PlaneShift
Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: Themerion on January 04, 2005, 10:35:27 pm
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Alright, I know that threads like this has been up before, but this is serious!
Newbies have a hard time killing rats, mabye the devs should add even weaker monsters?
Experienced fighters (and newbies) have a hard time killing anything, since every monster spawlocation is occupied by at least four players!
I think that a good solution would be to put some monsters in the now unplayable fields at the very outskirts of Hydlaa Town. Or?
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Bah, Rogue killing in groups is far better. Of course, with no stats, about 5-6 people would be needed, and all with potions :rolleyes:
There will be more monsters, the devs are working on it... Remember, this is still a TECH DEMO. I don\'t even think it\'s alpha yet, as in, very early release...
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weaker monsters would be nice
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Rats are very weak, why would you want weaker monster?!
More monster needed
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No weaker monsters are needed. If noobs can\'t kill rats on their own, they should team up and kill rats. Which is why the whole grouping thing is implemented. It\'s not supposed to just be looked at and then made fun of.
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i can kill rats in one round..
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if anything more stronger monsters that attack ppl like a giant rabid rat that runs around in the sewers.
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Add more monsters ^^
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Crystal Blue is a tech demo, as said before. It has no greater need for balance or the ability to entertain people for more than a few hours.
Why does tons of newbies try to influence the order of what is to be implemented first? The devs are already working in as high pace they want and are able too. Be certain that more monsters will be added when the team has implemented what they have planned to implement before adding more monsters.
The monsters should not be the number one priority, they should implement elements that doesn\'t yet exist at all before adding more of them. Otherwise, Planeshift might seem like a hack & slash game and not a roleplaying game, which would be terrible.
Originally posted by Themerion
I think that a good solution would be to put some monsters in the now unplayable fields at the very outskirts of Hydlaa Town. Or?
And you think the town guards would allow monsters to sneak around just outside the town walls? Planeshift is developing towards a realistic roleplaying environment, and no step should be taken in the wrong way. Besides the fields are the buffer between Hydlaa and \"the end of the world\". If entry to the fields would be allowed a new \"buffer area\" would have to be created. So do not think this is a simple temporary solution.
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I think no weaker monster is needed.
The first rats are strong but not to strong... and after you got your first loot you can buy skills/weapons really fast.
I think its ok like it is!
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It has no greater need for balance or the ability to entertain people for more than a few hours.
If that\'s indeed the case, then more monsters would satisfy exactly that statement. I don\'t think the \'more monsters\' request refers to having \'more different monsters\' or \'more high level monsters\' , but rather \'more newbie monsters\'.
If you think about it, without monsters you can\'t gain levels, you can\'t experiment with character stats, nothing. So what happens? Newbies just run around an explore and never really get into the \'core\' of the game [which is the character development right?] . What\'s the point of that? Then they might as well make it a closed beta for 5 players only.
Essentially, most newbies will come and go without ever developing their chars. I don\'t know if that\'s the intention, but it\'ll inevitably result in a type of desertion with a feeling of \'yea maybe i\'ll look into it next year when i got nothing else to do \' instead of \'can\'t wait until this is fully functional, i\'ll try and experiment with my char every weekend\' .
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Originally posted by diabolus
Newbies just run around an explore and never really get into the \'core\' of the game [which is the character development right?] . What\'s the point of that? Then they might as well make it a closed beta for 5 players only.
I beg to differ. The core of the game is roleplaying. In a single player game, yes Character Development is pretty much as far as you get, but multiplayer opens up thousands of other possibilities. Possibilities that cannot be programmed. Friendships, enemies, reputations. It all comes down to roleplaying.
And the Devs are being very generous with providing everyone access to their tech demo. They could have, and have the right to make it a closed beta.
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I beg to differ. The core of the game is roleplaying. In a single player game, yes Character Development is pretty much as far as you get, but multiplayer opens up thousands of other possibilities. Possibilities that cannot be programmed. Friendships, enemies, reputations. It all comes down to roleplaying.
