Rather than add another "here’s what’s wrong with " thread, I thought it might be fun to have a little discussion on what folks would consider their perfect MMO, and what elements it would contain.
For me, I would combine the following:
Graphical style of World of warcraft Vanilla, with a bit of a modern facelift. Doesn’t need to win awards for graphics, but must be pleasing to look at, and not require a high end PC. Mid level PC should be able to run smoothly.
PVP similar to vanilla wow. Totally ok with 1 vs 1 being a bit of a rock/paper/scissors scenario, as long as group pvp can remain reasonably balanced.
More dangerous open world, with harsher penalties for death, like Classic Everquest. (maybe stop short of being able to lose a level from dying)
Separate spheres for adventuring, crafting, and perhaps one more gameplay loop. Vanguard Saga of heroes had something called “Diplomacy” which was how you typically triggered world buffs. Each sphere had 50 levels (55 after an expansion), and a progressively faster mount available for purchase every 10 levels. Yes, this meant that you could be a level 1 adventurer, and a 50/55 blacksmith with the fastest horse in the game.
The community of FFXIV. Not that there aren’t kind patient people here, just seems sometimes like they are the exception, and not the rule.
Unsure on dungeon/raid finder. I know this tends to reduce the motivation to connect with folks on your own server and form communities, so perhaps a party/raid finder limited to your own server that does NOT automatically teleport you to the dungeon entrance.
Real motivation and rewards for high level players to assist lower level players with dungeon clears. Mentor down system so higher lv players can easily group with lower lv friends without trivializing content. This is something Vanguard did a decent job on, and FFXIV as well. Once per day you can run a random lower level dungeon and be rewarded with a few higher lv tomes which go towards your gear.
Mounts should be available much sooner and for less, even if they only provide a small movement speed buff in the early levels. Keep the highest lv and fastest mounts expensive though.
interesting. I never played Wrath, and actually quit TBC at 67. But if Classic follows the same progression, I may have to try it for the first time. From what I hear the arena PVP was really huge around that time.
My all-time favorite MMORPG was Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC), though I preferred the co-op PvE Gaheris server to the RvR/PvP servers mostly (except for low/mid levels battlegrounds fun). Give that core game a 2020 graphics engine & UI facelift, & some sort of gear cosmetics customization/matching system, & I would be pretty happy overall.
A properly-fixed & graphically modernized 2020 version Vanguard: Saga of Heroes would also rock. Shame that Sony ruined the game the first time around.
I also think Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen will be a great “old-school” MMORPG if that ever releases.
Agree on all points. Vanguard was literally the perfect game for me aside from the pvp aspect. Was already released late, but another 4-6 months of beta testing and it would probably still be going today. Would be niche, but probably still going.
I would love to see something with WoW aesthetics.
But moving away from the holy trinity mechanics, so sure you might still have tanks and healers but modern technology allows for much more organic encounters than an agro table.
I’d also like to see something with multiple parallel end game paths instead of everything being designed to funnel people into raiding.
I always liked this idea too, thought it was neat on classic Everquest pvp servers.
Of course people would just travel the world wearing only BoP items that can’t be looted and/or trash/resist gear with their real gear safely tucked into bags, but I like the concept.
Should be real repercussions for dying in PVP, and real penalties for dying in PVE. moreso than a 1-5 minute walk of shame as a ghost.
I’ve been trying to make something like this happen, by inviting, and warning people in advance that we are going to try a dungeon run with say, no tank. Maybe we bring a hunter and a lock, and use their pets as tanks. Maybe we pull everything way back and abuse fear liberally.
A handful are onboard, but most are like “Nah, I only want speed clears with a perfectly equippped team. I also want a summon, because 5 minutes walking is more than i can commit.” <---- obviously exaggerated a bit, but that’s often the feeling I get.
The perfect MMO is pretty similar to WoW but with actual GM support to ban all these botters, and gold sellers. You know, a specific role that a company pays to police their game?
Yes, or at least the capability to clear an instance with 3 people instead of 5, if those 3 people are really maximizing what they can do with their class.
My best moments in classic everquest were when we attempted to dungeon crawl with only 2 or 3 instead of the full party of 6.
run speed, gun accuracy, recoil control, carrying capacity, melee strength, reload speed, and aim down sight speed are all stats
wearable gear that can be purchased via the in game store that increases or decreases those stats: (ex. backpack +14 carrying capacity, -1 run speed) (ex. extended mag, -1 reload speed, +30 magazine capacity)
you can level up by doing things in game for bonus points, and getting first place gives a massive bonus point
leveling up you can increase a stat or stats of your choice
consistent, updating public leaderboard for all kinds of things, K/D, headshot count, accuracy, game wins, most points
MAXIMUM system compatibility and optimization. minimum system requirements need to be a gtx 750 ti for 30fps, and a gtx 1060 for 60+ fps at 1080p
free to play, with optional ultra premium armor and clothings purchaseable (yes pay to win) at a high level, far off from the level that newcomer games would allow
low regulation of nametag/gamertag/username (ex. someone wants to name their character “shrektiddies69420” i dont want some karen getting offended and banning them
no report functionality whatsoever except for VERY easily accessible cheat/hack report system, with well paid and numerous game masters on duty 24/7 to investigate large complaint volume individuals within 1 minute
other than like i said pubg, just to have a lot of maps, way more than 3 (come on devs, are ya sleeping or what?) and a bunch of weapons
low concern for balance. obviously if one gun is so good its the only gun anyone picks up then maybe look into nerfing it but other than that, since item spawns are random, just let some guns and items simply be more powerful than others.
Exactly the way it was in Wrath of the Lich King. Everything was the best it could have been. It won’t be near that way this time around because they’ve already screwed up the game in several ways that will carry over to it if they ever release it as part of Classic after The Burning Crusade.