The fight to survive

ArchivedUser

Please don't make every situation something you can stab/fireball/heal away. I'd like situations where you are fighting foes too powerful for anyone to beat, like titanic creatures or massive elementals or natural disasters and the goal is to trip you friends  be faster than those around you.

If we are constantly killing every problem then the game just becomes another wack-a-mole MMO with regard to enemies. Maybe other solutions should exist, like pacification or sealing the evil away or leading it away from your node! The last one would give a reason for desperate player vs player fights while the monster is chewing on the unlucky few who tunnel visioned on opposing players.

ArchivedUser

That's what I'm looking forward to! I recall Steven mentioning something along these lines in a livestream, in terms of how other MMOs settle for the whack a mole because it's so easy to just place a bunch of mobs, rather than design something immersive as you suggest

ArchivedUser

Would be great to either capture or lead away a huge mob, then drop it on a rival node.

ArchivedUser

One thing that I don't think Ashes will do, but I hope someone will, is create an aggressively hostile environment.

You see, in every single MMO to date, the environment has just existed.  There was no chance for the player to log in and find things just "gone".  I remember back in 2010 and 2011, I had hoped Rift would be that game that *finally* grabbed this concept and ran with it.  Alas, they took a few tentative steps in that direction, but failed to completely deliver an experience where the player community as a whole could simply "lose".

The concept of loss and losing is one that has been largely forgotten and ignored, and most especially in MMO / RPG games.  It's sad.  I think that the possibility of actually losing the game should exist, and honestly, I can't think of anything more galvanizing for a community than the chance that they could actually lose.

Obviously, a system like that would need checks and balances.  It would be grossly unfair to drop a massive event during a time of very low population.  Nevertheless, re-introducing the concept of loss would be a huge shift in the MMO landscape, one that I think many people would embrace.

ArchivedUser

What does "losing the game" mean in a persistent world where it's always possible to create new characters? That new characters instantly die?

ArchivedUser

@Banditman I think Albion Online satisfy your criteria? Or do you want more? Like the raid bosses leaving their castle and killing noobs left and right?

ArchivedUser

I think by "losing the game" he means that we shouldn't be successful in every endeavor. So there should be events that happen in game that we don't succeed in. Like a world boss spawns to destroy the city we just built. We try our hardest to defend against the beast but we were ill prepared and the Boss destroys our newly built city.

The developers have said we do have a very good chance of losing fight so this is entirely possible. 

ArchivedUser

I see. Then that makes sense, however, the way he puts it makes it look he wants more. 
I think he is looking for something like the destruction of parts of the world because we messed up. An entire map, for instance, sank underwater due to some random giant farting on us too hard.
Anyway, making the environment challenging outside of dungeons by giving them a decent AI will already be amazing >.>. Not the usual "Oh, look my friend the warrior skeleton is getting rekt while I the archer skeleton is looking in the distance waiting for my death instead of helping my fellow monster."

ArchivedUser

Intrepid has mentioned region wide effects for failure, like an unending winter. And they have stated that during winter we will lose access to some areas due to snow, so, indirectly, failure to stop whatever is causing the unending winter will keep us from some content.

ArchivedUser

But I agree, the environment and mobs within them should be challenging in of themselves. Makes doing exploring and mundane killing exciting 

ArchivedUser

Yep, with the dynamic nature of the world I truly hope it will be a living world we play in. I think ESO did this very well but there's a great possibility that Intrepid will take it even further. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

ArchivedUser

I want people to ask themselves if it's truly worth it, when they're staring down a dragon, not expect their character to be some invincible chosen one that conquers all. I want the stories of a person's success against unbelievable odds to be something that said person didn't believe they could do or had figured out.
 I want there to be close calls, escapes and many moments they dodged death by a hair.
 I want people to be chased, it sounds silly but when was the last time you felt like a dragon in a video game was a powerful beast that could kill you in an instant? 
Why do the things we fight in MMOs just act like stationary glue tank to objects that you throw magic or arrows at?
Why can't we see people fleeing on horse-back shooting arrows behind them at a flying dragon and dodging his fiery breathe as he swoops in amongst them trying to bite people or grab them in his talons? They desperately try to reach the safety of the city but not everyone does.
I want this open world to feel like an open WORLD! D=

Sorry just had to rant. ♥

ArchivedUser

Valentines said:

I want people to ask themselves if it's truly worth it, when they're staring down a dragon, not expect their character to be some invincible chosen one that conquers all. I want the stories of a person's success against unbelievable odds to be something that said person didn't believe they could do or had figured out.
 I want there to be close calls, escapes and many moments they dodged death by a hair.
 I want people to be chased, it sounds silly but when was the last time you felt like a dragon in a video game was a powerful beast that could kill you in an instant? 
Why do the things we fight in MMOs just act like stationary glue tank to objects that you throw magic or arrows at?
Why can't we see people fleeing on horse-back shooting arrows behind them at a flying dragon and dodging his fiery breathe as he swoops in amongst them trying to bite people or grab them in his talons? They desperately try to reach the safety of the city but not everyone does.
I want this open world to feel like an open WORLD! D=

Sorry just had to rant. ♥

It is a beautiful rant full of ideals I share

ArchivedUser

I agree.  One of the movies that has always stuck with me the longest is the Denzel Washington movie fallen...Why because in movies the good guy almost always wins and for once the bad guy prevails and saunters off while the good guy ends up face down in the dirt. 

This could be quite tasty...Why does it have to just be uber dragons etc... that cause mayhem? Perhaps a serial murder spawns in your nice new metropolis?  As the death count rises the moral of npc's suffers and perhaps they start packing up and running off. A manhunt ensues and lawlessness rises as a result of a emboldened criminal element.  Lots of fun things you could do if they can really make this a living world instead of a static one.