MMORPG - Worth Producing?

[Trix.Neo]

Hi Everyone,

 

Long time fan and reader of 11 of the WoT books, waiting for A Memory of Light for christmas.

 

Now I have contacted serveral sites with no responses so I thought I would go one short of contacting RJ himself and post on this forum. I know along time ago a game was created by Legend in 1999.

 

Myself and a University freind are seriously (and I mean seriously) considering attempting to create a WoT MMORPG (obviously we would need permission to do so) as a commercial venture to present to a large studio (EA etc) next summer.

 

Basicly the only doubt or question we have at the momment is if we make the book (the main story) into a playable one player game and make the worlds within the WoT an open MMORPG style environment, would it work?

 

I just wondered what people thought to the idea?

 

Neo

[MetalMonkeyMood]

If it's done right, I'd sure play it :D

 

It wouldn't be easy, but yeah I think it would work.

[algspkr]

I would screw the story, and just take the world. I think it would get old fast (especially for an MMO) if it was a rigged retelling of the story.

[Thor]

Isn't there already a game wot? not mmo though.

[SinisterDeath]

WoT would not make a good MMORPG at all, And with WoW, EQ, Linage, SWG, COH/COV, DAOC, ect,ect,ect any type of 'profit' is nill.

Then you have to consider, who will play it?

WoT fans. Okay, so now you have to consider the number of wot fans with a pc capable of playing it.

Then the number of people who will play the game because its 'zomfg awesome'...

 

So quite simply no company will take it up, because it'll just bomb..

 

Now if you want to make a game, a RTS would do, something like civilization, wc3, or empire earth..

*One that involves building up cities, armies, and concuring nations, alot like Mideval total war actually*

A single player rpg also would work....

Making one that you play as rand or something would be 'dorky' as well as very difficult. *Try staying within the story line..*

Now if you made a game very similar to 'morrowind' or 'oblivion' that is wot, you'd get alot of people who will buy it, wot fans or not.....

 

But doing that requires a fairly large team of people who can make the necisarry software/programs/engines/ect.

 

So unless your adamant on making a 'real' for sale game, you could go down the road of 'modding' which is taking games that are very moddable. *Modding meaning you use there mod tools, create the 'world' and the 'rules' ect for your 'world' your creating. The adavantages to this is its A) Free to use the mod tools.

B) You can escentially let anyone and everyone play the game for free.

C) You aren't making any money off of it, meaning you don't have to worry as much as legal troubles as making a real game. And because a mod no one really 'owns' it so to speak....

D) The Game Engine, Graphics, Ect is already set up and made for you. You no longer have to worry about the longest step in making a game..

 

There are a few games ou there that are perfect for this...

Oblivion.

Mideval 2 Total War.

Neverwinter Nights 2.

 

Each have there own awesomeness to it.

 

Oblivion and NWN2, you can make it into a single player *nwn2 also multiplayer* game where you could potentially be either only a certain wot character, or you could make it like the games orginally are, you could be just about anyone in the 'world' seeing the events around them unfold, and play a role in them happening, either for good or evil. While maintaining the story line...

 

Mideval 2 Total War, you could create an RTS world domination game, that doesn't necissarilly have to follow the plot line very far, but would gaurnteed get you alot of people playing, wot fans or not.

 

Obiviously a problem with 'modding' is you have to buy the game to play the mod, but this also means you get people who don't read the books playing the game, which might drive them to read the books...

 

Anyways if you still feel like you want to make an MMORPG, try not to get surrounded by the 'average hype' of what makes an mmorpg. You have to be Unique, if you don't you'll get hammered. You also have to make it 'familiar and easy to use' or you'll get hammered. Its a tough buisness. There are thousands of mmo's out there, that are free alltogether. Developed by people wanting to get 'adopted' by bigger companies to mass produce it. Very few actually get picked up. If you create an mmorpg that looks like every other one, acts like everyone, and all together plays like every other one out there. Whos going to play it? I mean, Why would you play a game you've escentially already played? This is one of the reasons I think a single player with multiplayer option is better. *And nothing like that other game* For Single player to multiplayer action I think an NWN2 type game would be perfect. 100% single player and graphically intense. Oblivion style. Or cheap but effective single and multi, Mideval 2 Total War.

