eddie

I still miss the various incarnations of Air Warrior. Squadron attacks were a sight to behold. Hopefully, this can live up to those memories... and move forward.

err... meant to say "it's one THING TO adopt a major design change..."

Permadeath? alright... especially if they really mean recoverable death with a bit of effort. This could make things more fun... more visceral... sure.

Permadeath and open pvp with no consequences out in the world? That sounds like a recipe for frustration. I'm not so sure I'd want to subject myself to that.

Permadeath, open pvp, AND player looting? Are you INSANE? There's going to be a scant handful of people who will enjoy it, a slightly larger handful who will subject themselves to it until the frustration is too great (won't take long), and a whole lot of people who won't even go near it... ever.

When you see a problem, like the fact that today's games have become far too easy... level to cap in a couple of weeks, nothing really slows down character progression, or loses items, the only time-sinks these days are faction-based repetitive questing in order to earn some special weapon, or access or whatever... it's one adopt a major design change to fix it, it's another to adopt every possible design change which would fix it all at once.

By combining all three of these elements, I think they're headed for the perfect griefing environment... which I don't think the vast majority of players are searching for.

Since MMO technology has gone from lines of text, to nearly photo-realistic graphics, little has been done with enemy AI. Some console games have developed insanely capable AI routines with sophisticated multi-tiered behaviors, compensation for player styles and all that you'd expect from a 21st century game. MMOs, however, still mostly feature enemies that stand in small groups at equally spaced distances all over the environment, and yet never bother to notice the huge firefight going on 30 yards away.

I think it's time to focus on more interesting NPC lives and behaviors. Have enemies actually doing daily tasks, like hunting food, or chores around camp. Have them respond as a group when someone attacks a village. Force players to make smart, dynamic decisions while playing, instead of simply pounding out their attack sequences and/or anticipating the next stage of a scripted fight.

Way back when, in the pre graphic-MMO world of online gaming, I played on a text based, pay-to-play rpg, which had completely open pvp. The community, however, was fairly small, and word always travelled fast, so player on player violence was extraordinarily rare. On average, in a year of play, there were only a handful of murders, and everyone always knew the particulars.

Fast forward to the open pvp of today... individuals and gangs of players who dedicate all their playtime to pvp make certain servers and games virtually unplayable, unless you wish to do the same. The most consistant feature of the pvp-devoted seems to be the attitude of: "This game is stupid, I just like killing people."

I think my biggest disappointment was EQ2 pvp... because it worked remarkably well at the lower levels. Each successive zone had a wider "allowable" pvp range, and the first few kept combat to within ranges that seemed reasonable. Also, because of their high population, invaders from the other side would be quickly hunted down once they made their presence known. It offered thrill and danger, while still allowing people to get through the content and level up.

Unfortunately, once you got high enough, the level restrictions went away entirely. It got so bad, that you needed to find at least a full group, if not more, to grind through the little "kill 25 uber-ratlings" or "find 50 pottery shards" type quests in the higher areas. The combinations of level-specific areas of limited size, and even more limited travel options (lots of narrow paths, passes, etc) and open pvp, often lead to a nightmare for folks who do not want pvp to be the only focus of the game.

Oddly enough, this article reminds me I haven't touched the beta of DCUO in almost a month, except for an hour or so after each of the two bigger patches to see what the differences were.

I guess I don't need to subscribe to this one.

I think the "interest" in the game might be summed up as: "An all-tank MMO? I have GOT to see how this is gonna work!"

Whether that translates into subscribers or not, is another story.

My son has a Lego subscription that he graciously allows Daddy to use... and I spent a few hours trying to turn in a decent race time during the last contest. I stopped trying when it became obvious that I was missing something about racing in Lego Universe, since in a race where I felt I turned in a near-perfect performance, someone else beat my time by 30 seconds.

Now if they'd have a "finish all the badges" contest, I'd have already won.

@warpax There are a few courteous roleplaying people who like to play in a pvp setting... you don't notice them, however, because they don't constantly kill people. They just prefer to have that as a final option, rather than having it completely prevented by the game mechanics.

Of course, they're completely overshadowed by the noisy, juvenile, determined-to-prove-they're-not-roleplayer majority who flock to any server labeled "pvp".

Favorite? Hmmm... I love Star Trek (and have an ongoing subscription), but would love to get back into Champions, too. I'd have to say STO is favorite, mostly because of the friends I've made there, and I'd love to drag my wife into space with me...

Although, I wouldn't say no to Champions, just can't justify paying for another MMO at the moment.