FO: OL What do you want and don't want to see in the game?

[cronicler]

List your desires and fears here.

1- Phasing:
I really like this latest tech nugget blizzard managed to produce. Basically in a normal MMO, after you finish a quest and clean an area , the bad guys respawn and you still see the old problems going on. Blizzard has managed to limit this boring repetition / immersion breaker by creating a system called phasing.
After you finish a quest that changes things (like destroying a bridge/ killing boss etc) you stop seeing the older NPC's and they stop attacking you. This allows you to feel that yes you did manage to do something instead of the usual do quest, turn in the quest at somewhere else so you don't see the shit again hassle.

2-Evolving Characters:
Also known as Tabula Rasa characters. Your run on the mill MMOs (with the exception of Ultima Online) all present you with a pre-defined character skill/stat tree. This is anathema to Fallout spirit.
The only MMO that i can remember having a system close to Fallout is UO.
However Fallout's approach has it's drawbacks too. After a while we will be seeing cookie cutter builds of Small Guns, Sneak and Steal all around...
I think giving the player freedom in his choices up to a point then having him obtain trainings for going futher into a skill would be the best case to balance the characters. This way every character would be able to use things but specialists would get some abilities and more choices with their speciality
So you could have basic combat and basic tecnology and basic survival as your trees. As you progressed and got enough Xp you can choose what to specialise in. you could go all survival and become a sneaky / close quarters / scout person or you can just go all tech and play the game as a crafter. (Your OCD EvE player )
The trees dont have to be exclusive; I mean melee and unarmed could be accessed from both combat or survival for example.

3- Decent but Evolving Cities.
Fallout doesn't have factions in the MMO sense. I know when I say factions people think of BoS or Enclave but actually I believe the real factions in the game should be Cities. You should choose which political entity you want to work for at the beginning of the game, then your quests should strenghten your faction. You could be working for the Vault City, The NCR or the New Reno, first working to tie the neutral communities to your side. As you grow stronger (in levels) you will move to more urgent and frontier areas where you will be opposing people from other factions and maybe sabotaging other cities' actions.
Who knows maybe you might get the chance to turn traitor for some good bucks.

4- Graphical Style
I prefer WoW and WaR to Conan. It is not about the cartoon graphic style however. WoW and WaR manage to use lesser graphics coupled with decent textures to create enough and detailed input on the screen. Graphics really just need to be adequate to express information. Going overboard with it is really not worth it.

5- Unique weapons:
One of the things people like in the game is the good loot. Personally I hate Unique Item dropping bosses. The weapon that i used to take down that Deathclaw should gain some ability and a name instead of a random drop.
Something like:

*Gentle Scowl of the Librarian*
Combat Shotgun
-Cut down barrel modification (Decreases magazine, medium and long range damage, Increases fire rate and short range damage)
-Recoil System (Decreases continious shooting penalties)
-Polymer Folding Stock (Decreases weight and concealment penalties)

*Deathclaw's Bane (For completing the lost caravan, +5 damage vs beasts)
*Hand of Law (For completing the Sheriff and the Posse, +5 Damage vs Outlaws)

6-Economy
Basic Non Modified Items should be sold by the Npc's or given as quest rewards. The item modifications should be the part that makes them real threat. Kinda like the EvE, the item mods should be only made by player crafters. This way there can be a decent server Economy on Pc items.

Also I would like to see instances or trading opportunities for guilds like taking a contract to escort a caravan to xxx town. The players from another faction could also enter this instance as the bandits maybe?

7- Game World:
I would really like to see FO:OL as something between the "Tale in the Desert", original "SWG" and "EVE" instead of trying to be a WoW clone. Time will tell

 

[Slaughter Manslaught]

I agree with all of your points.

I would also like to add a opinion of mine:

PvP - Hardcore and fun, but not too hardcore: Some people don't like PvP, other people thrive on it. I would like to see a balance between TOTAL GANKING and Total Fagness. Cities and places with guards and chaotic hellholes could help with that. No artifical "YOU CAN'T HARM ANYTHING HERE, EVER. EVEN THE COCKROACHES CAN'T BE HURT." I want NPC or PC enforced law. NCR is a good example of this: Not obeying the law (no thieving, no guns, no drugs, no killing, no whoring) should send you to jail or to the graveyard. On the flip side of the coin, as long as you're out of a Mafia or Gang controlled bussiness, you should be allowed to rob, shoot and kill who you want in New Reno. Of course, being a killer (of both PCs and NPCs) should have consequences, good and bad. Wiping out a entire town and raping the bodies should intimidate even badass NPCs, make law-abiding PCs hunt or suspect you and scare or interest some factions. Of course, being a total badass might rally other Psycho Players to your "cause". Also, sneak killing on "Lawful" areas should be possible if you know what you are doing.

Fallout doesn't have factions in the MMO sense. I know when I say factions people think of BoS or Enclave but actually I believe the real factions in the game should be Cities.

Actually, it has three kinds of factions.

City-States: Vault City, Klamath, New Arroyo, Broken Hills. FO1 has Junktown, Shady Sands and Adytum. Cities like The Hub in FO1, The Den, New Reno and Redding don't count as this, as they are either too fragmented or chaotic.

Inter-City: NCR (as a united republic governament, the individual states and cities have their own governaments subordinated to the republic), BOS, Enclave, Slavers, Reno Families, Shi after the end of Fallout 2, Hub Caravans, Children of the Cathedral (FO1) etecetera.

Covert Factions: Enclave, Unity (FO1).

I can see all kinds of factions in a Fallout game. I would love to see something like the magnificent Vault City-NCR-New Reno political subplot that also involved the minor towns of Den, Gecko, Broken Hills and Redding. I have to admit Fallout 2's world came together very nicely and it gave a excellent feeling of humanity coming back again and repeating the mistakes of the past. Fallout 3 lacked that feeling.

