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While playing all kinds of online games I started a list in my mind with stuff I liked / hated. Maybe we can discuss ideas for a "perfect mmo" here and relate how ryzom applies here?

I'll start...

What I hate about RPGs:

CHARACTERBUILDING:
- grind just for the grind of it, you need to grind otherwise you can't continue. for example job changes at level 100, you are too low for this area, special case: always low on money -> grind again
- skillpoint system, what the heck should I skill? Chose from: Strength, Agility, Vitality, Intelligence
, Dexterity, Luck, Morale, Power, Armor, Might, Will, Fate, Wisdom, Endurance, Perception, Concentration etc...

FIGHT SYSTEM:
- random fights, decide if you want to fight or not, for example you have to solve a puzzle in a labyrinth and can't concentrate due to random fights each 3 steps

QUESTS:
- endless, long quests e.g. collect 10 bat wings, ah I forgot, while you on it also get 27 teeth, 34 furs, 46 eyes and all this for...
- useless rewards, like a healitem which heals 5% more than the standard shop potion and sells for nothing
- long ways, however onetime long way and high reward would be ok. For example aaah would you mind going to the other end of the world map to town A and asking for the time? Once back: Ah, the town's time is off by 3 seconds, go back again and report, also ask about the weather etc...
- endless search for objects, places, persons etc. For example find me this person and that secret, well hidden in a place without any clue. Oh and did I mention it is a key plot quest? Don't even think of skipping it if you want to beat the game.
- repeating quests with different "content", for example kill 20 wolves. spiders. undead. rats. thieves. dogs. unicorns.


STORY:
- boring generic story, you are the outcast hero, you have to save the world (again)
- important story decisions you don't know what will happen, e.g. chose a stone out of 17. -> replay 16 times to see the other cases doh

From those negatives I try to create positives as design rules, e.g. knowledge vs grind. Everything is available and the outcome just depends on your amount of knowledge and not on the 0.04% drop chance for something good.

Also another conclusion is the adaptive game. The content is generated upon the player's preferences. E.g. statistical analysis of the gameplay. Are quests taken? Does the player level alot? Read the story? Based on this more quests / less quests, easier leveling / harder etc.

But it's really hard to forget the "traditional" rpg elements and come up with new because I'm heavily influenced by the existing market and previous games I played.

arc

I've been arguing for this in various MMOs for 13 years... mostly to deaf ears unfortunately.


Unfortunately someone will invariably "post the secrets" of knowledge in a public venue shortly after they are discovered by the first few hardworking souls. In the past (c.f., Hidden character key to support unique character content) I have suggested that the finer details of "knowledge" could be randomized based on a random-seed for each character. The response was that assigning a random-seed to each character would be unfair; some would get better seeds than others. How this is different than randomized drops (or real life luck for that matter), I never understood.

Sounds to me like there's a pre-made vehicle for this already... the "astrology" of Atys, the "sign" your Toon was born under. Maybe you were born under a lucky star. :)