Balan Makki
12-06-2008, 17:47
Being a fan of GW1, and very excited about GW2 I'd thought I would consoladate some suggestions here in the GW2 forums. The foundation, or game structure that has been developed for GW1 has, in a subtle way, forged a path for some very unique concepts with instancing, shared spaces, player/world reality, and interaction. Some of these are far-out suggestions. Though not so far-out considering what Arena Net has achieved relative to the industry as a whole. The ideas that bubble forth while playing GW are likely reflections, or hints of where Arena Net may be headed anyway. So many of the following ideas will likely fall between: fantastically absurd, to "oh yeah, we thought of that, but too complicated", or "yep, you are just stating the obvious". Mostly, It is good to have a forum dedicated to GW2--finally. Some of these ideas I've already suggested elsewhere, but it's nice to finally have a common forum.
To begin at the beginning.
Character Screen: make it interactive, a form of player housing, that allows development and character/account growth, tactile growth, like a visible tangible Title. Players logging in would log into an interactive space to include: dynamic chat, storage access, character selection, mail service, instant messaging ect. Just add everything you like about your home gaming station to this virtual space. Then imagine your dream fantasy house, castle, bivouac, even multiple options. Outdoor environments/vistas can be any instance/persistent area currently unlocked for that account (see below). A completely unique and interactive front end, that is created and customized by the player.
Instancing: I'm long winded on instancing so bare with me. I remember a discussion on WoWs pre-development suggestions forum about instancing and where it could go. I'd like to continue this discussion since Arena Net now carries the brightest torch.
Layered instancing: very similar to what GW currently provides, but further developed by a factor of ten. Now with a persistent world players will get a common shared place to interact. Many pitfalls with shared space. My guess is that Arena Net intends to use this persistent area as more of a portal to instanced layers of the greater persistent world and, as well, the persistent areas will be a world event stage, for boss encounters ect... I'm also guessing that the persistent world will work much like GW1 instanced areas, in that players will be "unlocking" territory as they move through the content of the game. If this is the GW2 direction then, it's brilliant; a content throttle, through environmental unlocks, rather than level restrictions. Levels are no longer needed or obviate content. And you have tamed a part of the genre that has kept many players from playing Kill-Styled MMOs. Having a moderately non-violent Primary World will be very Yin, and conducive to the better gender. Instanced layers will also provide endless depth and content.
A beautifully constructed Persistent World with zones/areas can use these zones/areas for dozens and dozens of instanced layers, (various reflections of the same, persistent area) that keep reaching deeper and deeper into lore; Instanced Layers that add new, deeper meaning, behold new even larger instances (leading to Persistent World Unlocks). All of this could give re-usability a whole new meaning. Many of these Layered Areas could be set up dynamically, to provide a completely different random experience for players. They could also be used as a Base Canvas for User Created Content.
Layers can also bleed into other layers: Layers should provide interaction between multiple players if the players choose to interact. If a player is in a guild or alliance, or has friends on a friends list, on same quest etc. then these private instances that we've come to love should provide optional bleed-over into the private instances of friends, guildies etc. There should also be bleed-over from the persistent world's Boss events, and from the Mists PvP (see below) while players are questing in private instances of the persistent world. If you can grasp the difference between My Space and Face Book then you'll grasp the value of the above suggestion.
PvE to PvP: consider another important quality of reusable content and areas – Familiarity. If players play through these areas as a PvE instance, then can traveled through them as the unlocked (shared) Persistent World, then find they can battle other Alliances (servers, single or multiple) within these very same, very familiar, areas in the PvP layer known as The Mists, then much of the learning curve for PvP and the local battle has already been dealt with. See Char Missions: “Assault on the Stronghold”. By Unlocking an area, the player has already played through the PvE tutorial of various battles – PvE missions would become sophisticated tutorials for many contestable areas. Players playing PvE would know exactly what to do. The entire GW2 World could be at War, and PvE players could completely avoid any contact with PvP. If they choose to "Turn it Off" by not viewing/participating in the Layer.
World PvP: The Mists, should be a complete overlay or virtually exact Layer of the greater persistent world, with an option to turn it completely off for Non PvPers. Factions touch upon many features for a full blown Worlds Vs Worlds, PvP environment, with territory control, town ownership and so forth. Neutral players PvEers wouldn't even know it was happening, except for the constant and unending sound of war drums, wreckage, blood trails and bones (layer bleed over).
Variable Attack Range Zones: Make the range of spells, bows, throwing axes (warriors need something) variable -- dependent on instance, or zone area. This would allow for some very interesting long-range exchanges/assaults. It would also help add balancing variables to mismatched encounters in the Mists -- for say, a fort that has been occupied too long. etc.. .
