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Originally Posted by Ngruk  1) The one core basic feature would you 100% expect to be in, and expect to be perfected at launch, bug free and 'cool' |
It's kind of hard to answer. Because I'd rather have multiple core basic features working, not just 1
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2) What one thing that hasn't been done well, or at all, in any MMO, would you most like to see as a thoroughly fleshed out mechanic/content piece/UI feature?
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Player housing. A housing that integrates well with gameplay, and contributes meaningfully to it. Almost every modern MMO integrated player housing after the fact, which means it wasn't an integral part of the gameplay - it wasn't there at launch, so it was completely irrelevant. (or it was at launch, and completely irrelevant: see Anarchy Online)
DAoC copied UO's housing purpose by making it a conduit for player NPC vendors, but that model has passed away: no one wants to spend all its time running around to find the right vendor. Even EQ2's model of player vendors fails - except for extremely pricey stuff, people will not run to your house to buy from you, they're going to pay the broker.
LOTRO managed to do one thing well, which was sharable storage, but that was not original; it's a straight lift of the old Turbine AC1's housing (various sized-houses, hooks, storage chest; except for the floor shapes, it's almost exactly the same).
The only game that approached meaningful housing is ATitD, notably the later telling (3rd). The whole concept of camp was a natural fit to the game, and creating houses (as a kludge to avoid graphical clutter) was a big thing.
So, yes. Housing, and some thing that contributes meaningfully to the player experience, and integrates well with its characters:
- Expandable storage (instead of a bank. Your "bank" access your house's general purpose chests)
- Customized "roleplay" storage (weapon racks, armor displays, bookcases, potion cabinets...)
- Gate anchor (allowing quick trips)
- Tradeskill/craft integration (you can't forge an epic item unless you have a correctly customized forge on the ground floor. I mean, those public forges are so awfully maintained, it's a disgrace)
- Socialisation (example: a Mage can open a portal to his current location, but only from the front of his house. Guild members can have an incentive to build a guild "quarter" of housing close to the mage's to be able to port quickly to home, and hop into the portal)
and a couple more stuff. Instead of being completely irrelevant, "properly managed" housing should significantly enhance your character's capacities.
Note that I'm against "player towns", like AoC's. They promote complete segregation of your guild from all other players - meaning you cease to interact with them. I'm all for "player-populated cities" instead. I'll take WoW as an example: imagine Stormwind, but where every single building in the city is potentially an appartment/rentable (you need of course heavy instancing of the appartments interiors - or you end up with EQ2's housing model which inflates your city to enormous sizes). You have quarters (your guild decided to set up shop in the west canals, so most guild members are concentrated there, because the guild has rented the Blue Inn as its HQ, and you get a significant rent reduction by being close), people run back and forth across the city naturally (instead of being forced there by virtue of carefully avoiding any trainer or AH).
The rest is left to the armchair designer's imaginations, including how to use pricing controls as a way to spread population over the city, instead of everyone taking the room just over the AH.
