justingrelljr

It wouldn't be too difficult for SOE to break WoW dominance. The problem they (and every other MMRPG maker) has is that they basically remake WoW, instead of innovating. If they actually addressed the failings in gameplay of current MMRPGs, they'd probably swamp the market. There's so many ways the MMRPGs could innovate to improve gameplay, but they never do. Off the top of my head:

- Combat is currently entirely arbitrary. Next generation MMRPG should implement collision properly. From that, positioning becomes important. From that, agro is no longer determined by "taunts"; instead it becomes decided by the fact that the tank is standing in between the mob and the healer.

- Change the way healing works. At the moment, healer can fully heal a tank repeatedly. That in turn means the only way to introduce risk is through spike damage / adds or through really arbitrary rules (scripted encounters). Which isn't good. Healing should be far more restricted.

- Flesh out scouting as a proper role. Ironically, EQ kind of did this by accident, and EQ2 they removed it. It should be reintroduced and built upon.

- Randomly generated quests. It takes a bit of work, but it's quite possible to write a series of tables that generate complex quests, complete with plot twists and plenty of variability. They'd be better than the hand crafted kill 10 orc quests. And suddenly questing becomes about puzzle solving rather than looking up the spoiler (can't look up spoiler because it's randomly generated).

- Use non-combat mechanics. If a player can pick pocket an item without fighting the mobs, that's GOOD. If a player can charm a mob to open a door rather than killing it for the key, that's GOOD.

- Randomly generated raids. Yep. Raiding is stupid at the moment. The way to beat a mob is a completely aribtrary simon says. There's no tactics. It's just trial and error (or read the strat). What raids should be is "It's a dragon! It's red! Probably it'll breath fire... I'll put on my fire resist gear." Raids should be logical, and success determined to how quickly and how deeply you interpret what you see in front of you.

- Break tanking down a bit. All mobs beating on one character is stupid. Tanking should be a bit more diverse. The knight should be able to take hits well, and generally should be first in line to take a beating. But there should be limits to their tanking. It should be expected that mobs will have to be controlled by other characters. Bring back ranger offtanking. Bring back mez.

And then there's other things like:

- Do animation properly! Omg! Animation in neverwinter nights is better than animation in MMRPGs. Stop wasting time allowing me to choose the colour of my eyebrows. When I cleave through the mobs, I want to see my character cleave through the mobs, not wave his claymore vaguely in the same direction of the mob.

- Do graphics properly. WoW graphics are soooo cartoony. That's why I played EQ2. But EQ2 graphics aren't so amazing either with the claymation characters.

- Make the game tense. Stormhold was great for tension. Lesser faydark was an adventure in disneyland.

- Make plenty of space. Stop littering zones with mobs! Open space is fine. Open space is good. Exploration good. Spotting a mob in the distance and avoiding it good. Training through a zone of solo mobs bad.

I quit EQ2, and have a strong dislike of SOE ethics regarding RMT, but if they had an MMRPG that had this kind of thing, I'd play it. I've thought about picking up in another MMO, but each time I look up a game it's the same completely arbitrary button mashing simon says grindfest as EQ2, so I figure I won't waste my money.

Okay, I'm done now. I'll go back to my cave.

Faminne

All I can say is "it's never gonna happen".

sig1043

A lot of the items you listed are great ideas. But due to the enormouse scale gamers expect from a MMO these days, I am not sure if it is financially possible to create the amount of diversity needed to make a MMO as you described. Dungeons and Dragons Online did a pretty bang up job on group instances, but they suffered due to lack of content, bugs, and their progression was messed up.

Mainly though, I wanted to comment on the toppling WoW remark. I would argue that we really don't want to see WoW's successor. The things that have made it wildly popular are some of your negative remarks. Like graphics, they appeal to the massive asian population (just look at about any asian MMO) and to a younger crowd. The graphics also make the game a bit less intimidating, thus attracting players who normally would not try a MMO, they make the game seem less serious and involved. Then there is the whole easy-mode mentality. It wouldn't surprise me if upwards of 80-90% of WoW players would not want to play something as complex as you described.

My guess is that WoW's successor will be very similar to WoW. Something that is not very intimidating and is very noob friendly.

Meta

Yeah since playing WoW I realise where SoE got pretty much every single idea for changes in EQ2. And yet it's still a universe away in terms of subscriber numbers. SoE should fire everyone involved in EQ2 imo. It's the most humiliating failure since SWG....

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mafoe

Troll eat troll?

