Imagine and MMORPG like this!

[lopiccolomage]

Imagine an MMORPG that has gear with independent skills as stats instead of attributes. So you create a class and the class comes with no skills other than a basic attack/block, every skill your character will posses will come from gear itself. The max gear has stronger or cooler skills and higher damage. There might not even be a need for character levels, your character is simply the strength of the gear that he possesses and advancing through different zones is not dependent on character level but instead what gear you have acquired will determine how far you can go in the game.

Also, there would be no need for character classes which would add to the immersion of the game. Which class you are is entirely based on what combinations of gear you have equipped and what skills or bonuses they give to your specific character.

Something along the lines of this might be a cool idea implemented in an MMO like WOW or any MMO.

[Jaojin]

Sounds terrible.

Not only is gear a major factor in how powerful a character is... but it's the only factor. How is this gear obtained? How is it leveled? How are stats for it decided? If you say random for any of those, then you might as well scrap that. Customization is a big part of immersion. Without being able to customize your character you will never become attached to it.

[bals]

isn't that basically path of exile?

[TheSerialSniper]

I think there is one in alpha on steam that works this way

[Wyshbonez]

Sounds like old school Ultima Online, I miss those times

[Val the Moofia Boss]

So basically PoE... which already exists.

[lopiccolomage]

Sounds terrible.

Not only is gear a major factor in how powerful a character is... but it's the only factor. How is this gear obtained? How is it leveled? How are stats for it decided? If you say random for any of those, then you might as well scrap that. Customization is a big part of immersion. Without being able to customize your character you will never become attached to it.

Do you understand my concept? Gear is still the only factor that determines how powerful you are, even more so than in a regular mmo with this design. In this design your character is completely dependent upon gear for his powers.

Gear would be obtained by drops or quests just like any MMO. Gear can be fine tweaked via a merchant or other item drops or whatever, I've really only given the absolute basics not the entire idea. Stats for the gear might not even be necessary but if they are you simple add stats to the items on top of the skills that they already provide.

One of the main things I like about this concept is it removes the need for a character level which is so generic and boring nowadays. In this design you can only hack it out in places that your character is powerful enough to survive in which is entirely based on the gear he has found/acquired instead of experience and character level. You have to imagine this game in a different system than a game like WOW. Imagine just about every item drop has a skill attached to it, for common items the skill would be weak or pathetic and for super rare items the skills would have high damage and be super cool. For instance if a common item dropped its skill might be some weak physical skill like bash or charge but if it were a good item it could give rarer abilitys like teleport or meteor shower or whatever.

[Zantos]

How would any form of a proper rotation work? Would every class just have the same spells? If so why even have different classes?
In short, no thanks. I dont want my spells and abilities tied into the gear.

[lopiccolomage]

How would any form of a proper rotation work? Would every class just have the same spells? If so why even have different classes?
In short, no thanks. I dont want my spells and abilities tied into the gear.

There would be no need for classes in the traditional sense. What "class" you are is whatever the skills your character can cast which comes from items. Of course every player would not have the same spells because every player would have different gear and truly be unique. For instance in a dungeon group you would not group up with players who all had gear that gave tanking ability's only because you would need a healer (someone who has geared themselves with items that provide healing) for example.

[Zantos]

There would be no need for classes in the traditional sense. What "class" you are is whatever the skills your character can cast which comes from items. Of course every player would not have the same spells because every player would have different gear and truly be unique. For instance in a dungeon group you would not group up with players who all had gear that gave tanking ability's only because you would need a healer (someone who has geared themselves with items that provide healing) for example.

Sounds dull. Everyone is the same? No classes? How would dungeons and raids work? They couldn't possibly tune them well because they wouldn't have any idea who has what spells and abilities or who can fill what role to what degree. Balance would be a mess. How do you balance this even? If x ability is stronger against y ability, but weaker to z ability, how do you even balance that mess? You cant tell who has x y or z.

[Fencers]

They made this MMO. It's called Albion Online.

It works almost exactly as in the OP; No level, skills are tied to gear, no classes and zones are not level bound because there are no levels. You are any combination of weapons and skills you wish.

Edit: Also, The Secret World. No levels, skills are based on weapons, no level restrictions (again no levels) to zones. It has dungeons, raids, PVP, etc. Full on MMORPG.

[mickybrighteyes]

Do you understand my concept? Gear is still the only factor that determines how powerful you are, even more so than in a regular mmo with this design. In this design your character is completely dependent upon gear for his powers.