Friendships, enemies and reps are a given [required] in ALL MMORPGs. It won\'t exist without it. So the obvious distinguising factor between all MMORPGS [text and graphical] is not the roleplaying but the game-engine and char development system [the code in other words]. There\'s no way you can just say \'oh roleplaying is all we need, you don\'t need a good engine if the playerbase is great\' .....how do you get a good playerbase in the first place?
It might be interesting to investigate some articles about MMORPGs \'downfalls\' , especially Everquest and Star Wars Galaxies. The reasons why there are \'mass desertions\' are not in fact related to \'roleplaying\' but code, balance and char-development based reasons. In other words the \'character development system\' can make or break any MMORPG. Roleplaying isn\'t going to save the game if the \'core engine\'/\'concept\' sucks.
I guess it\'s a \'chicken or egg\' argument. Which one will kill an MMORPG first, the playerbase\'s attitude and the ability to interact with the playerbase OR the mechanics of the game and how you interact with that. You need both, but the code is controllable, the playerbase are not.
PS If you count the \'types\' of WoW servers in the US, you might notice there\'s a serious lack of \'pure roleplaying\' (RP) servers [but plenty of PvP and PvE servers] . Now unless WoW is considered a pure hacknSlash MMORPG it clearly points out that the base-engine plays a very large role. (In other words people are not picking WoW because of the community-features [it\'s a given] but because of the game-engine itself ). [Otherwise why would you ever consider WoW if you\'ve been playing Everquest for years?]
http://www.worldofwar.net/guides/servers.php
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Originally posted by diabolus
Friendships, enemies and reps are a given [required] in ALL MMORPGs. It won\'t exist without it. So the obvious distinguising factor between all MMORPGS [text and graphical] is not the roleplaying but the game-engine and char development system [the code in other words].
Spoonscape. Sadly, it does exists with bearly any real roleplaying which is a major reason why it is the worst game out there. I was actually talking about Planeshift in particular. If Planeshift as it stands right now was single player, yes it would suck. But since it is multiplayer, roleplaying is what gives it life.
Roleplaying isn\'t going to save the game if the \'core engine\'/\'concept\' sucks.
In earlier releases it sure did.
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Still, it would be great to add more monsters. Gronomist thinks that it\'s a good id?a to team up. The problem is that in a team, the money given by rats(not much) will be shared between all members!
I\'ve got a better solution. Since everybody hates running around with nothing, why not give new characters 200 trias to start with? Still, more ways to get progrwession points would be needed, but the character would at least not be so darned weak.
Lardhoc Aewheros thinks that new, yet uncompleted functions should be added before improving playing quality. Wich is not a good solution. Cause when those functions are implemented, the devs start to work with new functions instead of improving the old ones(according to Lardhoc). In the end, we would have a boring almost unplayable final beta wich nobody would play because everybody has already grown tired of low-quality playing.
Oh, right, and as far as i know, adding more monsters(at least if more of already existing ones) is easier than adding completely new functions.
What I am after is some balance between new functions and playing quality. Right now the game is fun, but let\'s make it easier for new players, and add some more monsters for the more experienced ones. The plains on the road to the new village would maby be a good place?
After that, I would love to see new functions.
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It\'s only beat version. If that. There probably will be more later.
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> why not give new characters 200 trias to start with?
An easy way is to give it by an easy to do quest :)
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Originally posted by Themerion
Lardhoc Aewheros thinks that new, yet uncompleted functions should be added before improving playing quality. Wich is not a good solution.
And how would the game look with an extremely sophisticated alchemy system but a very simple combat one? The features available in the tech demo should be simple versions of the features planned for the \"final game\". (It won\'t really be a final game)
You are talking about quantity not quality, Themerion. Adding more monsters of the same type won\'t improve quality of playing, it will only make it easier for powergamers to level. It wouldn\'t be realistic to put the same monsters everywhere, like putting sewer rats on the fields, and maximum realism is one of the primary goals of Planeshift. Realism is quality. Adding new monsters would require the 3D department, which is very small considering the amount of work it has to do, to shift focus from recruiting. The purpose isn\'t to make the game as good as possible tomorrow but to make it as good as possible in the long run.
