Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
ex: needing resins from an alchemist to treat your lumber and planks.
When they changed it to going from raw meterials to final product in a single craft it destroyed the economy and ruined the game for me personally.
My first ever MMO was Lineage 2, well what can i tell you about that? I guess the unique selling point in lineage 2 was its castle system and the region it belonged to. Knowing that what ever the amount of tax you placed as a castle owner flowed back in to your clan when something got sold in that region! It was also one of those first MMO's that was not anywhere near mainstream what made it very hard to lvl, and on top of that craft gear! You really did need help from your clan to farm anything at certain lvl, also there were extremely little bosses that dropped end game gear! Which made farming mandatory! Back then walking around with B or even A grade gear gave you a certain type of status, as well as the satisfaction you reached something! mainstreaming games is fine, but the question you need asking your self is .... at what point does something that you carelessly slap on as an upgrade lost all the meaning and its satisfaction reaching it! i remember playing L2 up until C3 when it started to mainstream a bit. I lost interest and quite just like most of my friends and clan/alliance mates! overal it had a very nice feel to it though, and it left me craving for more
i found more in how else could it have been WoW which i started playing well in to vanilla but still doing a good portion of its content, for me wow died during cata release. the game went way over the top mainstreaming. although i do buy every single expansion i never end up buying it day 1! i usually comeback to see whats new, and play a couple of weeks end up max lvl with on par gear and go for those collectables! ( what can i say i like collecting ) I guess one of the major features in wow these days for me is that you can collect so many things and store them properly! it used to be the diversity of the classes and the way you could play with cookiecutter classes and how you could min max on gear by changing values. since they thrown that out of the window it really became a dull game for just about every one!
I then set out for a new MMO and found AION, at first i was stunned by this beauty of a game. the wings gave the game mechanics a nice twist! unfortunately when it came to pvp and sieges ... the game seemed to have some problems with unbearable lag! On top of that the wings became more of a hassle then that it was a unique feature and i lost interest once again
i briefly stopped by Swtor and loved the story line content, this was very well executed, and the fact it was completely voice acted was very appealing, however it lacked its own unique feature. It was more of the same like wow and had no end content. the mindlessly slapping on new upgrades started again and i quickly opted out before it became even more time consuming!
i started looking for something more unique and finally found it a few years a go in a game called archeage. Any one on these forums that did not play that game? really if you havent there is time to try it out before AOC launches! What can i say about archeage? It is a game that has it all! Its a true sandbox MMORPG with various ways of how to play! You can literally do anything and everything in this game, start a clan/guild and an alliance. start your own faction! participate in castle sieges and become an owner and build your own castle! build houses, farms, storing units and much more on rentable land! build and craft everything from high gear to materials you need to craft high paying goods! its even got a very lucrative way of trade with packs that you create your self, that will be bound to be the reason for a skirmish or two with your rivals! You can build your own ships, cars and even wagons to transport your trading packs in! It is in one word a marvel of a game! however it is not with out flaws! It was launched here in the EU and NA by a company that sadly chose a very poor business model. A cash shop was installed that would guarantee that o so pesky little thing called P2W whales to take over the market quickly. Although that was sad by it self, the service by the publisher Trion was horrendous, so was their way of maintaining and modding the game. it frequently launched new patches with various bugs and game breaking mechanics! That in it self would not been to bad if they wouldn't have known about it! But that's just the thing .... they did! Frequently players that had played the content on the test server had noticed the problems, and made them aware of it! despite all that the devs just opted to launch anyway which crashed the market several times and placed the game in a very unbalanced spot in very little time! You would think that the publisher would learn from this alas .... they did not! It still frequently happens that patches with various bugs make it to the game! It makes it unbearable to play for very long! there is however one more thing that did put archeage in another bad spot for me ... its labour system! practically every action you make ( other then pvp or combat ) costs labour which you only had a limited supply of! there were ways to get around it to get you more labour but it either ment spending time on multiple accounts or spending an enormous amount of money! Despite all this Archeage stays a piece of marvelous gaming experience! If it just had launched with a normal sub model and not so tight in with this labour system, and would have had a good dev and customer support behind it! I would have played it for years! Alas .... it was not ment to be true!
Now through all this what kept me engaged through those games?
I guess from the last years it really was the sandbox experience that drawn me in! The fact that you can really do anything anywhere at any time! In most games i loved the social aspect and interaction with others! I also liked how satisfactory it was getting through difficult content both alone and with groups! i found the coordination with others always one of the + points of MMO gaming!