Gear would be obtained by drops or quests just like any MMO.[snip...]

so RNG....

erm... no classes. gear as the only way to unlock any way to fight. Not an added layer of game play, but the only thing there.... doens't exactly sound very appealing the way you lay it out.

Sounds like only being able to backstab when wearing the right gloves or those boots being the only way to dodge... sounds great in magic the gathering, less so in something more real time.

[lopiccolomage]

Sounds dull. Everyone is the same? No classes? How would dungeons and raids work? They couldn't possibly tune them well because they wouldn't have any idea who has what spells and abilities or who can fill what role to what degree. Balance would be a mess. How do you balance this even? If x ability is stronger against y ability, but weaker to z ability, how do you even balance that mess? You cant tell who has x y or z.

Everyone is not the same, I think you are missing the point if you have to ask that. Players will be waaay more unique in this type of game than say a game like WOW since its really skills that determine uniqueness in a game like WOW and in this game your skills are whatever you want them to be.

True, balancing would be a serious issue but not impossible. It would not be that hard to see what classes could fill what roles because the system would keep track of the items each person was wearing and it would know where each player fits in, in terms of role (tank, dps, healing). There are ways to balance it I am sure of it.

- - - Updated - - -

so RNG....

erm... no classes. gear as the only way to unlock any way to fight. Not an added layer of game play, but the only thing there.... doens't exactly sound very appealing the way you lay it out.

Sounds like only being able to backstab when wearing the right gloves or those boots being the only way to dodge... sounds great in magic the gathering, less so in something more real time.

Like I said, this is just the basics but I know a good company could make this idea work. Gear doesn't have to be the only thing but it would be the main thing. And I don't think this is a problem because its basically how most MMO's already are, class only gets you so far than gear is everything.

[GennGreymane]

sooooo similar to monster hunter?


Also that is a lot like how MMOs are, I mean gear is more important than levels

[mickybrighteyes]

They made this MMO. It's called Albion Online.

It works almost exactly as in the OP; No level, skills are tied to gear, no classes and zones are not level bound because there are no levels. You are any combination of weapons and skills you wish.

Edit: Also, The Secret World. No levels, skills are based on weapons, no level restrictions (again no levels) to zones. It has dungeons, raids, PVP, etc. Full on MMORPG.

Um... the secret world doesn't really sound much like how the OP described. it seems like they're saying that your armor/weapons/etc would be what gives you your abilities. Not just weapon choice like TSW, GW2, etc. Also TSW does have level restrictions, skill level (instead of character level but in effect it's the same function)

[lopiccolomage]

Right. Items have skills attached to them and you decide what roll you want to fill by finding gear that gives skills that support your role the best.

[mickybrighteyes]

Like I said, this is just the basics but I know a good company could make this idea work. Gear doesn't have to be the only thing but it would be the main thing. And I don't think this is a problem because its basically how most MMO's already are, class only gets you so far than gear is everything.

you're going to have to rework basically everything else about the game than just saying "put the abilities on gear" cause that right there is starting to tread into "water is no longer wet" on the patch notes of life.

edit:

nvm never being able to really hide you build. so if pvp were a thing, you'd be showing everyone you were going into a fight that *insert ability* was in your loadout.

I mean in a classless game that kind of info shouldn't be something you wear on your sleeve.

Or killing customization regarding equipment choice unless you immediately went with the transmog level image recustomizing.

[Fencers]

Right. Items have skills attached to them and you decide what roll you want to fill by finding gear that gives skills that support your role the best.

https://albiononline.com/

[Calfredd]

https://albiononline.com/

[video=youtube_share;KZxezblCN_U]http://youtu.be/KZxezblCN_U[video]

I'd assume that this MMO is in no way related to Fable and it's world of Albion?

[lopiccolomage]

you're going to have to rework basically everything else about the game than just saying "put the abilities on gear" cause that right there is starting to tread into "water is no longer wet" on the patch notes of life.

edit:

nvm never being able to really hide you build. so if pvp were a thing, you'd be showing everyone you were going into a fight that *insert ability* was in your loadout.

I mean in a classless game that kind of info shouldn't be something you wear on your sleeve.

Or killing customization regarding equipment choice unless you immediately went with the transmog level image recustomizing.

Well, the system could calculate the role your character fills and only reveal it via a dungeon finder feature or something that's only viewable when trying to piece together a group. That way when you are on the battlefield the enemy has no way of knowing what your character is caple of until they actual engage in combat with you. For grouping purposes the system would reveal what kind of spells you posses maybe in a game menu or something.