How do you picture your ideal MMO?

Mine is Titan which we basically have no info on
According to Blizzard it's going to be WoW 2.0, so I'm really looking forward to it, however few years back it was announced that it will be released in 2014 and this year the release date was pushed back for 2015 and with everything Blizzard are doing I guess it won't be out before 2016 even.
Other then that no matter how many trash talk WoW gets in my opinion it's still the best MMORPG when it comes to PvE encounters. This year Wildstar is coming out and we will see how things will be with Wildstar, but I doubt that it will be as good as WoW.
Torecap for me the most important part of an MMO is the PvE encounters. As soon as a MMORPG comes out that is close to WoW I'll probably switch to it, because no matter how much I love WoW I want to experience something new and fresh

 

Alone? Hardly! I think envisioning dream mmo's is an excellent thing. It takes innovative and creative thinking like this to bring new stuff to the table to keep mmo's alive and well. For me, I'd love to see an mmo where there were no NPCs. That blacksmith you need that cool weapon from is actually a guy who spent time getting his reputation out there and working hard on a single craft. I know it'll likely never happen, and if it does it won't be for many years, but it's definitely something I really look forward to maybe seeing.

 

I would imagine a world completely ran by the players. An economy system like Runescape, but as vast as World of Warcraft. I imagine an MMO which combines some modern characteristics of the real world in it or even other MMO's life Eve. The ability to launch yourself into space and further explore other planets would be a great thing to have in my ideal MMO.

 

That sounds really tiring :O
I myself prefer an MMO where you have to do certain objectives, but that it doesn't take you an eternity to do them. Anything more then 4-5 months without being able to clear a certain objective seems too tiring. In this aspect WoW has managed for most of the time to satisfy me. Still there are some times where you don't have anything to do for 3-4 months and there are other times where you have too much things to do. Like when the last patch came out. I had to do so many things and when you count that I was doing some of those things on my alts as well it was becoming rather burdensome.

 

For me, the ideal MMO needs to have a good community, an easy way to make friends and spend time with them, and needs to have lots of interesting and diverse content. For MMO veterans like me, the WoW clone model just doesn't cut it anymore. The gameplay has gotten stale and if it's a game that I can sink thousands of hours into, it needs to have more than just good gameplay. Good guild support is what keeps people coming back for more, and good team synergy makes it so that everyone feels like they have a part to play. We need areas that are rewarding but short for the more casual players, and these need to be rewarding.

 

For me it's an mmo that has a good and active community as well as a mmo that has a strong hacking protection as well also having a story would be cool, but is not required.

 

Game world >> size of community >> lore >> intensity of combat >> PvE content >> PvP content... That's how I rank my MMO's. LOTRO is at the top for me. Old WoW used to be, but it's no longer the same game it once was.

 

I will probably make an MMO where there are no contraints whatsoever. Once you're in the open world, you are free to do anything from being an adventurer, a farmer, a hunter, become an animal or just open up a store and trade, etc. With this concept, you can create your own legend. There will be a mixture of both AI and human enemies. If you think you're good enough, you can even build your own guild and name it whatever you like.

 

I have thought about this a lot, and here are the key points:
1. A deep crafting system that was almost ad-hoc in nature (blueprints that require certain categories of materials, but any material that matched that category could go into it).
2. Item Decay to drive the economy
3. A deep quest system, that involved players being able to make quests (e.g. bring me 5 gort hearts (that I use for crafting) and I'll give you a gold piece and a plasma gun). The idea is to integrate the usual forum WTB/WTS stuff into the game.
4. Randomized levels and dungeons to keep things fresh. Torchlight has some good stuff that could be mimicked, as do Diablo/etc.

 

Mine is basically The Old Republic mixed with Awakened.

Awakened is a project in the works using the UE4 engine that is basically a next-gen superhero open world MMO. While that by itself sounds absolutely awesome, I also love Star Wars.

I hated The Old Republic though as it was just a bad ripoff of WoW. My perfect MMO combining the two would need the following:

1. An open world to explore that requires obtaining a real means to get around. Ala SWG. No cheap teleporting.

2. Real time combat, akin to the Jedi Knight series. A duel should come down to quick thinking and real skill, not just who has the better stats.

3. No classes, and the ability to forge your own careers and skillsets. Becoming a Jedi shouldn't be as simple as selecting "Jedi" on the character builder screen, as that floods the world with them and devalues their presence. That totally goes against the concept of force users, and the rarity of monks trained to use the force in powerful ways. If you want to become a bounty hunter, forge your own career and reputation as one. If you want to be a Jedi, go through the lengthy training process required to become one.

4. Great next-gen visuals. I like what Star Citizen is doing with their graphics in the sense that they are not downsizing them just to accommodate users with older computers, sure they are limiting how many people can play but they are also ensuring that their game stays graphically relevant for years to come. It also keeps the annoying 13 year old squealers with terrible computers and dial-up out of the game. Nobody likes those. lol

5. Add-on support. The curse mods that WoW uses are great (the good ones at least), albeit a bit under-supported and crashy. The game would not be the same for many people without them. I think this should be standard in any MMO, and I find it hilarious how many self-touted "WoW killers" lacked this feature. How do they hope to compete?

6. A player designed world. Games like Minecraft and similar sandbox games prove that when you allow the players to build and design their own game/world, they can produce results far superior to much of what the developer can muster. Everquest Next is incorporating this idea with their Landmark program, and I would love for a Star Wars MMO to do the same.

The reason a game like this isn't made is because it appeals to a niche audience rather than a universal one. Not everyone has a great gaming PC. Not everyone is comfortable with heavily roleplaying their character. Not everyone is patient enough to fulfill their career path. But the audience is there. Just look at player built games like Second Life or Mincraft. Tons of passionate, dedicated gamers play those games and have built their worlds in them from scratch. Publishers who chase after money rather than the passion of entertainment only fund games that have universal appeal by catering to the lowest common denominator. This is why I completely support crowdfunded gaming despite its downsides, because it allows games to be funded on a premise of passion, not profit.

 

I would love a game with a beautiful new world to explore, one that takes a LOT of time to progress in, not getting to max level for a month.
For me it's the journey to getting to max level, not the destination. Even then it would have to have decent end game content, but if they make it as long as I imagine it, they would have plenty of time to design that.
I'd also like to have professions that are important for the game, as to incentivise players to take them. Have them be required for quests and gear upgrading.

 

It's difficult, because you basically have two different games to satisfy: PVE and PVP. Both require completely different game play mechanics. The prevailing problem with WoW has always been Blizz not giving PvP its proper due and focusing on PVE content. I think my ideal MMO would find a way to balance the 2 and give each the proper support that they need.

 

I already have mine. FFXI. It's a Final Fantasy with MMO Elements. 'nough said!

 

I really enjoy open world games that allow a lot of interaction and customizability. But I also want exploration, action and fighting. I'd create something that was kind of a mixture of Second Life, The Sims, and World of Warcraft. In fact, I'm not sure how many of you played The Sims Online, but if there were dungeons and fighting and gear in that game, it'd be perfect. haha

 

I remember The Sims Online. I played that to an unholy ammount. It's the only virtual world style mmo I liked (there, second life things like that are virtual world games). It's sad they shut it down right when it went f2p..

 

Yeah unfortunately I got into it just before they shut it down. I hear there's an online movement of programmers and coders trying to recreate a free server for it, but as far as I know they've been working on it for years with not so much as a download trial.