Well the pain of re-rolling could be avoided if you have a randomizer set in character customization. Maybe I'm in the minority, maybe not, but I think that as MMO games continue to evolve and become more "realistic" having a truly unique character is something that a lot of gamers would desire. It would be nice to see race REALLY MATTER. It would be nice to not to have to see everyone playing as the same build, it would be nice to see the genre advance itself.
The last five years have been a rinse-repeat of essentially crap title after crap title.
I'm not trying to say the concept is bad in and of itself. However, the reality is that the vast majority of people would re-roll over and over again untill they got perfect or near perfect stats for whatever they wanted to do with their character. The very few people who wouldn't do that and would accept less than perfect stats would basically be punished for their integrity.
You know, in pencil and paper games that sort of thing worked because your friends were sitting there saying, "No do-overs". But that was a completely different thing.
Curt, like you also I am a quest guy. Even when I played UO I did most not if all the player made quests and GM Events possible. In EQ, so many days of waiting for spawns it wasn't funny. We even held a few player quests, killing (deleting of chars) and the ever so fun lvl 1 flagged naked gnomer run from Qeynos to Freeport ( like 200 or so people usually turned out). In EQ2 Defiance ran a few server quests also, I even won one =D
I'm a quest guy, always have been. Love to raid in a less than hardcore 24x7 get the best gear fashion. It's just not something that makes me want to play. I love great quests, awesome worlds and the feeling of exploring a fantasy world.
That being said I honestly can't tell you much about any MMO story or lore beyond surface details of anything since EQ.
Why? IMO because it NEVER MATTERED to me. It NEVER affected my character or had my character effect 'it'.
That's one of our goals. In WoW you log out of Org on Monday, back in on Tuesday and what's changed? Players in the world, period.
Why would I care about story and lore and heroes and villains if they don't affect me, and I don't affect them?
What if they did? More importantly what if I did?
ugh Mr. Shilling i would love for you to be my boss, i've already sent you guys my resume and demo reel.
i think im just goin to have to save up a bunch of money do an unpaid internship and live out of my car if thats what it takes.
Rule #2:
When begging for a job be sure to spell your prospective new boss' name correctly. (Schilling)
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
I'm just going say thank you to Curt for all the great responses and also thank the rest of the posters who've made this one of the best threads I've ever read in these forums. (and I've read a ton of threads, believe me)
Its restored my faith in humanity.
Heck, I might even break my own rule and pre-order.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I just really hope that Curt knows this is what a majority of us want:
An open ended world, with no outdoor loading screens. Seemless.
Skill based gameplay, rather than "you hit level 42, now pick your skills"
A unique sandbox-like crafting system like Ryzom, SWG, etc..
World PvP that is meaningful
Heck, if he includes ONE OR TWO of these things, he will succeed. That's how bad it is these days..
Thats what you want. There are millions of mmo players now to claim anyone knows what the majority would want is pointless.
I hope the news on this game comes soon. With the people behind it Im hoping it does well.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day. And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
I'm just going say thank you to Curt for all the great responses and also thank the rest of the posters who've made this one of the best threads I've ever read in these forums. (and I've read a ton of threads, believe me)
Its restored my faith in humanity.
Heck, I might even break my own rule and pre-order.
Nah!, Not yet anyway.
I have to agree. I'm a bit taken aback at how civil and levelheaded everyone is being in this thread.It's also nice to see Curt responding to posters and being straight and honest in his feedback.
Definitely one of the few threads that stands out to me from this forum in some time.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I'm just going say thank you to Curt for all the great responses and also thank the rest of the posters who've made this one of the best threads I've ever read in these forums. (and I've read a ton of threads, believe me)
Its restored my faith in humanity.
Heck, I might even break my own rule and pre-order.
Nah!, Not yet anyway.
I have to agree. I'm a bit taken aback at how civil and levelheaded everyone is being in this thread.It's also nice to see Curt responding to posters and being straight and honest in his feedback.
