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Zuuljin · 04-16-2007, 02:38 PM

This thread is about design principals that sounded good, but turned out bad. This is to perhaps make you think about negative aspects to your idea's, that sound good on paper, but just dont work out right in practice, or perfect idea's that still may be good, but were improperly implemented.

As I'v been thinking about fun things to create for my own MMO, alot of my idea's matched EQ2's way of doing things, but turned out to be things people hated.

1) To start off, story driven progression. I thought this would be great. We all loved single player RPG's with their stories, and never felt confined when having to complete the story to move on, yet when applied to EQ2, people started responding that they felt trapped, that there were too many zones blocked off by quests needing to be done. People hated everything being keyed.

2) Along with story driven progression in EQ2, was character class progression. Doesnt it sound cool that you pick a basic class, which, as you grow in your skill, becomes a master class! Many people are simliar in the start, but afterwards begin to become unique as they choose their class. Quests involve the player in this transformation for a more immersive world. And again, people hated this. They couldnt see what higher classes were like without playing through the same basic classes. They felt trapped in that they had to complete quests to move on. Noone felt unique enough at the start. Also along with this, was that there were WAY too many classes at the end, making balance a complete nightmare.

3) Next is linear zone design. How to keep people from avoiding the zone and following the walls? Create a path through the zone. This way they can also progress the story as players pass through the zone. Requiring people to actually play through the zone instead of skip it. A few complained it was too restrictive again, and not giving people the choice on how to pass through the zone, it was their way or you go back from where you came.

4) Sort of skill based combat. EQ2 used the Heroic oportunity system to add some strategy to abilities used in a specific sequence. I cant really say if players did not like this, but noone ever uses it, besides someone randomly hittng it, and hoping something good comes up. Everyone is just too lazy to bother timing things, and they would rather just button mash.

5) Voices. Not something that people hated, but turned into a feature that required WAY too much upkeep. Having to record voices for possibly thousands of NPC's seemed to be too much trouble, and every expansion after the initial game released had minimal if any voices added to their NPC's.

6) Players belonging to a factioned city. Keeping with the storyline of the world, having players be attached to a city, gain faction for their guild from the city, and have certain things available to those who gain enough faction. Nice idea, and I'm not sure how many people like the guild system of EQ2, but alot of people complained about there only being 2 cities for which players could belong too, Again with the trapped sense of felling. Faction system was worthless for those not in guilds, those who wanted to be the lone wolf hero. The city still never really gave you your props after gaining guild levels though. The faction you were alligned with did, but guards still called you names regardless of the fact that you could smack them down with 1 swing.

Thats all I can think of right now. Anyone else have any examples of idea's that sounded good but didnt quite work out?

04-16-2007, 02:38 PM	#1 (permalink)
Zuuljin So there's this plane on a treadmill... Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Southern California Posts: 2,905 +3 Internets	Idea's that sounded good, but.... This thread is about design principals that sounded good, but turned out bad. This is to perhaps make you think about negative aspects to your idea's, that sound good on paper, but just dont work out right in practice, or perfect idea's that still may be good, but were improperly implemented. As I'v been thinking about fun things to create for my own MMO, alot of my idea's matched EQ2's way of doing things, but turned out to be things people hated. 1) To start off, story driven progression. I thought this would be great. We all loved single player RPG's with their stories, and never felt confined when having to complete the story to move on, yet when applied to EQ2, people started responding that they felt trapped, that there were too many zones blocked off by quests needing to be done. People hated everything being keyed. 2) Along with story driven progression in EQ2, was character class progression. Doesnt it sound cool that you pick a basic class, which, as you grow in your skill, becomes a master class! Many people are simliar in the start, but afterwards begin to become unique as they choose their class. Quests involve the player in this transformation for a more immersive world. And again, people hated this. They couldnt see what higher classes were like without playing through the same basic classes. They felt trapped in that they had to complete quests to move on. Noone felt unique enough at the start. Also along with this, was that there were WAY too many classes at the end, making balance a complete nightmare. 3) Next is linear zone design. How to keep people from avoiding the zone and following the walls? Create a path through the zone. This way they can also progress the story as players pass through the zone. Requiring people to actually play through the zone instead of skip it. A few complained it was too restrictive again, and not giving people the choice on how to pass through the zone, it was their way or you go back from where you came. 4) Sort of skill based combat. EQ2 used the Heroic oportunity system to add some strategy to abilities used in a specific sequence. I cant really say if players did not like this, but noone ever uses it, besides someone randomly hittng it, and hoping something good comes up. Everyone is just too lazy to bother timing things, and they would rather just button mash. 5) Voices. Not something that people hated, but turned into a feature that required WAY too much upkeep. Having to record voices for possibly thousands of NPC's seemed to be too much trouble, and every expansion after the initial game released had minimal if any voices added to their NPC's. 6) Players belonging to a factioned city. Keeping with the storyline of the world, having players be attached to a city, gain faction for their guild from the city, and have certain things available to those who gain enough faction. Nice idea, and I'm not sure how many people like the guild system of EQ2, but alot of people complained about there only being 2 cities for which players could belong too, Again with the trapped sense of felling. Faction system was worthless for those not in guilds, those who wanted to be the lone wolf hero. The city still never really gave you your props after gaining guild levels though. The faction you were alligned with did, but guards still called you names regardless of the fact that you could smack them down with 1 swing. Thats all I can think of right now. Anyone else have any examples of idea's that sounded good but didnt quite work out?