[Tira]

Erm, I think your argument stands for ANY game TBH. If you clone any game of any genre then that argument comes into play.

 

Also, I think pointing out dead MMORPG's as competition (looking at SWG) isn't exactly appropriate.

 

As a BIG MMORPG fan, who has played just about all of them that are commercially available I will say this.

 

 

If we are honest and take the big boys who are liable to be a WoT MMORPG's downfall... it would be WoW, FFXI and EQ2 as they are the biggest. Linage is close behind but isn't that big. Have you played it recently?

 

It's not exactly... busy in there.

 

SWG is dead as a door nail, thats a prime example of how NOT to make an MMORPG.

 

Also, creating an indie game and trying to get adopted - although oldschool isn't what the poster was getting at, he said if he and his team were to get RJ on board himself and then get a major producer like EA behind them what does the WoT community think?

 

Now, if you guys can get RJ behind you - yeah the games publishers will listen. If you can get them to listen and take you seriously then you can get the cash and the team, if you can get the cash and the team and get a good game idea between your team and RJ then you can make the next hit MMORPG.

 

I think you biggest challenge will be RJ and then a producer/publisher like EA. Those are some pretty major hurdles as it's RJ's reputation and the publishers money on the line if it does flop.

 

 

To say that there are already MMORPG's out there so don't go for any new ones is probably one of the most appauling examples of "business advice" I have ever heard. If new and old games producers took that mindset... we wouldn't have a games industry anymore.

 

In fact, we wouldn't have an entertainment industry period.

 

 

 

Why make a traditional RPG?

 

We have Final Fantasy, Xenosaga, Oblivion and so on and so forth.

 

We could argue that all other RPG's are forever pointless when the FF franchise exists?

 

Why make a strategy game? we have a billion of them also!

 

 

 

Anyway - onto a serious post. I think it's a good idea and one that could work really well if you can get RJ behind you to help make it unique and strike a good balance between "typical MMORPG" and "unique story based on the books".

[SinisterDeath]

Well SWG is by far not dead at all. hell even EQ is still alive and kicking. And compared to the 'freebie' mmorpgs, they have more numbers, and enough people to pay for the servers and keep them 'runnin good with content updates'.

As it stands now, Making a WoT mmorpg would be very 'grueling'. I mean, sure you have people who are quitting wow/eq/eq2/l2/swg/daoc/ect all the time, and switching to other mmo's. *Guild wars, 100% free mmorpg's, as well as private servers *Basically illegal but L2 private servers = more people then L2 official servers*

 

Making a MMORPG requires either A) Uber game mechanics/classes, ect that make people go 'wow, thats incredibaly balanced! *biggest issue in every mmo, class balance* then theres the "fanbois" People who have read/played/watched the lore behind it.

After all, the majority of the people who bought SWG were starwars fanbois. Same with Warcraft, they were warcraft fanbois, and it went from there...

 

WoT? Our gamer base is far smaller then all of them combined, even "lotrs" If WoT had a 'movie' then yes it would be great to pick it up, but... If any body were to 'produce it' please, for the love of all that is good, not EA..

 

Tell me this, how do you create a balanced MMO, And attract people to it, who have never heard of wot? Requires alot of advertisement, as well as Awesome Game Mechanics, Inovative materials. And who knows what else....

*and givin the trend, a wot mmo would have to take place after book 12, as before its just going to intefere far to much with the story line...*

Now see an Advantage with Single player game is

A) No monthly Fees.

B) Not online, Many people who aren't 'gamers' but still buy 'games' don't like mmorpgs. *Go into 'barrens chat and you'll see why'.

