How would YOU innovate in the MMO genre?

[notanmmmonewbie]

For me:

• Horizontal progression system. No levels, no numerical power increases. However, you can unlock more "options" and customization.

Would that even work? seems like players always find a way to relate non-level games into levels. TSW claims that it has no character levels, but it does have item quality levels. So people will say need these classes for this dungeon must have QL3 gear and so on. Marvel Heroes has this thing where you hit level cap and you gain omega points. I heard that people were saying you need XXXX amount of omega points if you want to get in on this hard more raid. Even if you dont add numbers to them and make them purely "options" in name. I see people going we need a mage for this dungeon must have option A, B, C and D and customization X, Y and Z. And they ask for that because thats the minimum that people think the dungeon needs or whatever.

Anyways my answer to your question though is to forget about themepark MMO's. I want to see some sandbox MMO's again. And not based on some shitty background that i wont know about unless i read some obscure fan-fic book. I would like to see Star Trek, Star Wars, hell maybe even a Warcraft, Diablo or Starcraft sandbox.

[the game]

add male blood elves and female dwarves.

[araine]

focus on smaller content with 5mans being the major part of content and raids never being bigger than 10 mans

[FlemmMinis]

Pretty much an absolute free class system. Combine your own class with abilities NPCs in the world teach you. You finished a dungeon? Here's an teacher!
Climbed the highest mountain there is just to see what's up there? You found an old stone wall teaching you a new spell!
You jump around all the time because the ground is not so good? Here's a passive skill!
Just things like this.

[Jensxo]

So you'd take the "massively" out of "massively multiplayer" and make it just a multiplayer, then?

So essentially what your saying is that the majority of players who play MMO's actually suck at every aspect of them and have no intention of getting better?

Honestly would prefer a game with 2 million hardcore players than 12 million casual players.

[Sencha]

I would create a group activity that you can join by clicking one button. Then you would be teleported to a location with other people whom you don't need to talk with.

A big boss will appear and you'd need to click on it and then randomly click on little icons that you can find at the bottom of your screen. The clicking order doesn't matter and you could even choose not to click any. The boss would sometimes throw things at you that would make red numbers appear on your character, but that's purely cosmetic.

Finally, after 5 minutes, the boss would fall on the floor and you would receive new clothes. The goal is to try to match the color of your gloves with the color of your armor.

[Sorrior]

Main content being 5 man dungeons with the occasional 10 man raid. I feel smaller groups harbors a stronger community. In a 25 man setting it's easy for some players to fade into the background. The stronger the connection players have with each other, the more willing they will be to stick around during content droughts.

In addition to the dungeons and raids, there'd be frequent world events which the entire server can take place in. Think Gates of AQ event but more epic and involved. Overall heavier focus on storytelling though quests (think SWTOR) so that these events feel epic not only in scale but also in the reasons for why you are fighting in them.

Also, class quests and challenging solo content (ala Brawler's guild but probably blown out to dungeon size). There'd be 2 factions with their own storylines, but also race questlines that go beyond the starting zones of WoW. This would create opportunities for decision making and choosing whether to be loyal to your faction or loyal to your race.

PVP would be focused around massive battles featuring 40 v 40 or more players. 1 smaller WSG style BG as well. Also world PVP battlegrounds like Wintergrasp. In the larger BGs the teams would be split into squads (so you could play with friends) of 5 with objectives spawning based on the tide of the battle and the position of your squad. Buff given when near 2 or more members of your squad.

A game like this ^^ would be incredibly hard to build and maintain though. Hence why MMOs are a dying breed.

Alot not all but alot of what you describe sounds like ffxiv.

72 man pvp with 3 faction s at once

4 man dungeons 8 man raids with some 24 man stuff

Story focused content(complete with everything being locked behind a quest often short and simple)

Not racial(they have it setup so in lore all races have been around d each other long enough kinda melting pot) quests but class quests.


Honestly it lacks some of what you want but it is close in many wAys

[Tommy T]

Adding a different dimension to levelling. Having to pay for supplies like healing potions, mana potions, ammo etc. Go out to level, loot gold, items etc. The sense of coming back knowing you made a profit and can buy new equipment, spells etc is a gaming experience that would be fairly unique and incredibly rewarding. For anyone who played Tibia, it's loosely based in this. When a Demon dropped a magic plate armour or a Dragon Lord dropped a Dragon Scale Mail, that buzz was something I've yet to experience in other games.