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Pink Poodle

Actually they need to call it EVERQUEST TRIPLE

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Rave Ghost says: "EQ2Flames on ED: Click here! And Part two! Some NSFW content present."

Mezelline

Actually I think that list contains a lot of terrible ideas. Having aggro based on collision is ridiculous and would trivialize aggro control, which is really the most enjoyable part of MMO combat IMHO. I see no reason to nerf healing either, it is a playstyle that many people enjoy. If anything, healing needs to be expanded to better incorporate all classes so groups are not dependent on having at least one healer. A group without a healer should be as effective as a group without a scout or mage in my opinion.

As far as scouting goes, I don't see how thats possible for any PvE content. I thought that shadowbane handled scouting out territory very well, but that sort of thing is only good for PVP. With PvE content once you get it down, there's not a whole lot you can do about it. Diablo-style RNG shit is not something I want to see in an MMO where enough things are changed just enough to be annoying and not enough to improve gameplay.

RNG quests I have no problems with, but thats basically what we have now. I don't want RNG puzzels, that's just stupid. The "kill 10 orc quests" are fine be me, I'd much rather they spend development time on other things like scripting.

RNG raids are also stupid. See the diablo effect. Actually one of the coolest things about MMO raids is progression IMHO. I'd much rather have one really cool fight than 3 RNG piles of trash.

I understand where you're coming from about tanking. It should be possible to do a group without a tank just like it should be possible to do one without a healer. I think the biggest problem with tanking at the moment is that its pretty much all about aggro control right now and survivability is only really an issue on raids. Instead of having stuff like CAs that increase their dps, tanks should have abilities that actively help them avoid stuff. I think if we took away passive avoidance and mitigation and instead gave fighters abilities to tamp down the damage that they take the game would become alot more interesting.

I think more open space in the game is a bad idea. EQ1 had waaaay to much open space. EQ2 helped condense things and improved travel, but its still got a ways to go in my opinion. Personally, I would like to see MORE packed places you have to plow through. The only times I detest having a packed area I have to work through is while soloing. Solo areas should definitely be spread out.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the type of MMO that eq2 is. Its designed very well for the one-group scenario. I would change a couple raid mechanics if I could (like how most fights require no more than 2 tanks, and reducing the importance of mana regen) but thats pretty much it. I would really like to see a great EQ2 pvp game as well, EQ2 had a lot of potential with the whole Qeynos vs. Freeport mindset, however the homogonization of location and faction killed that. Imagine how cool it would be if there were raids that were designed for opposing factions where you would race to kill a target, or win influence over a faction, or even just eliminate the other team in a dangerous environment. It would give that same experience as a rush to kill a contested mob but without the gayness of staying on call for the contested to pop.

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Mezelardo - 80 Paladin 80 Shadowknight
Mezelast - Najena's first 80 Warlock
Mezelanka - 80 Troubador
Mezelina - 80 Berserker

Misanthrope

DEVIL MAY RUN UP ON A *****!

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Sethisto

EQ2 and WoW have a different kind of easy.

Wow is easy because the bosses dont hit like trucks and die quickly. But I lol at eq2 players saying fights that require jousting are "difficult", then lol even harder when half the people die every time the mob aoes. Or the valve guy in najenas tower that for some reason makes peoples heads spin. This game is pretty mindless when it comes to mechanics. The hard part is usually based on how hard your getting hit.

Honestly if we brought over a Nax like instance and put in mobs that actually hit hard enough to kill the tank, I think most eq2 players would fall on their face. It still amazes me how many scouts whine endlessly about me facing the mobs ass toward them so they dont have to move. I do it anyway to make everyone happy, but that is beyond lazy. And don't even get me started on the bridge boss in NA, I think it took us 4-5 groups before we found at least half a group to beat him the first time. Everyone else would literally stand in the beams. We ended up killing him, both times, with half the group dead.

Also people that click, this game is all clickers. Learn to hotkey please. So many slow ass players because they keyboard turn and click their abilities. Back when i played my dirge on a pvp server, i actually got people that would yell at me on alts, saying i was bad for kiting them, instead of standing still and fighting them head on so they could click.

/rant off

Hope i didn't offend anyone, but i'm sure I did.

Scayre

Actually I like this idea: Call it "walling" or "shielding". Give tanks roots and snares to control mob movement rather then the "I shall insult you with my latest joke about your upbringing." Mobs are then forced to fight the fighters because they can't get to the healers/dps. This though might present problems for the scout backstabbing classes, but give them abilities of subterfuge like "hide in shadows, misdirection and confusion." "Hate" and "aggro" attempt to simulate this concept but they do it in a poor way.