Instancing I will not discuss in much detail, because its been covered ad naseum on these forums, not the least of which was here. In short, some content is not for everyone, and should remain prestigious and highly contested. Making such things available to everyone raises the bottom line and will, once again, shift the paradigm from a group-focus to one of raid-focus and inevitably place emphasis on "end game" rather than the journey. It happens every time.
I will shamelessly quote myself here:
If items are supposed to be "memorable, deserved, cherished and desired", then raid gear, in particular, should be highly prized. By making raiding readily accessible (via instancing) to anyone who plays, it will become the standard by which everything is judged. When everyone can raid, its no longer special, and the rewards become mundane. And when that happens, where does that leave everything else in a game designed primarily for group play?
Keeping in mind that its already been stated that they will use instancing where it makes sense so some of this maybe pointless. Just because everyone has access to raid content doesn't mean they have the ability to beat the content. Instance does not equal free or easy gear. There were are plenty of guilds in EQ and EQ2 which is instance raiding that do not or that do raid and never really progress. In other games like Rift and WoW that has instanced raiding its the same thing you see only a limited number of people with the top raid gear and these are games that their major focus is raids. In all my time playing those games I never felt it was diminished or made less special because of instances. If the raids are challenging you will still only have a small percentage of people complete or progress through raid content. I agree gear should be deserved but limiting access doesn't make it deserved. Cherished gear currently doesn't exist in raid MMO's. The next expansion makes all previous gear obsolete so its pretty pointless to cherish anything as you will quickly replace it to be able to progress. I have never liked the tier system meaning you have solo gear, group gear and raid gear. I mean an Epic BP should be Epic if its used for solo, group or raid. Now I'm not suggesting you should be able to get an Epic BP while soloing. you have to consider long term and as the game ages and you need new guildmates to keep raiding you dont want to have and go back and do old content so they are geared to do raids. Gear can be cherished and unique without always uping the stats. Said Epic BP has an unique look, glow and name and can only be gotten by killing raid boss x. Another epic bp with a different name a less cool look and no glow can be gotten by killing group boss y. There has to be a balance between the gear grind, availability and being special.
Regarding combat, I'm not sure you played the same EverQuest that I played if you experienced ability "rotations." Granted, melee classes had very few abilities and no resources (mana) to manage, so yes, pressing those few abilities on rotation could be a thing. With casters, that was simply not the case due to the number of variables and the unpredictable nature of the game (resists, aggro/threat, conservation of mana, and dozens of other things).
I raided with a Wizard, BL, off tank SK and cleric sometimes. The Wizard was my first but to my point learning the encounter was the tough part after that I had my nukes and which order to cast for maxium DPS I new when to toss in the aggro reducer. As long as the mana regen classes did their job I was golden it was actually quite boring. The BL was far more involved due to pet managment, mana regen and moving and melee, we sucked on ranged required mobs. The other classes where like the wizard you had a set rotation and job. I'm not taking about when things go side ways due to people being dumb because its 50/50 at that point if wipe or not.
Many people may have never considered that there were a number of action combat type elements present in EQ. You had various area of effect abilities, both spells and melee, not to mention a need to move around to avoid being hit. Furthermore, melee classes were often very dependant on movement and positioning. I think a mix of this type of "action" is a good thing, however, I believe its a mistake to design combat in a game such as Pantheon, heavily around action, twitch or more succintly, the players reflexes and dexterity.
In a sense EQ required you to have a certain amount of dexterity or reflexes especially if you played a bard. Part of the old games combat system lied in the fact that graphics/mechaincs couldn't handle a little more action in combat. today thats not a problem so hitting a button to block is no different than hitting a button to cast a heal at just the right moment. GW2's combat system is a good example of how it can work.
It wasn't the player's personal prowess that made RPGs great, and it was certainly not what made EQ great, though it still provided skillful players with the ability to stand out. It was actually quite the opposite. Fantasy games, be they tabletop, rpgs or early MMOs were different largely because they allowed the player, despite their shortcomings, to play a hero without needing to be one in real life. As such, combat gameplay was more about knowledge, preparation and strategy rather than how fast you are able to press buttons to actively block incoming attacks or abilities. I explained this further in this thread.
