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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.
My dream MMORPG
ArchivedUser
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The following is a detailed summary of some key design philosophies and features I would like to see in an MMORPG, and I personally am really hoping that Ashes of Creation can deliver upon some of these.
A BEAUTIFUL WORLD:
For me, one of the most appealing aspects of an MMORPG (or any game for that matter), is exploring and discovering beautiful landscapes, diverse biomes and breath taking vistas. I have no preference between photorealism or an artistic graphic style as long as I get to enjoy a full pallet of colours during the course of my adventures. I can't wait to explore towns, forests, jungles, mountains, grasslands, swamps, rivers, lakes, oceans, deserts, ice and snow, caves and more.
DAY AND NIGHT CYCLE:
Self explanatory, I think a real time day/night cycle adds so much to the experience, and is further improved if the cycle influences the world in some way - such as particular events occurring, or different wildlife and monsters appearing at these various times, NPC's going to bed (or waking up!) etc.
DYNAMIC WEATHER:
I think it would be awesome to enjoy an environment under varying weather conditions: sunny one moment then rain storms sweeping in the next, or even the occasional hurricane or lightning storm, hail, sleet or snow. Naturally, different biomes may be more susceptible to a certain weather conditions but mother nature should be a little unpredictable across the entire world! The weather could also influence what events, wildlife and monsters emerge or influence trade and agriculture.
SEASONS:
Similar to the dynamic weather system, seasons will add an additional layer of variety to the environments so things never get old, this can also affect farming and agricultural cycles in regards to artisan professions and trade!
RARITY AND QUALITY:
A big one. I want a real reason to hunt down rare or legendary monsters. I want a real reason to explore the depths of a dark cave, check a crevice or abandoned ruin and search every nook and cranny of a world. The incentive? Loot obviously. As with most MMORPGS that use this system, let's start by breaking down rarity into colour representation:
White
Blue
Green
Yellow
Red
Purple
(For example)
Blue
Green
Yellow
Red
Purple
(For example)
Any monster, NPC or even player in the world can be flagged as one of these colours (for players, the colour will represent corruption - more on that later). The majority of creatures in the world will be white (common), and will drop only white (common) items, equipment or materials. Wolves may be white, but then you may encounter the alpha wolf, uncommon and stronger, but defeating it will yield you guaranteed blue (uncommon) items, equipment or materials. Hunt down a powerful green enemy with a small group of friends, or tackle it alone if you are geared or skilled enough, and reap all the rewards for yourself! A yellow foe might be found at the bottom of a cave (or just roaming a peaceful field to everyone's surprise and terror!). Find reds delving in the depths or soaring in the skies; and run in terror if you're unfortunate enough to encounter a legendary purple foe alone on your trip into town (what on earth is that doing there?!).
Rare or legendary creatures should not be reserved for high level players to enjoy, I would like my level 1 character to chance upon a level 1 legendary creature (with the same measure of chance or active searching as that of a level 50 character). If I rally some more of my level 1 buddies and we manage to bring it down, I will have obtained a legendary item at level 1! Pretty exciting right? But wait, it's awesome, but not that awesome, because the quality level is only 1!
Let's say I defeat a level 1 legendary phoenix and I obtain a QL1 (quality level 1) legendary phoenix feather sword, it's base damage might only be 10 (the same or similar to a common QL1 sword), however, it will have 5 upgrade slots to which I can attach QL1 upgrades, stat boosts, elemental damage attributes etc. (whereas the lesser rarity items have only 4, 3, 2, 1 or 0 slots respectively.)
At level 50 I might encounter my second legendary phoenix, and this time it is a level 50 legendary phoenix and I obtain a QL50 legendary phoenix feather sword. While it still only has 5 upgrade slots, I can attach QL50 upgrades to these slots, plus the base damage of this sword is 1000!
So what of my level 1 legendary phoenix sword? I can salvage it to obtain QL1 legendary crafting materials, which I can either sell, use to repair my QL50 legendary sword when it is damaged, or refine along with other such materials through use of my processing artisan profession into a higher QL. I might even want to salvage my QL50 legendary sword, then acquire some more legendary materials of similar QL and refine them into an even higher QL, then reforge my sword into a higher QL version. The limitations? The rarity and QL of the materials I use, and the skill of the artisans I employ to refine and craft my new gear.
This system, when combined with crafting professions and an item repair system utilising materials, gives value and purpose to every item at every QL in the game, and thus promotes a balanced economy across the entire game while bringing excitement and wonder to exploration and encounters across the entire world at all character levels.
