Re: Everquest 3
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.
Last edited by Shackleton1; 03-18-2009 at 07:59 AM.
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