314 réponses à ce sujet

[Kandid001]

javierabegazo wrote...
What are your ideas/fears/hopes/dreams/ideals for "Mass Effect:MMO" ?

Of course a Mass Effect MMO sounds good in theoury, but it's way too early for speculation. Let's see how BioWare handles The Old Republic first.

[ArcanistLibram]

I am tentatively awaiting Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I haven't had much interest in MMOs since WAR completely failed to deliver on its promise to make the endgame accessible.

That said, I would buy a Mass Effect MMO right now if the hanar were a playable species.

[cedgedc]

Eledhan wrote...


A high quality F2P MMO can't be maintained because it would have been done by now.

If that's not what you mean, let me know, but I'm going to address this.

Can't is a strong word. I'd say that currently, a F2P tripple A mmo that is funded solely by box sales, which has the same level of quality, gameplay, support, etc, that a game like Rift has been able to surprise people with is largely unfeasible. It's not impossible, of course. But more or less, that is what I'm saying to a degree.. With perhaps less absolution than you might be suggesting ; )

I feel like something you're getting to, is that paying a subscription for a game is something of an anomaly. It irks most people, and as a result in the long term this will go away. I would tend to agree with this. I think that subcriptions were a way to deal with certain growing pains. I'll elaborate on that below.

Eledhan wrote...

I'd like to call your attention to a little something called alternative fuel vehicles...they've been around since the 70's at least. Why haven't they ever been mass-produced? Because the fuel companies bought the rights to them so they wouldn't be put out of business.

The concepts at this point in the discussion are now tilted toward business strategy more than anything else. If you can convince the populace that the only way to have alternative fuels is to have cars that can run off of them, then all you have to do is convince the populace that there are no such vehicles. That way, the populace won't get upset that they are paying so much in gasoline to drive their vehicles.

This is a common tactic in business, and it's completely legitimate. The problem with this is, the consumer misses out on tremendous value, and is unaware of it. Most MMO players are more than happy to pay $15 a month in order to have a persistent gaming world because that's all they know...similar to how we have always been content to pay whatever price is listed on the gas pump because that's all we know. If all of a sudden hybrid cars, and other alternatives were reliable and cost efficient for the consumer to purchase, then they would DEMAND nothing less, and those fuel companies would be left out to dry.

The same is going to happen to all the P2P model MMO's if GW2 is a success...

This is a great and very valid example. I agree with you. Companies will always work in their best interest. Serving customers is a requisite of success to a degree, but not the primary interest of the company. The primary interest is generally to generate profit.

Where I disagree however is on a fine point of your example: Automobiles, for instance, are the norm. Gas power is the status quo. Things like electric power and alternative fuels are the experimental new thing.

However, MMO's are the experiment here. Flat rate box purchases are the norm. Subscriptions for an online game are very new. Most people outright don't believe in this. Nor do they see the appeal for that matter, in a massively online world.

WoW has done a lot to establish MMO's as a legitimate genre, but it's still among the youngest out there, and most companies looking to invest in a game see more MMO failures than successes. It's still a risky, new territory.

So MMO's don't really have this 'That's always the way it's been' sort of status to fall back on. More people have experience with paying one flat rate for their game than in paying subscriptions for one. This is always what has worked against the genre.

I don't believe they came about as a result of greed. IT wasn't a meeting one day where devs got together and said 'Hey.. instead of charging players once for our game.. let's charge them all the time!' MMO's have on going demands. The server types, and maintenance required for such games are completely different from what it takes to run any other type of game.

It may be that this is all less experimental that it was 5 years ago. That such mass-load servers have greatly reduced maintenance costs associated with them, etc. I can't speak to that  one way or another. I do believe however that there is a legitimacy to what we are asked to pay.

This isn't like the automobile where there is an interest for a new company entering the market to maintain the status quo. Why? Because the share of the market they (a company with a tripple A MMO that is F2P with the same quality as WoW and Rift)  could hope to capture is enough to generate an abundance of revenue in box sales alone. (Also gaming is a waaay less political issue than oil lol)

Like you said, who would play a p2p game when there's a newer game with great features etc that is free?

Eledhan wrote...

I will admit, there's nothing guaranteeing GW2 will succeed. However, I really think these guys know what they're doing. And if they do it good enough to make money off of it, you will never see another successful P2P game released again. We will have to see if that's possible, though...GW2 is sailing in uncharted waters, even though they have already had internal success with GW1.

Personal story with no other real players necessary, but definately optional? Check
Immersive, perpetually evolving world with social interaction? Check
Competitive multiplayer matching system? Check
Role playing elements? Check
Innovative Questing system that involves the player's mind and not just their fingers? Check
Free to play once purchased? CHECK

The only thing that will cause this game to fail is if the dynamic event system and the dungeons don't provide enough end-game content after running through the story. However, I seriously doubt it will matter, since you can do the story multiple times and get different results, similar to ME. Not to mention the competitive side and increased difficulty dungeons.