The current bow mechanic in GW1 is a good example, being that it is affected by height.
Imagine a game where a caster could stand upon a mountain top raining down fireballs, or an archer could really be useful at longbow range -- several hundred yards. Warriors could just pick up rocks nearby and lob them down hill for an avalanche attack.
The longer the range the less likely you'd hit anything, or do much damage, but the fun factor far outweighs the limitation of greater range. This would obviously be a very dynamic feature: some areas range would be normal, other areas -- close narrow dungeons -- range could suffer dramatically. Some areas, range could be as far as the next ridge.
There is a ton of value to variable range combat. Range Zones could be as small as a clump of trees. Say a warrior is getting run down by a couple of casters/rangers, in a long range zone/area, if he can make it to a thicket of trees nearby, the combat range will decrease dramatically, giving a turn-around to his disadvantage.
Add a throw function to the Drop Button.
Increase the number of Skill Bars: a player can run in an area, make each Skill Bar mutually exclusive from the other Skill Bars. This would allow players to set up a travel bar, a melee combat bar, a ranged combat bar, a crafting/harvesting bar?, a siege weapons bar, etc. . . It is obviously much like the elite GWEN skills, but adds a ton of strategic value to the individual player allowing them to morph a bit in a persistent, large-scale environment. The skill bar limit could also be variable; per rank/level, instance, area. . .
Allow players to adjust attributes while in large persistent zones if there is an "Avatar of . . . ", or "temple of. . . " nearby that they can kneel and commune with/within.
In-Game Library: (IGL) linked directly to Official Wiki website. This will allow players to stay in-game to visit the Halls of Knowledge, in hopes of uncovering, arcane combat styles, solutions to blights ravaging a distant lands, possible clues to help unravel a mysterious letter given to you, on and on.
Basically some form of flash like media, much like what has been done in GWEN with Journals, allow the players to do most of the work, allow players to added stories, and content, Much like Zoe's diary. Line the walls of the IGL with books on shelves, that display OnMouseOver. When the bookbinding is clicked, it appears in front of the player, opened, much like a journal in GWEN. Let players sit around the IGL reading game lore and quest info, provide a review system that ranks, categorizes entries so players can stay in RPG land, or just dig directly into the fact sheets on conquering quests. Even add some sort of ranking system or title such as Librarian, Thus players with higher ranks can sort some of the flotsam and jetsam.
The real thrust of this feature would be RPG lore as an overlay to finding a successful resolution to a in-game problem. Let players contribute to the maintaining, addition and management of such a library. The way this forum is managed. Library could link to many different towns/cities – mini GW internet.
Heroic Guild Mates: If there be companions, heroes, make them guild-mates heroes/companions. You can only increase the size of your A.I. controlled party by selecting an inactive, recently played, character from your guild roster -- instead of heroes, you need to use offline guild members. If you want to run an area but can't find enough people to help, then you choose one of your guild-mates (any of their alts) as the H/H to help you through your adventure. Maybe add an offline time-limit a guildie can be used as a hero, like a month or something. When you log in while someone is using your character as a hero, you begin in Observation Mode, then you can just take control and continue the journey, or gracefully bow out leaving behind a surrogate, returning to where you logged off. Entering the game-world, and then breaking the ice with alde acquaintances, can sometimes take more time than playing the game. This concept could be used for GW1 to increase the number of A.I. controlled party members beyond the current limit.
VoIP Emotes: if this feature exists in GW2, whether as a purchased addon, or primary feature. When a players begins to talk, there should be in-game auto emotes, and a flashing player name in Party panel. The emotes could even be customizable, several emotes cycle while in-combat, another set of emotes cycle randomly while out of combat.
This will obviously help players find who's in need of help or who's having cursing fits. Also a simple right-click on party panel to mute a player.
Fix the Camera: and interior space problem in GW. Narrow corridors, small rooms, small caverns should be a functioning part of GW2. The camera needs to be far more intelligent than it currently is, this will also help in small areas.
Improve the RP: value between players, this is an RP game, but no one ever RPs in it -- Kinda weird. Allow players to create large emote macros, allow players to link these to skills, events, death -- player death/enemy death -- etc. Allow text in these emote macros. Give the power of uniqueness to the players, Could even add modifiers to skills: linking say, a fireball to a "Kiss my Backside" emote, allowing players to shoot fireball from their . . .
Alternate Content: Please add some form of content as an alternative to killing and fighting. Chess, checkers, thumb wrestling. Thumb wrestling could just be a fancy way for players to /Random 100, but with fun animation. Boxing and Polymock are a great start. Imagine the number of chess players in this world, now imaging giving them the slickest online interface available, with no monthly fee.
