Profile: IceTC
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• • What's the perfect Mmorpg looks like?

  • I personally think the foundation of the ultimate MMO has to have unlimited advancing.  It is the single most addictive element to know you can always make your character stronger. Over time, you also develop sentimental value with that character and makes it that much harder to quit the game.

    Caps are nothing more than the first nail in the coffin for an MMO to die because then you need ongoing and satisfying content to keep you going but that does not last very long and even games like WoW have a hard time keeping up (reason I left few months ago - became too boring). 

    You look at a game like Gemstone (a TEXT mud) which has survived 20+ years and still going.  Why? Well, they had the best of both worlds, incredible depth/content and unlimited leveling for most of the games life (recently now made a lev 100 cap so we'll see if they start to fade)

    EQ was close to hitting the target when they introduced the alternate advance skills which easily added a few years of longevity to it and likely a reason they are still around.  My idea would be more around adding stat points to an unlimited level (to str, int, sta, etc) that has diminishing returns in value to prevent 'god' characters from ruining the game.  Example, 100 agility gives you 10% to dodge, 200 agility gives you 15% to dodge, 300 agility gives you 19% to dodge, 400 agil gives 22% to dodge, etc.  Although diminishing in value, the concept of 'getting more powerful' is like a ball and chain to any serious MMO player.

     

     

     

  • Posted: 7/07/08 8:37 AM
    General Discussion
• • What are you looking for in an MMO(Poll)

  • The ultimate MMO is still waiting to be created.  In my view, a game needs addictive elements to become a superpower to take down the Warcraft monopoly.   These are some of my suggestions what I think the ultimate game would have:

    1) Unlimited leveling (make it point based that exponentially rises which slows down leveling but is still limitless).  It is one of the most addictive elements to know you can always get more powerful.  Level caps are nothing more than the first nail in the coffin for a game to eventually become extinct.

    2) Have several games 'within' the game.  Don't just make it questing and leveling.  Add more dimensions like card or table games, treasure hunting, casinos, festivals, unique and one-time-only items for sale during special events, customizable clothing made by travelling merchants.  You HAVE to give people enough fun options to do in an online world when they don't feeling like questing or raiding.

    3) Ability to upgrade weapons or customize weapons that is completely unique in the entire game world that no one else has.  This eliminates the boring element of everyone using the "same" top weapon that drops from the "same" creature.  Yawn. 

    4) Town invasions - whether a story behind it or random, an invasion of creatures into a city makes players band together and adds an element of surprise to the game.  Always knowing where creatures are in current games waiting to be attacked isn't much fun, how about the creatures coming after you when you least expect it? Now that's excitement.

    5) Housing - I think to date, the best game that got it 'close' was SWG.  Decent selection of furniture and house styles, but it needed more fun elements.  What about TV's where you can watch live server news of certain characters or guilds doing something newsworthy? A bar that you can fully stock with liquor and actually drink it when you have visitors? How about table games that you can host? Lots of ideas but no one has taken it that far yet. 

     

     

     

     

     

  • Posted: 7/03/08 8:02 PM
    General Discussion
• • first and favorite mmorpg's

  • I have played about every RPG out there, so I will just list each aspect of a mmorpg and my winner of each:

    Quests - EQ - No pun intended but it truly was the pioneer of intricate and diverse quests, from quick ones to epic, from solo to group, it was all there and it was ultra-fun living that experience.

    PvP - UO - I'll never forget my first PvP experience going into a dungeon by my lonesome to hunt when 3 red robed guys with skeleton masks raped me at the entrance and took everything I had then cut up my body into pieces.  Through hard work I eventually became an overpowered (due to skill gitches) vigilante and killed anyone who indisriminantly killed newer players outside town.  That got me totally hooked on PvP and its been an addictive drug ever since.

    Crafting - SWG - Their mining, crafting, extracting processes were not only well designed, but also addicting.  And if you can make a game where mining for a high concentration of ore is an 'exciting' thing, you know you did something right.  But like many others on this board, after CU started to go downhill. 

    Leveling - nothing was more appealing then hearing that loud DING of EQ, even non-benchmark levels had people in ecstasy in the OOC channel.  Unreal.

    Community - WoW.  The guild structure there is second to none and also has the highest concentration of mature players than any other game, many in their 20's 30's and even 40's. 

    Graphics - LoTR - the most beautiful landscaping you will ever experience, fluid creatures and great effects (with a fast computer).  Content and quests is more of a modified clone to WoW so it can certainly improve on that aspect, but just for eye candy this game is worth trying.

    Depth - Gemstone IV - Really showing my age here, but being a text MUD, this game was unmatched in terms of depth. Weapons, clothes, customization is limitless.  Special merchants/casinos/fairs making random appearances;  Secret societies with special powers; Festivals and invasions of towns.  This had it all.  Leveling (which used to be unlimited) now set at 100 which would still take years to hit for an average player.  It is no mistake as to why this game is still around after 20 years, a phenomenal accomplishment in this age.

     

     

     

  • Posted: 6/30/08 7:27 PM
    General Discussion
• • Star Wars Galaxies: 5th Anniversary

  • SWG should be the biggest lesson to any online game maker... never never never cater to 6 year old kids. Every one of them were screaming and crying to be a jedi. The old SWG had character by making jedi's pretty rare, but when they succumbed to the kiddie headaches and changed the entire game by flooding it with baby jedi's, it completely jumped the shark and was never the same since.

    I did love the housing and crafting part of it, even had some chicks cyber me in my bedroom. Ah the good ole days.

     

  • Posted: 6/29/08 7:52 PM
    General Discussion
• • Honestly, how is EVE?

  • There is an attractive science fiction element about it that really can suck you in sometimes, but after a few tries in it I really became bored.  It needs more content.  If they allowed landing on various planets where you have a separate shooter game or space stations with a separate quest game engine with bars/casinos/clubs, etc, this game could really cook.  But flying around all the time doing the same 3 or 4 type of missions... yaawwwn

  • Posted: 6/29/08 7:48 PM
    General Discussion