Some features are just fun and awesome but never get added to any other games (where the general concensus is that everyone copies and pastes from eachother in the MMO world)

Things that come to mind are ...

Equiping pets with trash items to make them look even cooler (EQ)

Darkness falls PvP dungeon (DAoC)

and

Skirmishes (Lotro)

I just love these features, and thye could be added to almost any other game, but somehow it never happened. Makes me wonder why?

Everyone must have some of those features which they really miss and feel sorry they got lost in time...

To everyone his own list..

1. Gw2

2. SWtor

3. LotRo

4. Eve

5. Eq2

6. DDO

7. Neverwinter

Originally posted by sunshadow21

Translating the economic and crafting side along with the item loss/insurance angle could be done. You could fairly easily make simple alterations to the skill system and it could work. Translating combat and the details of the items in the game would likely not be worth the time, and these would need to be developed from scratch, as would the world sufficient to support the game.

Overall, most of the systems would work surprisingly well with fairly minor changes, but combat would by necessity be completely different and attention to the details would be critical.

This comes close to what i think could work, in my opinion.  The core mechanics like the econnomy and crafting could indeed be easilly converted.    This is hat makes the core of the Eve game...

Then replace the ships with armor, where the stats of the armor make for the characters power. Next to that add a system with skilltrees, where characters can spend skillpoints in trees. Skillpoints ive acces to skills that you can buy or find, but adding more skillpoints to a tree does not add power.

combat should take place around resource nodes and camps and castless and towers. And involv NPC armies semi controlled by pc, just to reflect some of the rts feeling of Eve.

Would it be possible to translate Eve intoo a high fantasy setting with action based trnity combat? 

What would it look and feel like?

Originally posted by Vannor

Get macroed up properly, get all the macros on your mouse.. play it like an action game. You can put like 10 skills or more onto one button in order of priority.

It's totally possible (I do it with all my characters) and everyone who is a long term player does it. It's worth taking the time to figure it out. Melees don't get rooted in place either and instant cast spells can be used on the move. It really helps the flow of combat if you do this. It's the way it's meant to be played.

Well, this will give immersion and fun in PvP, but i cant see how this would hide the bad mob Ai and  average annimations..

Somehow reinstlling and reactivating my account for use with the mobile authenticator got me 3 days of game access for free.

i played the game for 2 months at release and actually liked the combat back then.  While still adoring the class design, i ledt the game for the generic wold design and below average quest design. (Even the rifts all felt the same back then)

but after playing games like GW2(stil do)  Neverwinter and DCuO and even SWTOR, today combat in rift felt totally unaspiring and soulless, both for casters and mellee.  The characters i was fighting felt lfeless and death. I amgoing to give it another try tomorrow, was looking forward to this game becau i love he classesign and the varriation between the builds and subclasses so much. 

With the news of the game going ftp, many oldtimers that bought the game at release but quickly moved on just like me only have one burnin g question at their lips.

What things where added and changed to the game after it first released?

The worst thing about leveling systems is that they end... and you can actually reach the top of it, stopping character advancement suddenly..

Level is just an indication of character advancement, its said in Numbers, but it could also be set in con colors (somehting like we remember from EQ)...

I just hate the fact that character advancement is not an endless process... They should add a logaritmic scale to the leveling process, that allows people to easilly get inside a few levels (or whatever you use for classifying character advancement) of max  but allows endless but enormously slow advancement on top of that..

levels should not be a goal, but only a methode to measure a characters power... if there is no character advancement, there is no MMORPG but a simple action or fps game.

Originally posted by KingofHartz
Group play without dedicated roles in a pve environment is terrible. Thats the very reason I dislike GW2 pve. I cant stand the mass gathering of disorder. It's fine for 5 year old kids. But the order that at least a trinity brings is critical to gameplay and making the games feel rewarding. There is alot changing in games. I think things like not using tab targeting, dodge mechanic, and getting rid of roles is helping pc mmorpgs move toward being more console friendly. Thats unfortunate because as much as I love consoles, I dont want my mmorpgs dumbed down anymore and dumming down mmorpgs is what has been happening now for years.

I am 45 years old and it took me 15 years to realize that order is making gameplay stale and predictable, combined with scripting AI  instead of real AI thats what makes most Group PvE  boring..  I think going a less predictable route as in GW2 will turn out a possitive thing in the end, tough sadly GW2 fails in the AI department.

Originally posted by MrBoots
Do you really think that a 3rd party program that hooks into the client can't tell what the distance between you and another player is? Do you think it can't tell if you are mounted? Do you know how simple would it be for some hack writer to create a formula that determines how high to aim above your head based on your distance from the cheater?  We aren't talking about some pixel color aimbot from the 90s.

Calculations like this should be server side..  If not, it has written fail all over it.

Because on this site the hype meter only has 7 ranks and is player influenced, so very unreliable as certain players have a certain agenda and try to push those games.

