New (Different) ideas for developing MMO that is unique

VekoKrava

So, I played this game called Among Us and I wonder why developers did not create something similar so far, but in traditional MMO world.

Imagine this: In a game like AoC, you will have economy, PvP(sieges), PvE and some other systems that isn't really something new and unique, rather improved or ''stolen'' from other MMOs that died in the past (like ship wars or building castles - improving castles etc...)

So I got this idea which is basically stolen from Among Us game, where you have to find who is intruder and punish him (also having to choose will you manipulate or stay silent as an intruder, so basically you have total freedom to do what you wish to do). Imagine if you could work against your guild, or to manipulate your citizens in your own city by working with other leaders. For that, devs need to create many ways to do so, but also create a punishment (maybe justice could be ''destroyed'' armor, removed gold, ban from entering specific city for 300 hours gametime - or all this together, make it appropriate for crime commit or even citizens can vote together or guild) It would be cool for example if devs created many ways, so players can choose if they wish to commit crime. Some basic stuff like burning buildings/farms etc.. or making false alarms or delivering information to other leaders if specific criminal got his hands into some big sweaty PvP guild. He could have an impact on economy via stealing or some other way like burning piles of wood that guild obtained via gathering for preparation or etc... I mean, you have big team, we can help you to create many ways, but you should be able to deliver it in time (I hope so)

I do understand that players will be able to stalk caravans or other players that go to gather stuff, but it would be great if players could do something more, or even create band and become bandits that do not have particular mark, so they can enter city and make chaos, or they can even work for other leaders to make chaos on opposing guild before that same guild that ordered these bandits to do havoc, make a finishing move via attack on city.

I think it would be much better if there is some way of announcing attack (like people did in the past, strong nations did not attack without announcement, that was usual in the past), at any given time like 30 min announcement, then they can attack freely and destroy everything (attack would be easier if bandits destroyed siege weapons on walls etc... this was my point with bandits, sorry if I was not understood)

You can then create work orders like 15min walking around city looking out for intruders and bandits, apply via work table and have timed quest 15min that fails if player leaves city or specific area, you can also create that leader of specific city can put a limit of gold given via these orders (I don't know how complicated this all is to make, but it would make this virtual world much more alive, make cities alive with work and stuff, create different economy system, do not create only professions that we saw so many times in other games that it really is nothing new)

All these things can get much more complicated because if bandit is serving work order for specific area he can have his friends destroy siege weapons and that creates much more fun about how guild will prepare in case if other guild signals attack (30 min notice time), they will probably have their members do that particular work or to have extra defense on walls and structures that are needed for siege protection.

I do not have any ideas, this was all out of my head, but really, if you have any ideas, write below in comment and I hope it is not complicated to create this in game, it all looks easy when you give ideas, but I do not know how hard it is actually.

Azherae

I would not mind seeing the FFXI Campaign interactions or similar things in Ashes, as a form of Node conflict/warfare that is not absolute throw-down PvP.

The system used there would also be decently helpful, since you could realistically limit the number of 'missions' per day due to economy (basically, the Node Taxes paying for the equipment used to do sabotage, recon, procurement, etc, but never actually giving any of this directly to the player).

In both games I play that already use these concepts, players DO engage with them purely for the purpose of their nation/faction/whatever, and don't care as much about personal rewards, so there are probably enough such people that it would work. If not, I feel like Ashes might have other problems.

I don't really know how complicated the implementation in FFXI is, but it seems low (I've built similar things for other games, it's just 'throwing more databases at the problem' mostly). I know that the Elite Dangerous one is a whole system that actually sometimes 'breaks' but it seems to still be 'breaking' only in the ways one would expect from database tallies and desyncs.

The rest would also be an improvement on "Standing around in WhiteGate waiting for the enemy Siege to begin". Sure, you could go out and meet them on their march, but it was both 'less rewarding' to do so, and would eventually frustrate people without proper coordination between players.

I feel that would be the hardest part. The 'pure design' part to make sure it doesn't cause intra-Node friction between players who want one type of the content that can be 'stopped' by success of other players who want the other 'side' of the content.

That sort of 'social experience' might be the sort of thing Ashes is aiming for, though.

While these ideas are not 'Different' or 'Unique' (I'm sure multiple MMOs have them, I just happen to only focus on/know three) they're certainly engaging enough in my opinion, but they're very frustrating when they don't work correctly, since, unlike 'getting disconnected in a PvP siege', errors in the implementation can cause issues with 'command'.

Ace1234

Yes please I love the concept of having some espionage/sabotage systems or other "hidden role" mini-games; sounds fun.

Kilion

While I get and like the idea in general, it seems a bit too constraint in the way of actual participants with enormous consequences for the whole community, with basically no way to counter but filling time and resource sinks for "maintenance" and prevention so to speak - maybe I'm missing the positive incentives to counter sabotage.

Now, in an open dungeon, I think it would be brilliant to have such scenarios, but I'm sceptic about it when it comes to applying a "sabotage system" to Nodes in general. I think the competition over those will be fierce enough as it is with the option to drain the nearby resources, target their caravans and so on. And I would love to see the game not overly focus on Nodes, even though they are core elements. There has to be something worthwhile outside and I think having a Point Of Interest or a dungeon offer such scenarios that could in turn affect nearby Nodes, that would be a "better" approach - to me at least and mainly based on what it feels like for now.

I guess it comes down to ones personal preference and the final "balancing". We need high level Nodes to access interesting new things in it's vicinity, so either has to be possible to build these up without too much hassle (and I think 4-5 months of investment to get to Lv 6 if undisturbed is already quite the hassle in this day and age to many players) OR - and this is where I would reintroduce your idea back to the originally intended spot - they have to become available only at later stages. e.g. for "thief guilds", saboteurs and spy mechanics to become available it requires at least a Lv 5 Node and a Lv 4 non-vassal Node.

This might be a great addition for an expansion especially when it turns out that established Nodes after a year of playing become too well established to be taken down, then I would definitely agree that sabotage mechanics could even become the solution to a real problem.

Strevi

I think these ideas could also be used by
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Social_organizations

These quests will either be cooperative with or adversarial against other nodes based on their mutual war status.[11]

Sabotage.[12]
Espionage.[12]
Intrigue.[12]

Atama

NM, ninja'd.