C) You don't have to constantly update content to keep people satisfied. You make it in 2-6 years, with tons and tons of content for people to play with..

D) Easier to stick to lore.

E) uhhh We don't need barrens chat in wot?

 

I think it would just be a better approach to start off with a single player rpg, with possible online play then to go straight for mmorpg. Specially if you want to get anything resembling profit....

 

*also*

dont go with Red Eagle Entertainment... So far they don't seem to have done anything but prevent wot stuff from being prevented by not paying bills....

*Dable Brothers?*

 

Getting a 'big name' publisher would be very very difficult.. Specially if you are going for mmorpg.. After all the first question they'll ask is. Can it compete with WoW?

Best bet would to make an mmorpg after a movie comes out. When we get all them fanboi movie fans. :P

 

Other then that, just try to come up with what type of game you want to create, come out with mechanics, write up lore/ect to go with it. Some possible inovative things with it to.

*nearly forgot*

 

Half Life 2, Engine already built,

Single Player, and Multiplayer ability, Mod Tools, AND you can sell the mods on it.

Graphics are pretty good, but not 'uber' and its possible, with programming to make it more then just a 'shooter'... Even 'oblivion like' if you try hard enough.. but that requires' finese' but for magic systems, you could have fun... There was one game someone made with 'magic' that you could move your mouse around the screen, in certain patterns would cast different spells....

An innovative spell system that coincides with WoT would make a killing, specially if its 'easy to use' yet 'effective' and 'goes with how the op works'...

 

Theres tons of things that can and can't be done with a WoT game....

RPG

RTS

Single Player RPG

MultiPlayerRPG

MMORPG

MMORTS

MultiPlayerRTS,

FPS

MPFPS

MMOFPS?!

TombRaider Style Adventure...

Mist Style Adventure....

seriously cant think of anything else. :P

 

*Btw, Oblivion is an rpg that has alot of fps elements. NWN2 is like dungeon siege but better. :P*

[Mercer]

I always thought WoT would make an AMAZING video game/movie. And since I'm sure there are many, many movie threads, I'll say here I can't believe a game hasn't been made yet. Such in depth, already existing source material, it wouldn't even require to be made from scratch. An MMORPG would be ideal, but not monetarily possilbe, I think, with what already exists and what is currently being made.

[Trix.Neo]

TBH...

 

I am the WoT half of the partnership, my partner in this idea is a solid MMORPG player, knows all the details about classes, races you name it I have had to read about in an email

 

The first thing I suggested being a CSS/Half-life 2 player and CSS site admin was the source engine... there would be a huge amount of resources available from coders to level designers, the only thing that would maybe a show stopper would perhaps be a lack of inspiration becuase they havn't read the books.

 

I'm not sure I totally agree that getting RJ onboard would be as tough as getting funding. He did like what Legend made and must have given his agreement so thats one plus:

 

It has happened before.

 

Secondly from reading his blog he isn't a stuffed shirt, heck wants to get a skydiving qualification. So he might take a risk. I mean if we got an agreement that we can try and if it looks shocking he can stop from being released. We don't want any money from him, just the ability to say to publishers etc that we have the permission to make the game using the WoT name.

 

I don't think a rigid storyline in a multiplayer game would work. I'm glad to see nobody said the world was too small, thats something my partner commented on when he saw a map of the world. That brings me to a question, how would you make the world in Source, make them load the map every 100 yards :shock: Picture it your in the middle of the Waste....or for the mat tar valon, I suppose build it in blocks and whenever you cross a line you have to load the next block of the grid (so I suppose it could work)

 

I think a blend of gaming genres might work so you travel in a 3rd person mode but during large scale battles you go into a more rts like LoTR Battle for middle earth. Although would a full RTS work, possibly, would let you utilise different chracters abilites and allows a certain amount of scripting so you can make sure certain events happen.

 

TBH my partner wanted to make an MMORPG from scratch and I said why not WoT? So here we are trying to accertain whether its viable.

 

So thanks for your thoughts so far.