Twitch is probably not the correct term to use for my suggestion, action based combat is probably better. Hitting a key to dodge or block at a certain point is no different than hitting the correct button to cast heal or that special scout ability at the right moment of the fight. So what I am suggesting is that your defensive abilities should get the same priority and attention as your offensive abilities. You should have to block or dodge at the right times to help mitigate damage. Combat should never be static in the sense that you can just stand there attack or cast you should have to move and attack or cast or defend. Besides if the mobs are smarter more reactionary and move more that will cause you to do the same. If nothing else the combat animations should match the likes of GW2 and or ESO.
You do understand that content can only be developed within a certain range of paramenters, right? It would be nearly impossible to design content which can adaptivly adjust to any number of players with any combination of classes. All content needs to have limits. The difference between 100 people and 150 people would completely trivilize any encounter designed for 100. Now think about what happens when you, who wants raids to need 100+ people can't get a guild to pull together 100 people? You're now stuck with no content because you can't get enough people. Oh, you say, you'll just get a few guilds together and raid. Good luck with that. Guilds tend to compete more than cooperate. Why should another guild help your guild gear up? What's in it for them?
It scales both ways not just up. So if I can only get 25 people or 15 we can still raid but rewards are less. Yes I do realize there has to be some limit but let that limit be the graphics, server or instance. Games have already scallable content it shouldn't be an issue for raids. Not saying its easy but it can be done. The whole point of it scaling is the numbers wont make it trival. Some of my best raid memories are the 72 man raids in EQ (plane of air anyone). Realistically though those type of raid numbers are not sustainable. I'm more concerned about a guild with 80 or 100 members and 47 want to raid but raid limits are 40 so your always leaving 7 behind. In this day and age it should not be a problem for a game to adjust to handle that extra 7. Then there is the inverse guild only has 50 memebers with 25 raiders but on raid night they only have 20. They can still raid just the amount and or type of rewards will be less and the content is still as challenging but not impossible.
VR has already stated time and time again that instancing will exist in only limited application. Everyone who has ever complained about another guild beating them to content or monopolizing content rarely, if ever, put forth the effort to beat the other guilds to content rather they just whined to the developers to fix it for them. You want content? Do what it takes to get there first.
I have been on both sides of this coin. I did not agree with my guild (Leviathian) purposely runnning content well below us to block other guilds from progressing. Aslo just because your guild is form the other side of the world and is on playing while my guild is at work should be a reason I/we cant experince content. If you are going to make the argument for not having fast travel as it allows you to skip content then you also can't argue for allowing people to block you from content. If you dont want me to skip/fly by content ten don't block it fom me either.
I agree that travel should be appropriate to the world. Fly mounts, though, are very problematic because they allow you to bypass all ground-based content. Teleporting does the same thing but only between two specific points. A player controlled mount can let you bypass content pretty much everywhere and that's overpowered. What you'd probably end up with are severe limitations on where flying mounts can be used because there will be places developers want you to be required to deal with the content in the zone. That said, if there were much more airborn content then flying mounts wouldn't allow you to bypass content. Good luck fighting on the back of Griffon or falling off and surviving the fall. :)
I think no matter what type of mount you are on you certainly could be knocked off or your mount even killed. I also think if you are knocked off your flying mount you take falling damage and if high enough you die. I think if flying you can be hit by arrows or spells and there sould be spells to knock you out of the air. Flying mounts should be down the road any way so there is more time to talk about them later. Like most games you should have to visit a location first before you can fast travel or teleport. I mean a horse that lets you travel as fast as a SOW doesnt change anything about by passing content. Also lets face it most people aren't looking to bypass content unless they have already done it five times or its well below them.
I do not want to see things that devalue a large and vibrant game world. Stuff doesn't have ti be stuck in the past, but the game shouldn't be a starting city and a raid zone after awhile.
Items that concern me.
Bazar - i don't think we need to stand in tunnel 2 shouting, but this magic shop that can hand deliver items in a war torn world is insane.
Easy quick travel. Buying SOW or a port should be a must. Mounts should work something like Vanguard.
Easy dungeons. These are places for groups and every fight needs to take some tactic.
