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Originally Posted by Ngruk  One thing, that has not been done, but you feel is either a must in next gen or a serious differentiator that could set a game apart. |
This is probably one area that is hardest to make your mark in as a new MMO game. Lately games are being touted as 'next gen' when they really only have variations on what has worked previously, very little is new. WAR feels like a bastard child of DAOC and WoW (Not to say either is a bad game).
I think you'd need to look at all the major games, find what is great about them and use it. And then spend a lot of time making them all better. Everything from the UI to the way lore is presented. There are probably at least half a dozen things that could be greatly improved upon in the top few games but they never seem to get better. Chat systems, UI layout, LFG systems, monster AI, and so on. There are a large amount of features people will expect to see, if you can make most or all of them better, you'll make the game more enjoyable to play for your customers.
If I had to narrow down two a couple of specific ideas they would be:
1) A UI that doesn't suck out of the box.
WAR scored a big hit with the Tome UI functionality and how it interacts with almost everything you do in game. But the rest of the WAR UI is not much of an improvement (if any) over previous games.
WoW probably has the best UI in terms of customization and stability, but it has limitations that are annoying. Why could I only have 20 quests for three years? Why aren't there built in UI themes I can change? Why are windows incapable of being resized?
2) Put back in mega dungeons. Guk Solusek A/B. Sebilis. Blackrock Depths. Blackrock Spire. Make them dangerous and risky. Not raids, but actual single group adventurers that players look forward to entering on occasion. Tiny, bite sized dungeons have their place, but every game should always have a slog it out type of dungeon that you can't just clear the same time as you half-ass pay attention to the TV at the same time.