 

[cronicler]

PvP could be handled with a mixture of Hardcore UO and WoW in a player friendly fashion. When you die your body yields loot to the killer. The bounty loot consists of 1 Item, some components (from your destroyed items etc) and some cash (Cash as in bullets, food, caps, slips...). However the dead player's loss is not as bad as the loot. Depending on which area you are in, you loose just a percentage of the cash and not the items (Items are just Human Npc grade drops). This would make hunting other faction's players profitable without making the player pull out his hairs.

Also you could be given a notoriety rank for your pvp kills, which makes your own corpse drop better loot too

Thet political subplot was what i tried to explain in the original post: You start as a ranger/patrolman/mademan for your city. You go to village one and do missions there, helping your city get better handle on the local politics. When you finish that city's plotline; it means that you and the other guys with you have managed to get the place allied with or under control of your city. Of course as you travel to more open and central places like the said big town other faction's players will start turning up too, trying to stop your plots and getting their own missions done....
That way a vicious but undercover war could be staged while everyone looks like decent guys while its still day

 

[Confalone]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I can't wait to play as a furry talking Deathclaw.

 

[cronicler]

Just wait here
Let me get my dragonbreath shells for my shotgun...

 

[Tycell]

I love the idea of player enforced / NPC enforced law.

While NPC law could be used for major areas, such as newbie areas or major cities to give 100% effective law. If you kill / rob / rape / black market deal here you will get shot or arrested and possibly have a small bounty added to your head or some other lasting punishment (like a fine for example).

In mid security areas you could have NPC enforced law but only partially. For example a city where the “good blocks” or main streets are patrolled by regulators but alleyways or slums have much lessened guards and are easier to law break in. Of course if you get caught you will be considered hostile in the 'good blocks' and if you really law break the good blocks could even send a response squad into the slums to kick the chair out from under you.

PC enforced law could be regulated quite easily. Rather than just players saying “Behave or I shalt slap” you could enter your character into 'Guard Duty'. Where by you would loose control (say for a 1 to 12 hour shift of your choice) and then your character would automatically act as a guardsman or regulator in the area you have selected.

This way you could log out and leave your character guarding or patrolling. Or if you stay logged in you keep control and are alerted to law breaking in the area and get to respond yourself. There would have to be some sort of insurance. No one would want to leave their character on guard duty and log out only to come back and find their character has been killed 666 times and the area they were guarding has been razed.



Another thing I would love to see is rather than masses of different types of weapons which you get in EVE on line or WoW I would like to see a selection of weapons and many upgrades or modifications much like in Hell Gate: London.

For examples Shotguns;

One barrel shotgun (think pipe rifle).
Double Barrel Shotgun.
Over-Under Shotgun.
Pump Action Shotgun.
Automatic Shotgun.
Assault Shotgun.
Prototype Combat Shotgun.

With upgrades you could modify any of these weapons to fire faster, harder, more accurately, at longer range, different ammo types, quieter, with more spread, with a larger ammo capacity, or even perhaps sabotage the weapon so that it backfires on the user or can be deployed as a trap.

Of course there would have to be a limit to upgrades, stealth-boy fitted plasma mines anyone?



Another thing I really want to see is 'base building' to some extent. Where players can buy base parts are deploy them in certain areas. In this manner you can have guilds / player build shops / bases / hideouts / their own mini dungeons (for recruiting perhaps) etc.

Things like Safes, Desks, lockers, cells, hidden floor stashes. Or even perhaps have it so players can hire constructors to build them custom buildings. Like their own jail or castle. Of course higher level things like this would cost big money or have to be earned in other ways.



Another thing I would like to see which has already been talked about is non-repetitive dungeons.

Breech – butcher – loot – repeat.

Instead you could have much more randomized dungeons;

In some you could be knocked out and taken captive by raiders and have to escape (or even wait for a large rescue party with other PC prisoners?).

Enter a dungeon which is being taken on from the other end by a rival PC. Perhaps one fighting for good, the other for evil? Meeting in the middle perhaps and fighting it out over the final loot. Perhaps even have it so PCs can lay in wait inside dungeons ready to ambush adventurers who enter.



One major thing I would definitely want to see is NON WOW graphics. WOW graphics make me sick. Everything is massively out or proportion and looks absurd and cartoon like.

4- Graphical Style
I prefer WoW and WaR to Conan. It is not about the cartoon graphic style however. WoW and WaR manage to use lesser graphics coupled with decent textures to create enough and detailed input on the screen. Graphics really just need to be adequate to express information. Going overboard with it is really not worth it.

I agree with everything there. Graphics don't have to be pushing the envelope to be good. Fallout 3 was closer too the mark but was filled with too much junk and detail. A sparsely detailed area that looks believable and realistic. I didn't like the way Megaton looked in many respects, it was far too chaotic and trying to squeeze too much into a small space. Also the structures were unrealistic in that from a physical point of view it would have been nearly impossible to construct them let alone have them stand up on their own without scaffolding or collapsing. Maybe I am just being a bit anal here but honestly why would wasteland inhabitants go to the trouble of building their house dangling above another's on a series of struts and weak piping? Or hanging over a cliff side?

Why not just find a selection of buildings, or a single building, which is half destroyed and then use the construction materials (metal sheets, planks of wood, piles of brick / rubble etc) to re-enforce the already standing structures. This way you end up with a more realistic build. Why is Megaton where it is? No one is honestly dumb enough to build a city around a unexploded bomb. A gang might be crazy enough to do it, or a horde of feral or insane worship driven ghouls, but not civilians.