I guess in my mind this game should be based on a classic like EQ, but like Vanguard should bring newness to evolve how were use to play games. I would love to see diplomancy return or some other type of faction game. What ever these new elements are,the game world needs to be necessary and we need to want to travel and resee places.
Dar
I'm new around here so perhaps some of these aren't even concerns at this point. I will try to get up to speed about the game itself before I write too many more novels ><;;
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What I don't want is to queue up 6 times a week to be teleported to a soulless loot tunnel and get matched with strangers who might not even be on my server. These loot tunnels drop nothing of interest and are exactly the same every time I run them. I need to do this 6 times a week to cap out my weekly currency to buy my welfare gear that replaces my raid gear from 3-6 months ago. This gear will be replaced in another 6 months by the next patches welfare currency set.
I also don’t want to have to set aside 4 hours 3 nights a week with a static group just to tackle anything harder than the soulless loot tunnels.
I don't want a cash shop.
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I do want a bulletin board of people looking to team up to tackle some objective. Much preferred to just shouts all day in whatever central city.
I do want interesting enemies to fight. I like things to have strengths and weaknesses that can be exploited. I like mobs to aggro and track differently than each other (blood, sound, sight, magic aggro). I like to be chased halfway across a map before I lose agro.
I like some random things.
I like a day/night cycle and weather to effect the world around me. I love it when ghosts come out at night and worms come to the surface when it rains.
I want the fact I have knowledge of enemies/locations/weather to benefit myself and my party but I don’t want it to be required to look everything up on a wiki to do anything…
I want risks/effort to = reward.
I want ways to keep track of my friends easily via friend lists and guild chats and such.
I want death to mean something other than 3 minutes of weakness but I don’t want to ragequit the game every time I die either.
I want something between instant travel and having to plan ahead 3 hours before I have to be in a particular location.
I want to play in groups other than exactly XX people so no one is sitting on the bench.
I want good story/lore.
I want to be an adventurer exploring a huge world making friends and fighting monsters for worthwhile treasures.
Yelta said:I'm new around here so perhaps some of these aren't even concerns at this point. I will try to get up to speed about the game itself before I write too many more novels ><;;
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What I don't want is to queue up 6 times a week to be teleported to a soulless loot tunnel and get matched with strangers who might not even be on my server. These loot tunnels drop nothing of interest and are exactly the same every time I run them. I need to do this 6 times a week to cap out my weekly currency to buy my welfare gear that replaces my raid gear from 3-6 months ago. This gear will be replaced in another 6 months by the next patches welfare currency set.
I also don’t want to have to set aside 4 hours 3 nights a week with a static group just to tackle anything harder than the soulless loot tunnels.
I don't want a cash shop.
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I do want a bulletin board of people looking to team up to tackle some objective. Much preferred to just shouts all day in whatever central city.
I do want interesting enemies to fight. I like things to have strengths and weaknesses that can be exploited. I like mobs to aggro and track differently than each other (blood, sound, sight, magic aggro). I like to be chased halfway across a map before I lose agro.
I like some random things.
I like a day/night cycle and weather to effect the world around me. I love it when ghosts come out at night and worms come to the surface when it rains.
I want the fact I have knowledge of enemies/locations/weather to benefit myself and my party but I don’t want it to be required to look everything up on a wiki to do anything…
I want risks/effort to = reward.
I want ways to keep track of my friends easily via friend lists and guild chats and such.
I want death to mean something other than 3 minutes of weakness but I don’t want to ragequit the game every time I die either.
I want something between instant travel and having to plan ahead 3 hours before I have to be in a particular location.
I want to play in groups other than exactly XX people so no one is sitting on the bench.
I want good story/lore.
I want to be an adventurer exploring a huge world making friends and fighting monsters for worthwhile treasures.
I like all of this. I don't mind a cash shop if it's kept to a minimum. Extra character slots or bag space I don't mind, but what I don't want to see is based off the cash shop, and that is epic style particle effects. When I first saw the warrior epic I was freaking out because that was a huge deal. No other item I had seen up to that point had any type of glow or effect, and the effect showed off the time spent working towards a huge goal. Then along comes WoW and every low level with a low level enchanter had a red glowie effect for the entire game. I rarely cared what item anyone had, because all items could be made to look just as cool.
