Syrif said:Just want to add that actually, I think the trend you are describing is people are not wanting things reminiscent of the current/dominant mmorpg market. People want something different. Just my 2 coppers :)
addition accepted. the 2 coppers has been assimilated.
there are things to learn from current/dominant mmorpgs or 'mainstream'? there's a reason they are successful.
there are things to learn from mmorpgs that have fallen to oblivion. there's a reason they have failed.
the definition of insanity to repeat actions expecting different results. might as well learn off other people's mistakes/successes and be open minded.
i'd say vr gets one shot at this while remaining free from teh shackles of a publisher.
if i didn't care i'd let them shoot without talking about what i see(not that it matters much. i'm just a janitor). then again, i'm also somewhat of a forum troll XD
@Stellar It’s my understanding that current mmorpg‘s have been failing for some time now. I mean, WoW had to bring back Classic servers as their only way to really reverse mega subscription declines since their expansions were having an effect of actually leading to the loss of players. Those particular changes were not widely liked. There must be a reason for declining subs from these games (and the particular expansions that proved to be very unpopular). That must be due to poor decision-making and bad planning and designing. Pantheon will be new, but it will be better off being very different from mainstream/WoW. I’m sure many people feel the same way.
1. Groundhog day
- I see the point, but if the city is a maze, there is satisfaction in learning the maze and not having the city change its chape for the sake of dynamics, example: revamped freeport.
- However to add dynamics to a zone that impact the zone is a good idea - but can be restrictive if not handled well, example: Oblivion and the dark matter soul stones that could only be made on a certain day of the week when the moon was out if placed in a crypt that you remembered the place of. it was annoying because I did not have a calendar or thig that told me what day it was or when the day was coming so i coud be around it while I was adventuring and I always missed it, and it took up bag space.
I think small changes can accomplish a dynamic interaction with the player that is not a niusance or restrictive/gated but are more intuitive such as: simple seasonal variants, summer/fall harvests, increased rodent population, small predator increase, increase in larger predators. winter/spring-increase in insect population, bird population, bird of prey. Add in dynamic factors such as famine, long winters, or war that upsets this balance even on a small scale. Less cotton planted because of war and therefore less bol weevils and therefore pigeons died that ate bol weevils and as a result, the griffons are starving that used to keep the pigeon population down and are now eating livestock/halflings. But you wouldn't know it was because of the cotton unless you could puzzle it out evenually but it woud make sense.
2. Non combat
- Unfortunately, things like crafting have been, or are by nature solo endeavors. Crafting and listening to general chat or chiming in from time to time is about as interactive as it gets. To make crafting interdependent also relies on human nature- why should I do that for you while you sit there playing with yourself while we fight off these baddies for the next 10 minutes, are you, and the other 5 going to hang around so I get a turn? how come I'm not first? That means we are all commmited to this for an hour provided nothing messes up and we dont wipe. I'm going to stay, are you? why not? RL stuff? thanks buddy...I know who my friends are. It has the potential to beget resentment on a purely non-game related but social level only because you had time to play SOLITAIRE or RIMWORLD(=crafting) while others were out adventuring.
- There is not much more that can be done, from a current game mechanic perspective, to improve crafting as it stands as a purely solo/solitaire type of game interaction.
- However there are things in place to encourage social interaction, example: Coldain ring war- how many of you filled in the dwarven ranks when they re-assembled after each battle? I did. Some ofhers did, as the spots left open from fallen dwarves. It wasn't required but it felt meet and right so to do from a RP perspecive. I could see an multi group event like this where the boss needs ot be taken down to a certain level and then the "raid" needs to move to a bellows and jump to heat the furnace up to a certain level, too high and fire sprites jump out that need to be killed. then back on boss, then back on bellows. At the end the boss is dead, loots galore and the furnace has oodles of special crafting ore for a crafter? or for sale if there are no crafters in the multi group force.
Let the event bring the people together and have the solo or crafting component, secondary. Come to the buffet but take your plate away for later.
3. Socialization and expression
- I want to see what you look like when...
- If there is one dance move, then how much resources will it take or expense to have that same dance move be tailored to look different when a different race or species does it. Better yet, how taxing on resources woud it be to have each race have its own unique dance AND emotes? like the old joke "Kan-Guru?" said the aboriginees to the english settlers when they asked them what that thing was that looked like a huge rabbit that carried its young in a pouch, only to discover years later that "Kan-guru" means "what did you say?" in the aboriginal language.
- people look different when they die, or feign death, and that could also be carried over in illusions. if the illusion is on me, oh look what a funny suprise when she died/ was mezzed/ stunned because of the animation associated with that illusion, never saw that before!
- the archai shake their heads when they mean yes, and nod when they mean no or somehting ( like, in "the Gods must be Crazy") , 6 different drinking emotes for dwarf NPC's that they cycle through? slightly different for females and males? and different still for Player characters? but at what cost in development time and how taxing will it be on the player. I love emotes and I do want to sit on chairs and I love the LOTR idea of music composition, I can only hope VR is able to throw in some of these things.
Manouk said:
manouk summary:
1. seasonal spawn adjustments instead of a morphing maze city.
2. make crafting interactive with the world.
3. emotes and dances
with unity, it's really easy to port over emotes or dances from mmd. if there isn't a copyright on dance or emotes, it's ez pz. if one wanted original stuff, i'd just use motion capture, touch up and port it in.