Quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster
OK, you meant 'solve the quests'. I though it might be some kind of system where the players decided from a set of objectives -- possibly even for other players to 'define' a quest (like a guild might, as tests for their membership ranks.....)
Solving the quest like what you describe is no different than every other game that allows player cooperation.
Maybe, still i found it funier than other games in that,
1) Some rare items requires you to group with friends or guildmates or someone you can trust, as the drop is not known to others. Once someone announces that he got the drop, I know that he's a reliable guy, I'll add him/her to my friend list for the next quest. It's really very easy to make friends in this game.
2) Since the drop rate requires you to go to the spot many times, camping doesn't seem to be so effective, i dont actually know how the possibility designed, I just feel so. As a result, you need to group with different people and various classes since you need to go often but not camping.
(moreover, target monster respawn is ranging from 1 to 8 hours depending on how rare the item is, I guess this is one of factor why camping is not that effective, but by luck and the tricky probability design have more effect on the drop rate)
This requires you to calculate the class combination very carefully, this is the part i feel fun and i feel lacking in other games. Say, the bard is one of the most difficult class to find, so I always need a contingence plan in case of failing to find a bard. With and without a bard, the combat tactics is totally different. Same is the healer, another relatively rare class. When a knight is used as an alternative of a bard, or a monk as an alternative of a healer, the class combination requirement and combat tactics are totally different. I feel that the kind of calculation is lacking in other games.
3) Group stealth is a breath-taking action, people keep making mistakes at the moment when the stealth is worn off, and being attacked by nearby mobs (usually ultra strong to be avoided or just annoying mobs with concessive attacks while our hp and mana are consumed in a previous battle), it adds alot of excitement and fun. I guess this design can only be applied well in a turn-based design.
4) Skill switching in accordance to situation (also a turn-based design feature). You train with alot of skills but each class gets limited skill slots to apply the skills in a battle. Say I have 10 useful skills trained, but I have only 5 slots to apply those skills during a battle. As a result, I have to carefully select 5 out of 10 skills to use in a certain battle (depending on the types of monster to fight) and may need to switch to another skill set to fight the next battle. Even when you fight similar monster types may requires you to adjust your skills to get the optimized/maximized result. Moreover, there are complementary and overlaping skills amongst classes, so the first thing to do before we enter a dungeon is that 7 guys need to show their skills and we compare, removing overlapping skills and add complementary skills. This also undergoes an adjustment process as the battles move on.
5) Team split (also a turn-based feature)
In the case of sudden mob attack, you are not always in full team of 7, perhaps 2 members are under the attack of a group of mobs, while the other 5 are attacked by another group. There are also tactics not just to avoid but also to handle the situation. Say, the first thing is to decide is whether to escape and run, to run is a challenging and risking process. In order to avoid the death of the healer, we need to calculate very well whether to continue the fight or to wait for the other splited team to finish (whether they can finish or being killed needs calculation and communication too). Once it's decided to run, we need to do something to cover the healer such that he/she may escape successfully. If the healer is death, anyone died in the battle will have to return back to his own kingdom and has to run a long way back to the spot (there is also tactics for re-grouping under this situation too).
Other than the healer, we need also to protect the team leader, during the battle and during the escape process, for once the leader is dead, all other members are forced to escape at the same time, which means we may not be able to assist the escape of the healer as we wish.
The point is, you can choose to experience such excitement by setting a goal, or alternatively choose to grind more casually. On the other hand, the goal setting isn't just an optional process. To an individual or certain classes, it's optional, but to a team, it's a necessity, as one of the team member deadly in need of a rare item.
(sometimes there's an easy alternative for him to get the same item, but the team doesnt want him to take the alternative path, we prefer to take a more difficult path simply because we dont want our teammate to betray our kingdom, hehe...kingdom hopping is the alternative if you are not a team friendly player, still it's not easy to achieve without a team, hehe.. realy tricky design - with a guild/team, you will prefer to fight, without a guild/team, the alternative becomes difficult)
In words, alot of tactics, skills and team cooperation. I dont think the kind of design exists as a norm in other games.
[Edited by - Hawkins8 on December 4, 2005 10:01:49 PM]
