Seratonin
12-04-2010, 01:05 PM
I have read in another post somewhere about enchantresses not being able to harness the power of all the elements, and I agree that's kind of the point of magic. Most magic users don't have the option of controlling all of the elements, they get to pick their strengths. Same could be made for bears and birds.
I think it would enhance game-play to have a choice of what kind of class you want to play. For example, Enchantress could have 3 skill paths for 3 roles that players have found for different styles. A strictly healing/buffing class with regen skills, maybe an AOE aura for slow boost to mana regen so as to not rely so heavily on pots. A strictly magic damage mage that can focus on dps. A pally type mage that can do a little bit of both, but has more focus on str and tanking.
Archers instead of being just archers could be like thiefs and be ranged or melee with skills that enhance their area of expertise. An archer with arrow/dps skills and still squishy. Some sort of melee with light dual handed weapons that gets better damage when striking from behind, and skills that are for small weapons, and maybe one that boosts run speed for a short time. Seeing a bird run around with a hammer and he can still use long range burst shot even though he has no ranged weapon equipped is silly. And maybe a sort of poison class that doesn't do as much damage at first, but has skills that sap and weaken and do damage over time.
Bears could be warriors, or dps, with skills to match. I really like the way bears are now with the ability to pull targets closer, and then slam them out against the walls. But i've seen bow-bears too, and they don't have the arrow skills, so to use a blade strike with a bow is silly too. Some skills for bears that wield bows instead of melee weapons. Dps bears similar to small arms birds that can do damage over time/status debuffs.
Another way would be to use combos much like that way it is now, but across classes, and to promote more cooperation between players, like to get bigger damage bonus on skills that were combo'ed cross class. Like bear skill that opens up combo to bird to enchantress that finishes with staggering magic damage while monster gets stunned.
Just rambling on about some ideas I guess.
Oh. and maybe implementing objects in earlier maps that when examined spawn rare monsters much stronger than the low mobs in the map originally to promote players to revisit previous maps. Like an ancient grave off a side path that when examined, could be "You examine the gravesite, it looks as if something crawled out!" Then you have to fight something ridiculous with strategy to beat similar to gurgox. I really like gurgox, and how he roars, and you have to time it right to stay alive.
I still think the overlords AOE attack is divided by the # of people in his range, is that right anyone? It would explain why when everyone is around, they all take less damage. but if that's not the case, that would be a great idea for a boss. An AOE attack that can kill solo/duo parties, but requires everyone to be in immediate vicinity to share damage...
OH and something useful to do with all items other than pinks, for example, a ways to deconstruct them into materials that can be used to make useful items, i know that would add a crapload more items info into the game, but if people could farm for materials to do something with, that would give them something else to do. Materials that could be used to create something like a special bag that increases inventory space, or can be used to enhance items, like attachments for weapons, armor upgrading. Materials that can be used to make your own potions. Possibilities are endless.
I know you dont want to make this out like alot of other MMO's so it still has to be unique to PL, but when it comes right down to it, you are getting bigger daily, and content is going to have to get more expansive for keeping people coming back for more.
I know that your main source of income is PLAT sales, but you could maybe offer 1 MO free game-play, and after that, require players to pay something like $1 a month to play or something. Gonna REALLY suck if you run out of people buying PLAT and can't keep game servers anymore because there's not enough money keep the game going. I'm sure players that really love this game wouldn't mind paying $1/mo to keep servers up for gameplay.
Just some thoughts.
I think it would enhance game-play to have a choice of what kind of class you want to play. For example, Enchantress could have 3 skill paths for 3 roles that players have found for different styles. A strictly healing/buffing class with regen skills, maybe an AOE aura for slow boost to mana regen so as to not rely so heavily on pots. A strictly magic damage mage that can focus on dps. A pally type mage that can do a little bit of both, but has more focus on str and tanking.
Archers instead of being just archers could be like thiefs and be ranged or melee with skills that enhance their area of expertise. An archer with arrow/dps skills and still squishy. Some sort of melee with light dual handed weapons that gets better damage when striking from behind, and skills that are for small weapons, and maybe one that boosts run speed for a short time. Seeing a bird run around with a hammer and he can still use long range burst shot even though he has no ranged weapon equipped is silly. And maybe a sort of poison class that doesn't do as much damage at first, but has skills that sap and weaken and do damage over time.
Bears could be warriors, or dps, with skills to match. I really like the way bears are now with the ability to pull targets closer, and then slam them out against the walls. But i've seen bow-bears too, and they don't have the arrow skills, so to use a blade strike with a bow is silly too. Some skills for bears that wield bows instead of melee weapons. Dps bears similar to small arms birds that can do damage over time/status debuffs.
Another way would be to use combos much like that way it is now, but across classes, and to promote more cooperation between players, like to get bigger damage bonus on skills that were combo'ed cross class. Like bear skill that opens up combo to bird to enchantress that finishes with staggering magic damage while monster gets stunned.
Just rambling on about some ideas I guess.
Oh. and maybe implementing objects in earlier maps that when examined spawn rare monsters much stronger than the low mobs in the map originally to promote players to revisit previous maps. Like an ancient grave off a side path that when examined, could be "You examine the gravesite, it looks as if something crawled out!" Then you have to fight something ridiculous with strategy to beat similar to gurgox. I really like gurgox, and how he roars, and you have to time it right to stay alive.
I still think the overlords AOE attack is divided by the # of people in his range, is that right anyone? It would explain why when everyone is around, they all take less damage. but if that's not the case, that would be a great idea for a boss. An AOE attack that can kill solo/duo parties, but requires everyone to be in immediate vicinity to share damage...
OH and something useful to do with all items other than pinks, for example, a ways to deconstruct them into materials that can be used to make useful items, i know that would add a crapload more items info into the game, but if people could farm for materials to do something with, that would give them something else to do. Materials that could be used to create something like a special bag that increases inventory space, or can be used to enhance items, like attachments for weapons, armor upgrading. Materials that can be used to make your own potions. Possibilities are endless.
I know you dont want to make this out like alot of other MMO's so it still has to be unique to PL, but when it comes right down to it, you are getting bigger daily, and content is going to have to get more expansive for keeping people coming back for more.
I know that your main source of income is PLAT sales, but you could maybe offer 1 MO free game-play, and after that, require players to pay something like $1 a month to play or something. Gonna REALLY suck if you run out of people buying PLAT and can't keep game servers anymore because there's not enough money keep the game going. I'm sure players that really love this game wouldn't mind paying $1/mo to keep servers up for gameplay.
Just some thoughts.