Warning: Huge wall of text!
Being somewhat disappointed with the current state of WAR, reminiscing about DAoC and even considering the strong points from games I don't play such as WoW, I have started to think about what I actually want out of an MMO. I'm also interested where my ideas may diverge from others.
Firstly my passion was for DAoC. I liked the combat system, I liked the realm efforts and I liked the realm community.
My ideal game would be largely based on what DAoC was and is.
Layout
There would be safe areas you would start in behind strong fortresses the other realms couldn't pass. These fortresses would be momumental with plenty of activity within them such as trainers, teleporters, merchants ect making it a social hub. Much like what is seen in DAoC except with more emphesis on them.
The world would be seemless, much like WoW, with very few areas you have to port to, a point I dislike about WAR.
PvE would be mostly in the safe areas with epic encounters such as dragons and dungeon lords, requiring a strong realm effort but considerable reward.
Infact you can pretty much take the DAoC/WoW layout as long as there was emphesis on the important places such as border keeps.
PvE / Leveling
This would be diverse. RvR would offer plenty of xp, much like WAR scenarios offer. PvE could be quested or grinded depending on your own preference. In WAR grinding is useless whilst in DAoC quests are generally useless! There would be plenty of mass spawns to allow fast group pulling and AE killing. This would also be the best way to level along with RvR to promote group play.
RvR
My perfect game would ofcourse involve RvR and preferably at least three factions. A keep system similar to the new frontiers DAoC could open the way to the enemies capitol city, much like WAR without the complex zone locking system. Once unlocked the enemy must pass several bottle necks of player defenders before entering the city. Once in they must ransack a temple or the palace to obtain relics. There would be no loot involved, just the bonuses from the relic, titles and realm pride. I don't like the idea of the king dying and respawning in a persistant world so I would keep the king unkillable although available to attack for those who want to see him in action.
To allow the lower levels to compete I would have battlegrounds like DAoC seperated by 5 levels. Each Battleground keep would offer bonuses to a certain frontier keep, providing better armour and weapons. This would increase the level of the guards and their difficulty.
Keeps would be much more like DAoC which I feel led to much more diverse choices than WAR does.
RvR Rewards
This would be similar to the DAoC system where both abilities and passive stat boosts are available. Realm Points (RP) would only be obtained from player kills and be mostly obtained once you had reached max level. I'd also make it so max RR took at least a year to obtain and be a huge achievement. The curve would have to start shallow but suddenly steepen to allow new players to get a decent RR early on and be competative.
Characters / Classes
This is something I think most people like to be as diverse as possible, allowing a wide range of playstyles. DAoC had this down with 15odd choices per realm. It would ofcourse have the regular archtypes and within those the ability to spec uniquely. Quite a vague description but I feel its not generally the classes that make or break a game unless they are very poorly made.
Other Ideas I'm Unsure of
Scenarios - In WAR they are a pain although I think they have their place. Maybe a system where you can join solo/duo/full group or any number and battle against similar numbers (solo always solo/Duo no more than a trio ect). This would only be accessable a limited number of times to prevent people living in there and would do nothing to the realm war. Mechanisms would have to be well thought out and probably very complicated.
Hard Caps - I'm fairly certain I would want to see hard caps on stats. I enjoy making templates and knowing I have maximised my potential. On the other hand soft caps with strong diminishing returns could also work and have more skill involved.
Maps - I personally used to love getting lost. The frustration of dying because you had accidently run into an area 10 levels higher than you! I think it added character to the game and let people learn. In new games theres maps for everything with the right mod (WoW) or just the ingame map (WAR) telling you where to go or what to do. There is little sense of adventure when its all put down infront of you. You look where youre going instead of if your arrow is pointing the right way on the map. For those reasons I'd rather not have any maps and let the players draw some up or to simply learn it by use.
I've already gone on long enough and theres millions of other ideas i'd like to see put together. Pretty sure i've not even explained my points very well but thanks for reading this far!
Being somewhat disappointed with the current state of WAR, reminiscing about DAoC and even considering the strong points from games I don't play such as WoW, I have started to think about what I actually want out of an MMO. I'm also interested where my ideas may diverge from others.