I'm excited to see how it turns out, but like you...I'm curious as to how they will survive. I'm thinking it's because they have set their budget, and have determined that they can make the game large enough without exceeding the budget, and then support it until the next expansion. If so, then I'm betting they'll take over the MMO market.

Only time will tell.

GW2 could definitely be a turning point for the genre. It could either serve as setting a new bar if it succeeds, or reinforcing the current standard if it flops.

I have heard a lot of great things about the game. Hell the game play looks better than the cut-scenes in most games! And I love that it seems to be gearing a world toward Immersion. This seems obvious, but it's something that most mmo's have been missing. And why? An MMO offers a whole world! Making you feel like you're a part of it, living inside of it, should be a GIVEN! And too often it isn't.

I hope all these elements come to pass, however games fail for many reasons.  I hold up FFXIV as a cautionary tale. It was the company's second MMO. The first (FFXI) was by all measure quite succesful. Heck, it is still going strong in many ways (probably doing better than XIV!!) You'd think this company could have taken the lessons from their first MMO and greated a cleaner, better follow up.

They failed at this miserably. Stretched themselves thin, the game was contrived, unplayable, tedious, just plain awful.

Here's hoping we don't see a repeat of that!

Modifié par cedgedc, 18 avril 2011 - 05:45 .

[Eledhan]

cedgedc wrote...

Can't is a strong word. I'd say that currently, a F2P tripple A mmo that is funded solely by box sales, which has the same level of quality, gameplay, support, etc, that a game like Rift has been able to surprise people with is largely unfeasible. It's not impossible, of course. But more or less, that is what I'm saying to a degree.. With perhaps less absolution than you might be suggesting ; )

Yeah, I didn't mean it quite as absolute as it came across. But I think you got the idea.

As for coming out all polished and finished...

The biggest issue there is sticking to an established budget, in my opinion. Failure to do so (or showing signs of not sticking to the budget) seems to cause most of the major issues when developing ANY game, but especially an MMO.

I think the reason for this is because any MMO that releases with lower quality than WoW (which is a 5 year old MMO with 5 years of polishing AFTER release) simply gets washed away because pepole say "it's not even as good as WoW".  So, when your managers tell you to cut costs because the project is going over budget, you are pretty much stuck. You either have to go over budget and have the project scrapped, or you have to release pre-maturely or with underdeveloped systems

The only way to correct this trend is to somehow reduce the cost of pre-release production. Rift has done this with their dynamic content approach with the rifts.

It reminds me of the difference between a football offensive playbook and an offensive system. If you simply learn roughly 10 maneuvers for each position type, then memorize about 25 different formations, you can run impossibly high numbers of variations of plays, but you only have to memorize 10 routes to the hole, 10 passing routes, 10 blocking methods, and then the formations...you've just memorized the SYSTEM instead of the plays.

Now, when the QB says "I-right, 2-32 dive" everyone knows how the system works, and you just run the play. If he calls an audible at the line and changes the play to "22-37", everyone knows exactly what to do, even though he didn't call anything else.

This is analogous to the traditional content of MMO's of questing (playbook) and dynamic content (systemic). With dynamic content, you just develop a system, and viola! You just developed the ability to create endless quests that scale appropriately without having to actually map out where stuff will be located, ensure there are enough for several hundred players at once, etc.

I feel like something you're getting to, is that paying a subscription for a game is something of an anomaly. It irks most people, and as a result in the long term this will go away. I would tend to agree with this. I think that subcriptions were a way to deal with certain growing pains. I'll elaborate on that below.

No, not really...I'm saying that the gamers who wanted an MMO were willing to pay monthly since that was the only way to obtain it in their minds (which was probably true). We're past that point, if  my estimation of GW2 is correct. but I'll elaborate on your elaboration below as well. 

This is a great and very valid example. I agree with you. Companies will always work in their best interest. Serving customers is a requisite of success to a degree, but not the primary interest of the company. The primary interest is generally to generate profit.

Where I disagree however is on a fine point of your example: Automobiles, for instance, are the norm. Gas power is the status quo. Things like electric power and alternative fuels are the experimental new thing.

However, MMO's are the experiment here. Flat rate box purchases are the norm. Subscriptions for an online game are very new. Most people outright don't believe in this. Nor do they see the appeal for that matter, in a massively online world.

WoW has done a lot to establish MMO's as a legitimate genre, but it's still among the youngest out there, and most companies looking to invest in a game see more MMO failures than successes. It's still a risky, new territory.

So MMO's don't really have this 'That's always the way it's been' sort of status to fall back on. More people have experience with paying one flat rate for their game than in paying subscriptions for one. This is always what has worked against the genre.

Okay, see...

I don't look at it the same way. Perhaps we've been a bit too loose with our terminology.

