As a game balancer, how do you NOT put skills in a set calss for progression?  If you can just choose skills based on whatever strikes your fancy, how can you tell what "level" areas you are safe to walk through and which areas you just might get raped by a band of passing monkeys?  Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of total customization but as a programmer and game balancer how do you determine what instances are properly balanced for a player or, even more confusing, a group of players?

The other side to this is how, as a player, do you build a group to confront an instance?  In WoW, I know I need a hunter for ranged, tracking, and pet tanks and I know I need a Warrior to tank down the hall, I know I need a rouge for the stealthy stuff, shamans for totems, etc... but in a classless society (sorry, I couldn't resist using that term) I can't quikly go around asking what EVERYONES skills are.  And you can't assume:  What happens when you're in the depths and your healer is keeping up with the bloodflow staunching and then someone dies when it gets hairy and they look to the healer and he says "Sorry, I took Battle Axes 12 rather than Rez - You gotta take the long way back down here, and oh don't forget to repair your armor on the way, item decay is a bi-atch."?  Or the only theif-like character can't difuse the trap that's going to kill the party because he's really warror-spec'd who thought the leather armor looked bitchin' and he only took stealth because he's really afraid of fighting?

I like the idea, but it's hard to make work.  Galaxies did it pretty well... Well, before they implemented the you-know-what.

Originally posted by Zorvan

 

Your comparing the graphics of an mmorpg to a singleplayer game? A game that doesn't have to take into account hundreds of players in one spot, while also allowing for bandwidth?

 

Gimme a break.

You want to call FE graphics sub-par, then show me the mmorpg they are inferior to.

because there is no mmorpg with Half Life 2 graphics, and won't be until server/bandwidth technology improves.

Look at the figures in FE, big heads, generic outfis, the landscape is nothing special at all (granted it's supposed to be a wasteland but it should be more appealing) and the worm the guy fights is nothing special with no special effects to intrigue me.  The animations suck, watch him fire his gun or the dunebuggys suspension as it drives across the desert.   It doesn't look natural.  The game looks like it was made in the late 90's.  Anyone can make a MMORPG now; just look at how many are out there.  In this flooded market, you'd better wow me with something more that just the story setting.  The story is the only thing this game has going for it.

Originally posted by Obraik

 

 

SWG isn't dieing, and since it's seeing more people starting to play, that means it's making a comeback - which is another way of saying it's population is increasing.

Yeah, I agree.  The Ahazi server population went from 6 to 12.  That's like... 3 times the population.  Maybe even as high as 2 and a half times... SWG is making a comeback, for sure..... 

Due to legal reasons, this post has been removed.

Due to legal reasons, this post has been removed.

Originally posted by AnlaShok

I've been wondering why do we need races (or usually species) at all? Why not just pick one species and let it have different cultures? Why some guys need to be really stout, some really hairy, some green, some point-eared? (okay, maybe I'm bit stereotypical here) We can have different languages, different looks, different body sizes and most of other physiological variances too just by using subraces of one species and/or cultural differences. Are races(=species) something holy you must have?

Note: I'm not saying having multiple species is a bad idea. I am genuinely wondering if they are necessary.

They are necessary because of the visual variety.  We play these games because they look cool and are different from our real world day-to-day lives.  People talk about different cultures but when you play the game, practically no one role-plays so culture doesn't matter.  Your orc in WoW says the same things your minmatar in Eve says.  There really are no cultural differences other than story lines.  The original paper and dice RPGs had races that you couldn't see because they were on paper but you played them because each race had different abilities unique to that race.  Also, I think multiple species/races are necessary to add to the look and feel of the MMO if the world has multiple races.

I think between 6 and 12.  Any less than 6 and I'm bored.  Any more than 12 and I'm overwhelmed.  If you have 2 or more sides like WoW, then I'd say 8 min. and 16 max for the same reasons.  If you have more than 2 sides then I think 4 races per side is plenty.

Penguins... C'mon.... Seriously?  I've never heard of anything more ridiculous.  Now if you make a game with plapypus' (platypusies, platypi, platypisulum - or whatever the plural form of platypus is) and I'm in!  I'll play a game where I can be a platypus but not a penguin.  Penguins are a thoroughly ridiculous animal.

I really like this idea.  It looks good on paper.  But the problem is that people like to see progress.  If I gradually gain strength, it's all good and well but I don't get the satisfaction of saying "Yes!  I finally hit level 50!"  Pre-CU SWG had a similar system (no level numbers) and it really worked.  But still there was a viewable goal to be acheived.  "I just mastered the Meditation branch (Teras Kasi (man I miss TK))".  There were 4 branches to master and then the final skill after all 4 were mastered.  As long as you keep some sort of visual representation of a goal to acheive, I think this would work nicely.  Keep working on it.

Originally posted by -Thraxor-

If they did revert back they'd probably lose current players who like the NGE.......

 

What?  All six of them?

I played SWG since the first week after the original release.  I quit about a week after the NGE release.  I tried a free 7 day trial about 2 weeks ago and seriously... There we're only about a dozen people online and I didn't see a single one in the course of game play (in other words, I ran only into NPCs).  I seriously don't know how SOE can afford to keep the game open, financially or morally.  They couldn't let it die a respectful death.  It's like keeping my cancerous dog alive in a coma on life-support.  Pathetic.

The only hope for Pre-CU fans is http://www.swgemu.com/.  Not for me though.  It hurts too much.  I want to remember the game for what it was and not see some ghost of it in the here and now. 

Since loosing SWG, I became a MMO slut.  I've bedded with CoH, CoV, EQ2, Matrix, WoW, FFXI (a one night stand), EVE, DDO... But never have I been able to fill that void that SWG left.  And so I am embittered and hurt.  I feel used and I am angry.  Now I am hateful and SWG is dead to me regardless of what miracles may happen.

Rest in Peace, SWG.  Good riddance and may you burn in Hell. 

Originally posted by ryman

4.) Trace the picture and create one half of your model, then copy/paste... all done.

I'm a 3ds Max hobbiest and I was with you until this point.  Let's say I have the 2 planes textured with my drawings.  How do I "trace" it?  I'm unfamiliar with this function.  Is there a tutorial online I can refer to?

What about cartoon looking graphics in an MMO?  You know, like the animation they used in shows like Futurama?  I think it'd be a good change from the same old same old we see in every MMO out there now.

Then why don't I have the money to pay my programmers?

What I have is the permission to seek funding for production from the original creator.  If I land funding, I'm co-leading the development.  Everything else is on hiatus until we have starting capitol.

Stop lying?  You posted "How do I get investors?" and then said I was lying?  How is a question a lie?

Originally posted by MrTumN3s

if you guys could pull this off, you might actually become something...that would be insane.

 

Good luck with the work and all....good luck searching for people. making a website for your applications and such is where i would start.

And if I had been born with wings, I could fly.  And if someone would hand me a million dollars, I'd be a millionaire.  And if there was no gravity, I could fly into space without a spaceship.  If, if, if, if...

  I've got a game concept.  I've got the rights to a well known franchise to produce the game under.  I've got a fan following dating back 30 years.  I've got volumes of data for the backbone and rule set of the game.  And I've got a programming company ready to start writing the code.  Now all I need is investors.  How do I get investors?

I can see the logic behind this but what happens when you get up to the higher levels?  Does it only take 40 or 50 quests to make 40th or 50th level?  And if not, how many quests per level and how do you know how far along you are?