Firstly my passion was for DAoC. I liked the combat system, I liked the realm efforts and I liked the realm community.
My ideal game would be largely based on what DAoC was and is.
Layout
There would be safe areas you would start in behind strong fortresses the other realms couldn't pass. These fortresses would be momumental with plenty of activity within them such as trainers, teleporters, merchants ect making it a social hub. Much like what is seen in DAoC except with more emphesis on them.
The world would be seemless, much like WoW, with very few areas you have to port to, a point I dislike about WAR.
PvE would be mostly in the safe areas with epic encounters such as dragons and dungeon lords, requiring a strong realm effort but considerable reward.
Infact you can pretty much take the DAoC/WoW layout as long as there was emphesis on the important places such as border keeps.
PvE / Leveling
This would be diverse. RvR would offer plenty of xp, much like WAR scenarios offer. PvE could be quested or grinded depending on your own preference. In WAR grinding is useless whilst in DAoC quests are generally useless! There would be plenty of mass spawns to allow fast group pulling and AE killing. This would also be the best way to level along with RvR to promote group play.
RvR
My perfect game would ofcourse involve RvR and preferably at least three factions. A keep system similar to the new frontiers DAoC could open the way to the enemies capitol city, much like WAR without the complex zone locking system. Once unlocked the enemy must pass several bottle necks of player defenders before entering the city. Once in they must ransack a temple or the palace to obtain relics. There would be no loot involved, just the bonuses from the relic, titles and realm pride. I don't like the idea of the king dying and respawning in a persistant world so I would keep the king unkillable although available to attack for those who want to see him in action.
To allow the lower levels to compete I would have battlegrounds like DAoC seperated by 5 levels. Each Battleground keep would offer bonuses to a certain frontier keep, providing better armour and weapons. This would increase the level of the guards and their difficulty.
Keeps would be much more like DAoC which I feel led to much more diverse choices than WAR does.
RvR Rewards
This would be similar to the DAoC system where both abilities and passive stat boosts are available. Realm Points (RP) would only be obtained from player kills and be mostly obtained once you had reached max level. I'd also make it so max RR took at least a year to obtain and be a huge achievement. The curve would have to start shallow but suddenly steepen to allow new players to get a decent RR early on and be competative.
Characters / Classes
This is something I think most people like to be as diverse as possible, allowing a wide range of playstyles. DAoC had this down with 15odd choices per realm. It would ofcourse have the regular archtypes and within those the ability to spec uniquely. Quite a vague description but I feel its not generally the classes that make or break a game unless they are very poorly made.
Other Ideas I'm Unsure of
Scenarios - In WAR they are a pain although I think they have their place. Maybe a system where you can join solo/duo/full group or any number and battle against similar numbers (solo always solo/Duo no more than a trio ect). This would only be accessable a limited number of times to prevent people living in there and would do nothing to the realm war. Mechanisms would have to be well thought out and probably very complicated.
Hard Caps - I'm fairly certain I would want to see hard caps on stats. I enjoy making templates and knowing I have maximised my potential. On the other hand soft caps with strong diminishing returns could also work and have more skill involved.
Maps - I personally used to love getting lost. The frustration of dying because you had accidently run into an area 10 levels higher than you! I think it added character to the game and let people learn. In new games theres maps for everything with the right mod (WoW) or just the ingame map (WAR) telling you where to go or what to do. There is little sense of adventure when its all put down infront of you. You look where youre going instead of if your arrow is pointing the right way on the map. For those reasons I'd rather not have any maps and let the players draw some up or to simply learn it by use.
I've already gone on long enough and theres millions of other ideas i'd like to see put together. Pretty sure i've not even explained my points very well but thanks for reading this far!
u get a basic spell/ability when you level up and then you craft the uppgrades. WoW's combat system because its just so smooth. no runthrough shit tho, well maybe on friendlies, coz its pissing me off in warhammer when ur trying to get past a few "funny guys" blocking the stairs/ramps in a keep.