Definitely one of the few threads that stands out to me from this forum in some time.
There were one or two efforts to start the name calling and prodding but yes, maturity did seem to raise it's head this time around and those folks baiting attempts were ignored (as they well should be).
While I can't say I've gone Pig on this one (re: comitted to buying it) I will remain Chicken (involved) and listen to what 38 Studios has to offer with Copernicus. Even if I don't prefer what I see out of the MMO there's still the chance I may buy the single player RPG that is offered.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
I will definitely be playing Mercury -- PS3 version assuming it comes out on that platform. I've really taken to single-player games the last few years as they seem to be games that are showing the most innovation.
As long as Copernicus isn't the level/class grind-mess that every other MMO is I will be giving it a shot as well too most likely. It seems like Curt has a damn good vision of what a lot of us would like to see in online gaming. Being in the financial advisory industry I realized long ago that a lot of companies have money, that most are tough to deal with and it almost ALWAYS starts at the top, filters down. I'll support Curt's project with my modest purchase and subscription because it's clear that he truly cares about his product and that is far too rare these days.
I'm just going say thank you to Curt for all the great responses and also thank the rest of the posters who've made this one of the best threads I've ever read in these forums. (and I've read a ton of threads, believe me)
Its restored my faith in humanity.
Heck, I might even break my own rule and pre-order.
Nah!, Not yet anyway.
I have to agree. I'm a bit taken aback at how civil and levelheaded everyone is being in this thread.It's also nice to see Curt responding to posters and being straight and honest in his feedback.
Definitely one of the few threads that stands out to me from this forum in some time.
I couldn't agree more Wicked and Kyleran. This thread should be the standard.
Thanks to Curt and the Community for a great discussion!
I'm a quest guy, always have been. Love to raid in a less than hardcore 24x7 get the best gear fashion. It's just not something that makes me want to play. I love great quests, awesome worlds and the feeling of exploring a fantasy world.
That being said I honestly can't tell you much about any MMO story or lore beyond surface details of anything since EQ.
Why? IMO because it NEVER MATTERED to me. It NEVER affected my character or had my character effect 'it'.
That's one of our goals. In WoW you log out of Org on Monday, back in on Tuesday and what's changed? Players in the world, period.
Why would I care about story and lore and heroes and villains if they don't affect me, and I don't affect them?
What if they did? More importantly what if I did?
ugh Mr. Shilling i would love for you to be my boss, i've already sent you guys my resume and demo reel.
i think im just goin to have to save up a bunch of money do an unpaid internship and live out of my car if thats what it takes.
Rule #2:
When begging for a job be sure to spell your prospective new boss' name correctly. (Schilling)
I'm just going say thank you to Curt for all the great responses and also thank the rest of the posters who've made this one of the best threads I've ever read in these forums. (and I've read a ton of threads, believe me)
Its restored my faith in humanity.
Heck, I might even break my own rule and pre-order.
Nah!, Not yet anyway.
I have to agree. I'm a bit taken aback at how civil and levelheaded everyone is being in this thread.It's also nice to see Curt responding to posters and being straight and honest in his feedback.
Definitely one of the few threads that stands out to me from this forum in some time.
I couldn't agree more Wicked and Kyleran. This thread should be the standard.
Thanks to Curt and the Community for a great discussion!
Surfrider, do you know if MMORPG.com did an interview with 38 Studios while at E3? I've been hoping to see an article here about that, if so.
I don't see why he needs to "hold his horses". If the guy doesn't post what he likes (and he isn't the only one) how on earth is he ever going to be able to have a chance and a modern made game possessing some or all of those qualities?
Out of the 4 listed I don't see how any of those are contradictory. I can see how some would take more thought and work to implement well and as challeneges are meant to be overcome it can be conquered. It just comes down to will and planning.
What is contradictory is the asumption that is "what the majority wants". Just because it sounds great or what you or I are looking for in a game does not mean that is what the majority feels.
