Class based holy trinity game like EQ1 but with faster exp gain and raids that actually show up and begin on time. The more variety in classes, the better... none of the 1 class can do it all nonsense.
In additiona ot my previous post here, I'll made a list elsewhere, so I'll put it here:
1) no rigid classes; and deep character development--meaning lots of skills and stats
2) minimal quest chains/hubs, and large open world
3) no golden (best) paths for everyone; players choose their own paths to suit their character development and style
4) very hard pve, often meaning you have to resort to groups or have a tough stomach
5)
death penalty; yes i like death to have a bite, so there's an actual
rush doing dangerous things--maybe because I want to play seriously, not
lazily
6) can fall off cliffs, go to high levels areas, be stomped on by a high level monster in a low level zone and
be killed by traps in dungeons
7) maps don't have gps (they don't show your position on them; and only show minimal quest information
7) maps allow you to add placemarkers; and ideally can be traded with other players in-game
8) randomly generated items and gear sets (like in diablo or diablo 2); and a lot of gear tinkering to get the right combination
9) a comprehensive item system, abundant with stat, skill and effect combinations, including technical things like weight, quality, curses, decay/durability and volume
10)
ships; horses; walking; running; swimming; climbing; mark/recall (like
UO) /// travel should be diverse, not one-size-fits-all
11) deep crafting/skill system; including mining, fishing, blacksmithing, tailroing, treasurehunting, lockpicking and other
12) can build houses in the world like in original UO
13) limited instances; only in rare circumstances; and most of them are shared (not private)
13) NPCs do a lot of pathing and night/day activities are scripted; they also interact with each other, creating opportunities for quests and content
14) .... and more than anything, a strong player-oriented sandbox, if possible, alongside strong pve
15) typically i also want FFA pvp, but i can survive without if it compensates
16)
i am sort of racist too; i don't really like asian-style mmo's or
games, unless maybe it's a part of a larger world with other cultural
influences
17) gear stat or effect holes, so gearing up isn't a
linear process where you just increase stats. most of the time you have
to make compromises, so if you choose to be jack-of-all-trades you
won't compete with specialized builds in specific cases. this leads to a
gearing-heavy game, and more player interdependencies. this of course
is a bad idea if players don't like gear or stat heavy games, or the
game's population/design can't support interdependencies.
Finally, I think the future of combat-based MMORPGs, sandbox or not, will progressively involve AI-created content in the form of NPCs reproducing, forming communities and defenses, and waging war on other players and NPCs in organized campaigns, and even sending out raiding parties, scouts and settlers. I believe future games must include more computer-created content because I believe it will be increasingly expensive for game makers to produce content, as demands for higher quality and vastness will not end. We're already seeing this now, in fact, we saw the beginning long ago of procedural content, except future content will be much more simulated, intelligent and believable.
One thing that has been on my mind lately is how parallel computing will affect computer-generated content. In the past 10 or so years much of the gain in processor performance has been in more cores, and this has put a huge burden on game makers to make code optimized for multithreading. The probelm with this is the speed of code is always going to be MINIMALLY restricted to the serial code. This means increasing numbers of cores will not necessarily help in cases where code is serial in nature. Code that's multithread-friendly might not produce the kind of content everybody wants, so it will be a continuing battle to both increase the serial speed of processors, as well to optimize games for what amounts to a strongly mulit-threaded environment--that's until we can find some major upgrades like graphene transistor or all-photonic computers. The same problem presents itself with quantum computing. It can't do everything. Be it serial, parallel or quantum, these thigns will interact in a myriad of ways to produce future content for games.
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
My dream: a fun and engaging MMORPG that can be played completely on the mobile phone decently (without any larger computer to help out). I've tried some MMORPGs mobile-based but they haven't designed good ones for the mobile.
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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