 

Would the wot world, dream world (didn't have time to check spelling for talenrhod) and the ways be enough to support the MMORPG style of play?

 

Neo

[Tira]

OK, we shall have to agree to disagree then I suppose.

 

 

If you were to create a WoT MMORPG then heres my comments:

 

 

Seeing as Neo just said he is not an MMO guy his friend is I will explain myself a bit.

 

Balance

Balance is probably one of the most important aspects of an MMORPG. Basically that the game is fair for all players, like a level playing field.

 

Study the other MMORPG's and see where they messed up and where they got it right. Don't wind up having a certain uber job class and a naff gimped one.

 

If one job can own all in PvP then you have a problem. Or if a certain DD is so strong they can do nothing but rip hate from your tank.

 

One thing that annoyed me about FFXI is the whole every job sub's Ninja and Black Mage Parties.

 

I personally think the way they implemented BLM and NIN were two big cock-ups in that game.

 

 

For reference, in FFXI you can have a "manaburn party". This is 5 Black Mages (nukers) and 1 Support (Bard or Red Mage). The BLM's all sub NIN so they have super evasion and well.... mana burn. Black Magic is powerful stuff and it leads to very fast levelling.

 

The other was the Paladin vs. Ninja thing. Paladin is a tank, it is a purebred tank. Ninja when it was added was able to "blink tank", which means never get hit. Nobody wanted Paladins anymore and White Mage became less useful as Ninja's don't need healing.

 

 

Don't mess up balance as that will kill the game.

 

 

RMT

RMT = Real Money Trade. You can go to certain websites and buy currency and items for MMORPG's. In itself RMT is cheating and people look down on those who do it.

 

But there is a second problem, these sites need stockpiles of game gold so they have tons of gold farmers doing nothing but making money in the game and wrecking the game economy in their favour.

 

Go post an RMT thread on an MMORPG forum want watch the flames.

 

RMT = bad, don't allow it to take over. It buggered FFXI up, WoW kinda got out of it with the game dynamic but it still exists.

 

 

Moderate Levelling Speed

One thing I hated about WoW was the fact you could hit max level really fast. There should be more pride in being at the highest possible level. So make it slower than WoW.

 

 

I think 1-10 should be easy (an afternoon), 10-20 should be a little harder, 20-30 should be your first challenge.

 

30-40 is when the training wheels come off

 

50+ should be take time and effort.

 

But thats my opinion.

 

 

Make a good crafting system

OK, crafting is a way of making items from raw materials.

 

You have several different guilds you can join. Each guild has it's own flavour of items, such as alchemy to make magical potions and clothcraft to make robes and stuff for mages.

 

http://ffxi.somepage.com/recipedb/guild.php

 

Thats FFXI's tradeskill guilds and recipe lists.

 

You level the tradeskill by making items and as you progress in level you get access to better recipes. A lv1 cannot craft a lv100 item.

 

 

I hate crafting powerlevellers, those who have a lot of game gold and just ply it into the tradeskill of their choice and max out the craft in a week. It's annoying as they revalue the craft for others.

 

Study this dynamic carefully and get it right!

 

 

Group / Solo Balance

Wow is solo play orientated, you can take your character and level it up to max level solo.

 

FFXI and Linage are group orientated, they require you to group up to do most things.

 

Wow is thus a casual game while FFXI and Linage are hardcore games. You find the community reflects this.

 

I think a middle balance would be good. Having a group play MMORPG that is accessible to the casual audience by making solo levelling and questing viable.

 

 

Community

Community is important, there is this big divide in the MMORPG community.

 

You have the OMGUBER and immature community, which is very drawn to WoW as it's casual.

 

Then you have the more mature community that is found in say FFXI. Since it's a more hardcore game the "I wanna be uber now!!!1111eleven" kids drop out fast.

 

Your community will make or break the game.

 

 

PVP

There are different flavours of PVP. All MMORPG's have a PVP aspect but they are all implemented differently.

