Soloable + Custimization = FANTASTIC

Mhojo

Cadet
The two biggest things that are important for me in an MMORPG is the ability to solo throughout the game ( as I've a family which demands attention - oft at the most inopportune times, lol. Getting even an hour w/o any distractions can prove difficult with two very young kiddos ) and the ability to customize. Gameplay is also important of course ( Loved the customization of CoH and even liked combat system but hated the boring quests/grind aspect. Also loved gameplay of WoW but hated the lack of custimization )

Other games coming out have some cool concepts but usually lack one of my two requirements. Vanguard sounds really cool, but the lack of solo play will probably kill it for me. Same with DDO. So I'm really excited about this game and hope it lives up to expectations for me ( pretty high though ).
 
First lets talk about the customization. I belive it was stated by Simutronics that you would be able to spend hours customizing your character. Any game that allows you to customize your character for that long has to have the most in-depth character creation imagined!

Next onto Solo'ing. I don't know much about it, but I'm pretty sure Simutronics is developing HJ to all aspects of gamers. From people who love to party, to those who just want to solo. Everyone will be included, and I'm almost positive that they will develope a great solo'ing game.
 
Solo'ing is definately important to me. It has dictated which MMO's I've stuck with the longest over the years. Custimization is nice, but I've learned to deal with it for the sake of gameplay (although, often they both suck :( ).
 
The character customization that i seen in the vid is amazing. I have never seen any game that was so in-depth over the way your character looks. i cant wait to spend hours (and i will) just creating my character. :D

about soloing, soloing on an MMORPG is very important. lets say you cant find the people to group with and you cant solo effectively, then your gonna get bored very quick cause you cant do anything alone. for me thats the main reason i DONT play pure healer classes when i play other MMORPGs. tried a Healer on DAoC before and i hated it since i couldnt kill things a few levels under me solo and i couldnt rely on finding a group all the time. and to me, standing around waiting an hour to find/fill a group is a huge waste of time that could be spent getting farther in a game.
 
Originally posted by larkonits@Mar 1 2006, 10:43 PM
about soloing, soloing on an MMORPG is very important. lets say you cant find the people to group with and you cant solo effectively, then your gonna get bored very quick cause you cant do anything alone. for me thats the main reason i DONT play pure healer classes when i play other MMORPGs. tried a Healer on DAoC before and i hated it since i couldnt kill things a few levels under me solo and i couldnt rely on finding a group all the time. and to me, standing around waiting an hour to find/fill a group is a huge waste of time that could be spent getting farther in a game.
I understand where you're commin from. Healing classes that cannot solo is one of my biggest gripes about MMOG's. They're an integrel part of groups in just about every online game I've played, yet most of them can seldom fend for themselves, which discourages people from playing them and makes it difficult to form decent groups.

Certainly, one big expception to this trend is WoW. Healing classes were more than viable solo with the right talent spec - they even exceeded others in some cases. It didn't seem to pose much of a problem either, given the fact every class was given some form of utility that was unique, making them all useful in a group in their own way.
 
I have to agree with Nocturnal. In WoW there were basically 3 type of each class. One was usually a way to support others for party, and another was talents to solo. This was a great idea, too bad it was thought of in a game I didn't enjoy all too much.

Games like FFXI however, the White Mage had absolutely no power to solo. Levels 1-10 you wanted to shoot yourself, however after 10 you were thrown into a group whenever you wanted one.

Lineage 2 did an ok job. I loved the duo aspect of the game, even though it wasn't really official, it was just a very entertaining way of leveling. Parties were extremely fun when you could camp a room, and kill hundreds of mobs per hour.

If somehow Hero's Journey could incorporate all of the systems into one it would be great!
 
Originally posted by frostydf2@Mar 1 2006, 11:36 PM
If somehow Hero's Journey could incorporate all of the systems into one it would be great!
yea the characters i pick to play in a MMO definitly have to be able to solo. since i dont like to find groups all too often since i have a 3 y/o, 2 y/o, and a 2 week old baby i cant get a group that is going for a long haul with no rests! there are times i know i might not be on too long but would like to get a few things done and its useless to find a group for a short period of time. i mean its frustrating to be in a group, going on a long raid or quest and needing every person you can get to get it done and then someone or you have to leave all of a sudden. then the rest of the group either has to go back and find someone else to go with them or 'try' and get it done without you. but then there are times when i have all day and grouping is ideal on those days. what im saying is i hate getting into or asking for a group when i know im going to leave in 15-20 min. its just not right.
 
Perhaps having a balancing feature such as certain classes getting pets only when soloing. Maybe spells or attributes which are only available when soloing. This would allow those of us who mainly solo to create characters which also have good group attributes and those who group still be able to have fun on their own.
 
Originally posted by Volfie@Mar 4 2006, 08:12 PM
Perhaps having a balancing feature such as certain classes getting pets only when soloing. Maybe spells or attributes which are only available when soloing. This would allow those of us who mainly solo to create characters which also have good group attributes and those who group still be able to have fun on their own.
You could even justify it by when you solo your pet wants to help you, but in a group it feels intimidated, and thus wont go out in a party.

I'm sure Simutronics will come up with something amazing that no one has thought of.
 
Originally posted by frostydf2@Mar 4 2006, 06:24 PM
<<I'm sure Simutronics will come up with something amazing that no one has thought of.>>
Simu has told a couple of sources that areas will have their difficulty "normalized" so that a group can form that includes a huge range of levels and somehow everyone will feel like they're able to participate and are challenged. No word on how that will work exactly.

