.

I wonder if this means my arrows won't hit before I shoot them anymore...

I never really liked that.

IMO, New models and animations could do alot for this game.  I keep re-subbing off and on, and I love all the race/class options, and the fact that there are several different starting areas.

Graphics quality is far from the top of my list.

I wish they would re-do the original SSI Gold-Box style D&D games as MMOs (like the original NwN, I guess)

That was true character customization!  Well, kinda...

Josher-

I hear what you're saying.  I agree that it's a lot easier to come up with an idea than it is to implement it.  I, myself, tend to have blinders on when it comes to my own ideas and not see things things that make it difficult to accomplish.

That being said, the ideas and goals presented here are still valid.

Are they difficult to achieve? certainly.  I'll accept that.  I'll even go so far as to admit that I can't begin to fathom the difficulty involved.

But I will not accept that it is impossible to do. 

I began playing video games on my TV with PONG in 1976.

I'm about to log on to EVE Online.

What is Impossible one day is commonplace another.  I think these ideas should definitely be discussed at leagth and ad nauseum--- until they happen--- until they become commonplace.

Originally posted by CleffyII

I think the solution to mundane quests is simple, its always been simple.  You do what you do with any mundane aspect to a game.  You offer the player interactivity.

Doing the generic Go A, or Kill B type quests offer no real interactivity except for the player performing a task.  What really needs to be done is offer choices to the player with consequences.  Let them choose how the quest is done as it will involve them more in the game.  Also something done in rescent years is storied instances which is another good aspect.  Then like mentioned above there are the epic chain quests.

I'd love to be able to fail quests too- and have to face the consequences.  That's a good one.

Originally posted by freston

I think ive seen all the ideas here implemented in some mmorpg or other. Problem is not of quality but of quantity. No matter if you like escort quests, conquerable towns, moral quests, class or faction quests or whtever (ive seen all of them except the moral ones implemented in wow btw, which is not supposed to be the most innovative mmorpg). Problem is that devs need a huge number of quests to meaningfully fill a world with, and that means youll finish getting also some simple grindy ones , not only because theyre easier to make but also because you cant have your char all the time making meaningful, world affecting, character evolving decisions without losing dramatic tension . I think the solution to the problem lies more in the mmorpg engine that in the quest writers. Design it so new quests can be easily rewoven into it without messing the code or whtever (much like the heroengine does, i think). Then let players have a hand at writing quests, have a team picking the best ones and implementing them in the game. And change a percentage of quest every week. Players whose quests get selected get a reward possibly in terms of in-game recognition.  In other words, create a dynamic world with ever changing quests in every zone, maintaining a small percentage of them as stable ones to keep the lore of the game. Even the best written quest gets stale when you do it 20 times. Wht we need is some change.

That's why I'd say trade skill characters should be alts and have little fighting skill.  You have to get rid of the orcs before the miners, loggers and foragers(or whatever) will be safe.  Then those who want might spend their time working on certain trade skills.

There would need to be a robust system fot things like music, writing, fishing, and crafting of all sorts; even recreational sports and tavern games.

Originally posted by gath

 

 

Besides the story/reasons behind it, what is that diferent from "go kill 10 orcs" quests...?

You actions have meaning.  If enough orcs aren't killed something bad will happen (The city will be overrun).  If enough players kill 10 orcs then some thing good will happen (the city will grow and merchants will spawn and you won't have to run all the way back to that last town to  "sell your stuff" or train or whatever). 

The bounty on 10 orc scalps is offered as incentive only.  The orcs could also be slain without completeing the bounty- but why not keep it?  If I wanted to protect my city form orcs, I would pay you 10 silver to slay 10 orcs...  it makes sense

As it stands now, in most games at least, you get a quest to slay 10 orcs and you go to the same spawn sites (or chose from a few) and slay 10 orcs and go back and getsome  XP and a reward.  The orcs respawn and the cycle repeats until the end of time or the server shuts down, whichever comes first.

I think for the genre to develop, quests and player actions in general have to have a semi-permanent affect on the game.

T

Imagine: 

Towns that can be overrun with orcs (or whatever - maybe it's space outposts overrun with aliens), and liberated by humans (the players).

  Once all the orcs (or a set number of orcs - even respawns) have been killed, guards will spawn, and eventually merchants.  Then its off to the next town or forest or whatever to rclaim the land for the "good guys" (or "bad" if you prefer).

 If the players are successful enough,  an orc army will spawn and attempt to raze the newly liberated towns.

If the army is defeated or sufficiently depleted, then a "boss" will spawn (Maybe an evil wizard who is controlling them, that's cliche enough) with an elite guard and attempt to retake a portion of land.   