Ah, well, maybe he should have left that part out. Aside from those 4 words, however, his post was perfectly fine and very relative to the current climate.
It just makes me wonder a bit that if Curt and 38 Studios is aiming for just another themepark game chasing after WoW numbers as opposed to going after a niche, making it their own and then growing it, why bother bringing in Salvatore and McFarlane. If you aren't striving for something with more depth, and I means actually manifesting the answers to the questions "why? and "how?" via game mechanics, why bring these big names on commanding big salaries?
Don't know what kind of player Curt was, though, just from reading the interviews of him talking about gaming so it's hard to envision what he values in a gaming experience or to gauge how sensitive he is to those desires of others.
(no offence by me talking about you in third person Mr. Schilling (cause obviously you are reading this forum at some time, heh) but I'm not going to presume that you will answer these questions directly)
I want to re-iterate that I, personally, prefer skill based systems to class based systems and do enjoy the features the oringal post I responed to asked for.
But:
1) That is not necessarily the majority of people
2) There ARE problems with skills based systems.
One of the problems with skill based systems is balance and polish. It is simply much easier to control and test a class system. It is easier for PvP balance. It is easier for group content balance and easier for players to form groups. You have much more of a known quantity.
Structure has its advantages. Free men are not equal and equal men are not free. This is a maxim that is hard to get around. These things can be double edged swords. I think CoH has done an interesting job with its Archetypes and power sets in trying to have a bit of both freedom and constrained roles, but I don't know of any game or even RPG system that has been able to skirt that maxim.
I highly encourage people to be very very careful about what you ask a Developer to do (speaking as a software engineer).
When you ask for a skill based system and then ask for PvP with a high degree of polish and balance you are setting the bar VERY VERY high. Even with Guild Wars, which is much better balanced than many MMOs, they still use classes to some degree and have hard 8 skill limit to aid in balancing skills. Extreme openended-ness rarely results in anything even resembling balance. It probably theoretically can, but its been spotty at best.
Secondly in the broader context of more recent posts I would like to say that I personally am not a huge sandbox person. I like the idea of being able to affect the world from a stroy point of view but in general for day to day fun I like to have directed activities. There are some interestng hybrid sandbox things that can be regularly fun. For example control points in Tabula Rasa were great. A sort of PvE sandbox thing that you could reliably goto and affects to state of the world to some degree.
So while I prefer skills based highly customizable character building of the type you find in many sandbox games I am not really a true sandbox player I don't want all or even most content left up to the player. I just want to do things MY WAY.
Also highly customizable system do not need to be skills based. CoH is highly customizable and not skill based. In some sense it is more customizable than many skills baseds system which tend to a cookie cutter effect in practice if not theory.
Thank you for posting the link. I had no idea the 38watch.com was even in existance until now. I'll be sure to register and continue to follow the game. Looking great so far!
The thing I think many devs forget is that in MMORPGs (and all games, really) the story doesn't have to be told, so much as experienced. Too many games now try to force-feed the players a story or lore through scripts and linear in-game events or more often just a ton of reading. But it's just information. Information alone doesn't make one feel involved in the story.
Oddly enough, despite being weak on 'story' in many ways, EQ was the game where I felt it the most. From the beginning choosing dieties (and it felt important!), to the end and getting to kill those dieties, I felt like I was IN the story. I didn't need to be the hero, as it felt right-enough to just feel as if I was a meaningful, active participant in the world. When you logged into Neriak as a Dark Elf noob for the first time, you weren't 'told' a story, but you felt as if a story had begun, like you were IN the adventure. And let me tell you, spending weeks getting enough faction to bank in the wood-elf city was one of the most connected feelings I've ever felt in a game. Wood elfs hated me, I knew they hated orcs, so I slaughtered orcs until they loved me... very basic stuff and didn't involve any fancy events or scripts, but I sure felt a part of a world that felt very meaningful and alive, and thus was making my own story.
