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Concept: Putting the community back into MMO

Compound quests.

1. The themepark variety. You have 1 man or more groups that go and do there quest which has zero impact on the players around them. Every quest is each groups personal little sandbox.

2. The sandbox variety. Typically your quest might well impact the ability of others to do their quests. But normally you are working alongside someone or against someone rather than with someone. I look at this in the context of the XP gained by every player advances the node in ashes of creation. You arent directly working with them, but you are indirectly working with them.

3. The Node variety. In this context we are referring to a bag of quests that reward all those that have access to it. Thus community endeavour is a mutually advantageous thing. But again we are working alongside each other for mutual interest and nothing more.

So I would like to evolve that one stage further. At the moment solo players will go do their thing from the quest bag. Couples will go do there thing from the quest bag. Groups will do their appropriate quest from the quest bag. And here in lies the problem. They are all still only doing THEIR OWN THING! In spite of every one working for each other. Note I draw no distinction between groups size here as that is not the fundamental issue.

Enter Compound quests. If you look at lord of the rings or something similar. It wasnt just frodo going after the ring, it wasnt just gondor fighting off hordes, it wasnt just the elves doing their thing. There was many players that all worked in parallel. All had their own quests to do at 'exactly' the same time. Success required all parties to succeed in their little bit of the puzzle.

So you create quests that require 1 man group to do something in one direction (stealth/recon/scout/assassin), a 2 man groups required to do something more befitting their groups size somewhere else (theft/espionage), you send a 4 man group elsewhere for a challenge more befitting them (outpost/guards). You send an 8 man group on something more strenuous (frontal assault). And only on the successful completion of all groups (possibly synchronised in parts) does the party succeed.

For far too long we have been at each others throats about group play and solo player and missing the bigger MMO picture. Its working together that matters in an MMO. Its working together as a community to achieve a common goal.

Comments

  • Bonus...when it all over.
    You can meet in a tavern and tell each others stories, in detail, over some good food and a very, very large tankard of ale !
  • To a certain extent, this is already the case in dungeons and raids. You need the group in order to succeed and there is usually a story behind it. However, I understand your point and I would love to see more of these group projects that don't necessarily involve combat.



    [quote quote=25093]
    Bonus…when it all over.
    You can meet in a tavern and tell each others stories, in detail, over some good food and a very, very large tankard of ale !

    [/quote]

    I really hope they add the voip so taverns can become meeting places!
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