The unique character system - MMORPG pondering

boolean · 2006-02-09T22:38:57

I was thinking today of a system that could be interesting in a MMORPG. I put this purely out there for the purposes of generating discussion. In most MMORPG’s, players complete quests/missions to improve their character, increasing item and power stats. This allows them to fight bigger enemies, allowing them to get more gear with higher stats. The problem being that there is always a maximum level, and there is always the point where everyone is after the same ‘Golden Platemail of Titanium’ or some other such item, that is known to be the best in the game. What I was thinking of was generating a system that is a lot more dynamic, and requires the player to sink time into the game by getting them addicted to staying at the top of a ranking ladder (which could be seen as the equivalent as character levels), which work of a system that still has items and character progression, but avoids there being any ‘best build’ in the game. Essentially it has no end. The way it works is thus. Assume there are two main areas of progress – powers and items. Powers may include things such as ‘Fireball’, ‘Battle Rage’, ‘Heal’, ‘Teleport’ and so on. Items are things such as ‘Swords’, ‘Axes’, ‘Bows’. Although there are these base powers/items, it isn’t the power/item itself that makes it powerful, because players never actually collect pre-made items, or gain pre-made powers. Instead, every power and item has to be crafted, using pages of spell components or materials for items scattered around the game world. What makes one power/item more powerful than the other is it’s uniqueness in the world due to the crafting process. All items in the game are told to draw from a power of a light that guides the forces of good, like an unknown ‘touch of God’. It would appear that if everyone in the world is carrying the same sword, the effects of it drops dramatically, while those with a rarer sword suddenly become more powerful. It’s appears to be that the forces of good are trying to keep certain people seen as heroes in the world. What does this mean in game terms? The power of your character, the strength of your powers, and the strength of your items, are based off how rare they are, not what the pre-set stats are. Every power in the game must be crafted, and the more time the player spends crafting a spell animation and making it as unique as possible, the more powerful it becomes. If the player is able to craft a power that nobody else casts the same way, the power of that spell will skyrocket. Of course, chances are word will get around and other players will attempt to copy that spell, so players must make their version unique and continually update it, or run the risk of it being less powerful because everyone else has the same. Say Bob has the fireball power (10 powers can only be equipped at one time, although gaining the base powers themselves is quite simple), and for arguments sake, it is assumed that all powers are split into 5 different colours: Red, Blue, Green, Black, White (similar to Magic the Gathering). Bob has found the following spell-enhancers while traversing the world and beating up monsters and other players: Blue: 1 Blue aura (not compatible with Red) Black: 1 Demonic shadow Red: 2 Red Auras Red: 2 Fiery explosions White: 1 Blinding Light Bob now goes into the power crafter and decides to create a casting animation for his fireball attack as follows: Bob uses a fiery red aura to start, then creates a flash of blinding light, followed by a Demonic Shadow rising from the ground. The two fiery explosions then go off, at which point the player says for the actual fireball animation to kick in. A quick check which evaluates what spell components you are using, along with the order and the power it’s being used on (it could check for a whole range of things really) figures out how common it is in the game world, and then reports what the stats for the power are based on that factor. The player now has the stats for that power. He can check if the power has increased or decreased, and by watching the powers that everyone else is using as he plays, can check to see what power enhancements are being used more than others (if everyone is using the red aura for that spell, maybe replacing it with a smoke effect that nobody seems to use is a good idea). The same happens with items, where people gather materials and resources, and use them to build unique looking weapons and armour. The end result is that the (equivalent of) lower level characters in the game are those who have not played the game very long, and as such only have access to common spell enhancements. As such, they have quite generic looking characters, meaning they are not that powerful (a ladder ranking of players could be used as an equivalent to what level you are). As the player moves on, they find enhancements that are less and less common, and begin to see what players around them are using as well. Of course, finding a rare material on an extremely hard boss may be useless if everyone else has the same thing, so specifically hunting down items that nobody else seems to use is the key to the game. Better yet, you might have a certain item in mind that you know would be very rare, and after figuring out what components you need, you set off with some friends to hunt around the world for the specific materials, looking in mines for some, forests for others. Having a character covered in rare tattoos, casting spells that causes everyone around you to go ‘How the hell did you get it to do that!?’, and using items that have a very specific brand to your character is going to make him extremely powerful. The game is about trying to create a character as unique and individual as possible. The more unique, the more powerful they become. So, could a system like this work? What are some of the problems that could be caused? Would you like to see a system like this?

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by boolean February 06, 2006 06:49 AM

10 comments, last by ApochPiQ 19 years ago

boolean

Author

1,830

February 09, 2006 10:00 PM

Quote:
Original post by makeshiftwings
I think this would turn into the same exact thing. You'd get a bunch of sites up on the net like Thotbott that would show you what you the exact percentages of every combination on every server, and which is the least used combination on your server at any time

That would be true IF these stats were static, and not in constant fluctuation.

They would have to check what the most uncommon combination is by somehow hacking into every players stats on every server, run every spell and item through a mass averaging program, and finally reporting that 'X+Y+Z' is the best power, updating daily. Of course, even if everyone was told this, even if it was part of the standard game features, it wouldn't have much effect on the world. Good players would know that if the best combination possible is being published, there is a good chance a lot of people are going to rush towards it as soon as it gets updated. This might only last a week though, because as the number of people using this combination increases, the effectiveness of it wears off. So the smart players would look at this best combination, analyse it, and only incorporate bits of it into their build. Maybe part 'X' is a very rare element, and so there is a fair chance not many people will be using this anyway, so spending a bit of time finding it might be a good idea. 'Y' could be common as sugar, so it's probably not a good idea to incorporate it into the characters build anyway, since it will probably be useless in a few weeks.

This could make two very different styles of characters emerge. Those who play every day, and are constantly changing the character to have near the best build at any given moment, always seeking elements that might have the best buffs, but are fluctuating weekly. Then there are the players that seek out the elements which are more uncommon, and although it might take longer to get to the top, and more time seeking out elements that a lot of players ignore, you could build a more stable long term character. It’s like riding the stock market in some ways; Fast and risky, or slow and steady =P

ApochPiQ: I like that idea. It sounds more like a structured recipe system, almost like the ‘socket’ system from Diablo 2. But couldn't people just do what Makeshiftwings was suggesting, and just post a list of all the incantations you need to build an uber character on Thotbott?

ApochPiQ

23,139

February 09, 2006 10:38 PM

Quote:
Original post by boolean
ApochPiQ: I like that idea. It sounds more like a structured recipe system, almost like the ‘socket’ system from Diablo 2. But couldn't people just do what Makeshiftwings was suggesting, and just post a list of all the incantations you need to build an uber character on Thotbott?

The idea is to decouple the incantation symbols/words/etc. from the internal game mechanism of acting on the incantations. So even if I have the magic words on paper IRL, it doesn't do me any good in-game; I can't just type them into a box and "get" the spell effect. To make use of them, I have to find the right people and representations of those words in-game - I've got to find the scroll that has the same magic words on it, and the priest who can read it. Since that scroll is a game item, as well as the priest, they can be controlled by game mechanics, and access to that incantation (and its associated power) can therefore be artificially constrained, if needed, in the interests of balance.

Wielder of the Sacred Wands
[Work - ArenaNet] [Epoch Language] [Scribblings]

The unique character system - MMORPG pondering

This topic is closed to new replies.

Popular Topics

Recommended Tutorials

The unique character system - MMORPG pondering

This topic is closed to new replies.

Popular Topics

Recommended Tutorials

Reticulating splines