I don't want any extravagant effects that are for sale for five bucks to everyone. When I see a glow or amazing graphic I want to be excited to see something I may have never seen before.
Aneadorn said:
Keeping in mind that its already been stated that they will use instancing where it makes sense so some of this maybe pointless.
Instancing will be used for things like quest sequences, presumably so important turns ins can't be interfered with. Perhaps there will be cutscenes or quest events that they want instanced, but this game will almost certainly not have instanced encounters.
Crazzie said:
I want
multi account boxing with isboxer,
So you want a group based game you can play solo ... makes sense. /sarcasm
Why the hell would anyone WANT Isboxer to work here ... That's completely stupid. You all talk about preventing RMT then go on and suggest allowing the biggest RMT program around? Literally zero sense made ...
Hell why don't we go ahead and design the pinata's for the 24 box mages already. We gonna put in Krono for them to sell too right? WTS X item 10 krono pst
Boats:
I do not want to see boats implemented in the same way they were implemented in EQ. I know how others have stated in other topics that the boats were great! However, if folks actually take the time to remember what it was like they will remember that as soon as the ability to not have to take a boat was there they never took the boat (ports, friends for ports, guildmates for ports, etc.). Boats were a pain especially if you just missed it. I believe it was something like a 20 minute journey so just missing it meant having to wait 40 minutes for it`s return - get on the boat, travel with it for 20 minutes to reach your destination. That was one hour of a huge waste of time - maybe not the first time or the first 20 times but after that it was super annoying that anything and everything to avoid it was done - even if that meant completely abandoning continents and content. As a casual player where an evening's playtime may only be 2 hours with 1 hour overlap with friends - wasting that hour was painful and not at all pleasant.
My opinion is that a boat should be a zone. Zone into the boat. It is a tiny zone with multiple decks and whatnot going on. Not a combat PVE zone but NPCs that make sense (food, drink, message boards). There would be multiple exit points to represent destinations. Perhaps an effort to actually have to travel through the boat so it isn`t super instantaneous, but it also isn't 60 minutes of waiting to reach a destination. Since most zones could be run through in 5 minutes this isn't necessarily content-breaking material. And the whole aspect of zoning adds time and inconvenience that a port doesn't necessarily have so there are still benefits for porting. And if an Ocean Of Tears zone is still necessary then be able to port to the ship deck (a zone similar to a boat traveling through the zone) and while on the deck you are traveling through the Ocean of Tears wherever the boat happens to be and if that means you timed it poorly and have to wait 30 minutes or so to reach your destination then it's the same as it was for original EQ - plus you can swim to islands and such.
The boat may have a tavern - even have it a PVP tavern for drunken brawls - similar to the PVP areas of EQ like the Warrior Guild area in Qeynos. It`s own separate ruleset in that tavern - whatever. Have another galley for bulletin board updates or quest information where NPCs may change on an irregular basis. Perhaps need to track down the captain of the ship who wanders around - engage him and request to disembark from the zone (instead of running to a zone door or something) so take some effort and time to locate.
But please avoid the forced boat mechanics that existed in EQ. For those of us that did not have a reliable option, boats were a huge detractor and inconvenience that needed to be overcome.
Limited Binding Options:
Death was a very real component of EQ and all of the ramifications that weant with it. Back in the early day when my Rogue was adventuring in Paw (original Splitpaw Lair) and I died at the bottom I would be bound in Qeynos and have to make the long arduous run to Paw to grab my corpse. Spellcasters could always bind themselves close by. I am not saying as a non-spellcaster to have us be able to be bound anywhere. I am saying allow us to be bound in cities if there isn`t any player around who can bind us. Because if I was bound in Kelethin and made the run to Qeynos to be able to play in Paw that would take an entire evening just to be able to play later that week with friends. And I remember sitting around Qeynos for long expanses of time asking to be bound. Since corpse recovery from Kelethin would be very painful. Perhaps paying the Priest of Discord or a cleric in the Guild Hall or something to be bound right there. It is inconvenient, for sure, and it will be a cost, for sure, but sitting around for a bind because the risk is too high to play without a bind is detrimental and inconvenient to playing the game. I'm not suggesting an instantaneous fix just something that is equally inconvenient just without the unnecessary time sink required to wait for a player to bind you. Heck, even make it in the most inconvenient place possible in the city to be bound such that any other option would be preferable if there wasn`t such a huge time wasting component to it. Again, speaking as a casual player who would like to actually play the game and not sit around and wait to play the game.
