http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/560 Here is a debate for end game on MMORPG.com Honestly, I don't think there is a solution to a good end game. There are people that hate PvP, and there are people that love PvE. You guys have any ideas on end game contents other than killing other players for no reason and killing other monsters for no reason.

There is a solution, and that is cater for both. Why have just 1 ending (or path) through the world. What if you had a PvP end game and a PvE end game. What now exists in games like WoW is just the PvE endgame. A good PvP endgame could be the conquering of all "Disputed" territories to your faction.

This would requier the ability to capture areas to your faction and to be able to hold them for a while. It could also allow a new role for a player: that of a commander. This commander role could have the ability to "order" the deployment of various NPC troops (just the guards) to critical points around an area (a bit like an RTS). They might have to purchace these troops first (may be through "Loyalty", Faction or Honour Kill Points (this would give the player some reson to go out and get these). Buying troops might be limited to areas that your faction already controls and troops could be limited to these areas (so no sending the NPC troops on raids).

There could be some special quests that can only be got if the area is alligned to the player's faction (not all quests need to be like this and you could still have some quest that spawn regardless of the areas loyalty), giveing more reason to attempt this. These extra quests must not stop a player from completeing the normal PvE endgame but would be side quests to get PvP equipment mainly.

I think that makeing certain regions "Contested" and having the player being able to have some effect on these areas could make an MMORPG much more interesting.

How about game contents other than combat? Like puzzles, arcade/casino/strategy/whatever mini-games, solving mysteries, seducing NPCs, building or other sim gameplay...? Why do people think combat is the be-all end-all of (MMO)RPG gameplay?

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Original post by sunandshadow How about game contents other than combat? Like puzzles, arcade/casino/strategy/whatever mini-games, solving mysteries, seducing NPCs, building or other sim gameplay...? Why do people think combat is the be-all end-all of (MMO)RPG gameplay?

I agree RPGs could use more Varity but,
At this point MMOs aren’t compatible with much other than killing everything you cross paths with
-puzzles, arcade
could be done better on a non mmo
-casino
could be done but non-rpg games like online poker work fine
-solving mysteries
hard to make work with so many people with running around and dynamic contnent would be nearly impossible
-seducing NPCs
just as fun without some guy make illegible leet speak comments while your playing and getting pked as soon as you leave town

really i don’t even know why there called RPG, should be more like MMOHNS (MMO Hack N Slash) since they lack any sort of role playing or even story (the manual doesn’t count)

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-solving mysteries hard to make work with so many people with running around and dynamic contnent would be nearly impossible

Ok, maybe I'm talking about a puzzle rather than a mystery. I still think could be done and done really well (though the thoughts in this post may be a little disjointed).

Though I'm sure this'd be hard, I don't think it'd be out of the relm of modern possibility. A single large mystery (not necissarily criminally orientated) could be created such that a couple thousand people could be working on it. The Hack.net thread was not unlike this. A bunch of people in an online community discussing a puzzle hosted on a couple web pages. Rather than it being on a couple of static web pages, provide something more of an interface. Have an avatar walking around a city or spaceship or something with a bunch of other people trying to solve the same rediculously complex puzzle.

(for a mystery)
Give each other clues (or throw each other off) or pick up on the trail of something by following some sort of "footprint" left by other users (changes in enviroment, pc sighted by another (n)pc, maybe actually some form of avatar's foot/fingerprints).

If you're taking in a subscription, offer a portion as a reward (probably esaier said than done) for solving the problem first. I think that even if players came into the game late, it might still prove interesting as their ability to catch up depends on their ability to find (whether through message boards or from the game world) and understand what's already been uncovered.

As far as I'm concerned, the "story" of an MMOG should be a tutorial to get you ready for the sandbox of the game. You don't "finish" it, you graduate from it into full player status, redy to genuinely take part in the larger scope of it.

Which should be mostly PvP or cooperative tasks. If you want a story and a grind, play single player games.

you could use a system like the board game Clue (or Cluedo depending on which country you are in). Each player would have access to only a bit of the infomation about the puzzle. Only by working together (ie shareing infomation) can the puzzle be solved.

If you use a system like in Clue then it is posable to come up with random puzzles (like what does hapen in clue). Each "instance" could just be another game of clue set in the game world (or maybe you can only get clues to some puzzles by first compleating other puzzels or mini games previously).