What i still miss though in new MMO's is the uniqueness of your character! In all the games as soon as you hit end game ... almost every single class looks exactly like you! which is a lack luster in most games! Blizzard these days thinks they solved it with transmog gear! which is a nice feature ... however underneath the skin all classes still are min/maxing there skills and stats ( in how far that is possible ) guaranteeing you that each player of the same class, is playing that same class the exact same way! I would love to see new games bring back cookie cutter specs! or even the option to influence base stats to either build your class on different mind sets for example a very survival based spec whit lots of stamina and toughness, a spec solely based on high physical damage by speccing a lot of crit or even dex! and so on .. so just the manipulation of base stats! doesn't even need to be a large amount if its just with incremental steps after you reach lets say a max level cap you install a endless soft cap that will give you points to spent every single lvl.
on top of that aesthetics it self is one of those things i wouldn't mind seeing changed! why not make gear that way that it has a blanc way of looks and upgradable the way you see fit, with various variations on the same piece of gear with all kinds of things to manipulate a flap here a zipper there color of that part orange and another green! you would even give those pieces a set of blanc stats which you .. like your base stats then fill in with Secondairs! that would cause that no character would finally ever be like the other!
If AOC can do all of that or even a portion of it ... i would be a happy camper!!
Animations, Sounds, Combat System, Graphics(graphical effects of abilities, Art Design) are probably the most important parts for me.
Story, Lore, Immersion and such things are also highly important and not to be neglected, but they come 2nd for me.
SWTOR, for example, failed the above category in most aspects. It felt disgustingly lazy. but did pretty well on the 2nd category I feel.
ESO, as another example, did pretty well for me, but animations and graphical effects of abilities also were lackluster and felt lazy. (Was even worse at launch, scarily enough)
AoC is too early in stage for me to tell, but it's looking good so far, it's got a LOOOOT of work to go.
Get me out of my city, give me a reason to interact with the world rather then endless menu options. I want to log in and plan a journey from one corner of the map to the other and have that travel be potentially dangerous.
Creating a vibrant world.
"Revolutionising" the grind.
Heavily Encouraging cooperation.
What if AOC actually change the way monsters moved, spawned and reacted to each other with different level players? Dont know about you all but I’m so tired of playing an MMORPG that when I’m level 1 everything around me is kiddy style with no fear for the player of dying. I'm not saying make level 30 monsters around the newbie area but here is what I’m saying....
What if AOC actually change the way monsters moved, spawned and reacted to each other and different level players? Dont know about you all but I’m so tired of playing an MMORPG that when I’m level 1 everything around me is kiddy style with no fear for the player of dying. I'm not saying make level 30 monsters around the newbie area but here is what I’m saying....
1. Every "enemy/mob/ zone boss or mini boss/ world boss" is 100% mobile. As in in this zone each time you log in you have no idea where the goblins are for example. Instead of "oh yea go North and kill 100 goblins then move South and kill trolls for 2 hours then your level 5. Now leave the zone (never to be seen again which sucks for artist who spent time creating it).
2. What if monsters had specific relationships to one another? As in if you find the trail of monster X you will find monster Y nearby because we as the player learn that monster X hunts or hates monster Y.
3. Sounds sounds and more sounds...The best games I played were not always the ones with the best visual stimulation. Sounds that mean something add a dynamic that i think is so lost in MMO's. Between the over zealous graphics for every action you do and the in-game music blasting in your ear constantly, good sounds have taken a back seat big time. Imagine if you’re out with your buds and all of a sudden, the in-game music softly fades and so does the surrounding wild life. Now you standing in total silence just before something attacks you from a cave you didn't notice. Or drops from a tree, or crawls out of the ground. What if you could hear certain noises off in the distance that signal trouble or an important action you might want to investigate.
4. Full on weather + night day cycle is a must. million ideas here but i will save it lol.
5. What if monsters sensed you’re a bad A$^ (higher level) and moved away from you in fear. Or what if mobs tracked you and gathered in a pack minutes later (based on your size of party/ level) to jump you by surprise! Notice the monster/ animal tracking your party and your gtg. Wander without paying attention and you pay the price.
