Obviously having a relatively bug-free stable working game with great classes and great game mechanics are some of the most important "core" elements for Pantheon to achieve. With that said, what are some of the little things that you really hope make it into the game at some point in time? For some people little things such as baking/fishing/brewing make a game much more enjoyable. Some people *really* care about housing and being able to decorate a place or at least having a guild hall. Some people are really big on boats. Which little thing(s) are you most hoping for?
I would like to once again play a game that feels like many f*&@s were given when designing the game world and its inhabitants. In EQ, EQ2, and WoW you can really feel that someone spent some time planning out where all of the NPCs are in the world and why they are where they are (lore). Each building you enter has appropriate contents for what they are supposed to be selling or buying or whatever the building's purpose is (i.e. armor shops have armor on display, inns have rooms with beds, etc). Modern games just feel like they spent as little time as possible designing a facade for entire cities and then threw a bunch of random quest NPCs out and about for you to interact with. It just doesn't feel like they cared and to me it makes the world feel less alive.
Also I would like to once again play a game that doesn't have an in combat/out of combat flag. That has annoyed me in every game that has it. Why does something 3 miles away being angry at me have anything to do with whether or not I can sit down and munch on some bread. I get it when it's punching me in the face and interrupting my chewing just not why the fact that it wants to punch me somehow has an effect on what I can do.
Amsai said:
Ok here is another thing. I enjoy Mysteries. Though I rarely see it in gaming let alone MMOs (except maybe TSW). But Id really love some investigative style quests. You know.... clues, puzzles, conspiracy, murder, drama, etc. But in a real Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes sort of way.
I have to say that while otherwise sucking some of the puzzle and main quests for TSW are hands down the best quests in any MMO I have ever played. I love that some of them required actual knowledge of various subjects and/or problem solving skills to successfully complete. While a lot of quests in EQ lean this way they never felt as well implemented as they are in TSW (though obv the sci fi modern real world setting does allow a lot of leeway there). I think EQ quests required a bit too much talking to every NPC to figure out who/what the quest was alluding to. Maybe I'm just not into RP so the EQ quests seemed clunkier as I wouldn't otherwise talk to any of the NPCs. *shrug*
Amsai said:
Ok here is another thing. I enjoy Mysteries. Though I rarely see it in gaming let alone MMOs (except maybe TSW). But Id really love some investigative style quests. You know.... clues, puzzles, conspiracy, murder, drama, etc. But in a real Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes sort of way.
Reading jezebel's response reminds me of another little thing--doors that open. So very simple and so neglected in some of the newer games. Nothing says 'filler' like a bunch of buildings with no access. Having doors that you click to open helps to make me feel like care was taken in designing the world.
Bags, item size, and item weight. Or maybe not specifically those things - but the broader sense of what those things represent.
The whole concept of needing to be aware of how much weight you were carrying, where you could put items you pick up, what items you might have to decide to discard (or go into town to sell), etc... Was, to me, an important TYPE of mini-game within the game. It's one of those "pseudo-reality" things you used to have to contend with.
I would (again) seek to remind anyone reading that an MMO is different than other games by virtue of the fact that they are virtual worlds - and as such, require some sense of virtual reality to really come alive... and that those virtual realities must - to some degree - consist of mundane things like dealing with item weight.
Does that mean that the game must be absolutely flooded with these virtual realities (mundane or otherwise) - no - it does not mean that. It means that there must be enough of them to add flavor - to pull you away from "just kill, baby" - and into LIVING within the virtual world.
I am going to give a short list.
1. Quests that feel like QUESTS!!! if the farmer needs his chickens corralled because he is too incapable to build a fence that is not a QUEST, walking 5 minutes away to slay 5 wolves and bring back the teeth for proof is not a QUEST, now if the kings daughter is ill and needs you to travel to the dangerous land of Velvatine Rabbits to bring back the hard to find rare herb that is guarded by the bunny of caer-bannog and requires me to gain the help of the church to provide me with the bane weapon needed to kill it is a QUEST.
2. solid crafting with items that can actually be used.
3. intricately crafted Lore.