The last thing I want to stress here is that rarity should indeed be a representation of rarity. Common should truly be common, uncommon should truly be uncommon, rare-rare and legendary-legendary!
Remember, if you are lucky enough to acquire a green weapon or piece of armour, it will damage over time and eventually break, so you either need to be wealthy enough (with in game money!) to continually buy green materials to repair it, or hunt enough green monsters that you can replace your green gear as it breaks.
Not everyone can run around in full legendary gear, because there simply won't be enough legendary encounters or treasures across the world to supply that entire world with the legendary materials necessary to maintain all that gear. Legendary gear ultimately becomes a reward for legendary players, those who invest enough time into the game to maintain it, or guild leaders or kings who tax their populous to fund it. I would like to see green or yellow gear be the average, even at end game, swaying one way or the other based on a player's activity or position of power and wealth within the world.
Rare or legendary creatures should not be reserved for high level players to enjoy, I would like my level 1 character to chance upon a level 1 legendary creature (with the same measure of chance or active searching as that of a level 50 character). If I rally some more of my level 1 buddies and we manage to bring it down, I will have obtained a legendary item at level 1! Pretty exciting right? But wait, it's awesome, but not that awesome, because the quality level is only 1!
Let's say I defeat a level 1 legendary phoenix and I obtain a QL1 (quality level 1) legendary phoenix feather sword, it's base damage might only be 10 (the same or similar to a common QL1 sword), however, it will have 5 upgrade slots to which I can attach QL1 upgrades, stat boosts, elemental damage attributes etc. (whereas the lesser rarity items have only 4, 3, 2, 1 or 0 slots respectively.)
At level 50 I might encounter my second legendary phoenix, and this time it is a level 50 legendary phoenix and I obtain a QL50 legendary phoenix feather sword. While it still only has 5 upgrade slots, I can attach QL50 upgrades to these slots, plus the base damage of this sword is 1000!
So what of my level 1 legendary phoenix sword? I can salvage it to obtain QL1 legendary crafting materials, which I can either sell, use to repair my QL50 legendary sword when it is damaged, or refine along with other such materials through use of my processing artisan profession into a higher QL. I might even want to salvage my QL50 legendary sword, then acquire some more legendary materials of similar QL and refine them into an even higher QL, then reforge my sword into a higher QL version. The limitations? The rarity and QL of the materials I use, and the skill of the artisans I employ to refine and craft my new gear.
This system, when combined with crafting professions and an item repair system utilising materials, gives value and purpose to every item at every QL in the game, and thus promotes a balanced economy across the entire game while bringing excitement and wonder to exploration and encounters across the entire world at all character levels.
The last thing I want to stress here is that rarity should indeed be a representation of rarity. Common should truly be common, uncommon should truly be uncommon, rare-rare and legendary-legendary!
Remember, if you are lucky enough to acquire a green weapon or piece of armour, it will damage over time and eventually break, so you either need to be wealthy enough (with in game money!) to continually buy green materials to repair it, or hunt enough green monsters that you can replace your green gear as it breaks.
Not everyone can run around in full legendary gear, because there simply won't be enough legendary encounters or treasures across the world to supply that entire world with the legendary materials necessary to maintain all that gear. Legendary gear ultimately becomes a reward for legendary players, those who invest enough time into the game to maintain it, or guild leaders or kings who tax their populous to fund it. I would like to see green or yellow gear be the average, even at end game, swaying one way or the other based on a player's activity or position of power and wealth within the world.
NO FIXED CLASSES:
I hate choosing a class that predetermines who my character is and what he can do. I much prefer games where I can shape my character exactly as I wish. Certainly there can exist archetypes within the world - trainers for example - from whom I can opt to acquire skills and abilities as my character progresses. But if I want to be a jack of all trades, master of none, please let me. If I want to be a mage in heavy armour or a hard hitting warrior in a robe, please let me - everything should be possible. Let me discover exciting builds and near limitless skill combinations to make my character truly unique by utilizing skills from an array (or even all) archetypes. If I want to tank, swing a greatsword, root my enemy with magical vines, stealth up, teleport away, heal myself then buff my allies, please let me, though I understand I shouldn't be able to do any of these things as well as a pedigree character. Logical pros and cons should inevitably factor into my choices.