 

PvP is Player vs. Player

 

 

Open PvP:

 

Linage is open PvP, this means anybody can attack anybody for any reason. If a player attacks someone they get flagged as hostile, it's kinda like a drawback to being an ass. Reputation is everything in these games, if nobody wants to play with you it's game over really.

 

Conditional PvP:

WoW is conditional, you can only attack other players if they are of an opposing faction. If the other player is of an opposing faction you can just attack and kill them. You cannot just attack a friendly player.

 

You can however duel friendly players, this is a "in good taste" battle. Player 1 requests duel and if Player 2 accepts you have a match.

 

Closed PvP:

FFXI is Closed PvP, this means you cannot just attack anyone. You can only attack other players in specific PvP Arena's and events.

 

For example Ballista is an event, two teams sign up to a Ballista Match. The teams have an objective to complete to win the match. During the match the two teams can attack eachother.

 

So you can try to win by completing the goal faster than the other team or win by preventing the other team from completing the goal by killing them all.

 

 

Although open PvP is fun, it has problems. You will get level 50-60 players prowling the newbie zones "pwning them some n00bs" which is frustrating to new players.

 

BUT at the same time, RMT suffers as players will just kill the gold farmers.

 

FFXI's PvP is in very good taste and works, I think adding dueling would be a good addition though.

 

I guess how you implement PvP is a personal preference and you will always have players who want it the other way around no matter what you do.

 

I would prefer to see Closed PvP with Dueling myself, but thats my opinion. You go to an MMORPG forum you will have a big split between Open, Conditional and Closed.

 

 

PvE

PvE is Player vs. Enemy. Theres some considerations to make here.

 

Number 1 is claim.

 

If player 1 attacks a monster can other players attack the monster too?

 

In WoW they can but only the "claimer" can have the loot and exp. The other person simply was assisting.

 

In FFXI once a person or group attacks a monster it's claimed to that group and another player cannot attack it unless the claimer calls for help.

 

Calling for help makes the monster available to all to attack but it won't give exp, gold or items.

 

 

Number 2 is Exp Balance:

 

If a lv1 player groups with a lv50 and they go killing things can the lv1 player get experience points?

 

NO NO NO!

 

You will have people getting to lv30 with no work whatsoever... which will mean lv30 players who don't know what they are going.

 

This leads to powerlevelling, prevent it any way you can as it seems like a good thing to newer players, but at some point the monsters will be too powerful to have a powerleveller. Thus you have lv50 newbies which is never a good thing :-/

 

 

 

 

Bottom line, research other MMORPG's and do three things:

 

 

1. Make a game based on the WoT world, that uses the books as backstory.

 

2. Make it really good taking the best of what exists already and adding even more cool new stuff.

 

3. Put right what has already gone wrong.

 

 

 

I could harp on all day, such a big topic :D

[Tira]

Just had a real thought.

 

 

I wouldn't create a game that is an adaptation of the books but more based on the world of the books with the books as backstory to a new one.

 

 

I would use the world, maybe expand/change it where needed but not too much. So using a little artistic license where needed. You will want fans of the book to be able to look at the world and say "yeah, this is WoT's world" even if there is a new continent or more places.

 

 

I know WoT's world is big but I don't know if it fits.

 

 

The story, I would do two things:

 

 

1: Come up with the biggest disaster scenario for the WoT world. Write what happened, the aftermath of that and how the WoT world coped with it.

 

- The wheel breaks?

- Time collapses?

- A new evil force plunges the WoT world into turmoil?

 

 

2: In some way unify the world more, making a big common enemy that emerged with #1 happened. Making old enemies now allies through circumstance.

 

- Allows you to have multiple playable races

- Gives some cool backstory for nations

- Nation A paranoid about Nation B

 

 

3: Write backstory for each nation for #1 and #2

 

- How they coped?

- What's happened since #1 and #2?

- How they feel about new alliances?

- Paranoia about alliances?