6. You know you have the environment right when players travel they feel on edge. Notice I didn't say make it unbelievably hard. I said create a sense of realism like real life situations. A spot that was chill yesterday could have a full-on riot today. If players can make a guide of where to go and who to kill to get to level cap in 5 hours you did it wrong.
7. I could go on for hours but these are some idea/ concepts that are achievable and are the little things that make an MMO great in my humble opinion. Thanks all.
1. Trying to please "please nerf, I don't want to use my brain" kiddos and removing any skill from the game (looking at you, WoW!)
2. Grind. Daily chores, weekly chores. Feels like work.
3. Braindead fights, no mechanics, bosses that die in two hits.
4. Dull, copy-pasted world, NPCs, dungeons.
5. Inflation by having nothing you can spend money on.
If you allow players to create content that others can come in and destroy or capture, then those players will log in at 4am to defend it if they have too.
Now that I'm not 22 anymore, I really don't want to have to get on at 4am though...just saying.
Smooth combat movement and controls. It doesn't have to be pretty if it plays well.
Content at "level cap" upon launch. A game that launches and thinks that they have 3-6 months to create their "endgame" after launch, is sorely mistaken and will lose most of their top end players before they ever get there.
Skill should be king. I want to be able to roll a zerg with my small man group if we're just better players. I want to be able to 1vX if I outplay them. Maybe part of that is gear advantage. But losing a fight because they have more people is a pet peeve of mine.
very difficult to find interesting, detailed and designed well system of character development with wide possibilities for experimentation (POE not in count - their structure and design are not so good)
Only a few games(in my humble opinion) has pretty "normal"/interesting and deep CPS -SWG: PreNGE(closed)/ Crowfall ("Shadowbane legacy" -still in development): NwN and Grimdawn + mb Pillars of Eternity 2 (in dev.)-if talk about single rpgs.
2. Class originality / authenticity. Player should "fill" his class and classes should has some "logic" in design: they should be original and in same time fit their "iconic image".
Bad primer -Rift: most souls(classes) fills like "artificial" parodies:druid did not feel like a druid (just fighter with couple pets and some utillities), shaman did not feel like a shaman (just fighter with air damage skills), river (dark knight - antipaladin) did not feel like a river (just dude with some dots).
3. Good/balanced equipment system. Items should be more flexible in performing their functions. Weapons could have different combat styles(offencive/deffencive) and different "goals" + If players wears quarterstaff - it does not mean he is mage-he could be very good in close combat with it: or if player wear robe -it doesn't mean -he is easy target - he could be sort of "light" tank with evasion/deflection spec. etc.
If that is done well, that will be great.
and character creation, While I know it is based on bdo, I still just wish it is done right so I can make my character well.
- Guild/Clan involvement, no huge scale achievements or goals should be obtainable as a solo entity, put the multiplayer back into mmo. On top of this money sinks with taxes, investments, campaigns, buildings/structures, claims etc. with the added rewards that go with time, effort and coordination. Just avoid the never ending 'respawning resource nodes' and repeated dailys that just drain the life from everything.
- Unique quests that change over time, do away with repeatable basic quests and allow NPC's and organisations to put up new quests that differ based on their actual needs. Hell go one step further and allow player guilds to host quests (with rewards) in times of war or to boost their claim dominance over other groups. Anything from "slay that encroaching orc hoard" to "quest to assassinate enemy guild official" (bounties in essence, pvp based questing.... there's a thought?)
- No fixed starting classes and no ability to be a "one-man-army" and learn it all, force people to work together to get the "end-game". A blacksmith should be able to craft certain gears that they've researched (solo or through organisations) and develop their ability to craft those gears through repeated well.... crafting! You get better with EXPERIENCE not points in skill trees. Also if you spend 100 days crafting and nothing else then you'll be crappy in combat but your wares will be sought after by many and you'll likely be a commodity unto yourself. Likewise an expert swordsman isn't going to necessarily be able to make his own weapon however his ability with a blade will have him greatly coveted by combat guilds that have blacksmiths on hand or on contract. The ability to actual give your character a purpose and place in an online world is what it means to RP, being able to do everything and literally do everything exactly the same as everyone else is a game killer tbh, zero uniqueness. It also means if you're the best in your field then you truly are the best in your field, time and effort pay off for those who work at it, risk vs. reward.
