If you could name three things that would make you want to play a next-gen MMORPG what would they be?
Crafting - I would like to see crafting actually be meaningful again in an MMO. Back in the days of UO/AC/DAoC, all had very meaningful crafting as a highly integral part of the game and in UO you don't even have to make a character that pve's, you can make and play a character that does nothing but craft.
In these games crafting is essential and helps set up the servers economy. Crafted items are either on par with high end items like UO and DAoC or in AC crafting is needed to actually make or help make high end items.
Also for crafting to be successful items need to either degrade or be used up in the case of potions or special arrows etc...
Skill system instead of classes - I really enjoyed the skill systems of UO, AC and even AC2 much more so than class systems. Even though I'm a huge D&D fan, in AD&D to 3rd Ed. creating your character was just as much about crafting the character and the skills behind the class as it was about what class you took. In MMO's I really like choosing skills instead of classes because this helps create my character's identity. I have always hated how the further down in MMO history you go, the more Devs have taken away our ability to do anything but change our characters appearance.
UO/AC - both skill based games made rolling your character much more complex and unique instead of the now homogenized character system most games have.
FFA PvE - This is so important. What is FFA PvE? It's a system very much like old UO/AC/EQ. I want the vendors of the world to sell back to the PC's what we give to them to sell. In all three of the first MMO's you could buy anything from a vendor that was sold to it by another PC. Or the fact that in AC, different cities and different buy/sell rates and sold different items. Also, I want all NPC's to be killable just like in EQ. EQ's best and most defining aspect in PvE, for me, is this ability. I loved being able to go into virtually any city as an Iksar Necro and kill guards who would drop some of the better sellable loot. Or going to the Druid Ring in the West Commons and killing the Druid guards there.
This PvE freedom makes leveling, again for me at least, fun because I get to PvE where ever and on whatever I want.
This brings me now too:
Also, what three things would cause you not to play the same MMORPG?
! Questing ? - If there is one thing I absolutely hate about WoW and MMO's since is the questing system they use. I hate that the world is only a connect the dots quest system from one hub to another. I much prefer the old MMO ways of being able to PvE in whatever place I wanted too. With numerous dungeons, ala AC, or different spots in the world like UO, EQ and DAoC. I remember doing quests in AC for items I used for very long periods of time as well as in EQ and DAoC. Hell in DAoC once you reached level 50 if you did your class quests you'd get a full set of armor you could PvE and RvR in which was fantastic.
Even today, after 10+ years I could still go back and have no problem leveling a character in any of the old games because I choose how I want to level my character, the game doesn't.
Instancing - Despise it. Of all people you should know how loved a dungeon like Darkness Falls was. It was loved not only because of what was needed to get into it, but because of all the player interaction inside it. All the PvE and PvP that took place in there was marvelous and is something you do not experience anymore in the post WoW MMO. Dugeons were a communal thing in all the old MMO's with players helping players all the time and groups forming etc... From UO to AC to EQ to DAoC, non-instanced dungeons were the best thing ever.
Raiding - The one thing that has, in my opinion, destroyed the post WoW MMO is the idea of Raiding. The idea that the game doesn't actually begin until you reach the max level has changed MMO's and their design. It used to be in the old MMO's it was more about the progression of your character and your character's interaction in the world than it was about raiding for gear. I did a small bit of raiding in DAoC but that felt more like zerging than anything else and it wasn't until I played WoW that this idea of the game actually beginning at max level started.
This is the biggest thing for me. I hate, absolutely hate having to raid to get gear and that raiding is the only way I can progress my character after hitting max level.
In UO it took me several months to reach a 7x GM.
In AC, I NEVER reached the max level of 126 before it was raised to 270 and leveling was made much easier. I only reached level 72.
In DAoC I never had an RR10 character
I have been incredibly disappointed with the last crop of MMO's like SWtOR and GW2, especially GW2 where someone reached max level during the pre-release before the game actually launched.
Also I am not talking about tedious progression like Aion. Mind numbing pve is also not what I want.
Good example for me is the other day I was playing P99 (an EMU of Everquest circa 1999, where they only have EQ and Kunark running) I was on my Druid and could only play for an hour or so, so I decided to park my halfling butt in the EC tunnel and spam my porting services. In that hour+ I met a number of new people, was thanked many times over and made about 750 plat, with which I was able to buy some low end gear for my druid.
BoE and BoP items I know you only wanted three but I have to throw this in. I also hate BoE and BoP items. I like how items used to be almost 100% completely tradeable with the exception of soul bound items that were usually from quests or in the case of EQ high end raiding. I liked twinking, I liked the fact that after going through the world a first time, I could give my old items to a friend or an alt to help them out. I loved the fact that in the old games certain items were wanted, either for special abilities or looks and you could trade them even if you had previously worn them.
Ok that's it for now for me.