We died a lot. But as casual players where leveling was slow - death was just a part of the game. And it was always just a game. Death absolutely sucked and we tried to avoid it as much as possible. Thus why I remember many times before we would engage we would be commenting "corpse recovery is going to suck if this goes sour. Does everyone have time for a corpse recovery?" But it was part of the game, the environment, and the fun. I miss the aspect of corpse recovery. Casters cared a lot less than did the melee folks - the ones without the ability to bind close by. Especially if we were adventuring in Cazic Thule and we had managed to get bound in Grobb or Ogguk and we weren't on friendly terms with ogres or trolls. Corpse recovery took on a whole different meaning. Since we'd revive in an extremely hostile environment completely naked. We would need to zone into an extremely hostile environment (guards) completely naked. And all of this before we could even remotely start our run. Many times we were hoping for no crashing while we zoned and no delay. Many times we'd revive and it wasn't as safe as we thought and we were getting pounded on by guards and have to flee to zone. And then we'd be getting pounded on by guards again as we zoned into the swamp and we'd be racing to flee the zone. That was part and parcel of real corpse recovery. One death could have meant multiple deaths.
I remember many times where being able to flee the zone would be practically impossible and our fall back position was to flee to a safe area in the zone for an easier corpse recovery. And many times our goal would be, if at all possible, allow for the cleric to escape - it made it easier on corpse recovery. And I even remember part of the corpse recovery if the cleric couldn't get to us was to aggro the beasts and drag them away so the cleric could slip past. If, at all possible, we could have my rogue drag corpses as she could hide and sneak - but that wasn't always possible. But when you only have a limited amount of time to play as many casual players do, then part of the experience of the game is in aspects that are outside the realm of combat and crafting. Corpse recovery was probably more a part of the game of EQ for casual players than it was for hardcore players based solely on the aspectof "time available to be played."
So, I am not saying release the corpse and death penalty. I am saying release the time sink mechanism waiting for a bind. Naturally, we wouldn't be able to utilize the pay for a bind option in the example I illustrated - but I made the illustration to emphasize I am not asking to make the game easier - just have an alternate means of being able to be bound in specific locations for those that do not have the ability to bind. Even an expensive and inconvenient alternative, but an alternative just the same.
No Grave Yards, No ! over a quest givers head, you should have to disect his dialogue to get the quest. No golden road to my destination. No ability to overlay the zone map and show my position and direction and movement. Maps are ok but you need to close it to continue to move. No Grave Yards! No NPC ability to summon my corpse! No port stones all centrally located, no more POK! No more game mechanics designed to do something the community couldnt do, like GY or Ports! Make us work together for this game not click a stone to summon a corpse or port to every zone.
I've been back playing EQ for the past few weeks on a time locked progression (TLP) server. A couple of things just jumped out at me in the "gee, I hope it's not like that in Pantheon" department:
Spell vendors don't carry all the spells for a given level. When I "ding", I have to run all over the place to get all the spells for my new level. I shouldn't have to go to Allakhazam.com to research just which spells I need to be looking for and where to find them. I'm ok with the occasional spell that requires me to travel to visit some hermit someplace to get it. Just tell me about it. Don't let me out-level a spell, before I even know it exists.
Non-fantasy character names. Please, don't allow people to name their characters something like Biggseksy, Isellforless, Healsforu, etc. That kind of thing just trivializes the game experience IMO.
GeekVerve said:Non-fantasy character names. Please, don't allow people to name their characters something like Biggseksy, Isellforless, Healsforu, etc. That kind of thing just trivializes the game experience IMO.
Good luck policing that. Not everyone wants to roleplay and name their characters every variation of Legolas known to man.