I was looking at it from the perspective of MMO games. As far as I know, successful MMO's have always had subscriptions. Granted, the genre of MMO itself is relatively new. However, 3D, immersive, expansive, and interactive worlds in an MMO has always "required" a subscription.

I agree that paying a subscription to play a game has worked againste the genre. That's why GW2 developers say, "If you love MMO's, you'll wanna check out GW2. But if you hate MMO's, you'll REALLY wanna check out GW2."

This, I think, is what you are getting at, and what I'm agreeing with you on. MMO's are a new genre, and have always required a subscription...which is too new or different for many gamers who have always just bought their box with the game inside and played whenever they wanted to.

However, when it comes to fans of MMO's, they are used to paying for their games...and paying regularly. Imagine if a game could meet the demands of both types of gamers? The ones who refuse to pay subscriptions, and the ones who are used to the content provided by subscriptions...you'd sell your game like crazy.

The traditional (box) gamers would be hooked because of the unique, new, expansive gameplay that they've never experienced, which they would try since they wouldn't have to subscribe. The MMO gamers would be hooked because all of a sudden they can spend their monthly subscriptions on things they want instead of just paying to have access to all the stuff they already worked for.

I don't believe they came about as a result of greed. IT wasn't a meeting one day where devs got together and said 'Hey.. instead of charging players once for our game.. let's charge them all the time!' MMO's have on going demands. The server types, and maintenance required for such games are completely different from what it takes to run any other type of game.

Oh, I don't think it came about as greed either. However, I have a hard time believing that a company would openly grant unlimited, free access to their game if they thought there was a market for a subscription model. That's just good business sense.

Ultimately, it's all about what the market will bear. If gamers prefer to pay to play, then that's what will remain. But if someone can come along and prove that it isn't necessary to pay for the same features and experiences, they won't...it's as simple as that.

It may be that this is all less experimental that it was 5 years ago. That such mass-load servers have greatly reduced maintenance costs associated with them, etc. I can't speak to that  one way or another. I do believe however that there is a legitimacy to what we are asked to pay.

Oh, I'm sure there is a legitimacy, because fair market value is whatever a willing buyer and a willing seller agree to. However, up until the release of GW2, there has only been one way of doing things...subscriptions. You are right that F2P has only been done to try to revive dead MMO's, and the ones that started F2P recently are just garbage.

This isn't like the automobile where there is an interest for a new company entering the market to maintain the status quo. Why? Because the share of the market they (a company with a tripple A MMO that is F2P with the same quality as WoW and Rift)  could hope to capture is enough to generate an abundance of revenue in box sales alone. (Also gaming is a waaay less political issue than oil lol)

ROFL!!!

I bet we've got no idea how true that last statement is...

I would like to quote your sentence, but slightly altered so it's more clear...

"Because the share of the market [ArenaNet] could hope to capture is enough to generate an abundance of revenue in box sales alone."

I think the key here is that they are motivated to make their game so good that players who buy the game will stay in the game...even though they aren't "compelled" since they have spent so much time on their characters and are reluctant to let those go.

Like you said, who would play a p2p game when there's a newer game with great features etc that is free?

GW2 could definitely be a turning point for the genre. It could either serve as setting a new bar if it succeeds, or reinforcing the current standard if it flops.

I have heard a lot of great things about the game. Hell the game play looks better than the cut-scenes in most games! And I love that it seems to be gearing a world toward Immersion. This seems obvious, but it's something that most mmo's have been missing. And why? An MMO offers a whole world! Making you feel like you're a part of it, living inside of it, should be a GIVEN! And too often it isn't.

I hope all these elements come to pass, however games fail for many reasons.  I hold up FFXIV as a cautionary tale. It was the company's second MMO. The first (FFXI) was by all measure quite succesful. Heck, it is still going strong in many ways (probably doing better than XIV!!) You'd think this company could have taken the lessons from their first MMO and greated a cleaner, better follow up.

They failed at this miserably. Stretched themselves thin, the game was contrived, unplayable, tedious, just plain awful.

Here's hoping we don't see a repeat of that!

Yeah, I agree...

I think we've butchered this thread enough, don't you?

My next post will be about what I hope MEO could become, regardless of structure (3rd person, F2P, etc.).

Feel free to reply, but I'm content to let this part of the discussion die.

Modifié par Eledhan, 18 avril 2011 - 06:59 .

[cedgedc]

Eledhan wrote...

I think we've butchered this thread enough, don't you?

My next post will be about what I hope MEO could become, regardless of structure (3rd person, F2P, etc.).

Feel free to reply, but I'm content to let this part of the discussion die.

Hehe yes, I think we definitely took ample care of all the tangent issues.

I will say on a slightly different note the last advantage of a subscription based MMO for a Rated Mature title:

The M rating is something I am hoping for for 2 big reasons.