NO MAX LEVEL:
You heard me! Games become boring to me once I'm as powerful as I can be - there is nothing left to aim for and no further ways to gain an edge over my enemies other than to hone my reflexes and rotations. Before you start laughing at the prospect of level 2,235,933 characters, let me explain how this can work. There can be a 'max level' achievable through PVE, let's say 50. At level 50 you could hunt down the rarest, most dangerous and legendary creatures in the world and still progress no further, so what next?
PVP. From here on, you can only level by defeating willing combatants (those flagged blue or above) of a similar level. But beware, beyond this point your xp will begin to decay, so the higher the level you reach, the harder it will be to maintain. Moreover, you will become a prime target for bounty hunters and thrill seekers who want to track you down and rise to the challenge of defeating you for some much needed experience of their own. Don't expect to prey on the weak or unwilling, this will not provide you with new experience and will only make you corrupt! Which takes me to...
PVP. From here on, you can only level by defeating willing combatants (those flagged blue or above) of a similar level. But beware, beyond this point your xp will begin to decay, so the higher the level you reach, the harder it will be to maintain. Moreover, you will become a prime target for bounty hunters and thrill seekers who want to track you down and rise to the challenge of defeating you for some much needed experience of their own. Don't expect to prey on the weak or unwilling, this will not provide you with new experience and will only make you corrupt! Which takes me to...
CORRUPTION:
I love the idea of being able to attack and defeat any player in the world, or be attacked and defeated myself any time anywhere - it brings a sense of danger and thrill to everything I do and everywhere I go and it drives the creation of real alliances, real friendships, real enemies, and real conflict over a resource, treasure or geographical advantage. I realise however, that this can be an easily abused system, and this is where corruption comes in.
As an innocent player you will be flagged white and if killed you may drop only white (common) items. A loss, but no great loss! Like rarity, a colour representation can progress as follows:
White
Blue
Green
Yellow
Red
Purple
Blue
Green
Yellow
Red
Purple
Being killed while any of these colours will cause you to potentially drop some of your loot of that corresponding colour/rarity. This will become a game of risk/reward.
Corruption will accrue similarly to experience and will take progressively longer to 'level' your corruption tier.
- As a white player you will not accrue any corruption by initiating combat on a player of higher corruption tier to yourself.
- As a corrupt player, you will not accrue more corruption by initiating combat on a player of equal corruption tier to yourself.
- As a corrupt player you will not accrue more corruption by retaliating on a player less or more corrupt than yourself, providing they initiated combat. So if you are corrupt, you can defend yourself without further consequence!
- As a corrupt player, you will not accrue more corruption by initiating combat on a player of equal corruption tier to yourself.
- As a corrupt player you will not accrue more corruption by retaliating on a player less or more corrupt than yourself, providing they initiated combat. So if you are corrupt, you can defend yourself without further consequence!
- As a white player you will accrue corruption by initiating combat on another white player.
- As a corrupt player you will accrue more corruption by initiating combat on a player less or more corrupt than yourself. You will accrue more corruption the less corrupt your target is than yourself, and less corruption the more corrupt your target is than yourself.
- As a corrupt player you will accrue more corruption by initiating combat on a player less or more corrupt than yourself. You will accrue more corruption the less corrupt your target is than yourself, and less corruption the more corrupt your target is than yourself.
Corruption will naturally decay over time, allowing you to remove it by behaving for a period of time and merely defending yourself.
Corrupt players will be marked on the map along with their corresponding corruption colour for all to see, giving nearby players an opportunity to either flee or band together to bring them to justice.
CRAFTING MUST YIELD THE BEST ITEMS IN THE GAME:
A game based around resource, economy and conflict must have crafting, processing and gathering at it's core. If the only way an individual, guild or city can acquire the best items in the game is to craft them, they must seize control of the best resources, economies and locations around the world to achieve that.
Yes there should be amazing and exciting loot to acquire from PVE, including legendary items, but all items and resources found in PVE should ultimately be components for the players themselves to create the finest items, giving maximum reason for strife and territorial control.
That QL50 legendary phoenix feather sword mentioned earlier could be one of the finest items found in PVE, but an artisan can then opt to salvage that item for it's raw materials, and along with the aid of some other legendary materials, create a QL55 legendary phoenix feather sword not obtainable any other way! Only acquirable if the populous responsible for obtaining those materials had access to the necessary resources!
In a world constructed this way, different regions might be home to the finest weapons, other regions home to the finest armours, the finest food, the finest alchemist potions or the fastest mounts based on their geographical location, leadership and advancement decisions.