Liav said:GeekVerve said:Non-fantasy character names. Please, don't allow people to name their characters something like Biggseksy, Isellforless, Healsforu, etc. That kind of thing just trivializes the game experience IMO.
Good luck policing that. Not everyone wants to roleplay and name their characters every variation of Legolas known to man.
Well, unless in their infinite wisdom they decide to make me a GM, I wouldn't be the one policing it, though I would have no problem making liberal use of a /report function. However, it wouldn't take much to address this. Any that sneak through the basic character creation name filter simply get changed later, when someone notices them.
Lastly no one said anything about role play. I would just like to see character names look more like character names and less like Twitter hashtags.
GeekVerve said:Spell vendors don't carry all the spells for a given level. When I "ding", I have to run all over the place to get all the spells for my new level. I shouldn't have to go to Allakhazam.com to research just which spells I need to be looking for and where to find them. I'm ok with the occasional spell that requires me to travel to visit some hermit someplace to get it. Just tell me about it. Don't let me out-level a spell, before I even know it exists.
I'm struggling with my reply to this. On the one hand, if every spell (or almost every) is guaranteed to be on a particular vendor/trainer and you wont be asked to research (in-game or out) or travel to various locations, they might as well make all your spells automatically appear in your codex the second you level. On the other I agree that it'd be nice to know what you're supposed to be searching for.
I guess I've never been opposed to running around to collect my spells. To me it's a welcome break for the grind/quest routine, and gets me to go to some places I wouldnt ordinarily go. I dont think I would have ever gone to Erudin otherwise....
Feyshtey said:GeekVerve said:Spell vendors don't carry all the spells for a given level. When I "ding", I have to run all over the place to get all the spells for my new level. I shouldn't have to go to Allakhazam.com to research just which spells I need to be looking for and where to find them. I'm ok with the occasional spell that requires me to travel to visit some hermit someplace to get it. Just tell me about it. Don't let me out-level a spell, before I even know it exists.
I'm struggling with my reply to this. On the one hand, if every spell (or almost every) is guaranteed to be on a particular vendor/trainer and you wont be asked to research (in-game or out) or travel to various locations, they might as well make all your spells automatically appear in your codex the second you level. On the other I agree that it'd be nice to know what you're supposed to be searching for.
I guess I've never been opposed to running around to collect my spells. To me it's a welcome break for the grind/quest routine, and gets me to go to some places I wouldnt ordinarily go. I dont think I would have ever gone to Erudin otherwise....
I wonder if they could put a quest chain together for spells as you progress. I have never been a fan of the auto populate spell systems. Made for lazy players. I do understand why they came about though. I to loved the fact I had to earn my spells. I made me feel for my character. Kind of a strange thing to say but it made feel like I was investing in my character. Immersion is the other piece. I think it is important to keep that in mind with this sort of thing. Sure it’s the simple things sometimes but they add up.
Ox
Instancing
Global auctionhouse
Non player initiated and controlled fast travel. Wizard/druid porting to limited select location only. A CoH skill for a single class maybe.
Third party addons that add functionality not included in the base game.
I am opposed to anything that shrinks the world and anything that can be added to the base game that gives anyone an advantage. There should not be an encounter that required a 3rd party add on. I am one of those guys that wants to see an online world develope, I don't want a game or spreadsheet that is therte for me to "beat".
Feyshtey said:GeekVerve said:Spell vendors don't carry all the spells for a given level. When I "ding", I have to run all over the place to get all the spells for my new level. I shouldn't have to go to Allakhazam.com to research just which spells I need to be looking for and where to find them. I'm ok with the occasional spell that requires me to travel to visit some hermit someplace to get it. Just tell me about it. Don't let me out-level a spell, before I even know it exists.
I'm struggling with my reply to this. On the one hand, if every spell (or almost every) is guaranteed to be on a particular vendor/trainer and you wont be asked to research (in-game or out) or travel to various locations, they might as well make all your spells automatically appear in your codex the second you level. On the other I agree that it'd be nice to know what you're supposed to be searching for.
I guess I've never been opposed to running around to collect my spells. To me it's a welcome break for the grind/quest routine, and gets me to go to some places I wouldnt ordinarily go. I dont think I would have ever gone to Erudin otherwise....