Eventually the server population will dip (say at 3 AM server time) and not enough players will be on to fight back against the onslaught.

When we log back in tomorrow , the orcs are back and in greater numbers and only a few of the liberated towns remain in our hands. 

Or perhaps the battle has moved to the riverlands, or the mountains.  Perhaps flight of dragons has been spotted...

Spontenaity, change, MEANING.  That's what quests need.

  We need to fight for our gold and our land.  If the orcs control the area, there is no way our non-heroic, alternate (weak and non-levelable) profession characters can get in to mine, and harvest the land for resources.

 OK - now someone go program it   

Originally posted by glord

Freeform doesn't involve using any RPG system, thus D&D can't be freeform unless it's a D&D based world that is true to the monsters and (freeform) spells and such.

My game was based on the rules and dice roles, but I almost think you'd have more success finding people to play without the rules.

Try...

http://forums.rpgchat.com/

I lurked there for a long time, posting mostly in the debate forums.  However, I did get into one of the best D&D games I've ever played there.

I agree that the artistic style is simillar, but the graphics are clearly more advanced.

Combine Conan's  combat with Coty of Heroes power activation...

Interesting views, certainly.  I seem to be your gaming opposite.   I can only play a few days a week for a few hours at a time at the most.   But since I have limited time, I have to pick the MMO I think is the absolute best for my time.  Currently I choose WoW.  The fact that I have found a good group of players has a lot to do with it - I think player interaction is key.   But as far as the game itself goes...

In a word...

Verisimilitude: The quality of appearing to be true or real

To some, WoW may not seem realistic due to its stylized, cartoonish graphics.

But no other game world seems as real to me.  I think it has to do with the way the characters interact with the world.  The way the characters move and connect - literally the collison detection part of the programing.  For lack of a better way to put it, I feel like my character has weight.  I can get places!  I can  jump off cliffs and get onto the roofs of houses. I can swim!.   The mountains, trees and buildings feel like they are really there.  Even the way the NPCs are "in" the world seems realistic.

It's just a feeling, really.   it's not perfect, but it's good.

 When I played LoTR and DDO , I felt like I was controlling a paper doll.  EQ2 as well, but to a lesser extent.

The Worst?  SWG!  I cannot abide that my character cannot walk over a two inch ledge.  I have to go around it!  What?

Original EQ wasn't too bad

I think Vanguard has a great. beautiful world that could have achieved this with more work. 

Actually, City of Heroes has a great feeling too.  The places you can get to using super travel powers!

On the negative side.  i wish there was less "fading in" of terrain details and mobs and such.  I've had to get used to it.   Also, as anyone who has played enough knows, a lot of the graphical templates are reused- even the terrain layouts are in many cases exactly the same. 

But that's about it.

 I appreciate the lore, and the polish.  There are a lot of things I wish they would add and tweak, but it is a good, solid game to me.

Whew!  That was long!  Sorry!

Sounds perfect to me.  I hate loot-centric MMOs.  That's what I loved about CoX.

But I understand that some people want their loot.  So maybe it changes after 20? Anyone?

Maybe a better question to begin with would be: what other archetype would you like to see?

I think the standards we have might be Tanks, DPS, Healers, Buffers/Debuffers

Classes generally fit into one of those categories, or are mix of two, sometimes three of them.

What else do we need to do in game besides absorb damage, deal damage, heal the damage, and make others do less or more damage or take less or more damage?

Whew!

Different classes just do the above in a different way or to a different degree.  For instance A tank might use armor or forcefields, but it's still performing the same role.  Some classes might do DPS with a spells or with sharks with lazer beams, but they're still DPS.

EDIT: I'm not saying this is all we NEED to do, but in a general sense that's what a lot of the gameplay in mmorpgs are- whether they are PvP or not.   Of course there is Crowd Control, Stealth, and other aspects that could be considered too.

I know some argue to get rid of classes altogether.  I rather like them.

So, I think your question is valid.  But that just puts a spin on it, because right now I can think of a few classes, but they each fit into one of the archtypes above.

I know there's some good thinking to do here - but I'm a bit burnt by the week.  I'll keep going though :)

I have as many alts as I can have across servers.  When I try to make a new character, I get the "This account has reached the limit on characters"  or somesuch message.

So if I want to make a new alt, I have to delete an old one!

  "alt-itis" has been with me since 1999.  I played EQ for 5 years and never got beyond level 33.

In City of Heroes I only reached level 42- too many alts.

I've been playing WoW off and on since it came out in '04.  I just got my first mount ever yesterday.  I've never been 40 before.

 In the poll, I voted 6-10, because that's how many I actively play at one time.

I guess if I think about it, I have hundreds of online personas.

hmmm...