 

 

4: Write a new chronicle, so a new story that is tailored to the WoT world. Thats kinda what they did with WoW and it worked. I'd go that route myself.

 

 

Just a couple of things I think would be pretty cool.

[SinisterDeath]

Moderate Levelling Speed

One thing I hated about WoW was the fact you could hit max level really fast. There should be more pride in being at the highest possible level. So make it slower than WoW.

 

I think one of the most important part about an MMORPG is it should be possible to solo to cap lvl. It can never be 'impossible' to do it. Just take longer then grouping.

 

Compared to other games, wow lvling was insanely fast compared to EQ, FFXI, and 'zomfg' L2. *L2 = worst grind ever*

 

Now, I bet you, that the wot community isn't going to be the 'hard core uber gamer' community. So really you want to go at a lvling rate of that near wow. But a 'higher' level, or 'no levels'. Possibly lvl being = to your Skills. *not your skills, but your skill levels in whatever it may be..*

 

In EQ it toke me 6 months to get to cap level. Now consider this.

IN every MMORPG getting to cap level is only the begging. The rest of the game is 'end game' This is why wow has hit so well. After-all, why do you want to spend 1 year out of your life, making Cap level just to 'experience' the game? now WoW didn't get all those 11 year old 'uber now!!' characters because of the faster leveling. *though it didn't help any* They got them because of all there WC3, D2, SC fans + Hearsay. Go to your local Highschool, Money says if you mention it in the hallways when people are wandering them, people will say 'you play wow to?!'.

 

Make a good crafting system

Now this I can most definately agree with.

EQ & WoW have one of the better crafting systems out there.

WoW is blatantly simple and easy to use.

EQ is 'difficult' but 'easy to use'.

WoW = nofail, 1 make = 1 skill level.

EQ = 80% fail rate, 3000000000 makes = 1 skill level. Very Expensive.

Now combine those two, a 40% fail rate, relatively cheap, or easy to 'farm' materials to make items, a much easier 'skill up ratio' and you'll have people loving the tradeskill system..

 

One main issue with 'tradeskills' is 'useless items'. Its one of the biggest and most annoying things about Tradeskills. Wow has alevated it to some extent. EQ? nope notta. still as useless as before, Dropped items still dominate. No one even thinks twice about tradeskills. Now Other games there tradeskills are even higher fail rate, even more expensive then eq, but there items are 'worth it'. Except getting those 'items' is along the lines of 'far to much work for a minor upgrade'.

 

Group / Solo Balance

 

I talked about this above really, but you can make a game that has both, as well as can cater to 'solo,group,raider,hardcore raiders'. It just requires alot of work...

Leveling should be soloable to max level, Just really really slow. *3 months max solo*

Group would have to be around 1.5 months.

 

PVP

In a WoT universe, PVP could be intergrated with ease. However you need some kind of 'reward system' as well as a system to prevent 'griefing'.

Wow has the no honor on people who are 'green/gray' to you. So you get no 'honor' from it. It helps but still doesn't prevent it.

L2 is notorious for its pvp.

EQ.. wtf is pvp?

 

Though, I definately think WoW got it right with 'battle grounds' even if there 'implimentation' was wrong. But there most definatley should be 'safe' and 'not safe' zones. XP/rewards in the zone would be the 'same' so as not to encourage one over the other, as 'pvp' has its own rewards.

 

 

 

As for the story line. Givin the trends, doing it after the Last Battle would be perfect...

 

Restoration of the destroyed nations.

Rebuilding

Re-newed conflicts, old and new.

Tensions between white tower and black tower...

And you don't have to follow the 'story' to the Letter as it will mostly be 'creative liscense'. *And hoppefully better then 'SWG'. :P

 

A Single player game would allow you to explore a timeline within the books. An mmorpg would not. So it would really be up to developer, and what rj would like better....

 

*Also*

One of the reasons I have to strongly critize any game making possibility for 'WoT' is quite simply to see if the person making it, is committed, or just another 'I'm gonna do this!' then a week later they forget about it. It happens time in and time again..

