Comments on: Applying for more powerful characters

By: gnomeaggedon

gnomeaggedon — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:58:42 +0000

There is one portion of this concept that I like, it’s the different origins.

If the dice were rolled at the character creation screen and you were “born into” the peasant class, merchant class, nobility etc, it would add some background to your toon.

If you beat that level of playing, then the option to become a level one adventurer opens up.

Sure some people would reroll until they got the start they wanted, but many people would dabble in the alternate starting games, and once they became adventurers be more inclined to play in line with their upbringing

By: Moving beyond loot, a response. « Loving the game and hating people at the same time

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:07:26 +0000

[...] has an idea about applying for characters here which involves both, by giving characters more power (which may or may not be used for [...]

By: spinks

spinks — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:18:30 +0000

I am influenced by my experiences playing on Euro servers, where we often do have different language servers available. Wasn’t intended to be a slight against non-native english speakers, I’ve raided with many non-native speakers and we managed just fine.

And you’re right, I meant this as a thought experiment rather than a proposal.

By: Wolfshead

Wolfshead — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 06:21:06 +0000

Very thought provoking! I think potential problems would be that many of the criteria might be too subjective. The challenge would be to find some way to program a system that objectively looks at a players skills, achievements (no not the bogus current Achievement system), social skills, helpfulness to other players, etc. and find a way to create an advancement system.

Currently a MMO like WoW only rewards your ability to kill mobs as the sole criteria for advancement. Of course leveling itself is comprised of many meta-games below it such as collecting the best gear, the best stat food, learning how to play your class, learning how to be social to join a guild, etc.

What if we started rewarded good role-players, good Samaritans, good guildleaders, good officers, good even organizers, good chat conduct, etc. with tangible pathways of progression?

MMOs could be so much more interesting and fun if developers just had a scintilla of imagination to offer more avenues of progression to complement the current “kill mobs and take their stuff” formula.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:16:12 +0000

Do hardcore players deserve more? No.

Do guilds reward this way? Some, and I think that’s the best solution. Keep it a social ladder to climb, not a game design element.

By: Uzi

Uzi — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:00:11 +0000

Most non native speakers type better english than the english/american natives in my experience.

I raid with mostly English/Irish/Scots but the Finns, Italians and Dutch in my raid are prefectly understandable and clear despite typing or speaking in second or third languages. And thats what Spinks is after I’m sure and in fact this is more aimed at ‘L2P NooB FFS!!!! Tank suckzors /ragequit’ brigade

By: scrusi

scrusi — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:44:54 +0000

In the 6 months I mentioned above I needed zero external income to keep myself afloat. Admittedly I didn’t raid 6 nights a week (more like 4) but that shouldn’t make a huge differences. If you care you can make enough gold to fund your raiding with very little effort. I’m not saying that you need to buy gold to raid hardcore, but I am very sure it’s doable without – even if you have a dayjob and a life.

By: Dblade

Dblade — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:42:44 +0000

Iono, I think spinks means you shouldn’t talk like a 12 year old with no grammar skills in ALL CAPS. It’s not meant as a slam against non-native speakers.

The rest of the qualifications seem to me to be more for like auditioning for a NPC or special guest role, with getting extra power to shape the game world requiring some show that you are mature enough to be entrusted with that power.

I think people are looking at this more in the traditional sense of level grinding and advancement. To me I see this more as being pseudo-NPCs.

By: Dblade

Dblade — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:34:03 +0000

They already do at raid level anyways, it’s funny how similar it can be to applying to a real-life job if you want to get into one of the better guilds.

By: Stabs

Stabs — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:53:49 +0000

Well there’s hardcore and hardcore.

If you get home from work, log straight into a raid and raid until you go to bed you can’t fund that with in-game activities on a day to day basis. Possibly someone could do that and grind enough gold at weekends.

Put it another way. RMT is a huge business worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Who’s buying all that gold?