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Profile: Tatum
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UsernameTatum
Rank: 96/100Rank: 96/100Rank: 96/100Rank: 96/100Rank: 96/100
Real Name 
RankElite Member
JoinedJuly 27, 2007
GenderMale
Age(hidden)
Locationhouston, TX, United States
Last VisitDecember 2, 2008
Post Count791
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4 Most Recent Threads by Tatum [more...]

  • Fallout 3 on 11/7/08 @ 1:52PM
    Viewed 162 times, replied 13 times, last post was 11/8/08
  • Quest Based Gaming on 11/6/08 @ 1:16PM
    Viewed 267 times, replied 15 times, last post was 11/14/08
  • Origins: Which class/spec? on 7/8/08 @ 12:58PM
    Viewed 448 times, replied 4 times, last post was 7/10/08
  • What the Majority wants? on 7/6/08 @ 10:13PM
    Viewed 460 times, replied 7 times, last post was 7/7/08

Latest Blog Entry - DAOC and PvP Design
From my blog Arm Chair MMO Designer [Tatum]

Ever since I got into MMORPGs with DAOC, I've always felt like they almost hit on a really great PvP design.  I say almost because, while the core PvP design was revolutionary, (IMO, of course) I still think it was fairly shallow and too restricting.  

Before I get into that though, I'll briefly explain the basics of DAOC's PvP system for anyone who may not be familiar with it.  In DAOC, there were three realms, separated by physical barriers and "connected" by frontiers, with HEAVILY guarded realm gates.  There was no PvP inside of the realms and the frontiers were full-on RvR.  As far as I know, the only way anyone ever managed to get into an enemy realm was through gaps in the zone walls.  This was considered an exploit.

So, what would I add or change?

Frontiers - I would add a few features to the frontiers to give them more depth and to give players more incentive to populate them.

   1) Resources - Ideally, the frontiers would hold the most valuable crafting resources.  Locating these resources and controlling them would be an important aspect of the game.

   2) Structures - Players could build structures almost anyone in the frontiers, however, these structures would be vulerable to attack.  To counter this, guilds/players could purchase a very significant amount of defense for their structure, such as more durable materials, NPC guards, and possibly spawn points.

Realms - This is where I would make the biggest changes.

   1) PvP Raids - It would be possible, though difficult, to raid the enemies realm.  All that would be required is a force big enough to fight their way through the realm gate with it's uber guards and defending players.  Once inside an enemy realm, the raiding force would have free reign to slaughter and loot players and NPC's as long as they can stay alive.  I might even suggest moving the relics into the capitol of the realm that's currently in possession of them.  Of course, the big challenge would be to make sure that this is not a "common" occurance.  It should be extremely difficult to bust into an enemy realm and once inside, the realm gate guards should respawn at twice their original numbers (or something along those lines) and should stay this way for a pre-determined amount of time.  In addition, there would be no respawning in an enemy realm and resurections might be restriced.

   2) Guild vs. Guild - I know this is an RvR design, but I would also add the ability for guilds (of the same realm) to declare war on each other.  Members of enemy guilds would be attackable anytime, any where.  Although, NPC guards would aggro and join in if there is fighting near them.  Not sure if there should be any rewards or incentives for this, other than settling a dispute or possible RP purposes.

Of course, there are many other changes I would make (such as removing the level grind, changing to skill based, and focusing more on a player driven economy) but this is what I would love to see, as far as PvP design.

 

Read more from my blog [Tatum]

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Recent Forum Posts [more...]

    • EverQuest : The New Origin

    • It seems like thats the one thing that "sandbox" fans and EQ fans agree on:  a more worldly MMO.  Really, thats the one thing I'm waiting for more than anything else...

    • Posted: 12/02/08 3:14 PM
      Developers Corner
    • Quests: Good or Bad?
    • Originally posted by nariusseldon
      Originally posted by Tatum
      Originally posted by CactusmanX
      Originally posted by Tatum
       

      What he said.  They're just not immersive or even logical in a massively multiplayer game. 


       

      But then again what is a good alternative to provide players with something interesting to do?

      I mean I like the idea of random events but those can only go so far.

      Other than that we can leave people to make their own reasons for grinding mobs and skills, however contrived they are. Or hope they roleplay enough to enjoy the grind.


       

      More player driven content would be a start.  I think there are at least a few MMOs that have done this in one way or another.  Thats not to say that you can't have quests, but I definately don't think they should be the focus of the game, like they are now in most new MMOs.

       

      Please NOT. I will take professional genereated content over amateur generated content any time of the day.

      Quests are 100x better than pure mob grinding because they give you reasons to kill different mobs. Plus, with the right scripted events, it can make game play a lot more fun.

      And there are a lot more than just kill/collecting quest. What about escort quests (those have a lot of variations), boss kill quests, and little odd ball things with scripting.

       

       


       

      There's a difference between player DRIVEN content and player CREATED content. 

      Player created content will always be touchy, unless theres a way to fillter out all of the crap.  Player driven content can be some thing like haviing a player run economy, pvp, and limited resources. 

      I'm not going to argue for player created content, but there are some good examples: Never Winter Nights, Morrowind/Oblivion...

      Hell, Oblivion was infinately better with some of the top player mods, but those were "overhaul" mods, not quest mods.

    • Posted: 12/02/08 3:09 PM
      General Discussion
    • Swedish teenager collapses after 20 straight hours of gaming

    • Personally, I'd never spend 20+ hours playing a game.

      With that said, you'd have to be in pretty bad shape to collapse after 20 hours of just sitting and playing a game.  I mean, seriously, WTF!?  How is that physically draining?  Try running/hiking/cylcling for 20 hours...hell, maybe this kid should get off his ass and walk for 20 minutes.

    • Posted: 12/01/08 5:50 PM
      General Discussion
    • Quests: Good or Bad?
    • Originally posted by CactusmanX
      Originally posted by Tatum
       

      What he said.  They're just not immersive or even logical in a massively multiplayer game. 


       

      But then again what is a good alternative to provide players with something interesting to do?

      I mean I like the idea of random events but those can only go so far.

      Other than that we can leave people to make their own reasons for grinding mobs and skills, however contrived they are. Or hope they roleplay enough to enjoy the grind.


       

      More player driven content would be a start.  I think there are at least a few MMOs that have done this in one way or another.  Thats not to say that you can't have quests, but I definately don't think they should be the focus of the game, like they are now in most new MMOs.

    • Posted: 12/01/08 5:45 PM
      General Discussion

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