Under WoWed.
When talking to a buddy of mine about why I didn’t join his server on WoW said “I can't wait til they have a 1 server one gigantic world for these games.”
Besides the issues of the physical usage and processing restrictions, one of the big deals is balancing the economy, not that most games have a balanced economy, and they certainly don’t have an organically evolving world, that would help adjust the economy. The world needs to bleed more gold out to help stabilize the economy.
Who has addressed these issues?
EQ2 had player housing that came with access to the auction system. It was like having access to EBay from your bedroom, with monthly rent for the apartment, and additional charges for buying through the system instead of buying directly from someone.
DAOC had guildhalls, and I THINK there were charges for those.
Robert suggested a tax on all bank accounts each month for a %, add item deterioration over time so people don't get cute with avoiding taxes. WOW has item deterioration with usage, but yeah, give food and other items a life. (I would hate to think how long I’ve had raptor eggs have been sitting in my bank. You’d think they’d begin to smell but they are still same-day fresh. At the very least they should hatch and attack the bankers.)
I like the idea of taxes. Some factions could be made or broken with "taxes". Pay your taxes with a city, you get better faction. Rent a place, pay taxes. Have it open up quests, or allow the purchasing of resources you have to otherwise farm. Maybe access to trade houses dependant on good faction.
Heck, make guilds have to renew their charters from time to time. And charge them for it!
Offer players or guilds “Letter of Marque” that allows them to hunt in an area without being attacked but a faction’s guards but is otherwise off limits - then make all of the gear that drops there bind-on-pick-up. Bind-on-pick-up is a shoddy way to manage an economy, but it seems to be here to stay.
The only trick will be to not make the taxes enough that players hate the game, that the benefits give the players an opportunity to bleed off more cash, and reap additional benefits. What if paying taxes allowed a character to “call for help” from guards in the area, allowing young characters the ability to get help from guards that were farther away than their normal agro range?
Robert argues designers should get rid of the mob money drop all together, but I think it makes sense for some MOBS. I know I usually argue for simplicity, but I’d love the different races to have different currencies, heck some races could forgo currency entirely and barter for cloth, or cows, or whatever. (like the demons in one of the DAOC dungeons.
Heck, I’d design scenarios that cost ass-loads of cash. Hire mercenaries to attack a keep, fill your group with NPCs, or allow people to buy mercenaries for PVP areas. It would be neat to conduct mini raids, or hire defense forces. "Lead the Troops" could be a neat quest.
Possibly allow players to hire underlings like men-at-arms, shield-thralls or sword caddies as “pets”. Talk about high level cash drains. Who wouldn’t love the ability to buy a pack horse and fill it full of the minor crap you pick up. Sure it might be eaten by a dragon, but that’s why all the swell loot you keep in your bags. Heck, just having the ability to fill in a hole for a quest rather than wait on a full group would be great.
More MMORPG rants later.
Besides the issues of the physical usage and processing restrictions, one of the big deals is balancing the economy, not that most games have a balanced economy, and they certainly don’t have an organically evolving world, that would help adjust the economy. The world needs to bleed more gold out to help stabilize the economy.
Who has addressed these issues?
EQ2 had player housing that came with access to the auction system. It was like having access to EBay from your bedroom, with monthly rent for the apartment, and additional charges for buying through the system instead of buying directly from someone.
DAOC had guildhalls, and I THINK there were charges for those.
Robert suggested a tax on all bank accounts each month for a %, add item deterioration over time so people don't get cute with avoiding taxes. WOW has item deterioration with usage, but yeah, give food and other items a life. (I would hate to think how long I’ve had raptor eggs have been sitting in my bank. You’d think they’d begin to smell but they are still same-day fresh. At the very least they should hatch and attack the bankers.)
I like the idea of taxes. Some factions could be made or broken with "taxes". Pay your taxes with a city, you get better faction. Rent a place, pay taxes. Have it open up quests, or allow the purchasing of resources you have to otherwise farm. Maybe access to trade houses dependant on good faction.
Heck, make guilds have to renew their charters from time to time. And charge them for it!
Offer players or guilds “Letter of Marque” that allows them to hunt in an area without being attacked but a faction’s guards but is otherwise off limits - then make all of the gear that drops there bind-on-pick-up. Bind-on-pick-up is a shoddy way to manage an economy, but it seems to be here to stay.
The only trick will be to not make the taxes enough that players hate the game, that the benefits give the players an opportunity to bleed off more cash, and reap additional benefits. What if paying taxes allowed a character to “call for help” from guards in the area, allowing young characters the ability to get help from guards that were farther away than their normal agro range?
Robert argues designers should get rid of the mob money drop all together, but I think it makes sense for some MOBS. I know I usually argue for simplicity, but I’d love the different races to have different currencies, heck some races could forgo currency entirely and barter for cloth, or cows, or whatever. (like the demons in one of the DAOC dungeons.
Heck, I’d design scenarios that cost ass-loads of cash. Hire mercenaries to attack a keep, fill your group with NPCs, or allow people to buy mercenaries for PVP areas. It would be neat to conduct mini raids, or hire defense forces. "Lead the Troops" could be a neat quest.
Possibly allow players to hire underlings like men-at-arms, shield-thralls or sword caddies as “pets”. Talk about high level cash drains. Who wouldn’t love the ability to buy a pack horse and fill it full of the minor crap you pick up. Sure it might be eaten by a dragon, but that’s why all the swell loot you keep in your bags. Heck, just having the ability to fill in a hole for a quest rather than wait on a full group would be great.
More MMORPG rants later.