Well we've been out of action for a full year! Now that my meth addiction seems to have gone into remission, I'll be back at the helm, plowing our 800 ton juggernaut into a coastline near you!
1st up...
The sorry state of MMO's... or why Grinding isn't as much fun as it sounds. Some fine reading as backstory...
https://www.thepowerlevel.com/Game_Info_see.php?id=119
http://parallelnormal.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/mike-musgrove-ps3s-virtual-home-is-inhospitable-washingtonpostcom/
http://www.wolfsheadonline.com/?p=1182
Let me summarize these articles for you.. MMO's suck. They just aren't fun. Repeatedly downing bosses in your guild's raid group for months on end so you can get a pair of pants that make you .06% tougher isn't fun. Grinding for a few weeks so you can actually participate in said raids isn't that great either.
Immersion. Don't get me started. If that squire back at the keep really wanted some help, he would have told me upfront, kill that minotaur guy as well, he's a real fucker. Instead I get to bring back 10 whale gonads, then return, then collect 7 of something else, and 2 of these, and kill one of those, and 3 of those, returning half a dozen or more times to find out, yeah that minotaur guy is a real fucker who needs to die. That isn't immersion, that's grinding, and it sucks. Solution? Let me talk to that squire a little more and find out exactly what he problem is, so I can gather his medieval shopping list in one trip, not 6. Who has it right? No one. Not even close.
PVP? lol, where? AOC almost had it right, but had it completely wrong in so many other areas, it made the game unviable. Empty promises left unfulfilled leave servers unpopulated. Solution, open ended free for all, no rules, no regulations, full looting pvp. Everywhere. When my group invades your town and kills all your NPC's... It's now my town. And I get to keep it til your pussy ass band of elves takes it back. You want crack addicted gamers? Imagine me taking your entire continent at 4:30am while your side is napping. You'll have people who will never log off. Ever. Every MMO should have at least 1 server with that ruleset. I can guarantee you it would be full opening day. Who has it right? No one.
It's about the community you say? The /2 channel isn't a community, it's a flea market for the mentally challenged. Name me one guild that fosters community, and I'll name you 1000 that counter it. The only communities that exist are the raiders (not that I'm criticizing them, at least they try and organize), but why do they exist? To help speed up a grind. Solution? Make communication within the game a NECESSITY. Your home territory should constantly be under siege. If you don't let everyone know ASAP that the orcs are tearing down the south walls, then well the city falls and they change its name to Orctown, hmmm, I guess we should have communiticated a little better. Inane banter is fine. Hell it's welcomed. Mom jokes, Chuck Norris and everything. But make the communication channel so important, it will police those people on its own. All that inane banter will move to /whispers instead of realm wide spam. Otherwise the whole community will just /ignore them. Who has it right? Thought I've never played it, I hear Eve Online is a step in the right direction.
Individuality? Yeah sure. Look everyone from level 1-59 looks like warrior clowns, with every random drop they can snag equipped. Then at level 60 (end game level), when there are 1 or 2 sets of armor / weapons that are the best for your class, that's what everyone wants. End result, everyone looks the same with such little variance, we might as well be at a Pokemon convention, because you know every shit-stain there is going to be dressed up as Pikachu. Solution? All gear is the same, and everything is fully customizable, ie, I can choose any model in game for my gear. My level 5 red shirt of badassery has the same stats as your level 5 yellow shirt of total pussery? Wow, guess this battle is going to come down to who's actually the best instead of who's grinded the most. Who has it right? No one.
Crafting? Another grind to the end so that you can create 1 or 2 things that are actually useful (for a while), usually deleting/trashing/vendoring everything you make up to the end. Solution? Open ended crafting. I can craft anything that profession can make from day one. I can name it what I like. I can use whatever appropriate models are available. I can make it whatever color I want. The more badass the item, the harder it should be to gather the mats. Sure that makes sense. But camping one spawn for days on end so you can gather 12 hyena asses isn't what I'm going for here. Here's a real gasper, make the mats you need, be created by other professions! Wow. You mean the Brilliant Obtuse Ruby Sphincter Gem I need for my sword is made by a jeweler? No shit. That's so simple and eloquent I just shocked myself. How about this one. Real world money transactions. Not just with the MMO maker. But with me. I made that Ruby Sphincter Gem you need, yeah the one no one else has right now. And you can have it for $6, here's my in game bank account number. How's it work for the MMO maker? Fees. You send me $6, then take their cut, say 1%. Say no one has that gem you need? Well Mr. MMO Maker can make you one, but it'll cost you $8 right now. Ding you have your gem, the MMO has a couple mochachino payments for in the morning. Imagine the $ they'd make if I can lay down $500 for a fully kitted max level death machine. Imagine how many other dickwads would do the same thing. Who has it right? Free MMO's. You know the ones where you don't pay to play the game, you pay for the shit you want.
