Quote:Original post by Iron Chef Carnage
There's the way it ought to be, and there's the way it is. Don't preach to me about how I'm conditioned. I'm not describing the games I like, I'm describing the games that get made and have steady fanbases. Your idea of permadeath isn't a game design, it's a pipe dream. Look at the list of revolutions you yourself cite as pre-requisites for such a system:Quote:i agree you'd need to speed up the level progression. in fact you'd need to change a lot of things to make it feasible.We're supposed to be discussing Abstractimmersion's idea, and the two of us have hijacked the thread for the sake of semantics. How about this: You ignore the word "permadeath" in this thread and I'll try not to use it anymore.
_you need to make the lower levels compelling since one would spend as much or more time at lower level than higher level.
_you need quests to be non repetitive or else compelling enough to be done multiple times without losing interest.
_you need a technical answer to lag deaths or a scriptable fall back system for disconnects.
_you need to make sure that the power distinction between lower levels and higher levels are bridgeable, to a degree.
But you're right that all the tired conventions of the MMO format need to be challenged and defeated, and I think they will be. But it'll have to be a gradual process. There is, I certainly agree, a degree of conditioning, of expectations of an MMO. We expect stat-based combat, and PvP with controls, and endlessly spawning mobs, and tanking and grinding and powerlevelling and boting and GMs and loot drops and fetch missions and kill missions and minigames and a steady treadmill with exponentially more and more distant *ding*s. These need to go, and maybe some day we'll see a game that works the way you describe.
For now, I think this thread is getting close to what might be the next evolutionary step in how MMO characters operate. I'm not convinced yet, though. I think that the character death system will change only after some other major system is altered, like the quest system or the levelling system. I don't think this is the place to start. Too much risk, and the rewards are meaningless in current scenarios. The game has to be adjusted so that the rewards and enticements of a modified character destruction system can outweigh the frustration and sense of futility such a system would introduce.
Chef:
aye, im following you. you're essentially ignoring innovation and assuming a cookie cutter design with modular style changes. my point is meaningless in this context because given your premise i agree with you totally.
i still believe that a half measure, which is what is being discussed, can only be half right or half wrong. its like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
its funny i cant tell if were both just very frank or you're getting steamed :)
you admit that some of the staples have to be challenged but then scoff because that must be a predicate of another idea. im not sure i understand.
abstract- you're essentially describing an "unlocking" procedure similar to many single player games of the past, or unreal tournament as regards weapons(for example)
your idea has a lot of similarities with the "legacy" method that we've discussed here before.(i think Wavinator or Oluseyi was the original author), my problem with his idea and your own is that level will still be a direct reflection of time spent and not necessarily skill at play.
in my view this is what turns the shine into the grind. a level 50 healer could be a skilled master of his profession or a guy thats been playing a warrior for 2 years then got killed at 60.
To be meaningful, the level should be a badge of competence and skill not a reflection of time invested.
In order for this to occur the game must be very deep. with wild variations in efficiency between two like levelled players of varying skill.
Single player games accomplish this as the norm, so it is not beyond the scope of a well made MMO.
To de-barb my criticism let me say that the vast majority of pros agree that permadeath is a "Bad Idea", of which im sure you're aware.
what specific issue pushed you to eliminate a real permadeath system and consider the "unlocking" system instead?