That's one of the things missing in games these days. They can have all the cut-scenes and lore that tells you who you are, who the bad guys are, etc... but that doesn't mean the players will feel it. In WoW I was told these things, but never felt them. In EQ, when you made a character, you FELT that you were that race, you felt a part of the world, a sense of belonging. EQ was ironically the kind of game/feeling where pretty much everyone was a role player, to some extent, because everyone felt they had a role and place in the world. You had true connections to other players of your race.
And yes, a lot of the feelings of belong and connectedness came from the struggles in the game. Adventures were had because you HAD to have them to survive. Think about that. The game didn't have a ton of intricate quests (nothing wrong with that if done right). You simply had to band together and fight and scrap and learn to survive, and the game felt alive because of it, the game felt epic.
Now? Blah. Some games do okay, I guess. Vanguard wasn't too bad (despite being broke to hell). You felt a sense of kinship with your race and the lore/quests were good though you'd drown in text fast. It was just so desolate and starting areas so isolated, removed from higher levels and things that mattered, that sense of belonging was lonely and didn't translate into anything worthwhile.
Most games, like WoW, try to infuse the game with story and lore, but it always felt contrived like someone was trying to tell me lore and how I should be feeling and reacting to the world. As a writer, I can tell you, this is the last way to get someone on your side and get them actually feeling what you want them to feel. Don't tell me these things, make me feel them, and you'll hook me for a long time.
I couldn't agree more.
The story should never be told, if I want to read a story I'll pick up a book. I don't pay for an MMORPG to read a story, I pay to experience an adventure and be part of the world. Not to be told that I am this and I have to do that.
I don't remember my XX Quest Based MMORPG memories by saying "Oh I remember when I was told I am the chosen one and I had to kill 10 rats" instead I remember that moment when I fell off the cursed well in Befallen and had to pay a druid to get me out or that moment when I got lost in the dark in greater faydark (my first day) and then to directly communicate with the players to find a kind druid in wolf form helping me.
I stopped reading text or watching cut scene it got old... very old. It's boring, I had enough. I doubt anyone feels excited about Quest Text or Cut Scenes that are FORCED on them. It exciting the first time it was done, not anymore. Specially all the games being developed will have that. People will get enough of this thing. I appreciate World Lore that I can CHOOSE to read more about.
The MMORPG needs lore but doesn't need a story otherwise it will feel restricting. Lore is like why this race lives underworld and that race lives on trees. Why Ogres hate Gnomes and why Gnomes are afraid of cat people. What happened in this ruins 1,000 years ago? it looked messed up.. I need to find out, oh there's a book.. I will read that book later but first I need to go inside the ruins and discover its mysteries.
Dynamic Events, Stories, Dynamic World, Affecting the World, World Changing.. all this is just an illusion. It might sound like a brilliant idea in theory but in the end it's artificial no matter how you script it or program it. Unless you hire a dedicated person for each server doing unique and random stuff then I don't really think it will be attractive.
Keep the content static but give players the "dynamic" tools. Static content is individually designed and never scripted. Unlike dynamic content which is usually generated by a computer or a script. I'd rather explore a dungeon created by a game designer with its own lore and they gave their own time doing it. Than fending off a scripted invasion.
You can always make the static content a blast of an experience if it was hard and dangerous. Then you will see that adrenaline pumping and people going emotional about the experience. Also, social skills are always good I don't know why we don't see social skills anymore. It's something like Teleportaion for Druids/Wizards when they used to "Taxi" people. Or the necromancer/SK summoning corpses for people who lost their corpses. You create a community by adding such skills that other players might need.
Comments
I'm not trying to say the concept is bad in and of itself. However, the reality is that the vast majority of people would re-roll over and over again untill they got perfect or near perfect stats for whatever they wanted to do with their character. The very few people who wouldn't do that and would accept less than perfect stats would basically be punished for their integrity.
