The Perfect MMORPG

[unsubdued]

Trey and I started talking about the ideal mmorpg and the elements it would incorporate, and here's what we came up with:

Character Customizations:

Your characters physical appearance should be largely customizable (face, skin tone, hair color, hair style etc. in the manner of EQ2/Star Wars Galaxies)

Choosing handedness/the off hand. I've never

Comments

[darketower]

Character Customizations:

Traits: Think back to the old Fallout games. It would be nice to have, say three "slots" for quirks and traits that could be selected upon character creation. Think of these as something like D&D Feats that have to be selected at first level. Ambidexterity. Eagle Eye (longer range). Nightvision. You get the idea. Some more powerful traits could cast two or three of those slots (allowing you to choose less).

Handedness: It would be interesting to see some kind of inherent penalties in fighting someone with a different handedness than you (attacks come from opposite angles... so your shield is no longer across from their sword... now you have to "cross over").

Customizable clothing colors: Perhaps a system like that used in the Balder's Gate games (I think Neverwinter Nights used it too) is appropriate here. The player chooses two colors (a primary and secondary), and all the equipment he dons takes those hues as their highlights. If you wanted to get crazy, you could increase this to three. It makes for a

[darketower]

Skills/Abilities

Classless, Skill-based Characters: This is where it's at. A class-based system is restrictive and unimaginative, and should be done away with. Take a hint from games like Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and Guild Wars. Personally, I think Star Wars Galaxies got the concept right, but their implementation wasn't diverse enough. Make skill trees that jump from each learned skill to one or more new learned skills. If you want to learn to Dual Wield, then you'll have to advance down the skill tree that teaches you to do so. If you want to be a warrior type who can toss out a spell every now and then, then devote some of your skill points toward some magical training. This has been done before in a lot of games, there's no reason we shouldn't see more of this.

Non-Finite Character Progressions: Just as the idea of classes are becoming outdated, so is the ability that a character can't change. Final Fantasy may be too forgiving for some in this respect (though I love their system), where one simply changes their job in

[darketower]

Options:

Maps: I agree that you should start with a map, but then, I've always had this in the games I play. Final Fantasy starts you out with a map of your nation, and the surrounding region. Also, within your starting nation, there's always a shop that sells more maps. There's really no excuse for a game starting you out with nothing.

A worldwide banking system: This is another thing that both Ultima Online and Final Fantasy have, that I simply cannot imagine playing without. It makes me glad that I've stuck to these games. ;)

A binding system: This works great in Final Fantasy, with several options of where to bind (you can bind in cities, or at the outposts that I previously mentioned).

Housing, and the customization thereof: UO does it. SWG does it. FFXI does it (though no one else can visit it :P).

Environments:

Instanced dungeons: Most new games nowadays have this in one form or another. FFXI restricts it to boss fights and special battlefields. WoW has it more widespread.

Scaling dungeons: This is only feasible inside an