Whenever you look at the visitor numbers of the Teso forums on this site, you see it makes only 10th place, tough thats in a list with both released and unreleased MMORPGs.

Most imprtant however is the fact that this place is different and the vocal minority of visitors on this website has a Sanboxy agenda, and TESO will everything but the expected sandbox game.. thats reflecting on the listings very much.

None...

I  just play MMo´s as long as i have fun with them (which is anything from a dew weeks to a few months) and switch to another one after that.

So playing a single MMO for 5 years is not an option for me.

Originally posted by xKopogerox

Doesn't make any sense to me, but that's the reality. When I got my PC in 2001 I was fortunate to buy Ultima Online and in 2003 Star Wars Galaxies and when comparing to anything else that came afterward, nothing comes close.

I'll just add the valid reasons why the statement above is pure truth.

Ultima Online:

#1 Open world allowing fully customizable houses and buy/p2p ensured anyone could own only 1 property. And I could build anything from a simple, small marble shop or a huge castle or keep.

in the end all those playerhouses ended up ruining the landscape

#2 Realistic economy. I had to trade with others at the bank or sell my items at my house through my vendors.

spendingbhalf my game time trying to sell stuff was so much fun

#3 More professions, skills and freedom in character building than anything else I can think of. I could be things like a treasure hunter, tamer, thief in additional to all the crafting and combat abilities.

with everyone ending as a battlemage...  Ballance was far and gone

#4 I could pick paths how I played my character, both evil or good with an actual reputation and my actions impacted the community.

#5 Combat was so well done where both gear and skills were equally important. If I saw multiple players together I could still avoid being gank killed if I was skilled enough on my mount or even kill multiple players 1 by 1 by separating them from each other.

the topdown view ruined most of the immersion for me, obviously i am more a 3d player.

#6 Immersion was top notch. The music and theme, days turning into nights was just simply amazing. The 2d graphics were detailed, which were far more pleasant than many 3d MMO's that came afterward with ugly 3rd pixels.

as said above, the ancient top down view ruined my immersion even then 1 1/2 decade ago

#7 Faction system. Giving players the opportunity to be elected and voted to run for sheriff, faction leader and more. How cool it would be to command your own faction, being the only one who can send a message to everyone in it when they are needed?

yes i agree, more games need this, but in a more controlled evironment

#8 Freedom to steal and kill almost anywhere with full loot and even cut players heads that show their name and even decorate my house with em, lol. There was a trade off, which made PvP actually fun and worthy to do with risks and rewards.

was fun in the beginning, but only for the hardcore players, casualls gothe shaft because of the impact of this.

#9 Items decay with deep and advanced crafting ensured that being a blacksmith or armorsmith or potion maker or w/e was as valuable and worthy to do than just PvP or PvE.

i dont want o spend my gametime lokking for crafters, i want good stories and feel a hero

#10 Talkin about PvE, there were open world dungeons filled with anything from lich lords to dragons with rare and legendary loot as well as items that could make you gain more powerful skills.

i just loved open dungeons, but i also adore good instanced dungeons.  My favourite mmo should have both.

 

I'm sure there is more, but this is just example of a MMORPG that I was playing 12 years ago that just demonstrates what I said above is just pure truth. There were tons of items, artifacts, very few bugs and dont remember about exploits, hacking, botting or any other cheating. Only reason I stop playing it over the long run is because developers kept changing and changing it far more than it should've been. If it ain't broken don't fix it and 3rd party programs came afterwards that allowed macros and simplified combat that completely changed the way PvP was meant to be.

I'll continue about Star Wars Galaxies later on, but yea. It's just sad for all those post WOW era players, never having the opportunity to actually experience a truly enjoyable MMORPG's.

What doesn't make sense is how the most advanced MMORPG's happened decades ago...

I think mmos hae come along way ince then, slightly improving and opening up to more and more players

Now i realise not everyone has a casual playstyle, but its finally timeto realise the the majorrity of mmorpg players wants an easy way to relax after a hard day of work, and dont want a 2nd job.

Originally posted by Iselin

Originally posted by ShakyMo
Disappointed he didn't shoot the "wow gear" question down in flames

Also gw2 style multi guild memberships - ugh!

People around here are so obsessed with comparing ESO to DAoC or single player TES games they're missing the obvious.

ESO combat...more like GW2 than anything else

Limited number of active abilities, some or all weapon-based ( you slot what you wish...class abilities can be totally ignored if you want) ... check.

3-sided RvR style PvP... check.

PvE and PvP strictly segregated... check.

And although they haven't said yet, I'm willing to bet it will be B2P + cash shop... check.

Love it or hate it, GW2 was by far, the most succesful MMO of the past couple of years at attracting and keeping large numbers playing... you think maybe other devs have been paying attention?

If they add  good mob AI, swtor quallity story based quests and Dynamiv PvE content  combined with choices and faction choices that really matter , then i am sold.  Oh and an AA sstem please...