Dynamic Weather Events: Dynamic weather is a given for any new MMO, take it to the next level, add Events driven by weather, or weather driven by events. Example: if a particularly bad storm appears, it could bring with it a very nasty Boss monster. Fog could bring some creepy unnerving creatures, Snow, etc. . . let Boss, or creature invasion likewise bring foul and evil winds.
To begin at the beginning.
Character Screen: make it interactive, a form of player housing, that allows development and character/account growth, tactile growth, like a visible tangible Title. Players logging in would log into an interactive space to include: dynamic chat, storage access, character selection, mail service, instant messaging ect. Just add everything you like about your home gaming station to this virtual space. Then imagine your dream fantasy house, castle, bivouac, even multiple options. Outdoor environments/vistas can be any instance/persistent area currently unlocked for that account (see below). A completely unique and interactive front end, that is created and customized by the player.
Instancing: I'm long winded on instancing so bare with me. I remember a discussion on WoWs pre-development suggestions forum about instancing and where it could go. I'd like to continue this discussion since Arena Net now carries the brightest torch.
Layered instancing: very similar to what GW currently provides, but further developed by a factor of ten. Now with a persistent world players will get a common shared place to interact. Many pitfalls with shared space. My guess is that Arena Net intends to use this persistent area as more of a portal to instanced layers of the greater persistent world and, as well, the persistent areas will be a world event stage, for boss encounters ect... I'm also guessing that the persistent world will work much like GW1 instanced areas, in that players will be "unlocking" territory as they move through the content of the game. If this is the GW2 direction then, it's brilliant; a content throttle, through environmental unlocks, rather than level restrictions. Levels are no longer needed or obviate content. And you have tamed a part of the genre that has kept many players from playing Kill-Styled MMOs. Having a moderately non-violent Primary World will be very Yin, and conducive to the better gender. Instanced layers will also provide endless depth and content.
A beautifully constructed Persistent World with zones/areas can use these zones/areas for dozens and dozens of instanced layers, (various reflections of the same, persistent area) that keep reaching deeper and deeper into lore; Instanced Layers that add new, deeper meaning, behold new even larger instances (leading to Persistent World Unlocks). All of this could give re-usability a whole new meaning. Many of these Layered Areas could be set up dynamically, to provide a completely different random experience for players. They could also be used as a Base Canvas for User Created Content.
Layers can also bleed into other layers: Layers should provide interaction between multiple players if the players choose to interact. If a player is in a guild or alliance, or has friends on a friends list, on same quest etc. then these private instances that we've come to love should provide optional bleed-over into the private instances of friends, guildies etc. There should also be bleed-over from the persistent world's Boss events, and from the Mists PvP (see below) while players are questing in private instances of the persistent world. If you can grasp the difference between My Space and Face Book then you'll grasp the value of the above suggestion.
PvE to PvP: consider another important quality of reusable content and areas – Familiarity. If players play through these areas as a PvE instance, then can traveled through them as the unlocked (shared) Persistent World, then find they can battle other Alliances (servers, single or multiple) within these very same, very familiar, areas in the PvP layer known as The Mists, then much of the learning curve for PvP and the local battle has already been dealt with. See Char Missions: “Assault on the Stronghold”. By Unlocking an area, the player has already played through the PvE tutorial of various battles – PvE missions would become sophisticated tutorials for many contestable areas. Players playing PvE would know exactly what to do. The entire GW2 World could be at War, and PvE players could completely avoid any contact with PvP. If they choose to "Turn it Off" by not viewing/participating in the Layer.
World PvP: The Mists, should be a complete overlay or virtually exact Layer of the greater persistent world, with an option to turn it completely off for Non PvPers. Factions touch upon many features for a full blown Worlds Vs Worlds, PvP environment, with territory control, town ownership and so forth. Neutral players PvEers wouldn't even know it was happening, except for the constant and unending sound of war drums, wreckage, blood trails and bones (layer bleed over).
Variable Attack Range Zones: Make the range of spells, bows, throwing axes (warriors need something) variable -- dependent on instance, or zone area. This would allow for some very interesting long-range exchanges/assaults. It would also help add balancing variables to mismatched encounters in the Mists -- for say, a fort that has been occupied too long. etc.. .
The current bow mechanic in GW1 is a good example, being that it is affected by height.
Imagine a game where a caster could stand upon a mountain top raining down fireballs, or an archer could really be useful at longbow range -- several hundred yards. Warriors could just pick up rocks nearby and lob them down hill for an avalanche attack.