Going to different cities or out of the way locations for your spells is one thing. I like that. But having your spells split up over three vendors all in the same city, in the same zone, sometimes even in the same friggin' building? That's just obnoxious.
I never even knew it was a thing until I booted up p99 and created a wizard for the first time, as I never really played a caster in the day, but it quickly became incredibly irritating to not be able to find my spells for a given lvl on one vendor in the guild hall. Often times, I'd have to go to where most of the magician or enchanter spells were to find one or two. It's silly.
Tralyan said:Feyshtey said:GeekVerve said:Spell vendors don't carry all the spells for a given level. When I "ding", I have to run all over the place to get all the spells for my new level. I shouldn't have to go to Allakhazam.com to research just which spells I need to be looking for and where to find them. I'm ok with the occasional spell that requires me to travel to visit some hermit someplace to get it. Just tell me about it. Don't let me out-level a spell, before I even know it exists.
I'm struggling with my reply to this. On the one hand, if every spell (or almost every) is guaranteed to be on a particular vendor/trainer and you wont be asked to research (in-game or out) or travel to various locations, they might as well make all your spells automatically appear in your codex the second you level. On the other I agree that it'd be nice to know what you're supposed to be searching for.
I guess I've never been opposed to running around to collect my spells. To me it's a welcome break for the grind/quest routine, and gets me to go to some places I wouldnt ordinarily go. I dont think I would have ever gone to Erudin otherwise....
Going to different cities or out of the way locations for your spells is one thing. I like that. But having your spells split up over three vendors all in the same city, in the same zone, sometimes even in the same friggin' building? That's just obnoxious.
That's more what I'm talking about. I like having some spells that can only be quested or dropped from mobs or obtained from some mountain hermit. It would just be nice if the spells for my level that *were* available from vendors in my current zone were all on the *same* vendor. It would even be ok if some were only available from a certain vendor in another zone, as long as there is something to clue me in to such.
Agree with having more difficult or at least more involved means of obtining skills/spells. This is where I think a good class quest system could come in (at least for basic abilities). Elite abilities shouls be from hard Boss fights and such. And when I say class quest, I dont mean 500 quests quest hubs. I mean a quest every few levels, that isnt just a fetch quest. It would need to be challenging and informative (lore and history of your class). This could also tie into the "rights of passage" trial stuff for leveling as well.
What I don't want to see:
Quest hubs or hand holding quests. I've had enough of linear quests in mmos. If someone pulls a lever, opens a portal or has a key it's should effect everyone. Give me info and let me put 2 + 2 together.
Instant Ports Everywhere, accept for specific class abilties.
Fast travel. Going from one side of a continent to the other should be a acomplishment. Instead of making every area equal, let players decide where to group. Though you shouldn't have to wait for a boat.
Instant Mana Hp Regen unless you've leveled up.
Instances unless the zone can't cope.
Lack of a Death Penalty. Dying should force you too group. Grouping should be a powerful way of mitigating the chances of death.
Balanced classes where everyone can heal, dps, tank and crowd control. Min / Max is more fun than balancing.
Class customization. It creates too many varibles. There's no real way of know what's in your group.
Pay-2-win. It's a bit like gambling, taking money from a addiction isn't particularly ethical.
Bindable items. All items should be tradable. There's a lot of community involved in helping other players. I'm not bothered about inflation, it has it's pluses.
Autogrouping.
Auction houses. I would like to see many bazaars all over Terminus where is can log out and leave my character at one overnight.
Item Durability. I don't care about inflation so I don't like money sinks.
Lack of content. I want the majority of development based on creating dungeons, zones and mobs. I don't want to listen to NPCs or do minor tasks, and i don't want linear task to progress.
Player housing. I would like to think im on an adventure, if i need to return home everyday it looses that adventure feel. I liked the EQ2 housing but it is silly returning there everyday. Maybe i could just mail things home and return once a month.
Sandbox. Sandbox elements are gimmicks. They not fun in the long term. I'm not interest in building ships, buildings, or experiencing some silly sequence a npc area follows and pretending i've somehow changed the world.
Everyone starting in the same tutorial zone.
