Ok, so there is a lot going on in the MMO industry these days, it seems that devs are finally starting to realize that the current line of MMO design thought isn't working.
If I was a dev (and I'm not and far to old and indebt with too many kids to be switching careers) here are some of the things I would look at changing.
Classes
Classes are one of those things that devs are sticking to like like super glue. I ask myself "why is that?" The only real reason I can see is because they are "easy" and the community is more then willing to except them. But what "classes" really do? Well they are basically are restricted skill set. They make it easier for a dev to balance against other classes. By confining a person to a specific role, it makes it easier to design. The MORE restrcted the role, the easier to make. I think we see this idea in just about every MMO.
So what is the alternitive you ask? Obviously a skill based system. Using an optional "profession" so that you get an idea for the opporating framework is fine but after the initial creation the player should be able to pick and chose HOW THEY WANT TO DEVELOPE THEIR CHARACTER THEMSELVES. The only MMO's I have seen that successful do this are Asherons Call, EVE and pre-NGE SWG. All very successful games in their day with EVE still going strong.
Levels
Whats the first thing players want to do when they see levels? Get past them. Finish them. Get to the cap. For some reason CRPG players seem to think that there is some sort of reward for finishing levels in record time. MMO devs have accomidated this thinking with easier and baser point grinds. If the object of the levels in the players mind is to finish them and get them out of the way, why have them? Several companies have even indirectly acknoledged this with the idea of "free levels" namely Mythic and DAoC and now WoW with its refer a friend program. Whats the message? "We know leveling is dull so we will reward you with the ability to skip it". Hows that for a kick in the eye?
Levels are the root of all evil in MMO IMHO. Everything from pointless level & faction grinds, power leveling, botting and farming. ALL of it is driven by levels. In fact at this point, I cynically doubt you could take them out as the MMO community would collapse into arachy and chaos without them.
Raids
Now the idea of the Raid was started by SOE in EQ. The most despised MMO maker in the genre and yet the player community has latched onto this convention like a drowning man does to a life preserver. Devs have followed suit. Now I have no idea how many people in MMO's actually participate and better yet, how many actually enjoy "raiding" but I do know that it does not get a whole lot of love in public.
Even the simplier games like WoW have come to realize the flaws of this system reducing both the amount of people required and the time commitments.
Whos brainchild was it to make these things for 40 people anyway? What sort of arbatary off the cuff number is that? Why is it so restricted and more importantly why is the concept of good content reserved for the upper tier "levels" anyway?
And probably the most obvious reasoning why its a bad idea...because its an SOE concept. Come on people, why would anyone stick with an SOE idea?
MMO's should have fun, meaningful and challenging content throughout the entire game.
But again, why do that when you only need to worry about the last "level"? Makes it easier for the devs. Add in a single raid dungeon and "oh look, we have challenging endgame".
ENDGAME
A curse on the dev who came up with that! In the beginning MMO's were virtual worlds that players had the freedom to play and do what they wanted at anypoint (mechanics allowing them to become better / more proficient over time) Non-linear gameplay was what MMO's were all about vs the linear gameplay of most other games. Now however MMOs have turned on a dime and in some cases are MORE linear then even console games.
Again IMHO this is just done for ease of design nothing more. Why bother with deverse gameplay when you can ramrod a player into a class with a linear level progression path and the illusion of the "most fun and reward" at the end?
Summing it up...
The core issues with MMOs as I see it is devs taking the easy route of design and the players totally buying into their laziness and allowing to continue.
The next time you see a game releasing look for these things and ask yourself...self, do I really want to do this again????
User Comments
Interesting points you make here. Several of the things you've covered are things I've discussed numberous times with gamers and developers. People out there see these problems. I just hope in the future more rogue developers are willing to step up and bat these convential designs to hell. Kudos to you.
I completely agree as well. I have seen nothing but the exact same boring games coming out, simply with a different skin and title. The problem is becoming just as you said.....laziness. Companies know what WILL sell, and are designing off of that, as opposed to taking a chance and being original, or even just different and maybe not selling as well. It all boils down to what the company thinks they have to lose. Why be original and possibly not make any money when we can create a clone that we know WILL sell a mediocre amount.
I fully agree with every thing your saying. It has taken me a while to understand that your right about the level thing. what opened my eyes was a friend of mine. He had stoped leveling up his WoW character, for because he was tring to make a twink, but because he was on a RP server and he wanted to play a young and inexperianced fighter.