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A little OT: Has anyone else noticed the \"Consumer\" In the PS directory? :D \"Oh no! It wants to buy my packaged goods! FEAR!!!!\"
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Friendships, enemies and reps are a given [required] in ALL MMORPGs. It won\'t exist without it. So the obvious distinguising factor between all MMORPGS [text and graphical] is not the roleplaying but the game-engine and char development system [the code in other words]. There\'s no way you can just say \'oh roleplaying is all we need, you don\'t need a good engine if the playerbase is great\' .....how do you get a good playerbase in the first place?
*chuckles* I\'ve seen a number of \'roleplaying\' games with no rules whatsoever.. just simple \'consentual\' roleplaying. I.e. people telling a story. it\'s all it took. From there, it evolved. New code was created to help with the storytelling.
Yes. it was text based. And yes, it was a muck.. but yes, this muck has a core of 600+ people playing at any given time. Without coded combat. Without \'rules\' per se other than common decency in OOC.
Player base can lead to player base increases, given a friendly enough player base offering enough opportunities. The best coding in the world can\'t guarantee player base, without a solid core (the game designers/developers, and a friendly helpstaff) Then you need real players, who are devoted to the game, and see potential in it. And fun, and life.
Ultimately, it is the players and developers that set the key for how the software develops, to be successful. It is the interaction itself. While you can have a game that has minimal interaction, and have it survive... it rarely flourishes. Usually those who are there tend to be there because they want to get away from interaction, or don\'t know how to interact.
Ultimately, the \'core\' of the game isn\'t the media, in my opinion. It is the people. The media is the way to share it. Each story, so to speak, becomes real, because of the people.
Just.. my thoughts. Worth .02 tria or not. ;)
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The issue here is \"What is PS?\" Judging by the open beta, it\'s a very large world with a lot of hack & slash, power-gaming, and very little opportunity for or mechanism for roleplaying. I think the idea of roleplaying is nice, but if you are a \"hard core\" roleplayer, you don\'t need no stink\'n GUI, and text-based/code-less games are for you. The goal of this game seems to be much more directed towards a \"kill the monster for gold and glory\" style game.
As for whether more monsters are needed, the question, while itself is irrelavent, arises from the very essence of what has been created thus far. Clearly, the current scenerio shows that there are now two many new characters searching, desparately, for purpose and advancement. Advancement, by-the-way, is what life is all about; we do work, perform errands, and drudgery for reward (neverquest\'s tasks are a good example). The reward is not satifaction, it\'s money, with which we buy things to improve (or advance) our lives. At this point, it\'s important to note, that, as players, we are all looking for an escape from the /real/ drudgery of our lives - we are looking for fun and entertainment. Thus, performing endless, repeatative tasks is a big turn off, but appears to be the only option, so far. Back to the \"more monster\" issue - currently, I\'ll bet that at any given time, there are more characters than rats in the sewers. Due to the /very/ slow returns of gold, and lack of better options, there are too many characters trying to \"advance\". **Because successes aren\'t scaled with the increase in characters, team-work is actually penalized.** Blizzard got this right with DII.
So, again, more monsters isn\'t the solution. More opportunities for better reward, and rewarded teamwork are.
Oh, and the ultimate rule with games (all games, and life in general) is balance. There must be balance. If you want a successful RPG, devoid of power-gamers, than balance their power. Find a way to let the newest/lowest level/weakest characters go have fun. That way, power is just a different avenue of exploration, not a goal. I\'m not saying that PS doesn\'t/won\'t have balance, but, it looks like, right now, there\'s nothing else to do but find a way to advance - power & character development seem to be the only challenges; the only things that players know where to look.
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nice... well thought out..... but hopefully wrong.
Planeshift is alpha right now so the monsters there are preaty much just to test how the interaction is going to act.
not to metion giving us something to do.
i as many of the people who have been here since MB was young(pay no attention to my reg date i never looked at forums till then) we really would be disappointed if this turned into \"hack&slash\"
Im sure things will change but for now im just happy they are still pushing along.
I mean this is a spare time project. they dont even have to do this game for us.
thank you DEVS for giving us this place to call our own.....