ScripCast Ep.1 MMO’s Today

Welcome to our first official ScriptCast! This is an experiment and I’m not sure how it will turn out, but I’m curious and think it could be cool option for those of us that can’t get together to do a “fo-reals” podcast and for the readers to get their opinions in at the same time while having us respond in kind to them. A HUGE part of this will be using the Reply button when making comments. Don’t just simply make a new comment if you are directly replying to someone so we can keep this organized and less crazy-town like it probably already will be given the people I’m asking to join. If it gets too out of hand, I will start getting rid of comments even though I don’t want to.

Tera-PVP

So for the first Scriptcast we’re going to cover the state of MMOs in general. This will go for a week to two weeks max. I’ve got a few things I’d like to discuss, but since this is the first time we’ll be doing a discussion in this fashion I’ll just start with one question and we’ll abuse it until it implodes and move on from there.

The first thing we’ll talk about is the combat in MMOs. Does it need to evolve more. Was point and click too easy. Is tab-targeting irrelevant? What about Wildstar’s telegraphs? What would the ideal form be? Aaaaand GO!

(Side note: the cover photo is from Meridian 59, the first 3D MMO.)

19 thoughts on “ScripCast Ep.1 MMO’s Today

  • October 17, 2014 at 05:43
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    Combat conversation starts here. Reply to this to talk about it with us!

    Reply
    • October 17, 2014 at 05:46
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      Having played a lot of MMO’s from UO to Wildstar, I think companies should have figured out combat by now. I would like a mixture of TERA’s combat and WoW’s speed. UO was neat for it’s time, but it does show it’s age. I’m not sure we need Telegraphs.

      Reply to this comment to refute what I said or reply to the starting comment to just start talking yourself.

      Reply
    • October 17, 2014 at 14:19
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      I confess that I’ve really only played two MMOs, WoW and TERA, and saying that I haven’t played either in two years (since my first daughter was born). I enjoyed the combat systems on them both, but I prefer the point & click/tab method of WoW for extended play. When fighting in groups I get distracted and it is easier for me to stay on the correct target, or find the correct target, with WoW’s combat mechanics. I’m not even sure what Telegraphics are, so I have no comment on that style of combat.

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      • October 17, 2014 at 19:32
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        Tab targeting did make combat in dungeons easier, that’s true. However, when it goes over to PVP, I feel that making it easier to land things does get a bit lame. You then get things like “pillar humping” and people like me just start to hate the world. Telegraphs are in Wildstar and if you remember TERA, just imagine if the move you were about to do gave an area indication on the ground that you and the enemy can see.

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    • October 20, 2014 at 18:42
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      I’ve always found RPG-style combat to be a dull timesink. I prefer combat in 2D, either overhead like Zelda or a side-view. Without being able to see exactly how close something is, 3rd-person combat is just so much flailing.

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      • October 22, 2014 at 09:46
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        So does that mean you don’t like 3rd person RPG’s? Or are you just playing RPG’s on the Wii/Wii U?

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  • October 17, 2014 at 07:55
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    I haven’t been playing to many MMO’s recently but the ones I have played just lacked the basic parts that make a game a good MMO or game in general. Take Destiny for example, it is suppose to be a new style of FPS, RPG, and a MMO wrapped into one. Yet it misses the mark on almost everything other than a brilliant environment. If you have played the game you would understand. Loot system, item system, skills and looks for your character are a huge factor besides how the combat system works.

    For Destiny you get very little choice other than Troll Doll hair styles. For A MMO to be good I would say it would need a good Loot system, Skill Tree, environment that makes you want to keep playing, a customization for your character and at last always growing so you never run out of stuff to do. WoW does most of these rather cleanly and constantly through out the game as a whole, just as a example!

    Reply
    • October 17, 2014 at 08:49
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      MMOFPS’s are a little easier to work mechanically I feel. You’ve got to get good gun mechanics and a decent reason to continue playing. It’s a shame that there are a lot of FPS’s out there with horrible gun mechanics. I’m looking forward to seeing how The Eternal Crusade works it out having used Space Marine as a base model.

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    • October 19, 2014 at 14:47
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      I want another MMO to use most of the crafting from UO where different kinds of ore can create the same item with different stats (while leaning towards one thing depending on the material chosen). You’d have to do some hard questing or raiding to get better crafting tools that wear out, but you could also sell them. I’m not a fan of the “make the same exact item a million times to level up” system.

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    • October 22, 2014 at 09:50
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      As far as loot drops go, I’m going to champion for the gear treadmill like in WoW. I’m not 100% in love with it, but it does offer a reason to keep playing. I wish they would cater to the player-base more in what it drops though. Ever been in a dungeon and/or raid and have the game drop gear for a class that wasn’t present? That’s just dumb and the game should take into account who’s running the dungeon at that time in your party.

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    • October 17, 2014 at 11:52
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      I’m tired of the two faction systems in place in most MMO’s. We need more multi-faction games. With two factions you get a heavy one-sided bias rather easy. If there were three or more really good options then the battles would be more epic!

      I can’t wait to see how Eternal Crusade’s use of the Tyranids as a race that goes after everyone especially those with the most power goes.

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    • October 17, 2014 at 12:02
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      Maybe the faction thing is old-hat and needs to leave. Have we not advanced enough to create an enemy AI that doesn’t need to cheat to be difficult? Could we not have an evil NPC faction that worked in real-time against the players forcing them to take action and band together?

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    • October 18, 2014 at 18:17
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      At least three, to be fair. Other wise one side could get to be stronger than the other side just because of numbers. Three factions can help reduce the flood of people going to one side instead of the other.

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      • October 18, 2014 at 23:47
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        Faction friction ftw! I happen to like picking a side that I identify with, or fighting some rival group that I particularly detest. Sometimes I just like being the underdog going against all odds and a numerically superior enemy.
        Planetside 2 did a nice job creating three slightly different armies with unique identities and slightly different weapons. The battles often started with two factions skirmishing over some territory, then blossomed into enormous three sided conflicts. I think PS2 has evolved away from that, focusing more on vehicle combat, but those infantry based fights could go on for hours. If you took the factions out of the game there would be no chance for those epic battles.
        I wonder what would happen if you added another faction in WoW, or removed them altogether…
        Anyway, faction based games are alright in my book IF they are well thought out.

        Reply
        • October 19, 2014 at 02:12
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          I think FPS factions are a little easier to handle in my book. When it comes to WoW type games (where I don’t have as much “top teir” skill) is where I have my issues.

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        • October 22, 2014 at 09:53
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          If they added another faction to WoW (which I’m not sure they’re lore would support unless you chose a faction that they would otherwise use as a source of animosity for an expansion) I think it would solve a lot of problems all while creating more since the PVP is centered around only two factions.

          Reply

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