Having had a trawl through the Website a few things have struck me about this game that I really like. And not something I normally do but it deserves a post.

The concept here is great the breaking groups down to about 8 people per is just right, I have never been a fan of Raiding in excessivley large groups as I believe games become faceless and the fun dissapears. I notice the concept of leveling is still here and the ability to gain abilities as well that can then be trained I love the pick and choose and develop your own charachter approach as well so all is good.

I am hoping that the Teaching and Learning of abilities can or will work like it does in many MUDS where a n individual can teach an ammount of skilll which is slowly soaked up by the student and then converted to real ability,( This is a very useful side effect when chatting and building community as you till learn and progress) the other way to improve is through the use of an ability but some of the softer skills that really make game are community building and need interaction that is why I have always liked this approach so big thumbs up.

Before I go on a little more I would also like to say I love the COS approach of long investment in design and concentrating on the game and coding first, like I say graphics as long as passable aren't key to me ... what is key to me is community , gameplay and longevity.

The jigsaw puzzle quest system based on an individuals actions leads me to believe there will be a complex faction system in use to generate the pieces of quests and as gfaction and level and maybe abilities evolve you cna easily drop the next progression of an ability into a quest storyline, drop that scroll in a chest which discussed improved tracking lots of option for surprise. It would be nice if progression points were included in the quest system as this will generate more excitement within quests as to rewards and the like.

 The world Mass leads to a lot of other options and the ability to place instanced quest pieces within this opens up a lot of options, Adventuring and dynamic villages and locations also really apeals as well.

I also like the idea of a challenging game where it isn't just about raiding and ego maniacs, but where a charachter can develop abilities ,skills and reputation.  And if they really want to have a bit of a fight the colleseum will be available. Wagering on arena fights appeals to me , whilst sat being taught by a master scholar i will be able to watch people fight it out for the glory of their guild or honor. Hopefully there will be faction gained for fighting in the arenas which may lead to special quests and abilities for those brave souls who want title and glory. 

The ability to travel the land on foot also appeals as an alternative gameing route with the dynamic of developing villages it is like a 'SUPER MOB' a little more complex than a wandering ORK. Certain types of adventuring encounter should maybe reward knowledge and items that also help with more Adventure oriented abilities yet again lots of scope for exciting rewards. 

IMO you're mixing a couple of things that shouldn't be mixed when talking about grouping.

"Raids" as defined as large numbers of people working together to some common goal - those are fun, community building and a great system.

"Raiding" as defined as the system which encourages repeated running of the same (long) encounter over and over in an attempt to gain some kind of equipment - those suck, are very divisive to community (fosters elitism and haves vs. have nots issues) and are a system best left to other MMOs.

Regarding Teaching / Learning - IMO it's not as useful in a MMOG as it may be in a MUD.  SWG had a learning element - and it was basically a timesink.  People spent hours spamming their willingness to train in all channels because they needed the "Training XP" to master their profession.  I think it's a system that works on the small scale and doesn't scale up very well.

It may be a tall order, but the best system would be one that requires actual teaching of the actual pursuit - rather than a game system that models teaching.  For instance - EVE is complex enough that new players need to either learn (through trial and error) or be taught the best ways to do certain tasks.  EVE fails to give any kind of support for this unfortunately - but that's a better approach (complex system requiring actual PLAYER learning) than a simple game system replicating teaching.

Uhm Ok.

Raiding we have 100% agreement as per your definition...

The raid definition doesnt work people working together is fine but it would be nice if this were "as per world events and not Guilds". I have a healthy disrespect for guilds and see a lot of bullying and gang mentality, I am more of a working with friends person without the necessity for a formal framework.

SWG is not typical of the teaching example I was thinking of, I think learning from others who have specific knowledge or have discovered certain texts via quests ( so maybe starter abilities is a good thing and creates interest, I can think of other means but I'm starting to digress). Teaching an individual should garner a small ammount of learning but never as much as really doing.

Maybe the teaching could trigger a faction that means next storyline quest you do you get a tie in for a new ability... Oh i don't know but lots of possibilities here...

Originally posted by Isane

The raid definition doesnt work people working together is fine but it would be nice if this were "as per world events and not Guilds". I have a healthy disrespect for guilds and see a lot of bullying and gang mentality, I am more of a working with friends person without the necessity for a formal framework. 

Sure some guilds are full of bullies and people with small-man-syndrome, but the other end of the spectrum are just what you describe - a bunch of friends that like to play together.  There's no way to legistate things like that using game mechanics.

As to "raids" there are several permutations off the top of my head.  World events are one - a la the supposed "public quest" system in WAR, where a dynamic objective appears in a zone and everyone gets a quest for it.  Instanced encounters (either overland or dungeon) are fine too - as long as the dynamic isn't one of repeated running for sake of gear.  There are even raids in PvMP scenarios in LOTRO that are quite enjoyable (from time to time) as large groups of players slaughter each other.

Really need more information from MMOM on a lot of these topics.  What's on the website is a decent overview but leaves a lot of blank space filled with assumptions.

Originally posted by jakin

 

Originally posted by Isane

The raid definition doesnt work people working together is fine but it would be nice if this were "as per world events and not Guilds". I have a healthy disrespect for guilds and see a lot of bullying and gang mentality, I am more of a working with friends person without the necessity for a formal framework. 

It's unavoidable that people will form guilds - and in fact it's very likely that many of the guilds that play will have been formed in other games and will have moved en masse from there to CoS.  

 

Sure some guilds are full of bullies and people with small-man-syndrome, but the other end of the spectrum are just what you describe - a bunch of friends that like to play together.  There's no way to legistate things like that using game mechanics.

As to "raids" there are several permutations off the top of my head.  World events are one - a la the supposed "public quest" system in WAR, where a dynamic objective appears in a zone and everyone gets a quest for it.  Instanced encounters (either overland or dungeon) are fine too - as long as the dynamic isn't one of repeated running for sake of gear.  There are even raids in PvMP scenarios in LOTRO that are quite enjoyable (from time to time) as large groups of players slaughter each other.

Really need more information from MMOM on a lot of these topics.  What's on the website is a decent overview but leaves a lot of blank space filled with assumptions.

Yep the gaps need to be filled but the framework sounds good for starters and again they are concentrating on the coding/design as a starting point which can only be a good thing. Not just welll throw people at it and hope.