Profile: woeye
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• • The biggest issue in mmos, classes

  • I am not against classes per se. Yet I feel they do not work well in the context of balancing. I still have to see ONE game where class balancing got right.

    Maybe one issue is that many games just have too many classes. Many classes will result in overlapping. Since almost every game is based around the concept of hit points it all comes down to reducing hit points by dealing damage, increasing hit points by healing and protecting hit points by damage reduction.

    Whenever there's more than one class for one job, let's say dealing damage, things are getting complicated. Take WoW for example. WoW has many damage dealing classes. The result? Endless discussions about who is the better damage dealer, endless cries for nerfs and buffs. Same applies to the healing classes.

    Add to this that players quite often follow the min/max strategy. How often do you read "Which class is the BEST damage dealer?" Or the best healer. Or the best tank. No one want's to be a second class damage dealer. Even more worse are hybrid classes. Being a master-of-none, bit-of-everything hurts in a min/max world. And if a hybrid class comes close to a main class be prepared for endless rage/cries/frustration.

    Guild Wars is another example. GvG is still all about the core classes. Why? Because they are specialists (again the min/max thing). Ritualists for example are a failed concept. Why take a ritualist as a healer when a monk is just better? Why take a ritualist as a damage dealer when a elementalist is just better?

    So in summary I'd say because of the nature of hit points based games there aren't many tasks to do. Thus there aren't many classes needed. Too many classes will only add overlapping which will lead to conflicts in a min/max world. Therefore either have no classes (like in EvE or Ryzom) or keep the number of classes low and very distinct (every class performs only one job without any overlapping).

     

  • Posted: 7/25/08 2:15 AM
    General Discussion
• • SANDBOX MMO'S are NOT dead and will not BE !

  • Hi shadenis, thanks for your post. I'd like to add one or two things, too.

    First I'd like to add that WoW brought the MMORPG genre to a much bigger audience. It is easy to understand, easy to use and easy to computer hardware, too. Today WoW isn't just a game anymore. It's a huge social network. And this is maybe the biggest issue for new contenders. I now many players who tried other games, and actually liked them, but returned to WoW in the end. Why? Because their friends still played WoW. Add to this that human nature likes to stick to well known things. It's always easier to keep things as they are ;-)

    Next is that developing games these days costs a lot. And by lot I mean a lot. In contrast to most offline games MMORPGs are not develop-then-throw-on-the-market-and-forget-about-it games. Thus R&D costs are way higher. Not to forget all those administrative costs like GMs, server farms, networking infrastructure, help desk and so on.

    So if you want to enter the MMORPG market today you better make sure you have access to huge amounts of $$. Yet even if you have the money there's still the social network problem.

    Personally I feel that a MMORPG contender needs to addess the following points at least:

    • Be unqiue
    • Accessible
    • Strong, strong, strong community support
    • Strong tools that help to make friends easier
    • Fluid gameplay, fluid animations, fluid SFX
    • Some kind of a buddy program (invite a friend and get X)
  • Posted: 6/17/08 6:25 AM
    General Discussion
• • it's not worth anymore for me... read this before u play. i beg u!!!

  • Originally posted by peteski123
    

     "Originally posted by Hi-Five

    words can't xplain how insane it is for new players to start.  you can read  all the fanboy threads.. but even fan boys will be hard to explain this simple logic.  This is what you are paying 14.99 for:

    More experience players can kill you anytime.  If they can't, they can do the following things:

    1. war'dec you (granted permission to kill you anywhere) 
    2. Sudicide attack, (attacking you at their lost)
    
    you can read all the explainations, justification, and EvE's "love me" threads.. but the bottom line, if someone want to kill you... THERE IS NOT THING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.. what does is this mean? imagine you spent 1 mth working for cash to buy a nice shield, sword, armors and spells, but out of nowhere some more high level player just gank on you.  Once you are dead, all items are gone and so is your 1 mth hard labor!!

     

    it is your 14.99... you are more than welcome to throw it away.  EVE older players are looking for more noobs to kill.. please  be a victim!!! "

     

     

     

     

    This is why this game is not for baby's.. ie people like you who have no concept of the real world..... But But when I die they take my stuff.. cry....     

    sheesh go play wow then thats for kids, leave the real fighting to us proper gamers

    This reminds me of my first days in EvE. After running some missions I finally got my first frigate with some nice modules. Only to see it blown up some minutes later. All of my stuff gone. Wow. This was not funny indeed. I had to take a rest for 2 days :-) But I recovered. And I learned. Now I am better prepared :-)

  • Posted: 6/10/08 3:34 AM
    EVE Online
• • Do Girls play EvE?

  • Who know's but maybe Ambulation will bring more girls to the game? My girlfriend was totally stunned when I showed her the TenTonHammer video about Ambulation. The really enjoys socialzing and diplomatics. So EvE sounds like the right choice. But she also likes customizing her avator, which EvE _currently_ does not provide. But Ambulation will change that.

  • Posted: 6/10/08 3:30 AM
    EVE Online
• • it's not worth anymore for me... read this before u play. i beg u!!!

  • I beg to differ. EvE is a far more complicated game than WoW. In EvE you really have to learn a lot of things in order to be able to survive. Whereas WoW is easy mode all over, honestly. My girlfriend, for example, never played computer games before. But she did pretty well in WoW quickly. Why? Because WoW is so easy. Easy to understand, easy in character control and easy in progression.

    Furthermore I'd say that WoW attracts way more players than EvE. Because I feel many players favor to be a nightelf, a shiny warrior, a powerful mage or whatever. It has this tamagochi thing. Like "look at this gnome female. Isn't the cuuuute?" Whereas EvE is all about dark, black, grey, serious business. Flying around in dark space isn't so attractive for many players imho. Pushing around lots and lots of grey dialog boxes full of text neither.

    Don't get me wrong. I really enjoy EvE. But I do understand that many players cannot enjoy EvE.

     

  • Posted: 6/10/08 3:21 AM
    EVE Online