Not to keep harping on EQOA but they should consider a class mastery system. It worked GREAT in that game. I never played EQ1 much but EQOA shared a lot in common with it and may have done a couple things better (that system being one of them).
I agree that instancing should not be a big part of the game, but I think it can be useful if done deliberately and thoughtfully. For example, EQ2 would create another instance of a zone if that zone's max population was reached. That was really nice, and I'd love to see Pantheon do the same thing. Also, I'd like to see some faction missions (quests) be instanced. These missions could yield faction bonuses plus points you could spend on gear, but they'd be a slow way to grind out XP and loot. I could see some rooms inside a dungeon being instanced, like if a group wanted to trigger a small encounter or event. Then they could pop into the instance to do that. And, like you said, boss fights at the end of a dungeon, plane, or zone would be fine too.
I've played EQ, EQOA, EQ2, VG, WoW (And almost every other MMO in between) and I honestly think the CM system was hands down the best. It tooks most people a couple years to ever max out at 1500 CM's. The spells, stat mods, and various other things you could get with your CM points were amazing.
Eh, half the posters are already clamoring for buying 3h KEI instead of actually grouping an enchanter, same cat different color.
The problem with flight paths/coaches/whatever type of travel forced you into inaction is that it is doesn't make you appreciate how big the world is, it just makes you hate the time spent during that ride. Nothing takes me out of a game faster than forced inaction. I used the flight path time in WoW to go to the bathroom and get food, not admire how much time I was saving. In my opinion, instant teleports (as a replacement for travel paths) in a world where you have no GPS, no super fast mounts, and a truly deadly world only eliminate the down time. If you then limited the number of times per day you could use the instant teleports then they become a convenience rather than a crutch. Some smart dude posted his idea a few pages back but got no comments on if it was bad and why:
Maybe one in each zone is a little too common, so make it some out of the way place so that the player is still forced to travel on foot to get to most places of interest/dungeon/cities but even then the players is still actively playing the game instead of hating life as they sit on the same 6 minute flight path from Orgrimmar to 1kN for the hundredth time.
The hell with insta ports and flight paths bring back the boats for intercontinental travel!!!
Or why not send one of the dozen or so wizzys or druids who are ooc'ing ports for donations a tell? It worked like a charm in EQ. Rarely could anyone not find a ride. If you provide "clickys" to travel anywhere you want to go then no one is going to donate, even a small amount of coin to a wizzy for a port.
Come on now, even after WoW added the Hearthstone, that one hour timer seemed to crawl by when you wanted to port and it was only good for your bind location so Wizards were still getting tons of love for ports and Warlocks were preferred in groups so you could just port everyone to them. You could still have wizard/druid specific points that couldn't be teleported to and you could take their teleport off the clicky cooldown. Hell, make the clickys actually hard to obtain, I was thinking random world drop when I wrote the post so not even something you could walk up and purchase.
I really don't see anything wrong with the power gap in players who start at different times in fact I think it would suck if I spent 5 yrs in a game and a player that has been there for a month can match me...Some of my wishes for this game,
If possible, make sure all zones are valuable and relevant to all levels of players so that we don't have empty zones few years after release. In them park games like Eq2 and WoW, you only have activities in higher and newer zone only. All other are zones are dead and empty. This breaks immersion and in turn "cheapen" the overall world.
After 5 or 10 years of release, the power gap between veteran and new player is huge in games like EQ2 and WoW. In order to bridge the gap, these games add "catch" up mechanics like increase experience in old zones, nerf mobs etc. Again these mechanics "cheapen" the overall world. I am not sure what is the best solution here is but I think there shouldn't be *huge* power gap between new player and a veteran 10 years after release. However veteran player should have far more options than a new player 10 years after release. These option could be anything, for example a new player only has access to 10 skills but a 10 years veteran has access to 100 skill to choose from etc.
Hope I made some sense
I wouldn't completely discount the power of nostalgia. There are several EQ1 emulators with large active communities, EQ (though not the game it was anymore) is still going, and there are lots of posts with lots of feeling in support of "that game" on boards like this all over.You can never go home again. A sad fact of life that so many people try to pretend isn't true. Things change. People change. What might of worked 15 years ago could be a total failure now. Good luck convincing some of these guys of that though. If EQ did it then it was the pinnacle of game design and should be copy/pasted directly into every single MMO until the end of time. Fuck anyone who disagrees with them.
A new player shouldn't match a veteran in power at all. However the gap shouldn't be huge either so that it takes a new player ages to catch up or they need help such as nerfed experience points etc.
The important point about classes is they all play differently.. this was true in vanguard and NOT true in almost every other MMO since. If you can add 100 that play differently do so, if not do not add them IMO.
Glad someone else thinks this. It really was an awesome system that needs to be revisited. I still have yet to see a class system that's so flexible. Talent trees can't compare IMO.
Why should the new player have to do less work then the original player who busted his ass leveling up? Sure, it will have to be addressed 5 years after release but petitioning for an easier path for newer players won't win you many fans on these boards.
I don't care for Bind Soul. I get the interaction it forces, but there are plenty of times there was no caster available. At the very least, there should be an NPC at each bind location that can do it for you.