The longer the range the less likely you'd hit anything, or do much damage, but the fun factor far outweighs the limitation of greater range. This would obviously be a very dynamic feature: some areas range would be normal, other areas -- close narrow dungeons -- range could suffer dramatically. Some areas, range could be as far as the next ridge.
There is a ton of value to variable range combat. Range Zones could be as small as a clump of trees. Say a warrior is getting run down by a couple of casters/rangers, in a long range zone/area, if he can make it to a thicket of trees nearby, the combat range will decrease dramatically, giving a turn-around to his disadvantage.
Add a throw function to the Drop Button.
Increase the number of Skill Bars: a player can run in an area, make each Skill Bar mutually exclusive from the other Skill Bars. This would allow players to set up a travel bar, a melee combat bar, a ranged combat bar, a crafting/harvesting bar?, a siege weapons bar, etc. . . It is obviously much like the elite GWEN skills, but adds a ton of strategic value to the individual player allowing them to morph a bit in a persistent, large-scale environment. The skill bar limit could also be variable; per rank/level, instance, area. . .
Allow players to adjust attributes while in large persistent zones if there is an "Avatar of . . . ", or "temple of. . . " nearby that they can kneel and commune with/within.
In-Game Library: (IGL) linked directly to Official Wiki website. This will allow players to stay in-game to visit the Halls of Knowledge, in hopes of uncovering, arcane combat styles, solutions to blights ravaging a distant lands, possible clues to help unravel a mysterious letter given to you, on and on.
Basically some form of flash like media, much like what has been done in GWEN with Journals, allow the players to do most of the work, allow players to added stories, and content, Much like Zoe's diary. Line the walls of the IGL with books on shelves, that display OnMouseOver. When the bookbinding is clicked, it appears in front of the player, opened, much like a journal in GWEN. Let players sit around the IGL reading game lore and quest info, provide a review system that ranks, categorizes entries so players can stay in RPG land, or just dig directly into the fact sheets on conquering quests. Even add some sort of ranking system or title such as Librarian, Thus players with higher ranks can sort some of the flotsam and jetsam.
The real thrust of this feature would be RPG lore as an overlay to finding a successful resolution to a in-game problem. Let players contribute to the maintaining, addition and management of such a library. The way this forum is managed. Library could link to many different towns/cities – mini GW internet.
Heroic Guild Mates: If there be companions, heroes, make them guild-mates heroes/companions. You can only increase the size of your A.I. controlled party by selecting an inactive, recently played, character from your guild roster -- instead of heroes, you need to use offline guild members. If you want to run an area but can't find enough people to help, then you choose one of your guild-mates (any of their alts) as the H/H to help you through your adventure. Maybe add an offline time-limit a guildie can be used as a hero, like a month or something. When you log in while someone is using your character as a hero, you begin in Observation Mode, then you can just take control and continue the journey, or gracefully bow out leaving behind a surrogate, returning to where you logged off. Entering the game-world, and then breaking the ice with alde acquaintances, can sometimes take more time than playing the game. This concept could be used for GW1 to increase the number of A.I. controlled party members beyond the current limit.
VoIP Emotes: if this feature exists in GW2, whether as a purchased addon, or primary feature. When a players begins to talk, there should be in-game auto emotes, and a flashing player name in Party panel. The emotes could even be customizable, several emotes cycle while in-combat, another set of emotes cycle randomly while out of combat.
This will obviously help players find who's in need of help or who's having cursing fits. Also a simple right-click on party panel to mute a player.
Fix the Camera: and interior space problem in GW. Narrow corridors, small rooms, small caverns should be a functioning part of GW2. The camera needs to be far more intelligent than it currently is, this will also help in small areas.
Improve the RP: value between players, this is an RP game, but no one ever RPs in it -- Kinda weird. Allow players to create large emote macros, allow players to link these to skills, events, death -- player death/enemy death -- etc. Allow text in these emote macros. Give the power of uniqueness to the players, Could even add modifiers to skills: linking say, a fireball to a "Kiss my Backside" emote, allowing players to shoot fireball from their . . .
Alternate Content: Please add some form of content as an alternative to killing and fighting. Chess, checkers, thumb wrestling. Thumb wrestling could just be a fancy way for players to /Random 100, but with fun animation. Boxing and Polymock are a great start. Imagine the number of chess players in this world, now imaging giving them the slickest online interface available, with no monthly fee.
Dynamic Weather Events: Dynamic weather is a given for any new MMO, take it to the next level, add Events driven by weather, or weather driven by events. Example: if a particularly bad storm appears, it could bring with it a very nasty Boss monster. Fog could bring some creepy unnerving creatures, Snow, etc. . . let Boss, or creature invasion likewise bring foul and evil winds.