 

I myself have been attempting to make a 'mod' of wot for the game Oblivion, but all the people I 'signed up' to help make it, have gone awol. And its not a solo project by any extent. *That and I'm awfully busy of late*.

[Tira]

You do get a lot of people who aren't commited, I guess it depends on the "startup" though.

 

 

Anyway, onto WoT as an MMO idea:

 

 

I don't think FFXI and Linage levelling speed and group forcing is a good thing. You simply cannot get to cap solo, I don't like that.

 

Also, 6 months just to level one job seems a bit OOT but I guess it depends on what content you have inbetween, you pulled something I have often thought.

 

Why have the game at the end, it should be throughout not all endgame scene.

 

 

I am a believer that 75% of the way through should be smooth sailing and then that last stretch should be tougher.

 

 

So striking a balance between the WoW and FFXI/Linage speeds of levelling would be IMO a good thing. Say, allow solo levelling but at a slower pace and group at a faster pace.

 

Allow players to reach a pretty high level in a reasonable amount of time but have that last stretch kinda "seperate the men from the boys" type of thing.

 

 

 

With PvP I am all for open PvP provided there is something to prevent griefing, there is nothing more annoying than some high level player corpse camping you when you are just starting a new character. Maybe preventing you from attacking someone that is that much lower level than you that they simply don't stand a chance.

 

 

Tradeskills, I don't think they should be smooth sailing. The idea is to provide a solid income in the game world, if everyone has a high level craft then everyone is a millionaire, there is no distinction between those who put in the effort and those who don't, then wheres the point?

[SinisterDeath]

Tradeskills, I don't think they should be smooth sailing. The idea is to provide a solid income in the game world, if everyone has a high level craft then everyone is a millionaire, there is no distinction between those who put in the effort and those who don't, then wheres the point?

 

Well this is a I agree and disagree at the same time..

 

When you say tradeskills i'm thinking Armor, Weapons, jewelry, trinkets, possibly food, ect.

 

In EQ when you capped out your tradeskill it was an accomplishment, its 'bragging rights'. But other then that, the items are practically worthless.

*fyi, I can make 1 item for 500 platinum. But people will only buy it from me for 5 platinum.... Merchants buy it from me at 400 platinum. So whats the point?*

You want to make Tradeskilling a challange. But you also want to make it 'worth doing'.

 

Now if you put it in context of WoT, blacksmith makes weapons armor.. Possibly 'trinkets' of some sort *though Aes Sedia would be the only ones to make ter'angrael... hp buffs would be basically pointless... As all we have seen in wot is basically a 'stamina' buff from aes sedia, and healing.

 

But then, we don't want everyone to be an aes sedia now do we? only 1% of 1% of the population can channel. But you also don't want to make it something like SWG either....

 

Now one interesting idea is to put it in context similar to DnD... You know the 'feats'. You can pick one of '10' or so 'feats', that then allow you to go down the path of channeling, but you also miss out on other things..... *Like if you want to be the equiovlent of an Assassin, you could easilly miss out on that nice 'feat' that makes you even more deadly.... But you would also never be able to become a 'channeler'

 

The obvious other tricky part is 'balance'.

How do you make a 'channeler' not over powered. The very nature of them in wot is 'over powered' How do you make everyone else 'just' as powerful as them?

The only conclusion I can come up with is..

you can't. The only thing I can think of is the 'channeler' would level slower then everyone else. So a level 1 channeler would be just as powerful as a level 5 warrior... But a level 5 channeler would kick a level 5 warriors but. :P

But it would take 5 times as long...

 

Of course that is just one option..

In oblivion, you gain levels not by xp, but by leveling up your skills. And potentially 'everyone' can max out all skills. The advantage in that system is, you don't have mages you can only wear 'cloth'. Afterall, if you were a 'mage' would you not want to sit in a sherman tank casting nukes off, with out being damaged? Or would you want to wear a silk gown and get instantly killed if someone gets close enough to you?