I intend to create something with this kind of model when I become better at coding/designing.

[Bytch]

The MMO Genre was a gimmick ploy. WoW was/is the anomaly.

[Thelxi]

I would probably go the direction that GW2 went, but without the deeply integrated cash shop that ties to everything end-game related.

[Teebone]

I'm curious what dedicated MMO-Champions would do if given the opportunity to head the development of a next-gen MMO. What do you think this genre needs? Why?

For me:

• Horizontal progression system. No levels, no numerical power increases. However, you can unlock more "options" and customization.

The Secret World

• Heavy, heavy focus on the outdoor world and objects to interact with.

Guild Wars 2

• Reversal of the WoW formula. Small group = easiest content, Large group = hardest content. I wrote about this in much more detail here.

That IS the wow formula.

[Vargrik]

I would avoid innovations.

The things that have brought most dissatisfaction to the player base of the genre were innovations. We, modern humans, do have a fetish for novelty, though (unfortunately).

[Shinzai]

I would create a group activity that you can join by clicking one button. Then you would be teleported to a location with other people whom you don't need to talk with.

A big boss will appear and you'd need to click on it and then randomly click on little icons that you can find at the bottom of your screen. The clicking order doesn't matter and you could even choose not to click any. The boss would sometimes throw things at you that would make red numbers appear on your character, but that's purely cosmetic.

Finally, after 5 minutes, the boss would fall on the floor and you would receive new clothes. The goal is to try to match the color of your gloves with the color of your armor.

So Clicker Heroes, an MMO edition? It's also basically what that multiplayer Steam clicker game during one of the older sales, for gems, or whatever.

As to the actual MMO genre, it doesn't really need innovating. The worst thing Blizzard ever did to WoW was innovate and evolve it past its WotLK phase. People bitched endlessly about the talent trees being too big, about there being too many raids to do every week, about there being too many factions and too much grinding for loot. So now they sit in their garrisons and wait for a bunch of random people to click the ready button and begin an LFG or LFR shit festival. LFG was acceptable, LFR took it too far.

There were too many raids available, so people burnt themselves out playing them all the time. There were too many factions, so it took ages to get all the best gear available. There were too many talents, so people complained about complexity and couldn't get their heads around hybrid builds.

So, to appease the vocal masses, Blizzard nerfed it all, taking away the excessive raiding options and leaving you with a couple of mandatory choices at most a week, with no flexibility. Am I the only person that misses progression that allowed you to burn a bunch of 10-man bosses, then step up to 25 man clearance with slightly better gear each time?

They reduced the grind time for factions, offering items as rewards to garner stacks of faction points. They streamlined the talent system until it was a pointless group of options that allowed for the idea of diversity, but still left clear paths to the best setups.

The entire problem with MMOs is that they fared far better as hardcore, long and borderline tedious experiences. They should feel like work if you really want to enjoy them fully. The rewards at the end of the longest paths are always the best. Getting things easily sours the experience of receiving rewards and leaves players rapidly jaded.

Wildstar appealed to these sensibilities, but failed in the attempt, coming off as pretentious and way too up its own ass. It also came out at a point when most of the hardcore MMO crowd had burnt themselves out over a decade of gaming and had gotten used to the trivialised gameplay that has become common in most MMOs today. It tried too hard to be cool and old-school, instead just leaving a bitter taste, lacking direction and purpose.

MMOs in their modern form are more or less just large social gathering areas, with some vague gameplay elements and rushes to award the player for little to nothing. They will probably never be the same as they were, because the majority don't want to go back to that. So the audiences have decreased in size, but the games in turn, can be more specialised and cater to a more core demographic, whatever they may be.

There is no "innovating the MMO genre". It's already diversified, sub-categorised and more split up than it ever was. In the end, what people wanted from the original MMOs was a hard grind. Without that, the genre lost its purpose and became something else. The MMOs that still hold the old values, have the most hardcore and deeply invested audiences, however small or large they may be and that's just how it is now.