One kingdom cannot control every resource so they must choose their friends and foes wisely, trade, hunt, war or try to gather or loot particular resources or treasures that can only be found within an enemy's territory, far far away.
To me, a combination of all these design philosophies will create an ever changing, intense, scary, wonderful and exciting world where I can continually better my position, my power and make a name for myself! Some of you will love my thoughts, others will hate them, I understand that, but I wanted to voice my opinions, thanks for reading.
Yes there should be amazing and exciting loot to acquire from PVE, including legendary items, but all items and resources found in PVE should ultimately be components for the players themselves to create the finest items, giving maximum reason for strife and territorial control.
That QL50 legendary phoenix feather sword mentioned earlier could be one of the finest items found in PVE, but an artisan can then opt to salvage that item for it's raw materials, and along with the aid of some other legendary materials, create a QL55 legendary phoenix feather sword not obtainable any other way! Only acquirable if the populous responsible for obtaining those materials had access to the necessary resources!
In a world constructed this way, different regions might be home to the finest weapons, other regions home to the finest armours, the finest food, the finest alchemist potions or the fastest mounts based on their geographical location, leadership and advancement decisions.
One kingdom cannot control every resource so they must choose their friends and foes wisely, trade, hunt, war or try to gather or loot particular resources or treasures that can only be found within an enemy's territory, far far away.
To me, a combination of all these design philosophies will create an ever changing, intense, scary, wonderful and exciting world where I can continually better my position, my power and make a name for myself! Some of you will love my thoughts, others will hate them, I understand that, but I wanted to voice my opinions, thanks for reading.
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Comments
@jalias , well-done, I agree with most of this
I'd add jumping puzzles, puzzles and riddles and then it would be my dream mmorpg as well .
I also am not 100% sure if I share the opinion "crafting must give best items in game". I'd like a small chance to obtain some best items from the harderst PVE content not only just from crafting Just to feel the excitement when opening chests etc.
But I agree crafting should be one of they ways to obtain best gear.
They've already stated that there will be dedicated classes, but they've also stated that any class could feasibly wear any armor and use any item. I think that this system is probably better than a totally classless system, but hopefully has enough variety for you. I'm personally not a fan of a classless system, the reason being is that while the concept is nice of being able to do a little bit of everything, in practice it almost always ends up being where there are a few 'best paths' that end up being more restrictive than classes.
I'm very much a fan of a class system where each class has unique strengths that other classes can come near to, but can never fully reach. For example, if I'm a cleric, I had better be the best healer available. Sure, maybe that mage can heal, but he can only reach 80-90% of my healing, and we provide different buffs. Or for example, if I'm a Bard, I had better have unique buffs that no one else even has similar buffs to. Sure, the summoner can change his summon to reduce the damage the group takes, but he can't do that while also increasing the amount of healing we receive- I can!
Yes, you can achieve this with a classless system. I know that. The idea would be to have branching paths that many games do, where as you take points in one tree you unlock further points in that tree, perhaps with specific crossover points so you aren't locked into one tree or just the bottom 3rd of 3 trees and instead can branch into the other trees based on the playstyle. Or have one tree where you can pick and choose from different archtypes within one tree and mix and match, etc. I just happen to prefer a system that allows flexibility within a class, but the class if it decides to should be top dog in it's area of expertise.
Downsides to this are the need to make, gear, and level alt characters should you want to branch out, but for me, this just increases the amount of game time available, since I love alts. Another downside is that specific classes will be wanted moreso for certain encounters, and people with one class may find it hard to do certain content unless they find a group of quality people, but this can be defeated by designing encounters and balancing the classes so that each class has a spot in a group and just have a flexible style for grouping (IE having a tank-bard-mage-rogue where you have no dedicated healer but soft healing and good damage mitigation, versus cleric-summoner-ranger-rogue, where you have a dedicated healer but only a soft tank in the summoner pet).
I dunno. Maybe we just feel differently on the matter.
Edit: Also, I forgot about mentioning the dual class system, where your primary class chooses your abilities, and the secondary class that lets you affect and change those abilities to further fit your style. For example, mage/mage makes your fireball spell into a larger AoE, but mage/bard causes your fireball spell to lower the target's fire resistance, and mage/rogue causes your fireball to burst into ashes, blinding all affected targets for a second (not confirmed, just an idea I though of that seems valid). It seems like they are giving us dedicated classes, but also providing plenty of variety within a class as well. Hopefully this can make it the best of both worlds.