You know, in pencil and paper games that sort of thing worked because your friends were sitting there saying, "No do-overs". But that was a completely different thing.
Curt, like you also I am a quest guy. Even when I played UO I did most not if all the player made quests and GM Events possible. In EQ, so many days of waiting for spawns it wasn't funny. We even held a few player quests, killing (deleting of chars) and the ever so fun lvl 1 flagged naked gnomer run from Qeynos to Freeport ( like 200 or so people usually turned out). In EQ2 Defiance ran a few server quests also, I even won one =D
Rule #2:
When begging for a job be sure to spell your prospective new boss' name correctly. (Schilling)
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
Hahahahahahaha...
Tecmo Bowl.
I'm just going say thank you to Curt for all the great responses and also thank the rest of the posters who've made this one of the best threads I've ever read in these forums. (and I've read a ton of threads, believe me)
Its restored my faith in humanity.
Heck, I might even break my own rule and pre-order.
Nah!, Not yet anyway.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Thats what you want. There are millions of mmo players now to claim anyone knows what the majority would want is pointless.
I hope the news on this game comes soon. With the people behind it Im hoping it does well.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day.
And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
I have to agree. I'm a bit taken aback at how civil and levelheaded everyone is being in this thread.It's also nice to see Curt responding to posters and being straight and honest in his feedback.
Definitely one of the few threads that stands out to me from this forum in some time.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
There were one or two efforts to start the name calling and prodding but yes, maturity did seem to raise it's head this time around and those folks baiting attempts were ignored (as they well should be).
While I can't say I've gone Pig on this one (re: comitted to buying it) I will remain Chicken (involved) and listen to what 38 Studios has to offer with Copernicus. Even if I don't prefer what I see out of the MMO there's still the chance I may buy the single player RPG that is offered.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
I will definitely be playing Mercury -- PS3 version assuming it comes out on that platform. I've really taken to single-player games the last few years as they seem to be games that are showing the most innovation.
As long as Copernicus isn't the level/class grind-mess that every other MMO is I will be giving it a shot as well too most likely. It seems like Curt has a damn good vision of what a lot of us would like to see in online gaming. Being in the financial advisory industry I realized long ago that a lot of companies have money, that most are tough to deal with and it almost ALWAYS starts at the top, filters down. I'll support Curt's project with my modest purchase and subscription because it's clear that he truly cares about his product and that is far too rare these days.
It's good to see companies like 38 Studios.
Tecmo Bowl.
I couldn't agree more Wicked and Kyleran. This thread should be the standard.
Thanks to Curt and the Community for a great discussion!
Opps LOL! sorry about that
Surfrider, do you know if MMORPG.com did an interview with 38 Studios while at E3? I've been hoping to see an article here about that, if so.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
I don't, but will check.
Thanks much!
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
curt, any baseball predictions for this year?
I want to re-iterate that I, personally, prefer skill based systems to class based systems and do enjoy the features the oringal post I responed to asked for.
But:
1) That is not necessarily the majority of people
2) There ARE problems with skills based systems.
One of the problems with skill based systems is balance and polish. It is simply much easier to control and test a class system. It is easier for PvP balance. It is easier for group content balance and easier for players to form groups. You have much more of a known quantity.
Structure has its advantages. Free men are not equal and equal men are not free. This is a maxim that is hard to get around. These things can be double edged swords. I think CoH has done an interesting job with its Archetypes and power sets in trying to have a bit of both freedom and constrained roles, but I don't know of any game or even RPG system that has been able to skirt that maxim.
I highly encourage people to be very very careful about what you ask a Developer to do (speaking as a software engineer).
When you ask for a skill based system and then ask for PvP with a high degree of polish and balance you are setting the bar VERY VERY high. Even with Guild Wars, which is much better balanced than many MMOs, they still use classes to some degree and have hard 8 skill limit to aid in balancing skills. Extreme openended-ness rarely results in anything even resembling balance. It probably theoretically can, but its been spotty at best.
