Aion is probably meh, but I wish WoW had better customization

[mmcookies]

Seems like there's at least some consensus that Aion's graphics are very pretty, but the content is definitely lackluster, and probably won't stand up to more than a couple of plays through. Maybe it'll be worth a look a few years down the line after it's gotten some expansions under its belt, but ATM I'm just going to stick with WoW.

While Aion can't really be blamed for its lack of depth in content since it's a only a new MMO, I think something needs to be said about WoW's salient lack of certain features. Now I don't care much about stat modifications on gear, but the inability of dye armor in WoW has always been one of my pet peeves. Some might argue that applying different palettes to armor sets require a lot of work to get it juuuuuuuust right, but that's blowing things quite out of proportions. Players are fairly tolerant of minor faults in an automated palette system, especially when it makes something their favorite/matching color. The only practical reason I see against implementing a dye system is that Blizzard insists on cutting design costs by recycling old armor models via recoloring, which is just... so damn cheap it's reminiscent of sprite color schemes in 8-bit games.

The other thing that's been missing from WoW is a more "advanced" customization of your character. Now I understand the rather simplistic character customization system at the start. In fact, I think it's brilliant to stay away from a complex customization system to help beginner players get started, but I also believe that better customization should be unlocked later on, to give players something else to do (play around with the look of their characters). I was especially disappointed when the promised re-customization and barbershop turned out to do SO little to change your character's looks. I'm hoping that Blizzard is taking the money and putting it into developing an advanced customization system...

[wowphreak]

I shudder at the though of a herd of neon pink shammies dancing in some poor town :P

What would be really cool is have player designed armor the whole thing not just the color.

Someday.

[Kalros]

Yeah, right now, every single new MMO is going to be at a disadvantage because of everything that Blizzard has added to WoW since launch. I mean, PvP alone is a game within itself. You have open world PvP, Battlegrounds, Arena and Wintergrasp! All the races/classes and their deep (somewhat) balanced Talent Trees. Dual-Specs. Daily Quests. Instances. Raids. It is just SO MUCH CONTENT, and all current WoW players unfortunately have some pretty high standards now. So any new MMO is certainly going to be lacking WoW in SOME area except for graphics.

I'm putting all my hopes on The Old Republic!!!!

[HPAVC]

Wow's filesystem approach doesn't work well for dying. Also at the numbers they hosting radically changing the hardware requirements would likely be a bad business issue. I find the Lineage like graphics very mechanical, great for screen shots no doubt.

However the 'cartoon' wow graphics are very consistent, you can walk from SM to booty bay without a load screen and everything by and large looks right. Where a lot of games have people that don't match terrain, trees that don't fit, etc ... LOTRO I am looking at you!

I would likely to see better multi-processor support and a /pizza command.

[Smoooth]

The only practical reason I see against implementing a dye system is that Blizzard insists on cutting design costs by recycling old armor models via recoloring, which is just... so damn cheap it's reminiscent of sprite color schemes in 8-bit games.

I completely agree with this and it annoys the crap out of me...oh look new gear! oh its the same just slightly different color.

Making new armor and weapon models is not a hard thing to do. They could hire me and I'd put out a full new set for 1 class at least every week.

[Bigfish]

Personally, I think there is too much of an emphasis on gear. They constantly upgrade the stuff so that every few months its time to collect a new set.

Not that new armor sets are bad, but when the invalidate all your previous work, it hits a chord in me. Of course, I have a somewhat strange view on gear to begin with. I really prefer your reward set for one type of gear to be a really good set of gear for another type of activity. IE, you PVP and get a good PVE set, then PvE to get a good PvP set. Counter-intuitive at first glance, but I always found that method to keep the game fresh as you never end up endlessly grinding the same thing.

I do miss the days of pre-60 when people actually looked like they wore a mish mash of gear they found exploring the world, or if you were really dedicated, you had a matching set.

[Lunarsunrise]

watching effex play aion i still tought that most of the players looked the same even tho you can do so much to change them. maybe they look different in later levels.

[Negativ1337]

If i would make an MMORPG i would think, what makes an MMORPG fun to play?

If i have a game where i need to read every quest log because its hard to figure out how to do the quest yourself or there are no leveling guides/ingame features/addons for it you don't see me playing it for a long time. So i would fix that.
When people are leveling they want to battle eachother, and feel like they are really an faction a versus a faction b. The good guys against the bad guys. Or your just at war. So i would make at least 2 factions and multiple races on each side.
Then i would make some classes. I would like to have all classes have health. Melee classes have energy, because if your tired you cant really strike much. If you are a caster i would go for magical power.
For classes i would go for 3 types of healer, 3 types of spellcasters and 3 types of melee classes. This way you can also make factions have classes that other factions dont have. But i wont have one class tied to one faction, or you will have only one race for one class.
The character creating shouldnt be as complicated as a game like Age of Conan, where you can make your nose on 100 different varies. You just need to have different things in haircut and color and stuff like that.

Once all classes are done i would look for 2 chinese farmers and let them make the maps and quests.

Once that is done i would make a plan for the hometowns and battlegrounds. Also a place to sell items you got while questing, or that you dont need anymore, should be placed here.

And then your pretty much done, i think i would go for level 50 max. And 1-50 would take around 15-20 days 12 hours a day.

Kind regards,

Steven

[Duese]

If i have a game where i need to read every quest log because its hard to figure out how to do the quest yourself or there are no leveling guides/ingame features/addons for it you don't see me playing it for a long time. So i would fix that.

This is where WoW completely broke itself.

When they went from having 30-40 quests per zone max to zones with 130+ quests, the individual quests really lost their value. If they want the quests to be read and storylines to be taken seriously, they need to cut down the number of times you press that complete quest button and put in more intuitive quests.

[MultiMacBox23]

Watching a friend play some FPS & flying/shooting games, alot of the time they inject the story line through small video transmissions from HQ in one of the upper corners of the screen. You see your commanding officer describe the
mission that they are sending you on, and what your objectives are.

What would be sweet, is if after you collect the quest from your NPC, highlight it in the quest tracker, and you can have a small video window appear and have that NPC brief you on your quest. With really good voice acting, and
good facial animation/ gestures from the NPC video would add a little bit more immersion to the game. with so all the quest stacking these days, i dont even bother to read the quest text, i just see what i have to do and where i
have to do it.

Some would prefer this to cut-scenes on smaller side quests because, with the cut scene some people would get impatient with waiting for it to end before starting to travel to the quest area.
It would break up the game a little too often. With the mini-video you could get 1) your quest specifics 2) storyline all while traveling to your quest area.

I still think there should be some cut scenes for large story arcs / chain quests. I really got into the story when i first picked up Metal Gear Solid 4. I never played any of the earlier MSG games before. i dont really play console games
at all. I have a PS3 for blueray & media streaming. But with all the 9.0 - 10.0 ratings that game got i bought it for the hell of it. I have never gotten so into the story of a game before, and i wish some of these MMOs would give me the
feeling i got playing MGS4.

I'm praying to the video game gods that SW:TOR will give me some of this.

/End_Brain_Spill

-Ray



PS: to put this topic back on track, i am digging Aion so far both in beta & china retail, because of a) beautiful scenery/landscapes b) pretty graphics/animations c) awesome soundtrack d) a PVP system that agrees with my playstyle better than WoW's