Would you play this hypothetical game?Follow

I haven't touched an MMORPG in a long time. I like a lot of the stuff in MMORPGs, but I reasoned that there was too much unfun I had to go through to get to the fun for them to be worth my time.One of my favorite activities in an MMORPG were the pvp scenarios, battlegrounds, ballista, or whatever they were called in each game. It's also something I've not yet seen outside of MMORPGs.

So, would you be interested in a standalone pvp arena game similar to the one present in most MMORPGs? Start up the game, pick your character, join a lobby, and a few minutes later you're right in the action. I think a few tweaks should be made to make the system more enjoyable, but as a standalone game I'd support the core concept.

I think some necessary tweaks might be:
1. Changing the levels and brackets. I think it's important to note that I believe levels should still exist in such a game even though I rail against MMORPGs typically wasting your time. I think levels that are short enough and significant enough provide a chance to learn your character and the abilities of your enemy. I also think it prevent people from growing tired of a game too quickly and gives them a little something to look forward to. That said, there is an obvious balance problem for the team if you allow too great of a spread in levels to participate in the same game. I think levels should be greatly reduced, to the point where a single level up means a significant addition to your character's ******** Brackets should also be smaller to increase fairness, but not so small that they prevent the formation of games.

2. Access to the same (quality) equipment. People need to compete on a level playing field for the game to be fun. Perhaps you start with a certain amount of gold at each level that can be freely exchanged for equipment and buying/selling equipment to an npc is the only way gold leaves/enters your possession such that you always have a constant worth of value at each level that is equal to that of every other player your level.

3. Anything that players can earned or type of reward should be either a) cosmetic b) a sidegrade option c) an extremely minor buff. I'm very much opposed to vertical progression that creates entry barriers for players. If you have to farm up in any way to actually compete, the point of the game has been lost. Progression should be largely horizontal, expanding your options without giving you more powerful ones.

Shut up! This is totally different from any of those standalone DotA games. But seriously it'd be that, but instead of DotA it'd be WoW/FFXI/some-other-MMORPG.

Like the Arena PvP thing of WoW, except singleplayer?

Like Tekken or something more...?

Like Arena in WoW (and other forms of pvp, there could be multiple modes like CTF or king of the hill, etc.), but there be no "rest of the MMORPG" where you spend hours picking up herbs or slaughtering the same coyote npc.

The entire game would be something akin to just WoW battlegrounds/arena, for those of you who have played WoW. There are no ai npc mobs to grind to level up. There is no world to explore, full of nodes that must be mined.You never log in jsut to check your auctions.

It's a pick up and play game like mostRTS or FPS games. When I play an online FPS game I start the game, join a server, and then just play.

PvP is my least favorite part of all the MMO's I've played...

edit: is it Rakion?

Edited, May 23rd 2010 8:53pm by shintasama

Well this wouldn't be an MMORPG, so it doesn't try or need to target MMORPG audiences. It would be somewhat catered to the crowd that already enjoys existing MMORPG scenario pvp. It would be specifically a directly competitive game where you play with players against other players.

Allow me to try explaining the idea again.

1. It is a game designed specifically for competitive oriented players. If the idea of competing against other human opponents isn't your cup of tea, then you are not part of the target demographic. Many FPS games feature primarily or exclusively online player agaisnt player game play (TF2, Quake, Counter Strike, Unreal, etc.) and these games are not intended for people who do not enjoy competing directly against other players.

2. The basic setup would be much like that of how you play any online RTS game. Since so many people have played Starcraft, I'll use that as an example. You would start up the game, login, and then be placed in a chat channel, just like if you were logging on to battle net. From there you would choose to join a list of games waiting for players with open slots just as you would join a game lobby in SC. You choose your class just as you choose your race in SC, and then once everyone is ready the game begins. The actual game play could be like one of the many scenarios present in PvP MMORPG combat. Once the game is over you are sent back to the lobby and ready to join a new game. While there would certainly be many more features, this would be the core of how you would play the game. There wouldn't be a world to explore, mobs to grind for gold or loot, or pve encounters. It is not an MMORPG.

There are several features. In general, most of the instanced pvp scenarios in MMORPGs I find to be enjoyable. One of my favorite things to do in FFXI was Ballista. One of my favorite activities in WoW was Battlegrounds. I enjoyed other aspects of the games of course, but these were an activity I enjoyed nearly universally throughout the games.

1. Dynamic game play appeals to me. While developers have continued to improve opponent AI or make very interesting scripted encounters, it's still fairly static. Players have the ability to react and change strategies in ways that you can't find playing against computer enemies.

2. PvP scenarios are designed for players to win and lose. PvE scenarios are designed for players to win or lose. The difference is that in PvP, assuming perfeclt mirrored combat (symmetrical map, same access to abilties/items/class, etc.), the game isn't designed for either side to specifically win. Either one could just as easily. In a PvE battle, either the designers specifically designed the fight for you to win (any winnable fight is this way) or they made it so that you couldn't win. In PvE, you don't win so much because of anything you did, you mostly win because the developers let you.

3. As much as I like MMORPGs, I'm so incredibly tired of them wasting my time so very much. Every MMORPG out there is incredibly diluted and full of vast amounts of filler. Why do people want to use a program like glider in WoW? Because completing the same sequence of actions 200 times over to gain a level isn't fun. Grinding isn't fun. I stopped playing MMORPGs for about two years now because I realized that while some of the fun I had in them was greater than the fun I had in other games I played (such as L4d, TF2, or DotA/HoN), I also had to do vastly more unfun stuff in an MMORPG to get to that fun. If I boot up TF2 right now, I can start having fun in 5 minutes or less. It isn't worth it for me to spend 30 minutes to an horu getting a group together in an MMORPG to go do something I'll enjoy. It isn't worth spending hours grinding mobs I don't feel like killing just so I can get gold to buy what I want. I'd like to have the parts of the MMORPG I do enjoy without all the parts that I don't enjoy.

Fury is the exact game you're looking for. Too bad it sucked, then died.

Here I was thinking Street Fighter IV. Everyone has the same equipment, you just fight each other, etc.

Though Maybe Soul Calibur IV is closer, as you can go so much into depth customizing your character. Unfortunately that means about 50% of the opponents you fight will be males in pink tutus wielding whips...

Edited, May 31st 2010 7:38pm by digitalcraft