General Discussion

I just want to gather the basics that all MMORPGs should have. This might help the Devs that keep an eye on these forums. Just some basics that would make the entire MMORPG community content.

1) Auction Houses

2) Mini Games (Horse racing, Bounty hunting for rare monsters, Triple Triad type card games, pub games for ingame Inns & Taverns)

3) Epic quests (An overall story)

4) Dynamic Dugeons (Changes each time, never the same dungeon twice, like Diablo)

5) Persistant Dugeons

6) Instanced Dungeons

7) A 'phat lewt' system, not a communist one

8) Crafting System with meaning

9) Hobby System (Painting, Fishing, Hunting)

10) PvP balance

11) Seprate skill system for PvE and PVP areas (ties into PvP balance)

12) Each piece of armour that has a diffrent apprance none of these "1000's of clones" BS.

13) Random name generator at character creation screen (optional use for players)

14) Barber/Hair Changer

15) PvP Siege warfare

16) Mail System (Thanks to Sieges, forgot about this one)

OFFLINE MESSAGES:

ALL MMORPG games need an off-line mail system for sending messages to players who are off-line. World of Warcraft does it best. You can send messages and items through the mail. You can also tell if the recipient has read them message because if they don't, the message gets returned to sender.

I really enjoy the game called Ryzom. However, its offline mail system is lacking. Not only can you compose and receive messages from any location (no post office required... you can "send" mail from the middle of the desert...) and you can't send items through the mail. The game also does not notify you of new mail, you have to open the mail screen to check for mail.

I think World of Warcraft gets a lot of deserved criticism, but Blizzard got the postal system right. You should have to go to a post office to get your mail (I like they way you can go to ANY post office in WoW to get your mail). You should also be able to send items through the mail (including COD). You should also have to pay for postage.

• Every city in an MMO needs a post office.
• Players should be notified of new mail even when they are out in the feild.
• "Return to Sender" should occur for unread mail after a period of time.
• Items and money should be able to be sent through the mail (including COD).
• Playes should have to pay something for postage (not too much though).

MAPS AND BOOKMARKS:

All MMO's need good online maps and the ability to drop bookmarks on the map. The bookmarks should be stored on the server (not the player's PC). If server space is a concern, then limit the number of bookmarks.

Sieges, your name is what they should add. No joke i'm adding it to my list.

Originally posted by Spathis

1) Auction Houses

2) Mini Games (Horse racing, Bounty hunting for rare monsters, Triple Triad type card games, pub games for ingame Inns & Taverns)

3) Epic quests (An overall story)

4) Dynamic Dugeons (Changes each time, never the same dungeon twice, like Diablo)

5) Persistant Dugeons

6) Instanced Dungeons

7) A 'phat lewt' system, not a communist one

8) Crafting System with meaning

9) Hobby System (Painting, Fishing, Hunting)

10) PvP balance

11) Seprate skill system for PvE and PVP areas (ties into PvP balance)

12) Each piece of armour that has a diffrent apprance none of these "1000's of clones" BS.

13) Random name generator at character creation screen (optional use for players)

14) Barber/Hair Changer

15) PvP Siege warfare

16) Mail System (Thanks to Sieges, forgot about this one)

great post. I'd love to see some mini-games for taverns =)

Persistent seamless world  - no instancing whatsoever

significant death penalty so people respect the environment

skill based system with opportunity cost so characters are unique

skills that take a long time to master

game which rewards most experience based on combat

real quests to solve, preferably a key word system like classic EQ, not just mindless tasks

realism represented in type of travel, loot drops, character weight capacity, weather and time of day,  reduced sight in darkness, worldwide significant faction results for attacking various NPC groups

player economy with all items fully tradeable

believable environment - no icons or glows around questgivers, no minimaps or arrows showing where to go

huge world

difficult to master extensive crafting and harvesting system

lootable PvP with level/skill range limit to prevent ganking

localized speech only, no worldwide channels and software which blocks Vent and other forms of live chat

1) FFA PvP (Or at least an FFA PvP zone, like the Runescape wilderness)

2) Full player-looting

3) No classes - your characters combat style is decided by the choices you make in game. Think of it like the WoW profession system - you can train your Enchanting to the max, but you can always give it up and train something else whenever you want. 

4) No instances. You should be able to run into other groups when you're PvEing in a dungeon.

5) Immersive quests/storyline

Originally posted by Spathis

7) A 'phat lewt' system, not a communist one

Everyone will have a different list. I like grouping games, and they are in short supply these days. I consider  WoW a solo friendly game, which is why I could never get into it.

A competent dev team....

So... what do you think ?Will the devs following these forums wise up and fire themselves ?