1) The type of content, plotlines, quest types, environments, customization options, etc- all are revolving around what rating they will give the game. I pray that Bioware would stick to an M rating to keep the same feel as the Shepard Trilogy offers. I want omega to be omega, not a sugar coted, made for teen- version.

2) The age filtering. The 'leet speak' has been mentioned numerous times as part of the downfall of MMO's. It kills the experience. I'm not saying all teenagers do this by any means, but they are definitely the largest demographic that propogates this crap in gaming. an 18+ requirement will help with that.

So why a monthly fee? Pretty simple. Lots of teenagers have an allowance and can save up 50 bucks. And not every gamestop or wherever- cards their buyers. And plenty of kids could talk their parents into getting them something without the parent realising what it is. Most parents will buy a game for their kids.

However, not nearly as many teens have credit cards to pay for a monthly fee. And when asked to give out their credit card info, a much higher number of parents will suddenly stop and go..
'waait a minute.. what the heck am I getting involved in here? This game is for adults, you're not playing it!'  or they may simply not be comfortable giving their credit card info up for some game their kids want to play.

So it's an added filter. Perfect? No. But every bit helps.

My ideal situation would be a greatly reduced monthly fee. If it's established that a game could be funded by microtransactions and otherwise be F2P, then they could certainly live off of 2-5$ subs, and get a lil extra by selling a few custom pets etc through micro-transactions (the way blizz does.)

Modifié par cedgedc, 18 avril 2011 - 07:17 .

[Eledhan]

cedgedc wrote...

Hehe yes, I think we definitely took ample care of all the tangent issues.

I will say on a slightly different note the last advantage of a subscription based MMO for a Rated Mature title:

The M rating is something I am hoping for for 2 big reasons.

1) The type of content, plotlines, quest types, environments, customization options, etc- all are revolving around what rating they will give the game. I pray that Bioware would stick to an M rating to keep the same feel as the Shepard Trilogy offers. I want omega to be omega, not a sugar coted, made for teen- version.

2) The age filtering. The 'leet speak' has been mentioned numerous times as part of the downfall of MMO's. It kills the experience. I'm not saying all teenagers do this by any means, but they are definitely the largest demographic that propogates this crap in gaming. an 18+ requirement will help with that.

So why a monthly fee? Pretty simple. Lots of teenagers have an allowance and can save up 50 bucks. And not every gamestop or wherever- cards their buyers. And plenty of kids could talk their parents into getting them something without the parent realising what it is. Most parents will buy a game for their kids.

However, not nearly as many teens have credit cards to pay for a monthly fee. And when asked to give out their credit card info, a much higher number of parents will suddenly stop and go..
'waait a minute.. what the heck am I getting involved in here? This game is for adults, you're not playing it!'  or they may simply not be comfortable giving their credit card info up for some game their kids want to play.

So it's an added filter. Perfect? No. But every bit helps.

My ideal situation would be a greatly reduced monthly fee. If it's established that a game could be funded by microtransactions and otherwise be F2P, then they could certainly live off of 2-5$ subs, and get a lil extra by selling a few custom pets etc through micro-transactions (the way blizz does.)

I like the idea of a mature rated title...

However, that won't help one bit with the maturity of the gamers who play, unfortunately.

If you've ever played Halo or COD online, you know what I'm referring to...if you haven't...well, just imagine all the annoyance of "L337 5P3AK", but with squeeky, screaming, profanity dropping morons running all over the place...it's more common than you might think.

The M rating will filter some of that out, but not much.

Anyway, as for a $2-5 subscription...that'd be pretty sick...I'd really enjoy that. But it still goes against my innate resistance to being "forced" to pay someone simply so I don't lose all my hard work on a character...

For example...

I had a level 52 (I stopped at that point) Priest in WoW. I soon came to realize that if I continued playing the game I would have to pay $15 a month indefinitely in order to have access to all that work I put into that one character. Granted, it was low level, but I had like...3 of those...all of which I was going to lose access to the moment I had gotten tired of paying for a game. So...I called it quits before the situation could get any more dire....lol

But I don't think I would mind a low sub like that...seems fairly reasonable.

However, I have to say...

I've been playing League of Legends, for about 6 months now. I know it's not an MMO, but I'll go ahead and say I've spent upwards of $100 or more on the game because it allows me to choose what I spend it on. I enjoy having the choice. If I were forced to pay a monthly fee to keep the servers running, then I'd quit playing after a while....but since I never have to worry about that, somehow my mind is freed to release more money.

All of this happens with my full knowledge, of course, but I'm more WILLING to part with my money when I get to choose precisely where it goes and how it affects my experience. but if I couldn't, Riot wouldn't see any money from my wallet...because I would have quit playing 3 months ago.

Modifié par Eledhan, 18 avril 2011 - 07:43 .

[cedgedc]

Eledhan wrote...