Secondly in the broader context of more recent posts I would like to say that I personally am not a huge sandbox person. I like the idea of being able to affect the world from a stroy point of view but in general for day to day fun I like to have directed activities. There are some interestng hybrid sandbox things that can be regularly fun. For example control points in Tabula Rasa were great. A sort of PvE sandbox thing that you could reliably goto and affects to state of the world to some degree.
So while I prefer skills based highly customizable character building of the type you find in many sandbox games I am not really a true sandbox player I don't want all or even most content left up to the player. I just want to do things MY WAY.
Also highly customizable system do not need to be skills based. CoH is highly customizable and not skill based. In some sense it is more customizable than many skills baseds system which tend to a cookie cutter effect in practice if not theory.
Mr. Schilling,
I truly hope your game doesn't suck monkey-balls.
Very Respectfully,
38 Studios to Reveal Mercury at Comic Con
Please be good. No, please be GREAT. This is, after all, our introduction to the Copernicus IP.
Sure is. That sound you hear is me letting a HUGE gulp of air out, finally seeing a chance to breath, and talk:)
Curt Schilling
Chairman, Founder, 38 Studios
Geek
GL at Comic Con Curt.
Much appreciated. Going to be AWESOME to finally be able to speak to what's actually happening!
Curt Schilling
Chairman, Founder, 38 Studios
Geek
I am assuming that people here that play single player RPG's have heard about Reckoning since the release. If not here's sort of a one stop shop to read everything about it, Copernicus, and 38, since the reveal this year.
Curt Schilling
Chairman, Founder, 38 Studios
Geek
Thank you for posting the link. I had no idea the 38watch.com was even in existance until now. I'll be sure to register and continue to follow the game. Looking great so far!
I couldn't agree more.
The story should never be told, if I want to read a story I'll pick up a book. I don't pay for an MMORPG to read a story, I pay to experience an adventure and be part of the world. Not to be told that I am this and I have to do that.
I don't remember my XX Quest Based MMORPG memories by saying "Oh I remember when I was told I am the chosen one and I had to kill 10 rats" instead I remember that moment when I fell off the cursed well in Befallen and had to pay a druid to get me out or that moment when I got lost in the dark in greater faydark (my first day) and then to directly communicate with the players to find a kind druid in wolf form helping me.
I stopped reading text or watching cut scene it got old... very old. It's boring, I had enough. I doubt anyone feels excited about Quest Text or Cut Scenes that are FORCED on them. It exciting the first time it was done, not anymore. Specially all the games being developed will have that. People will get enough of this thing. I appreciate World Lore that I can CHOOSE to read more about.
The MMORPG needs lore but doesn't need a story otherwise it will feel restricting. Lore is like why this race lives underworld and that race lives on trees. Why Ogres hate Gnomes and why Gnomes are afraid of cat people. What happened in this ruins 1,000 years ago? it looked messed up.. I need to find out, oh there's a book.. I will read that book later but first I need to go inside the ruins and discover its mysteries.
Dynamic Events, Stories, Dynamic World, Affecting the World, World Changing.. all this is just an illusion. It might sound like a brilliant idea in theory but in the end it's artificial no matter how you script it or program it. Unless you hire a dedicated person for each server doing unique and random stuff then I don't really think it will be attractive.
Keep the content static but give players the "dynamic" tools. Static content is individually designed and never scripted. Unlike dynamic content which is usually generated by a computer or a script. I'd rather explore a dungeon created by a game designer with its own lore and they gave their own time doing it. Than fending off a scripted invasion.
You can always make the static content a blast of an experience if it was hard and dangerous. Then you will see that adrenaline pumping and people going emotional about the experience. Also, social skills are always good I don't know why we don't see social skills anymore. It's something like Teleportaion for Druids/Wizards when they used to "Taxi" people. Or the necromancer/SK summoning corpses for people who lost their corpses. You create a community by adding such skills that other players might need.