 

Economy.

Npc merchants? Auctionhouse type system? Economy = entirely player based, or mixed?

*SWG vs EQ classic economy *player and npc*.

[Tira]

In EQ when you capped out your tradeskill it was an accomplishment, its 'bragging rights'. But other then that, the items are practically worthless.

*fyi, I can make 1 item for 500 platinum. But people will only buy it from me for 5 platinum.... Merchants buy it from me at 400 platinum. So whats the point?*

You want to make Tradeskilling a challange. But you also want to make it 'worth doing'.

 

I would want it tough to cap but worthwhile to cap, so what you made was valuable so there is reason and accomplishment.

 

 

How do you make a 'channeler' not over powered. The very nature of them in wot is 'over powered' How do you make everyone else 'just' as powerful as them?

 

This is a problem for every MMORPG, by definition a Black Mage or Summoner is overpowered, thats why you add restriction for the purpose of the game.

 

i.e. MP and cooldown timers and of cause hate control. A Mage would only be able to wear cloth, have a low defence and of cause if they start chain-nuking they are dead.

 

Even if the book does not "allow it", for the purposes of the game artistic license would have to be introduced to maintain balance.

 

 

Say if they were to call the battle mage a "Black Mage" and the healing mage a "White Mage" - using a common convention...

 

 

Both Mages are restricted, you have battle and healing (only one not both) which is restriction #1.

 

Both Mages can only wear cloth armour, which is really low defence. This means they can deal it but cannot take it. That is restriction #2

 

Casting costs mana, run out of mana and you cannot cast. That is restriction #3.

 

Cooldown timers prevent chain casting which is restriction #4.

 

 

If we look at FFXI, in the whole Final Fantasy series, the summoner is by far the most powerful class. Can any job class do as much damage as a summoner?

 

No.

 

In FFXI they made that super powerful trait skill "Astral Flow" which is only usable once every 2 hours due to the 2hr. cooldown on it. So sure a SMN can in one single cast nuke something into oblivion (as long as it isn't too powerful) but only once every two hours.

 

I can remember I was in an exp party in Valkurm, we got aggro from a Tough Goblin and the SMN Astral Flowed with Fenrir and boom.

 

So balance can be maintained without ruining what the story should define.

 

 

Npc merchants? Auctionhouse type system? Economy = entirely player based, or mixed?

*SWG vs EQ classic economy *player and npc*.

 

I enjoy the AH in FFXI but thats me... maybe because I have clothcraft high and can make luxury gear. You find those that are good at making cash like the player driven economy while those who aren't so good tend not to like it.

[Urien Gaidin]

I think if a game was made it should be an online game such as Guild Wars and Star Wars Galaxies. Where you can full explore the entire WOT World. I think a perfect example would be like Morrowind. You can literally go anywhere and do anything. You would have to pick yourr race and status, such as an Aiel, merchant, Trolloc, Darkfriend, Illuminator, Aes Sedai, farmer, Warder, Asha'man, etc. Anything that would allow you to form societies with people from all over the world via the online capability would be so awesome. I think a game style like that of Morrowind would be perfect, except have the WOT World and the ability to go from the Sea of Storms all the way to the Blight. You could have all the styles of weapons such as a regular sword and then uprade or earn a power wrought blade. Bows, pikes, halbreds, and all any other weapons in the series.

 

With all the variety in skills and abilities the characters could have and imerse it into a fully online game where those you come in contact with are other gamers and the ability to be emissary of the Dark would make it an unbelievable game. If it is to be made it should be very, very well made and articulate in all aspects, because you wouldnt want to disappoint WOT fans with a crappy game. I mean, who wouldnt want to create a menegerie and be another Luca, that'd be awesome.

 

 

 

That's my two cents.

[konatown]

don't do levels with a WoT game. Use a skill-tree based system similiar to Dark Messiah.

[Rhetrus]

Do it and I will personally write most of it.

 

That and I will have your babies.