I've been playing League of Legends, for about 6 months now. I know it's not an MMO, but I'll go ahead and say I've spent upwards of $100 or more on the game because it allows me to choose what I spend it on. I enjoy having the choice. If I were forced to pay a monthly fee to keep the servers running, then I'd quit playing after a while....but since I never have to worry about that, somehow my mind is freed to release more money.

All of this happens with my full knowledge, of course, but I'm more WILLING to part with my money when I get to choose precisely where it goes and how it affects my experience. but if I couldn't, Riot wouldn't see any money from my wallet...because I would have quit playing 3 months ago.

I can certainly see the appeal of that. The freedom to make choices.  Though I have a fear of the oposite happening- games deciding to charge you through micro transactions for more and more things.

I find myself prefering the 'season pass' set up, where I pay my money and I get everything. I have every confidence that if I choose to stop paying money for a few months due to burn out, boredome, etc- that I can resume paying down the road anytime I want, and still have my account with my characters intact.

In the end I suppose it's a preference thing. From a developers perspective, I would find it safer knowing i had  X number of subs bringing in Y amount of cash every month, rather than this whimsical micro-transaction system which is harder to anticipate.

Modifié par cedgedc, 18 avril 2011 - 08:30 .

[Eledhan]

cedgedc wrote...

I can certainly see the appeal of that. The freedom to make choices.  Though I have a fear of the oposite happening- games deciding to charge you through micro transactions for more and more things.

I find myself prefering the 'season pass' set up, where I pay my money and I get everything. I have every confidence that if I choose to stop paying money for a few months due to burn out, boredome, etc- that I can resume paying down the road anytime I want, and still have my account with my characters intact.

In the end I suppose it's a preference thing. From a developers perspective, I would find it safer knowing i had  X number of subs bringing in Y amount of cash every month, rather than this whimsical micro-transaction system which is harder to anticipate.

Well, it's less predictable, anyway.

However, I feel as if the community would begin to indicate through their participation levels what exactly it is they like.

It's more in line with a free-enterprise system than a subscription model, and I guess that's why I like it...I get to vote red, green, blue, black, white, brown, teal, neon, clear, etc. instead of simply yes or no.

Essentially, with subs, you have a choice...play or not?

With micros, you have the same choice, but you don't pay for choosing "play"...you only pay for the EXTRA choices of which features, what colors, what classes, etc. you want.

But anwyay...

I'm about to hit the road, but I'll post more about my dreams for MEO later.

[Andrese]

I was reading the old thread of this same issue, and they seemed to be having trouble deciding on combat. Why not make it skill-based? Sure there could be levels, but make it so a level 1 could defeat a max level with a bit of luck and a LOT of skill.

Also, They could also have the choice of running a store, or something like that, to keep it away from becoming a game of "Big Choices" and "Viseral Combat" 24/7. But these are just my opinions.

Modifié par Andrese, 19 avril 2011 - 01:06 .

[rabidhanar]

It all depends on the sale of TOR...
If a star wars MMO game flops with it's huge fan base, I doubt ME would stand a chance.

Also, if TOR is a success, I think that bioware would rather spend money on that game than create a MMO for a different game.

[cedgedc]

Andrese wrote...

I was reading the old thread of this same issue, and they seemed to be having trouble deciding on combat. Why not make it skill-based? Sure there could be levels, but make it so a level 1 could defeat a max level with a bit of luck and a LOT of skill.

Well the game should reflect the universe itself. In Mass Effect, there is no real such thing as someone being 'higher level' and thus tougher. While levels do increase your HP, most of what matters is how well equipped you are - shields, and armor, and biotic barriers etc.. How fast your shields recharge, etc.

That said, a game that is too heavily gear based and not enough skill based, is always awful. So I agree. I would like to see a game centered around skill, with level and gear being added benefits- rather than the deciding factor.

Andrese wrote...
Also, They could also have the choice of running a store, or something like that, to keep it away from becoming a game of "Big Choices" and "Viseral Combat" 24/7. But these are just my opinions.

While running a store might not be the most practical thing, I do agree that it would be -very- cool to have classes that aren't necessarily all 'marines go go go!' but rather a class that focuses on being a wheeler and dealer-type.

In my book a 'rogue' type class, shouldn't always imply: "I dual wield daggers". Realistically a rogue type should be savy, have street smarts, business skills, reputation benefits and be a sneaky rat.

If they found a way to implement a way for a player to run a store that would be pretty crazy cool- though I don't know how that would be negotiated.

[AngelicMachinery]

I'd play if Geth were playable... those feisty little synthetics warm my heart.

[cedgedc]

AngelicMachinery wrote...

I'd play if Geth were playable... those feisty little synthetics warm my heart.

Given the events of ME2 I don't see why you couldn't!

[olipyr]

Only on page five so if it's been mentioned, forgive me.

