What aspects of other MMOs do you wish AO had?

The title says it all, but to clarify; I have enjoyed Anarchy Online to a degree these past several months, but like just about everybody else I sometimes feel like hitting my head against the wall with many of the problems it has.

So I was thinking of some of my experiences from other MMOs and how much i wished they did this like DAoC or that like UO. etc...

So to start off I will give one example for now to get things rolling.


I so wish they had a system of testing and patching that DAoC has. Their the devs puts something up on the test server, the people that choose to play on it tests it and sees how it changes things, the devs comes back tweeks it a little bit, the testers test, and then they decide if they will put that aspect of test on live. For instance, first they were going to put a 35% reduction in PvP damage across the board. Then they started to exempt certain attacks. Then they threw the whole reduction thing out, and went at it in different way.

Don't get me wrong they are not beacons of great customer service. They loved the stealth nerfs, then deny there was a nerf, then demand players proof of the nerf, then lie to the customers that it was just tiny 3% nerf when it was a 50%nerf, then flat out ignore it and calling it a 'dead forge'.

Martin

Ok, I'll take a crack.

I wish AO had EQ's outdoor zone design.

In EQ, there was always a zone with mobs of your level. That zone was generally next to a somewhat harder one, and a somewhat easier one.

West Freeport -> East Commons -> North Ro -> Oasis

is a typical example.

In AO, you have Wartorn Valley (grey to a 35) next to Aegean (deep red to a 35).

Or Galway Shire (leets) next to Galway County (The Cage, Mantezes).

I'd just like to see some progression designed into the zones.

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Originally posted by Metafistics
I'd just like to see some progression designed into the zones.

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Ditto- that's the biggest thing I'd like to see as well.

But to add something of my own:

I wish AO had DAoC's task system.

In DAoC you can walk up to guards and NPC's, ask for a task, and be sent off in a general direction to kill a specific monster. When you return, you get a very nice amount of xp and some money for completing the task.

That would get people outdoors and exploring, and offer about the same amount of xp per hour that missions do, but without the repetition.

ugh :(

You guys have posted some of the worst aspects of the other games.

Task system? booooorrrriiinnnggg. Even more boring that missions, and you stop getting xp after 20. The tasks for Item making were a good idea though. Tedious, i made it to 400 armorsmith and almost killed myself :p

EQ outdoor level design? so outdated. Lots of variety but very clunky feeling. AO has the best terrain so far. Much more natural and realistic.

I wish AO had as many quests and 'dungeon' like areas as EQ. EQ dungeons are well designed.

I would also like a little more dynamic content like in Asherons Call. They did a good job keeping that game changing in some mode.

You're insane, man. Those item creation and delivery tasks were the pit of hell. :P

Yeah but they helped make crafting and tradeskills somewhat useful and not so hard on the pocket.

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Originally posted by Tourn
EQ outdoor level design? so outdated. Lots of variety but very clunky feeling. AO has the best terrain so far. Much more natural and realistic.

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If I'm not mistaken, the original poster was referring to the level of mob's in the various zones, not the actual graphics and design of the zone.

I agree is would be nice if there was a smoother progression of mob levels outdoors...

EQ's plethora of high-end content requiring actual thought and tactics to kill!

*sigh*

Hmmm...

From EQ:

I wish AO had EQ's ease-of-use chat interface. AO's is getting better, but not to the no-brainer than EQ's is.

Raid-type playfields. You don't solo Sleeper's Tomb or Vex Thal. They take a combined force set up for maximum impact and survivability. There's always ways and means to try new and improved tactics in these EQ zones. The high levels in AO are pining for this sort of challenge.

The functionality of the /who command. It could be argued that it gives you no anonymity at all in EQ, but if AO enabled a cross-playfield function for the /list command for guilds it'd go a long way.

From UO:

Tradeskills. This is the one thing UO has over every other MMORPG; the sheer bewildering variety of things to find and build...lockable chests to weapons. UO is still the only MMORPG in existence where it's feasible to log in, not move an inch, and still do something to improve your skills.

UO's fame/karma and justice system are worth mentioning as well. Not sure how they'd work in an SF world like Rubi-Ka. As it stands, you can only gain AO titles in rankings in PvP....which is thoroughly farcical when one guy can log one account on to kill a toon on his other account and computer repeatedly in order to gain a title.


I've never played AC or DAoC so I can't speak for them.

1. AC's quest system of no waiting, no camping.

2. AC's item system. Whereby the best loot in the game is always random mob drops. This removes the need to keep good items rare through the use of camping and shear diificulty (ala EQ and AO). Quest items are still good, but never the absolute best.

3. UO's tradeskill system. Making it viable and profitable to play an all tradeskill character. Overwhelming amount of options.

4. AC's PvP system combined with UO's karm/reputation system. AC was great for it's free reign PvP and no guards anywhere. This allowed for great raids, control of territory, and roleplaying.

The fault of AC's system is that it's far too chaotic. A lack of consquences for your actions turns the newbie grounds of AC into a quake arena.

A proper karma system like UO doesn't remove PvP, but it does make sure that most PvPing has a reason. Such as raids, roleplaying, etc. Random killing will just dig yourself into a hole.