I'd think the main reason raids are bad is because I wouldn't even be able to easily find 20 cool people I wanted to play with let alone 40. It seems like MMOs are turning more into co-op type games that would only be fun if I had a friend who played and we only played together. Infact I think one of the main reasons some of the "carebear" things work is because you have to group with some random idiots. If they screwed up and you ended up losing all your stuff, it would be pretty ugly. People already complain enough, and in most games I've played you lose practically nothing but time.
those points are the reason i play the indy games that have rouge devs in controll and stay away from the monster games that have 100k plus players on day 1
lets face it the big publishers dont care about us but the indy games have to so it stands to reason that some of the indy games will be better than the big ones
sure you will probally have to put up with bugs and less players than you are use to but would you rather have bugs and fewer players around and have good or diffrent game play with devs who like the game they are makeing and care about you the consumer
or do you want few bugs (though this is not all that granteed when games come out half baked from the big publishers and want you to pay for alpha) lots of players around and crap game cloned play and no dev contact or some similar sort of thing
there are several games out there some of them on the games list in this forum (starquest online for example) that have gotten compleatly rid of these conventions and i can tell you the players are not in a state of constant anarchay they have no classes no raids no levels no gold sellers and end game is well yea non existant in the form that we know it as
i see somany people saying there are no MMOs out there that are diffrent you just have to look to find them and you will have to put up with some problems but what are compared to what the big publishers feed us now nothing so i implor you to first look at the indy games then complain about no devs makeing the games you want
This is a fair assessment,however I would like to pose the following questions:
1) How may Pin and Paper role playing games have you played?
2) How is leveling a skill different from leveling a Role?
3) With the known programming languages in use,How do we change the Role Playing game formula?
See untill we come up with a new system for Role Playing,and new programming languages to fit that new system we will always have levels.Just a thought.
@zanthorn
we don't "just have class / levels" now.
UO, Asherons Call, Ryzom, old SWG, EVE are all skill based just to name a few. Fallen Earth and Earth Rise will also be skill based.
Coding language is far from the problem, lack of effort appears to be. I mean why would a dev bother with trying something new if he KNOWS players will accept another basic class system...PM if you want to comment further, this is awkward at best.
I would just like to point out that levels ease the entry for new players to the game. They are a feature that allows people to say "I like helping people and I want to be the one keeping the team alive, so I will choose a healer" it's a bit harder to do that with a skillbased system. Obviously you might be able to learn healing later on in the game ,but it's not as easy for the newcomer.
Good post either way. important to remember that these features are there for a reason however, and that finding viable alternatives is hard.
I would just like to point out that levels ease the entry for new players to the game. They are a feature that allows people to say "I like helping people and I want to be the one keeping the team alive, so I will choose a healer" it's a bit harder to do that with a skillbased system. Obviously you might be able to learn healing later on in the game ,but it's not as easy for the newcomer.
Good post either way. important to remember that these features are there for a reason however, and that finding viable alternatives is hard.
I'd like to point out that to keep PVP somewhat balanced they havent leaped around a skill based system and let you develop your skill set entirely on your own... The main problem comes down to balance in combat with other players and if you allow people to develop on their own you will have a bunch of people just running around with the most powerful skill set and it will be relegated to the same thing that irks you currently....
The other thing is things are kept on a somewhat linear path because people COMPLAIN about it when it doesnt have a somewhat linear path. If there is no end game people get bored. People need a goal to work towards and thats what game dev's tried to do its not really taking the easy way out its doing what human being react positively towards....
Let's for instance use (and i know its meh but....) WoW here with your list. First off imagine a someone with a rogue like skill tree but they also learned healing skills or a paladins immune to damage spell or a plate armor skill etc? The issue is then you have an overpowered non-linear skill set that makes them immensely powerful.
It unbalances Pvp etc... Also working towards the end game is usually a goal while the end game should be expanded upon completely doing away with it simply makes leveling a grind and that can get quite boring...... These things can plausibly work but they'd need to be restricted to hell and be based around a somewhat linear model to have any sense of balance IE having a certain stat the right level to learn etc .
In some effect it takes way to much out of a game and presents a load of problems for both the developers and the players just to change some of this around.... These systems are definately there for a reason though.... I'd like to see change but i dunno if we will until the combat system changes to something entirely diff....
I just hope classes and leveling will remain as they are.
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