I would think if they were going to do an MMO for the ME Universe it should be along the same lines as Star Wars Galaxies was at launch. A sandbox type MMO. There were no levels and you could be anything you wanted. I'm not talking about the travesty it's become after the NGE, though.

Of course, put content in it. Spend time making it, making it work, and putting in little things that can make a great universe that sucks the user in. The universe certainly has huge potential.

[cedgedc]

olipyr wrote...

Only on page five so if it's been mentioned, forgive me.

I would think if they were going to do an MMO for the ME Universe it should be along the same lines as Star Wars Galaxies was at launch. A sandbox type MMO. There were no levels and you could be anything you wanted. I'm not talking about the travesty it's become after the NGE, though.

Of course, put content in it. Spend time making it, making it work, and putting in little things that can make a great universe that sucks the user in. The universe certainly has huge potential.

While lots of people favor unlimited freedom in an MMO, I feel like limitations are often quite helpful. Keep in mind that the reason the ME titles have been so successful is that they were very story driven. This is possible to do in an MMO if approached correctly.

I feel this game needs to do a very good ballancing act between freedom and .. let's call it, direction. Afterall, it's a big galaxy. Without direction people will get lost, frustrated, restless, etc.

Something in the flavor of ageof conan where you have moments where you can slip into single player quests at times to engage in more story driven, decision style content (AOC used a 'night time' mode for single player stuff'). This combined with the wideopen world and exploration features that are inherent in the ME lore and environments would work very well.

As some have mentioned already, the ability to be something other than a fighter would be great too. I would love to be a shifty business man in the ME setting!
        - and this would encourage a more "roleplay feel" to the game, if people can do more than just kill stuff.

Modifié par cedgedc, 21 avril 2011 - 02:56 .

[olipyr]

cedgedc wrote...

olipyr wrote...

Only on page five so if it's been mentioned, forgive me.

I would think if they were going to do an MMO for the ME Universe it should be along the same lines as Star Wars Galaxies was at launch. A sandbox type MMO. There were no levels and you could be anything you wanted. I'm not talking about the travesty it's become after the NGE, though.

Of course, put content in it. Spend time making it, making it work, and putting in little things that can make a great universe that sucks the user in. The universe certainly has huge potential.

While lots of people favor unlimited freedom in an MMO, I feel like limitations are often quite helpful. Keep in mind that the reason the ME titles have been so successful is that they were very story driven. This is possible to do in an MMO if approached correctly.

I feel this game needs to do a very good ballancing act between freedom and .. let's call it, direction. Afterall, it's a big galaxy. Without direction people will get lost, frustrated, restless, etc.

Something in the flavor of ageof conan where you have moments where you can slip into single player quests at times to engage in more story driven, decision style content (AOC used a 'night time' mode for single player stuff'). This combined with the wideopen world and exploration features that are inherent in the ME lore and environments would work very well.

As some have mentioned already, the ability to be something other than a fighter would be great too. I would love to be a shifty business man in the ME setting!
        - and this would encourage a more "roleplay feel" to the game, if people can do more than just kill stuff.

I agree totally. Some direction is required but not a lot in a universe such as ME.

[MrGone]

A Mass Effect MMO DOES "make sense" because of three things:

1) Two obvious "Factions" Council Races, Terminus Races.
2) MAJOR player Hubs for both: The Citadel for Council races, Omega for Terminus (if not Illium or some other location).
3) Setting anything in space allows for an endless number of permutations since so much is left unexplored.

The biggest obstacle in all honesty is that BioWare is making The Old Republic. They're shooting themselves in the foot for an ME MMO as most of the same type of audience that would want the things ME has: TOR is doing:

Captain of your own ship, Sci-fi setting that has a helping of "magic" (Jedi powers/Biotics), a bunch of cool intersting alien races to interact with.

BioWare can't offer two products that would end up being remarkably similar to each other and expect to succeed.

UNLESS and here's the big thing:

They HEAVILY diversify the core gameplay. If they make Mass Effect WAY more action oriented, and slow down TOR a bit, then yeah it could work. And there would have to be two completely different approaches to economy to make it work as well. Make TOR have a traditional WoW economy, but then have Mass Effect Online have a completely Player Driven one (close to Eve Online - another competitor).

But unless that happens it's a pipedream that I would love, but from a marketing sense, would be suicide.

Modifié par MrGone, 21 avril 2011 - 05:30 .

[MrGone]

Also, in all honesty, Mass Effect is still a pretty early series.

Star Wars has been around for thirty years. An MMO can bring in fans just based off of name recognition.  Warcraft had been around for almost twenty before WoW hit.

Mass Effect still needs to be built up in the cultural landscape a bit more. It also needs to prove that it can survive both as Multi-media AND in games not following Commander Shepard.

A spin-off "trilogy" could do this on the next gen consoles. Give us some new experiences, show us what it's like to play as a few aliens (and how it's different from playing as a human).