I agee entirely except with number 4, yes to UO's karm/reputation system, but no to AC s pvp.

WOuld be much better as someone posted in another thread, think its was Kink not sure, if cities where 50%, where you could attack a ennemy invading your city, but he could not, unless you attacked first. I think that exploring should be or at least feel like a risk. I dont think MOBs provide a risk, specially when you get to the Yalm stage.

I do beleive you need safe areas where you are protected. In fact, I d take UO s old PVP rules with guards in the cities anyday, I would just make em side specific :)

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Originally posted by Zeroshift
1. AC's quest system of no waiting, no camping.

2. AC's item system. Whereby the best loot in the game is always random mob drops. This removes the need to keep good items rare through the use of camping and shear diificulty (ala EQ and AO). Quest items are still good, but never the absolute best.

3. UO's tradeskill system. Making it viable and profitable to play an all tradeskill character. Overwhelming amount of options.

4. AC's PvP system combined with UO's karm/reputation system. AC was great for it's free reign PvP and no guards anywhere. This allowed for great raids, control of territory, and roleplaying.

The fault of AC's system is that it's far too chaotic. A lack of consquences for your actions turns the newbie grounds of AC into a quake arena.

A proper karma system like UO doesn't remove PvP, but it does make sure that most PvPing has a reason. Such as raids, roleplaying, etc. Random killing will just dig yourself into a hole.

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I hope one day, we'll have the DAOC system for the armor, i.e to make them. I know in the futur they re not made with fur or leather, but I think it can add an other degree of interactivity. The implants' creation system is one of best aspect of AO, so I hope they will extend it to other part of the game.
If they can also add the AC extension system of houses, or maybe to develop the appartement maintenance, because for the moment, an apprt is quite useless ( or it's only use to log in/out )
An other great thing of AC : the lack of loading between zone. In AC i remeber running for an hour without a loading screen. In AO they are fast, but if they can be suppressed, it will be even better.
In DAOC, i like the emblem for a guid to recognize their members. So if they can add an equivalent system, it can develop the felling of being a true member of a guild, with a symbol that unit the members.

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Originally posted by Zeroshift
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A proper karma system like UO doesn't remove PvP, but it does make sure that most PvPing has a reason. Such as raids, roleplaying, etc. Random killing will just dig yourself into a hole. [/B]

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ROFL, I can imagine the horror on our maestro gankmeisters in AO if they "turned red" and became cannon fodder to everybody in the game anywhere. Hahahaha...imagine that.

Having gone "murderer" in UO myself, the feeling is a fun one.

I wish AO had:

- Tradeskills
- The abiltity to advance yer character and feel satisfaction withou killing
- Character development
- Quests
- Item decay
- Working group PvP
- A real dueling system
- Housing
- Working guilds
- Guild bank
- The ability to drop stuff on the ground for newbies
- Player-run stores
- Random item qualities and attributes

Edit:

- Penalties for Evil actions
- A working Prison system kinda like Buc's Den
- Overhead chat and /tells only for certain situations
- Rideable animals
- Working AI at least as good as DAoC
- Vehicles you can take someone else in
- TREASURE HUNTS!! (The funnest part of UO for me)


Things I really like about AO:

- The back story
- The graphics
- The weather and physics
- The sense of humor
- The attempt at continuity in designing the world

I'd love to see tradeskills. Getting my tailor to GM was more satisfying for me than GMing my warrior

Guild houses!!! with customisable rooms or something

guild inventory accesable to members so we dont have to press gang someone into storing certain items.

A BIT OF RISK!!!! gridding and yalming has ruined some of that. i am sure the longer term players remember the horror and fun of exiting a mission in Varmint Woods to find those evil panthers outside. the horror of the red message you are attacked by xx, the feeling of elataion of getting home safe and the feeling of revenge and doing it better next time when it all went wrong.

I'd love to see the world fleshed out some more. While the world is very pretty to look at, it's all glitter and no content. No other online game I've played comes close to the utter lack of interaction found in AO. Even EQ which I HATE was more enjoyable in that aspect.

Events. My ideal game would be one in which GMs ran many many events continously, 24/7. As it is now, I'd say 1.3% of the population of AO that would like events actually gets to participate in them. I do think UO treasure hunts were great. I'd consider that an event. Anything at all. I remember this ancient game I use to play that had 'wild wendsdays' where everyone would be insta ported to a pvp zone for a huge brawl. Not saying it's a good idea, but the concept of trying to guide the players in any form of interaction would be greatly appreciated by many players.

And to add to this, let the GM events be something constructive and fun. Not the EQ style of GM assumes uber-mob form and goes around death-touching passersby.

I don't know if any of the other MMORPGs had this but ummm....

Customer service?

Nope. Of the 3 MMORPG's I've played, none have or had what you'd call proficient customer service.

The main reason is that they're convinced they're dealing with 13 yo kids using daddy's computer and credit card and treat you as such.

Such has been my experience with AO, UO and EQ.

EQ's was definitely worse though.

This is a good question. I would love to see Funcom pull a "Microsoft" and co-opt (copy, come out with their own version of) the best features of other mmorpgs. :)

Innovation is only part of the battle. Execution, implementation and follow-through are others.