ZAM's solutions to common MMO problems - post ideas hereFollow

Problem: Reliance on the Random Number Generator for drops.
Solution: Activities like FATEs, dungeons, raids, and select (soloable) quests should yield currency toward gear and crafting materials specific to their level range with an option convert them higher or lower at varied ratios. Ultimately, this is to prevent situations where someone might go 0/20+ on a single item. You can still have the item drop via RNG, but people should always have an alternative path to something. As an added option, if undesired items do drop, the player/party can decide to "destroy" it and instead be rewarded with extra points.



As for making participation in a guild/linkshell/whatever mean more, I've seen a few games try to implement points for activities you otherwise do and can spend toward the guild. Sometimes it's for (temporary) buffs, occasionally it'll unlock features like a guild vault, and something I like is offering alternative sources for things like rare craft materials. There's a browser game out there called Wartune (A bit too P2W for most tastes, I'd wager), but its guild system basically ran on contribution generated by players. You had the quest/event stuff, but periodically you'd get invaders that attack your "home base" so to speak to give players a means to generate more contribution. If you have an excess of gold, you could also pay it toward the guild. In turn, the guild could buy more buildings, upgrade them and their functions, and unlock buffs. Everyone's contribution is viewable within the roster, so you can see who's been doing things for the guild and not as long as their total count keeps climbing. A feature to promote a little extra contribution involves a prize wheel. Most of the time you probably get junk, but occasionally you'll get rare/good things.

While I wouldn't say to do it the exact same way, it's a good means to allow people who can't consistently raid to still be useful to a group in their own ways, particularly if paired with the concepts Kashius mentioned earlier. One problem with Wartune, however, is I've noticed people get spread thin over guilds hoping theirs will be "the best" and, in turn, you get a bunch of weak guilds instead of a couple strong ones. Those who play more will want to leave these weaker guilds for the better ones with better buffs, while everyone else keeps trying to poach members from others to improve their ranks. Should it come to a point where a guild folds, there is means for another to "absorb" its resources and basically prevent the effort of others from becoming a waste. As such, if there is some element of contribution system implemented, a means to adopt these lesser guilds into a bigger one should be present. Perhaps it shouldn't be a 1:1 resource gain to prevent people from starting multiple guilds to potentially power up x times faster than intended, but you could also put some kind of time limit to these acquisitions, perhaps longer based on the strength of the lesser guild being taken in.

Nothing will ever be as difficult as getting the Pink Tail in FFIV, which I spent countless hours and never got, but I did encounter the Pink Puff a couple times. If the good items were easy to get people wouldn't remain interested for as long. It just makes business sense to make you work for them, whether that's good or bad. Everybody likes having the best stuff, but if everybody had the best stuff nobody would highly regard the item. I really hope the dupers don't find a loophole in this game and ruin that aspect of it like with PSO and surely others.

There's also the fact that just because something is time-consuming doesn't mean it's challenging.

Challenge is a measure of skill. There's precisely zero skill involved in bashing my face against the wall 800 times in the hopes that I'll get something out of it eventually.

If you're looking for bragging rights to say you soloed some uber mob, than ask for an arena with time trials and progress tracking. I wouldn't even be against rewards for people completing things under certain conditions. Hell, you could even add handicaps on like no Cures or Limit Breaks.

This sounds really cool. You could also have ones for groups as well.

It reminds me a little of BCNMs but in a more streamlined manner where the time taken actually matters. There could be different ranks you can attain based on time taken and drop percentage goes up based on your rank. In fact you could and probably should take it a step further. Time wouldn't be the only factor in your rank. I'm not sure of various parameters you could use but surely more than just time.

Problem: The outfits are for the most part not attractive for the best stats... (ie: Subligars and Harnesses or Robes)

Solution: Do what DCUO did and make it so that once you collect a certain style, you add that style to your collection and you can mix and match your custom outfit based on the styles you own for each slot. This would make the game much more customizable and enjoyable for women (especially my fiance, who plays with me.)

I would like the following to make a dream MMO.

1.) Voice chat integrated with voice changers for your character sorta like that new game "the Division" where the voice comes from the player via radio. It would be cool if you could have voice chat where "say" allows others to hear you within like 2-3 feet, "shout" 5-10 feet, and "whisper" goes directly to a player. It would make the town seem really alive when you run by and hear "snippets" of voices as you pass through a group of players.

The potential of this thread overwhelms me.

If more game designers would create forum threads like this, just imagine how much better their games would be.

Also, if you name a problem, I'll offer a solution.