At the same time, keep the multi-media train going - let's see that anime hit, and hopefully the movie is a success. Keep the comics coming and maybe start them on an original story that can sustain itself without having to tie directly into the game's characters and plots.

Hell, what about a TV show? Mass Effect 1 is essentially Star Trek in a lot of ways, and a lot of the aliens aren't hard to do with pure makeup (even Turians aren't too bad (if you've seen Galaxy quest). Currently there's no good space-faring sci-fi show around (I miss you BSG!), Mass Effect could fit the bill nicely.

Once a few more of these things occur, then Mass Effect will have the name reconition it needs to get the MMO off the ground.

[King Killoth]

I think it wuld work as a console based mmo. useing the same or simular game machanics as the ME games. you could creat your own person chose from a list of races ie Krogan, human, turian,asari, ext. each would have diferent pecailizations like Krogan merc/warlord or Salarian spy, or human soldier and what not. being on a console you get a wider range of players cuse a lot of people have PS3 and Xbox 360 but not to many have a computer powerful enough to run ME2 at top specs. so makeing it an Xbox or PS mmo exclusive and make it free to play or at least a low monthly fee some where around 9.99 amonth seeing as if your on the xbox your already paying for XBL. also with the console you get voice chat and focused controles. it would be fun to have voice mods depending on your race. this is just my idea that I would think would work the most.

[chester013]

Sphynx118 wrote...

spernus wrote...

Well, it's rumored that Blizzard new mmo called Titan is a shooter of some sort so why not? Blizzard with a fantasy type mmo and a shooter mmo. Bioware with it's own type of fantasy mmo ( Star Wars ) and a shooter mmo with Mass effect. Between the 2, I vastly prefer the Mass effect mmo idea.

You do realize that the only reason blizzard would even consider making another mmo is because their cashcow is bringing in insane amounts of money
 
Anyone else trying to bring out 2 mmos without a similar wow-cashcow would be comitting financial suicide

But then again bioware has made some weird decisions lately (DA2 dev team). 

I dont like the idea at all 

Oh no, businesses that want to make money. I don't like it at all *rolls eyes*

[cedgedc]

MrGone wrote...

A Mass Effect MMO DOES "make sense" because of three things:

1) Two obvious "Factions" Council Races, Terminus Races.
2) MAJOR player Hubs for both: The Citadel for Council races, Omega for Terminus (if not Illium or some other location).
3) Setting anything in space allows for an endless number of permutations since so much is left unexplored.

The biggest obstacle in all honesty is that BioWare is making The Old Republic. They're shooting themselves in the foot for an ME MMO as most of the same type of audience that would want the things ME has: TOR is doing:

Captain of your own ship, Sci-fi setting that has a helping of "magic" (Jedi powers/Biotics), a bunch of cool intersting alien races to interact with.

BioWare can't offer two products that would end up being remarkably similar to each other and expect to succeed.

UNLESS and here's the big thing:

They HEAVILY diversify the core gameplay. If they make Mass Effect WAY more action oriented, and slow down TOR a bit, then yeah it could work. And there would have to be two completely different approaches to economy to make it work as well. Make TOR have a traditional WoW economy, but then have Mass Effect Online have a completely Player Driven one (close to Eve Online - another competitor).

But unless that happens it's a pipedream that I would love, but from a marketing sense, would be suicide.

While all this is correct, I pray to gods above that they don't go the route of 'two factions battling for supremacy' the way every other mmo has done. Screw that. It's too black and white. It doesn't work in ME's universe.

Mass Effect is all about shades of gray. People make decisions, people are self interested. Crime is as big a part of ME as are the actual structured institutions.

ME would be better suited by either doing away with factions, or having several and give people the choice of which they want to back. Of course the availability of a faction would be dependent in part on your race i'm sure.

[FatSpiderman]

Ok so having made this account specifically to post on this thread, and only having enough patience to read to page 4/5 of the original thread, bear with me if I passed up on something, but I'm just going to post my ideas.

1) size issues and player following: look at EvE. Though this is just as size, ignore all else about it because I thought it was a bit boring imo.

2)PvP: taking some from (i think) Mechwarrior Mercenaries (single player) Have arena facilities where those EXP campers and go, not as good PVPers can make bets, and other simply have a place to fight. However, I also think it would be good to have some certain not as safe zones similar to EvE for both land and space. Land wise I would imagen something like SW galx, with the safe zones near and in cities and some NPC camps.