Ponder that for a while. I may add to it. Even if I don't, these simple things would revolutionize the MMO industry.
1st up...
The sorry state of MMO's... or why Grinding isn't as much fun as it sounds. Some fine reading as backstory...
https://www.thepowerlevel.com/Game_Info_see.php?id=119
http://parallelnormal.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/mike-musgrove-ps3s-virtual-home-is-inhospitable-washingtonpostcom/
http://www.wolfsheadonline.com/?p=1182
Let me summarize these articles for you.. MMO's suck. They just aren't fun. Repeatedly downing bosses in your guild's raid group for months on end so you can get a pair of pants that make you .06% tougher isn't fun. Grinding for a few weeks so you can actually participate in said raids isn't that great either.
Immersion. Don't get me started. If that squire back at the keep really wanted some help, he would have told me upfront, kill that minotaur guy as well, he's a real fucker. Instead I get to bring back 10 whale gonads, then return, then collect 7 of something else, and 2 of these, and kill one of those, and 3 of those, returning half a dozen or more times to find out, yeah that minotaur guy is a real fucker who needs to die. That isn't immersion, that's grinding, and it sucks. Solution? Let me talk to that squire a little more and find out exactly what he problem is, so I can gather his medieval shopping list in one trip, not 6. Who has it right? No one. Not even close.
PVP? lol, where? AOC almost had it right, but had it completely wrong in so many other areas, it made the game unviable. Empty promises left unfulfilled leave servers unpopulated. Solution, open ended free for all, no rules, no regulations, full looting pvp. Everywhere. When my group invades your town and kills all your NPC's... It's now my town. And I get to keep it til your pussy ass band of elves takes it back. You want crack addicted gamers? Imagine me taking your entire continent at 4:30am while your side is napping. You'll have people who will never log off. Ever. Every MMO should have at least 1 server with that ruleset. I can guarantee you it would be full opening day. Who has it right? No one.
It's about the community you say? The /2 channel isn't a community, it's a flea market for the mentally challenged. Name me one guild that fosters community, and I'll name you 1000 that counter it. The only communities that exist are the raiders (not that I'm criticizing them, at least they try and organize), but why do they exist? To help speed up a grind. Solution? Make communication within the game a NECESSITY. Your home territory should constantly be under siege. If you don't let everyone know ASAP that the orcs are tearing down the south walls, then well the city falls and they change its name to Orctown, hmmm, I guess we should have communiticated a little better. Inane banter is fine. Hell it's welcomed. Mom jokes, Chuck Norris and everything. But make the communication channel so important, it will police those people on its own. All that inane banter will move to /whispers instead of realm wide spam. Otherwise the whole community will just /ignore them. Who has it right? Thought I've never played it, I hear Eve Online is a step in the right direction.
Individuality? Yeah sure. Look everyone from level 1-59 looks like warrior clowns, with every random drop they can snag equipped. Then at level 60 (end game level), when there are 1 or 2 sets of armor / weapons that are the best for your class, that's what everyone wants. End result, everyone looks the same with such little variance, we might as well be at a Pokemon convention, because you know every shit-stain there is going to be dressed up as Pikachu. Solution? All gear is the same, and everything is fully customizable, ie, I can choose any model in game for my gear. My level 5 red shirt of badassery has the same stats as your level 5 yellow shirt of total pussery? Wow, guess this battle is going to come down to who's actually the best instead of who's grinded the most. Who has it right? No one.
Crafting? Another grind to the end so that you can create 1 or 2 things that are actually useful (for a while), usually deleting/trashing/vendoring everything you make up to the end. Solution? Open ended crafting. I can craft anything that profession can make from day one. I can name it what I like. I can use whatever appropriate models are available. I can make it whatever color I want. The more badass the item, the harder it should be to gather the mats. Sure that makes sense. But camping one spawn for days on end so you can gather 12 hyena asses isn't what I'm going for here. Here's a real gasper, make the mats you need, be created by other professions! Wow. You mean the Brilliant Obtuse Ruby Sphincter Gem I need for my sword is made by a jeweler? No shit. That's so simple and eloquent I just shocked myself. How about this one. Real world money transactions. Not just with the MMO maker. But with me. I made that Ruby Sphincter Gem you need, yeah the one no one else has right now. And you can have it for $6, here's my in game bank account number. How's it work for the MMO maker? Fees. You send me $6, then take their cut, say 1%. Say no one has that gem you need? Well Mr. MMO Maker can make you one, but it'll cost you $8 right now. Ding you have your gem, the MMO has a couple mochachino payments for in the morning. Imagine the $ they'd make if I can lay down $500 for a fully kitted max level death machine. Imagine how many other dickwads would do the same thing. Who has it right? Free MMO's. You know the ones where you don't pay to play the game, you pay for the shit you want.
Ponder that for a while. I may add to it. Even if I don't, these simple things would revolutionize the MMO industry.
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