- Open world PvP, so long as PvP is balanced and there's a degree of risk vs. reward then bring back open world PvP to gaming, care bears need not apply if they can't take precautions and it'll stop the rich merchant/gatherer/crafters getting richer without risk. Everything should be risk vs. reward as it encourages group play (guilds!) and adds competitiveness (fun!) but like I said, finding that balance
- Realistic combat (that's still able to flow... too difficult?) please no click and go spells/skills, there's no actual skill involved when the only way to dodge that fireball is to use a spell shield. Dodging should be just that, if you want to hit a target with a bow then you need to learn to aim, same goes for skills. Tanks should be just that, tanky but at the same time what they gain in heavy defence they lose in mobility, a heavy armoured juggernaut shouldn't be able to chase down a leather armoured archer but they are able to negate most damage from unskilled marksmen. Also a cloth armoured mage shouldn't be able to survive a spear strike to the gut unless they have some high tier defence magic or they're positioned behind a strong front line (tanks), of course a strong back row of ranged fighters will still be a threat, that's life. If you're a poor swordsman and your blows may only glance instead of kill, likewise if you're a crappy mage your fireball shouldn't be blowing people up, proportional damage based on your experience in a set field, instead of being a pro-from creation type genius.
Team work, positioning, formations, tactics, strategy are all things I'd like to see, and I'd even settle for slower (real pace) combat to achieve this over the modern setting of button bash for flashy pointless skills with fixed damage.
- Player economy, non-renewable resource nodes (random spawns based on world events and area mechanics). An area has an abundance of iron weapons on the market in city A? Then watch the price fall locally as they're a common commodity, better profit to sell the ore itself and transport to city B to sell for increased rates? Excellent! Oh wait... a bandit guild operates in the area between city A and city B lately, better hire a guard unit from a local mercenary guild for the caravan, now does that still make it more profitable to transport... options, options and again it comes back to risk vs. reward. How to stop care-bears dominating through wealth over skill? Add risk to most actions and only the most dedicated, skilled and organised will make it to the top and feed their benefits to those lower down the food chain at a price. The strong stay strong through effort not easily abused mechanics, just add risk
- Reduced ability to spam farm, no repeat instances that spawn a new boss miraculously every time a new group enter. Sure have rare NPC boss encounters but a raid boss style super yeti with no material goods shouldn't drop magical earrings, they die and are harvested for their natural resources. If the magical earrings require the blood of a super yeti then wahay! You have the resource, now go find someone with the skills capable of utilising it, nobody in your guild? Dang... better trade it to someone else, what you traded and they refused to give you the finished goods? How dare they! Better put it to your guild leader to negotiate. Their guild leader laughed at yours?! War! *throws out bunch of quests and war recruitment, crushes enemy guild and although never recovers the magical earrings is now the new Baron of what was once enemy lands* <-- amazing how things can progress when rare things are actually rare?
TLDR;
- Guild/group functions (lots!)
- No repeatables, have an evolving world/community
- Make characters unique, get rid of fixed class trees and stat/skill "points systems"
- Open world PvP, says it all, make those care bears work for it (or work together)
- Realistic combat, no click-and-go skill spam. Emphasis on skill rather than stats.
- Player economy, a realistic market that swells or shrinks based on consumer need.
- Non-renewable resource nodes, new resources must be discovered and spawn based on how an area evolves/changes and is effected by events.
- No equipment farming, everything is craft based, nobody is obliged to be nice, risk vs. reward for the goodies.
- Risk Vs. Reward - Bring back real gaming -
Being able to set up messages, recruitment, permissions, and alliances are key to me. I mean we all play games for a different reason, but I play it for it's social aspect.
Game play is very important, but if I have no one to play the game with it's not going to be a game I stick with.
Love when people write good TLDR section.
Good post.
1. I want a strong economy that I feel like I am contributing to. I want to be able to go into my game and work on swords or armor and have them be bought by ppl.
2. I want weapons that are crafted to be just a step below the weapons you get from raids and dungeons, but just a little bit ahead of the random crops that we get off of creeps.
3. I would like to see blacksmiths be able to buff weapons( I.E. sharpen) or buff armor, not a perma buff tho one that last an hr or 2.
4. it would be nice that only high lvl blacksmiths could only insert gems or mods onto weapons or armor. That would keep blacksmiths in busness and want people to become one or want people to have them.
This way the "best blacksmith" really is the best through time and effort and more likely to sell wares rather then being 1 in a group of thousands all spamming the same repetitive junk over and over (destroying any sort of chance at a decent economy).