General Discussion

None of the options appear too innovative for my liking, but I went with PotBS for the fun of it. 

I went against voting for PQ's, as inovative as they are, simply because in practice they don't work.

They were theoretically great, but when used in game, most people just stuck to the better, faster content, and the PQ's ended up devolving into just grind fests akin to factions in world of warcraft.

Beyond that, I just flipped a coin for my choice.

PQ's in WAR FTW.

They are a way of gently encouraging people to group together and play a MMO with other people!

For those who don't know, a PQ typically has 3 stages.  The first stage is solo.  The second stage 2 people of the appropriate level can complete.  The third stage requires at least a tank and healer of the appropriate level, but can be completed by a larger mixed group.

There are normally 3 pq's per chapter.  As you complete portions, stages, or the entire pq, you get influence points.  Get enough influence points and you get 3 stages of loot.  The loot is typically (half the time) a desirable upgrade.

If you don't complete the 2nd or 3rd stage in a certain period of time (first stage has no time limit) then the pq will reset to the first stage.  Thus, 1 person can solo stage 1, move on to the next pq, and cycle through them to max their influence for that chapter and get the loot.  2 people can handle both stages, and if you get a group you can take all three stages.

Completing a pq gives you a random roll with a quirky system that adds to your roll based off your contribution in the pq.  The top players (sometimes everyone) gets a loot bag where you decide on an item.  The quality and quantity of the bag is random, but is partially based off the difficulty of the pq.  The person with the highest roll gets the best quality bag.  Each bag of same quality has the same items for that PQ, but different items for each of the PQs in a chapter.

This in an innovative feature that gives players encouragement to group together while allowing solo/duo players rewards for their time.  The pq's that are empty of players can be fixed if you just get a group together and go there.

Man...

It's been a bad year...

This site loves EVE so much it put in a "feature" for the awards that's not even an in-game feature. That's sad, just sad.

Originally posted by Stradden

Originally posted by Ozmodan

I don't think any of these game concepts are really that innovative.  I guess if I had to pick one, it would probably be the public quests in Warhammer.

I think the entire industry reeks of a lack of innovation.  All I see is one copycat game after another.

Age of Conan combat combo is most certainly not innovative, it has been done before in other games.  As to ship combat, how is that different than ship combat in Eve?  I think the jury is still out on the Council of Stellar Management in Eve, it seems more a marketing ploy than anything helpful to date.

I think we have to look to the indy developers for a company to take a chance on something truely innovative, the major ones seem to avoid that lately.

 

I have to respectfully completely disagree:

I honestly can't remember ever seeing Age of Conan-style combat in another MMO.  I'm not saying I'm king of all knowledge or anything, but to the best of my recollection, or that of anyone else that I have spoken to, we've not seen it in another MMO.

Have you played Pirates of the Burning Sea? I can't recall the last time that wind direction and strength played a role in EVE Online... given there's no wind in space. I'm not knocking EVE's combat, I'm just saying.. it's different.

The Council of Stellar Management has already made a number of differences in the direction of EVE. I wouldn't say it's any more of a marketing thing than any other feature of an MMO. when there's news about it, they send out a release. Take a look at this interview.

Honestly, and please don't take this personally, but I think you might be confused as to the meaning of the word innovation.

Invention is the creation of something completely and wholly new, while innovation is taking something that already exists and somehow changing it (generally to improve upon it).

Communities have always contributed to development decisions, The CSM takes a new spin on that and formalizes it via elections

Quests have always existed in MMOs, PQs present them in a different way, encouraging people to work together without requiring grouping

ship to ship combat has always existed, but PotBS used what they knew of nautical age of sail combat and integrated functions to replicate it.

MMOs have almost always used single key attacks, Age of Conan added a new layer to that by requiring combos to activate certain abilities.

These are all innovative features. I'm not saying they're all great, and we're not asking you what the best feature is. You don't have to like something for it to be innovative. Inf act, innovation often results in the opposite.

Point taken on both Pirates of the Burning Sea sea combat and also CSM in Eve.   They both meet your definition of innovative and thank you for enlightening us on what the definition is.

As to combat in Conan.  My first fight in the Conan was deja vue, I immediately knew that this was very similar to other games I have played.  As to what game had it, been too many to remember the exact one.  So since I can't supply a name, I will just have to disagree on this point, I know that this combat method was not new.

Originally posted by Stradden

Originally posted by Ozmodan

I don't think any of these game concepts are really that innovative.  I guess if I had to pick one, it would probably be the public quests in Warhammer.

I think the entire industry reeks of a lack of innovation.  All I see is one copycat game after another.

Age of Conan combat combo is most certainly not innovative, it has been done before in other games.  As to ship combat, how is that different than ship combat in Eve?  I think the jury is still out on the Council of Stellar Management in Eve, it seems more a marketing ploy than anything helpful to date.

I think we have to look to the indy developers for a company to take a chance on something truely innovative, the major ones seem to avoid that lately.

 

I have to respectfully completely disagree:

I honestly can't remember ever seeing Age of Conan-style combat in another MMO.  I'm not saying I'm king of all knowledge or anything, but to the best of my recollection, or that of anyone else that I have spoken to, we've not seen it in another MMO.

 

I disagree. It was not innovative and in fact has been in every mmo out there. See those icons you click on your skillbar in every mmo? Funcom added a few more on a square skillbar and then added brackets on either side of the mob to tell you which to click on.

Not innovative, merely a GUI gimmick.

I voted PotBS. I only played the beta of that game but ship combat was by far the most interesting combat I had taken part in in a true MMORPG.

Certainly more brain power necessary than smacking 5 hotkeys in a routine order. Too bad the rest of the game was pretty crappy...

Aoc combat was innovativie to me as it needed skills in pvp rather than loading your skills and spells by pressing 1,2,3,4,5.

I played a melee character and it was great, the way you had to double step backwards or sidewards etc to avoid swings of other characters weapons etc or to laod up specific buffs to help you survive for a few more seconds.  The combo system was great and at times pulling of the combos were hard due to being outnumbered or even stunned and rooted on the last action of the combo, but atleast  most fights were very different every time.  Its a shame failcom lied and turned this game into an instance based empty game or i still wouldve been playing it.

Age of Conan couldve been one of the best games of all time but funcom turned it into the shambles it is now. For that they deserve an award this year from MMORPG for being the most  faggiest developer around.