3)Combat System <land>: (console) one of my friends has currently delved himself into DCUonline I think its called? anyway, they have skills much like WoW but the access is different for most console remakes. Instead of cutting the amount of skills they have a hold trigger. If your hold (PS3) L2 you open one set of skills utilizing all buttons or most on the controller and the same action with R2 but with a different set. I think this would work for a player's abilities and hotkey-able equipment mods. Other then that it would act as any other FPS like halo, CoD, etc. Although I personally think that to keep controls similar, change these trigger buttons to L/R1 Though during selection the right and left sticks would act normal for constant movement. For PC (since there's no dening they would make this for PC) the general set-up for

4)Economy: as much as I hate to say it, I think a system like EvEs plus a small amount of NPC would work. imo, this is still sketchy with me. But I do think that players to give to either player factions or NPC factions raw material in order to gain Creds. In meta-game these materials would then be used by NPC companies to make the constant flow of Weapons and Arms and etc.

5) Space: Skimming through, I liked the idea that a ship is a privilage. I also agree that planets could have space ports and such for not so privilaged players, though for short term I think that (like SW Galx) if such use of NPC ships is the means of transportation, that there is no chance of a raid. However, to balance this, the price of a ticket would be quite high, and also as SW Galx, have the transport actually leave and reenter a spaceport at specific times (like every 5 minutes or so).

5b)Player: Now, as far as personal craft, I like the idea of Pirates of the carribean. If no one was driving, it wouldn't move. Parties could board your ship and man extra cannons, fix the ship, etc. while your drove. However the driver also controlled massive broadside attacks, speed boosting, and ramming. Translate this to ME and the driver (in open space) would control like abilities. however, depending on the size of ship would depend on extra (human) parties and the amount of NPCs taking car of the ship. I.E. damage repair after a fight. Though such things like damage could be spead up by engineers and other techies. Though players as soldiers and possibly others? would man the extra lasers/missile/etc. If your ship has it. I also think certain class of ships would only be avalible to those that would either gain lvl or tech tree. For carriers and such, parties on board your ship could head to a hanger or two for fighter/bomber/boarders if you bought them. For train of though, I would think this to be simliar to SW Battlefront 2. And such, boarding parties can either 'control' or 'destroy' a ship. Controling would send the ship and supplies to their faction's depo to sell or use (maintained by certain officials). This leading to leader and some others the ability to build their own space ports in the open space.

5c)Open Space: For those that travel personally, I think a lvl of danger is in order. As I said i personally like the set-up in EvE for travel (not so much combat though). Although, for issues of lag and such from the above (5b) I think is would be in order to have the invovled players "teleport" to a combat zone, much like when you run into a monster in the old final fantasies. when the skirmish is over, the players go the respective locations. 'dead players' would respawn at the nearest friendly/neutral cloning facility? and lose some amount of EXP vs items. Though this would go with death on land as well. Open Space and 'unexplored' areas would be where player factions could build their space base for their personal operations. However, Players are responsible for everything, NPC turrets market licences, clubs, etc. although there would be a low but steady income with given markets. For instantes of this, each 'base' would be given an indaviual gateway to their base >also for lagg issues. However, their inital 'entrance' would be considered a battlefield for faction-faction war. To actually board you wold have to be either allied to that faction or be the attacking team for a base assualt. With this, the area would be open only to those who come to a pre-war loading roaster like Harbor Assualt on the (technical) MMO Navy Field. If the assualt wins, the base is destoried never controlled, and any surviving assualt ships would be considered destoyed, but supplies would be salvaged, along with some kind of bonus for the wining team.
note: such assualts would be planned ahead of time.

Space note: Anytime a ship-to-ship battle is to happen, the attacking ship(s) would hail the other and the defending ship would be given the chance to jump (FTL) out of harms way or to accept the fight. However, incases of terrortory, a faction's gate would have a given distance that is marked as a terrortory to whatever faction. As in various games I've planed this would be noted by a near ____ terrortory verbal and/or visable pop-up, followed by a entering ____ terrortory signal, and vise-versa for leaveing.

Land notes: As said certain areas would be safe and others unsafe, this being marked by a simliar system as above (space note). However, when entering PvP you would be given a confirmation notice. Also, such areas would have level restrictions.

Specters: imo these would simply be eliminated as a playable thing. Although things like Unity would be used as a squad leader ability. though, for death to work properly, this would be in a set amount of time after death. Like a bleed-out time in some games like Battlefield and MAG (PS3).

I know my ideas as a whole probably have some hardware issues, but I think this would be awsome. hands down.:lol:

[Ramirez Wolfen]

I would like to say that I don't mind the idea of an MMO, as long as there is no subscription fee.

[RAF1940]

Maybe if it's on console since none of my friends game on PC like me.

[corebit]

The Mass Effect lore still has a long way to go if it were to be made into an MMO.

For instance, we have only seen females from humans, quarians, and asari. ME2 introduced male quarians, that is good, but before an MMO we still need to see female krogan, turian, salarian, volus, elcor, hanar, and drell.

And there is little lore beyond Shepard's adventure. The whole ME series is ALL about Shepard, it is hard to fit it into an MMO where players CANNOT be Shepard.