The Daily Grind: Do you want directed content in a sandbox MMO?

I'm not a guy that loves "being on the rails", but that said I don't like being dropped somewhere without any form of guidance or instruction (except for minecraft, but that's not for here :p ).

Something like ArcheAge or any other 3rd gen mmo we might see in the (hopefully!) near future will be a welcome addition. At least to me. You'd have a great deal of freedom without having players scratching their heads about what they should do next.

To me a mmo should be like this: a vaguely directed objective (get from A to B however you like).

If it's on a take-it or leave-it basis, sure. Sometimes you can only meta so much gameplay in a sandbox. GM run events that had an impact on the terrain or local resources would be fun too. Imagine if you'd built a stone wall around your property, and a GM-controlled uber boss, killed by players in an event, fell down and collapsed a bit of your wall. That could be a laugh.

Just a clarification on quests so people don't get the wrong idea, quote:

To obtain quality than quantity, many of our developers are working night and day. Unlike Wow, ArcheAge will probably have fewer quests because all contents are not quest driven.

Ah, ArcheAge.

What seems to be my mmo dream. Everything I want in an mmo. One can only hope it'll work.

Haven't noticed this MMO up to now but ANYTHING that is different from the norm has to be worth a look.

Gasp!!! Not quest driven, woot for XP grinding. I much prefer some banter over many dead things with a group. As opposed to running from A to B collecting "X" hides and killing "X" crocs solo. ^-^ Good luck to these guys.

Honestly, no, I don't like directed content. I like having systems to engage in. Territorial warfare, bounty hunting, crafting, merchanting, systems.

I want activities and minigames and player interaction, not quests and instances.

Why not give it a shot. I don't like being on rails, but when confronted with many options i tend to be overwhelmed because i want to do everything right away ... Like when creating a class out of skills my urge is to try for a broad combination of archery, magic, melee and every crafting skill ill possibly need, before realizing that is not going to work well if it works at all. So some sort of direction makes it easier for me to prioritize what i want to start with.

If the directed content is optional to progression, then yes I think having directed content available inside a sandbox world is the best strategy of all - a hybrid MMO with the best aspects of both themeparks and sandboxes. The scripted story content is there for when some players want it, but nobody is forced to do it to progress.

It is actually what I've wanted for a long time now. It hails back to my first MMO, EverQuest, where despite the name of the game the quests were entirely optional and formed a very small part of gameplay. EverQuest's Norrath was obviously built as a world first, then had some content dropped into it at certain points - one of the things I disliked so much about EverQuest 2's Norrath was that the regions had so obviously been built purely to fit the quest progression, which made the world feel soulless, like levels in an arcade game rather than parts of a persistent world.

Please, developers, build an interesting world first, THEN drop interesting game systems and yes scripted content into that world at certain points where it makes sense to have them - let us players worry about finding our way through your world, don't lay out an idiot-friendly breadcrumb trail that punishes us if we leave the rails.

I don't care about the quests (in a sandbox), but i really hope they won't be as focused on FFA PVP like rescent *couch*failed*cough* sandbox games *cough*DF*cough* *cough*Xsyon*cough*

Actually a fully PVE server, like wurm's freedom would be very nice for a change.

Next gen MMO...yeah common, we've heard this so many times, it's getting pathetic. It's not nex gen, best case scenario it's just something different. Honestly can't see this game being the rend for the next 5 years.

As for the sandbox thing, it's a shade of grey. We have themepark and sandbox which are black and white, and a combination of the two is nothing more than grey.

Can't see anything spectacular about the game or the sandpark idea. Being "different from the norm" is the norm today, and the games that really are different don't get much attention or many players.

I like a themepark start that grows into more of a sandbox. You get the direction and more gentile learning curve that you can create with a TP, then the variety of endgame with the SB once your players have got a grasp on the basic systems.

I find the greatest failing of many SB games is that their system is as complex as a TP, but because they lack the direction it is extremely difficult for new players to get a grasp on the game mechanics before they are thrown to the wolves (see Eve)

Time to make myself unpopular. Yes, I would like to see such content. Take EVE:Online for example, it dumps you in space and tells you to get on with it. That nice but that's also a royal pain in the rear as the most common question asked is "Ok, what do I do now?" or "Ok, how do I do that?"

Nothing wrong with having a strong PvE system to compliment a strong PvP system.

Sounds like it'll be a giant sandbox with which we can do whatever if want, but here and there are swings, slides, tunnels and wooden forts to play in for those with less imagination or are just plain bored doing our own thing that day!