[kubasniak]

I think MMORPG games have to go back to what they used to be and expand on it. For that matter and for me personally the closest were vanilla, tbc and wotlk (which started going the easier way). There is a reason why so many people love vanilla and have great memories. Some people will say its because now everybody looks through rose tinted glasses or because it was first time somebody playing that kind of game. I really had that RPG feeling in vanilla, everything was like it could be on real world. By that I mean every resource mattered! Every item, food, gear, grey thrash items, bags, spells. You were progressing through learning new skills, the professions took time to level, mobs were dangerous and you were walking around carefully. You had some great mechanics requiring your proper position, interrupt, buff, totem etc to counter it or you were punished. I felt like being on the journey. Reading quests, while walking to the other place I wasnt bored or annoyed. I was meeting people, talking on guild chat, with friends, listening to podcast, music, whatever. Maybe combat was a little too slow in vanilla but it felt more realistic. On WoW live its so unnatural, how in real life could you hit that fast xD I like a slower pace of combat and gameplay, just a little. Ideal was wotlk for me and tbc. I like how items dropped not from every mob! Lets say there was quest for lions and you had to collect their claws, it doesnt drop from everyone because maybe you didnt hit them there or it was hard for your character to take it off! Whatever! Just slower and more realistic pace of combat and using all other things. Im currently playing vanilla on private server after 8 years and man I get some chills while experiencing vanilla again!

[Grym]

For me:

No more leveling
You will quest for new abilities instead, sometimes a long quest chain, which will focus on using that ability and give you different senarios of using it.
Quests will mostly for storyline, similar to FF14, but no exp, purely for story, sometimes to unlock dungeon and such.

Attunments
Dungeons are all unlocked in some way, quest, talking to right people, or even discovering the entrance.
Since leveling is no more, you should be expected to spend time to unlock other things.

Drops
Gear doesn't drop anymore, unless it make sense (the person/target you kill was wearing it).
Sometimes it can be picked up (dead NPC on floor) or in treasure chest.
Boss will drop materials (but Binding so cannot just buy your way on AH)
You need to get crafter to craft for you, however it won't be traded so it won't get stolen (like materia in FF14)
Very powerful gear may need multiple rare materials from different boss, but boss can drop more than 1 piece of material.

[FelPlague]

Reversal of the WoW formula. Small group = easiest content, Large group = hardest content.


is a HORRIBLE IDEA

when you make a group, and want to do something very dificult... would you rather have a small group that will be easy to manage and know "these people are good" and be able to pick out when something happens?

or a large group where its much harder to manage if and everything else...

there is a reason why they dont do that, and why they stopped with the 40 man groups

[kail]

EVE with more direct combat controls. That's my #1 problem with that game, the combat. Otherwise I would probably be playing it to this day instead of just 2 1/2 years.

[Blueobelisk]

Mobile garrisons yay.

I wouldn't mind an MMO having web browser interactivity. Neverwinter had the professions in a web browser I believe. Diablo had the auction house, and so on. Integrating the game itself with an extensive web browser "client" would be cool. Mobile shit not so much, because forcing people to own a smartphone is lame. As far as phones go, I'll stick to dumb one with a prepaid.

What you said is kinda pointless. A browser is very limited compared to an app. And if you don't have a smartphone/tablet but you do have a browser, then you must be on a desktop/laptop so you may as well just open the full game. Kinda defeats the purpose of being an on-the-go/not needing a computer part.

[Dilbon]

So essentially what your saying is that the majority of players who play MMO's actually suck at every aspect of them and have no intention of getting better?

That's the winning formula.

[notanmmmonewbie]

EVE with more direct combat controls. That's my #1 problem with that game, the combat. Otherwise I would probably be playing it to this day instead of just 2 1/2 years.

Do you mean having a WASD or joystick/keypad control with throttle controls and stuff like that? A lot of the game is designed the way it is to lower latency. Its a megaserver with 20-30k people logged on. I dont know what the number is at now but when i played those were the numbers. So things like the controls are like that to reduce latency. Even the stuff like having no collision detection where you can bounce off of each other or you can shoot through structures is to reduce latency. A few years ago a dev was even quoted as saying that.