Originally posted by Xiaoki

Ah, yes, nothing quite like the classic "everything is WoWs fault" argument.

Originally posted by Scalpless

Personally, I don't care about numeric advancement. At all. Yeah, now my character does 1365 DPS instead of 1246. So what? Getting cool abilities is much more fun, but it's as if gamers don't care about that.

I really liked how you got Elite skills from bosses in Guild Wars. Getting some of them actually felt like you accomplished something that matters gameplay wise, instead of getting a bigger number. IMO removing that element is the biggest screw up of GW2.

Its not Wows fault... Because its not a fault, only a design decision greatly influenced by WoW of simplifying classes and making endgame progression totally gearbased. Ther is no way denying that fact.

And yes Scalpless, thats exactly the type of advancement i am talking about.  New skills and abbilities of just a higher dps number. 

I still dont understand how this hapened... Earlier MMOs ike EQ or DAoC in some sense developed systems to give people that sense of character advancement at max level, eq added AA and daoc added realmpoints.

why? Because players feel good when their characters get stronger...  But ever since WoW arived in 2004 this seems to be forgotten by he developers. Nowerdays you get to max level in mst MMOs and then your class stops developing any further and suddenly becoms very static. No more awesome moments of discovering new and awesome skills. 

Personally this is the part i dislike most about current day mmos, sure you can improve your gear ineffinately, but i am a firm beleiver that characters in MMOs should never stop improving, even if it takes monhs to get your next skillpoint or dvancement skill, it would still be a decent goal... 

This in combination with not havig a skilltree based mmo, is my biggest grasp with todays MMOs. 

Originally posted by urbanaudio
@lordbachus you're right about that Bacchus the stories are immersive, but i was really talking about more of how you get involved and why do you get involved in those stories other than that you're spot on. movies are linear, yet the skill of a great filmmaker is to subtly remove that feeling of linearity and provide you with a suspension of disbelief. So in spirit they are truly not linear, thats kin of what I was trying to get at. I Know things arent perfect, If you read my post, I address that.I've heard those numbers before, haha too many times, and they only have a lasting effect until you complete those same planetary and side quests over an over again, so I'd really say that 100-8 classes of gameplay time really only translates to about 20-8 hours of original story-telling, I don't know what that has to do with you not wanting sandbox elements, but that's your call.

Just the statement that adding sandbox features improves the game, as some have been crying on this website for ages, just the fact that that statement is not true...  The great majorriy of gamers are casuall, and in generl like to be entertained by a game istead of spending hors upon hours tring to find the entertainment in a game.

Originally posted by urbanaudio

@Breakingbad don't be so sure of that, EA owns star wars video games now, so my reasoning is that they'll give bioware a shot.

Originally posted by BreakingBad
With the damage being done now, I doubt we shall ever see another KotOR game again which makes me sad.

EA allready said they have plans for KOTOR 3... on top of that they said they will probably do an open world game based on the IP.

EDIT;  tried to trace back which website i read this, just cant find it ... so no backing up this with a link.

And back to the OP...

THis is the first MMO that ever immersed me with its stories, they feel much more immersed then in any other MMO currently avaialbe. And, yes i know they are linear, but so is a movie and i enjoy those too.  

Its a Themepark, and not everything is perfect, but there is 100´s of hours of gameplay available just playing the 8 class stories and the flashpoints.  So no, espescially this game does not need more sandbox elements. 

Originally posted by EvolvedMonky

I'm going to have to agree, the blame shouldn't be on the hero engine. The devs making the engine  were trying to work on there game (actually a good demo of it to get investors is how it sounds to me).  

I don't know the exact timeline but what little I've seen in this thread (didn't read all the posts) Sounds like Bioware needed something fast and cheap to create a very basic demonstration. Now I've heard LucasArts can be a real B with there IP licensing, maybe to keep it or maybe even to get more funding.  They CHOSE to use the Hero Engine. Modifying someone elses code is alot harder than using your own. But in the end it was there decision whether bad or good its all on them. 

Well, offcourse it was their choiice, and if you look at itthat way it was their fault. Thats also what they admit...  But the statement they made is not about why they made thise terrible dessigen, but about how much it cost them. They made aterrible mistake and both them and the customers payed a lot of tears for that.

All are fun games... Being free is not really an option in all 3 of them, as to enjoy lotro and EQ2 fully you will need to sub to. They just got extended free trials.

If you´re new to MMO´s i would definately check out WoW, because it has the easiest learning curve. Combat in this game is most fluent of the 3.  

If you like to be immersed into a story then lotro seems to be your best bet. The game is really fun and has some great multi player content too, the skirmishes are just fun.

If you are a group type of player, EQ2 is probably your best bet, it has most content of any MMO out there. There are dozens and dozens of dungeons on all kinds of levels troughout your leveling and at max level. 

In the end all 3 are great games, and most people will enjoy all 3 of them.