Wow, good - I can see this is going to be a nice long list which should inspire lots of ideas for solutions to these problems. [smile] I'll list a few more of mine then:


Marriage - Some games allow marriage, but only between a male avatar and a female avatar, which I personally think is just stupid. I can't offhand think of a game which allows poly marriage, although there's no particular reason why not to. I also don't know of any MMOs which have explored the possibility of letting players romance and marry NPCs, which might make for better gameplay since NPCs are always available but with other players it's hard to synchronize your online time, and what's the point of being married to someone if you never see them? There's also the question of whether marriage should or shouldn't have gameplay benefits and handicaps. In A Tale in the Desert your spouse can use all your items and resources and you can use all of theirs, so marriage can have a large gameplay impact.

Mandatory Combat - I personally have no interest in playing a game where I may be attacked at any time, or where I can't progress in the game without slaughtering monsters or, worse, other players. Combat can be fun, but I believe it should be treated as an optional minigame, confined to a particular area such as an arena, a hunting ground, or wilderness/dungeons which the player has no particular need to go to.

Immovability - In a strategy game it makes sense to have some units which are immovable after being built, but in an RPG it's really just annoying to have stuff which cannot be moved, especially something which takes as much investment as a house. What if you build your house in a location or shard which you then discover is laggy or underpopulated, why should you have to destroy it and rebuild it somewhere else just to improve your play experience a little? It's even worse if you have to create a whole new character or account to move to a different server. A similar problem is that if everyone has a house, because most players are online the landscape becomes a forest of empty houses, which is counterproductive to creating a feeling of participating in an active community. It would be great if only the houses of players who were currently logged in existed or were visible.

I agree with the static movement one it is so boring just standing there using skills.

I resent the statement where someone said "Guild wars had..." Guild wars is aliva and kicking and Nighfall did a good job coming out before the Burning Crusade.

The grind of doing the same thing to get to a goal is lame. The main reason I really enjoy GW (other than it's free) is that it provides a basic passive advancement. You gain all required exp through quests so you never need to train. Plus the low lvl cap makes it so there is not a lofty goal you'll never reach.

Customization is another bother. WoW has single classes which is nice as they expand with the talents but they only reach so far. In GW I can make a W/Mo instead of a Paladin. This means I still get both Rage and Energy and other than Energy strain I have no disadvantage. Multiclassing is a good thing.

Pure PvP is also a good thing GW let's you also use your PvE giving you better items and a Pet if allowed.

So I'm not GW raving I will say the ability to craft your own stuff is nice.

Quote:Original post by SantaClaws
Stats/skills/talents lock in.

I hate, hate, hate, hate this. I've hated it as long as I can remember. Games force me to choose stats or skills without any way to try them first, and then lock me into it forever or make it very expensive to change. Why? I don't understand this except as a money sink mechanism.

Although I would prefer a free system like Guild Wars has where I can change at any time, I have seen another fix to it: Battlefield 2142 has a rudimentary unlock tree, and they give you temporary bonuses in game that allow you to get "field upgrades" to unlock a skill for one session. As soon as you logout it disappears. You can only field upgrade an unlock one level up on the tree, so you can't unlock an insane amount of items.

I totally agree, and to that I would add avatar gender/appearance, avatar race, and avatar class - there's no reason to lock players into these choices, or limit them. Gaia Online lets you change your basic avatar and username, but only twice, you're stuck with the third choice unless you create a new account. Why? Why can I change my avatar's hair color cheaply but to change eye and skin color and gender it's strictly limited like this? It's totally inconsistent.

Quote:Original post by Sirisian
I'll say the only thing I don't like is where skill is no longer involved in the game. When attacking gets so repetitive that players form a pattern of attacking and never have to change to their situation much. The class system really forces this system which annoys me.

If any of you have played Vanguard Saga of Heroes during the beta, something I loved was the Free-For-All PVP. That really keeps you on your edge. The idea that no matter what your doing you can be PVPed at almost any time. Forming parties just for safety and the help of a friendly rez when you get owned by a jerk is so cool. I mean how many games do you log off in when you go to get food for 5 minutes and if you don't you get a few units standing around you wondering if your really AFK so they can get a cheap PVP kill. :) , if you want a game where at any level your not safe, then it's that game.

Lol that's my definition of a nightmare, I'd much rather play a game where I was always or mostly safe, but I can see how that would appeal to some gamers, knowing you could be attacked at any time would keep one's adrenaline flowing.

I hate it when stat distribution is designed so that misclicking once will make you waste points.
Note: On the line of trying out stats before how about having the option of "temporary stat raise" that could be reversed any time but would cost the double amount of stat points.[so choosing stats finally is like doubling your points]

I hate it when the option to choose stats is totally useless, because the stats that are useful for a certain class are predetermined and you can are forced to divide your stats equally cause of diminishing effect or increased costs for higher stat value, stat choice should be for specialization.

I hate it to invest points in skills that become totally useless once you reach a certain level or get a certain other skill.

I hate it if I have to choose between thinks i like and the efficiency of my char(having to use the same point pool for crafting and fighting skills for example, at least in games that are focused on fighting)

I hate it when I like the look of a certain equipment but can not keep it cause there a more powerful equipment.(either give me some choice of equipment with the same stats, so I can choose from or the ability to change the stats while keeping the same look.(tranafer of power between weapons?))