I wouldn't doubt it is the world also adjusted for people going it alone instead of in a party.
 
In past Simutronics games (Gemstone), hunting consisted of a lot of solo grinding, but the grind was broken up in that you had an 'experience tank' and when it filled up, you had to get back to town (walk, teleport, spell in) and rest until your tank cleared and you could go back out. It really broke up the motonony of the grind.

There were no quests, and you'd still gain the same amount of experience for your 'tank' while in a group. I'd really like to see what they've got planned to allow for a high level group with someone low and have it work out for everyone.
 
Soloing and customization are most important to me as well. Soloing is a must. I play characters that quest and battle alone. Only teaming up with those who are in need or are charasmatic (or cute) enough to be with for long stretches of time. I like grouping but only with people I actually like. A lot of games try to force friendship and cooperation. They don't like to give people a chance to cooperate fully on their own. Those games say "if you want to make your character stronger you must make 39 "friends" whether you like them or not or no advancement for you. I solo but when I meet people I like I will group with those people almost every chance I get.
 
Egh, yeah I haaate the raid dependency 'end game' that a lot of MMOs constitute as being necessary... It's bad enough just getting 20 or 40 people to be in one place within 2 hours of the start time. Argh the memories!!! :angry: :blink:

I love to solo, but am more of a group junky. I primarily play healer classes (Priest in WoW, Warden in EQ2 (and Ranger and Warlock mains hehe), Druid in DAoC (least I think that's it, was a long time ago), same in Ryzom etc. So I am very much used to finding groups, though often not hard to do. I love the challenge of healing.
That being said, I think WoW and EQ2 both did healing well, in different ways.

As stated with WoW, you can 'spec' your healer to do damage. This I didn't do, 'coz if I want to solo in WoW, I play my Hunter.
In EQ2, there are four different Healer classes; from Templar (no solo ability) to Fury (semi-Mage). This is different from WoW in that you can't respec to change your play style, but I like it in the sense it gives you the option of being a true group healer god, or to heal when needed and solo when required.

I think the dual class system of HJ will kill all these comparisons though. It's the ultimate choice. It's more akin to Saga of Ryzom that anything. You use what skill type you like, and level it as you use it. You and the Mage can literally swap places if you've both got high enough skills. But the HJ system even tops this in my opinion, as you have to make a choice as to what you want to role-play, but you're given a LOT of choice. With a system like Ryzom's, you're never really unique. With HJ, you certainly could be.

For the record, I'm waiting on the HJ Healer info to be released, but I'll either be going Healer/Cleric or Healer/Ranger or such a 'Druidic' combo. Time will tell of course.


Customisation... If it happens that I am at 'max' level, meet a stranger who is also at 'max' level, check out their gear and see an item or three that I have never seen before that make me go "Oh my god that's beaaautiful!', well I will know I'm in a game that has 1000x the customisation of any decent MMO out to date.
It's the one thing I totally HATE about WoW - "Can we go do Instance X over and over? I need to get Sword#2521 that he drops". Static loot drops are the evilest of evils imo.
EQ2 is somewhat different in that there's a random loot drop system, to a degree, but the items are all still static - what drops is what you get, no customisation.

The Simugods have spoken about the customisation they're planning, growing our equipment with us etc. I just pray that this is a fully realised goal and not one of those things that gets constrained due to time/difficulties etc.

Plainly put, if Simutronics can bring the thrill of the true RPGs (Arcanum, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale etc) into MMOs (which is laughable that no one has done this effectively yet really) while integrating the MMO aspects, they are going to have the hugest success on their hands.
Purely because I think MMO players are sick of being handed cookie-cutter characters.

Rock on Simugods. Rock on.

(Yay for obscenely long posts!! My new computer is being couriered today, so I am just going nuts trying to waste time! :blink: )
 
being able to solo is by far the most important aspect to me. having to wait around to find a group that isn't super annoying or too perfectionist is hard for the most part. a lot of times, it is hard to find a group at all, unless your level is high enough.

my hero needs to be self supporting without having to rely too heavily on another hero.
 
Great post by Arremus, remind me to make you an article writer for Hero's Hall k? I loved what you stated about customization, and end game content. Great refernece to WoW about instances. They are basically lame. Their has always been a super-uber weapon in MMO's that everyone wants. I'm sick of it.

I also agree solo'ing is a huge part in the game, and it should be viable not only for one class such as rangers, warriors, and gearknights. But also for mages, clerics, priests, and bards. Classes that get taken as just party goers.....

party goers.. heh.
 
I usually end up soloing....my job can throw me a curve at any moment and I have to go fix something. I do like a group from time to time but soloing is critical.
 
Soloing and customization are two biggest things for me. If you like soloing then for the love of god don't play FFXI. The game FORCES you to party. Unless you are a beastmaster(the solo class) but they nerfed that months ago and screwed the class up.
 
No one seems to grasp what Shadow is really saying here. Let me explain it further. The concept lends towards solo, group, and role-playing in either scenario. When killing a critter, a person gained experience which is placed in a 'well' of sorts. Once this 'well' was filled, killing more critters did not mean more experience. One stat determined how deep your 'well' is. Another stat determined how fast you absorb that experience that is in your 'well'. To promote downtime (which resulted in role-playing, bartering, etc) there were areas in town considered as 'nodes' which doubled the rate at which you absorbed experience. This means - if you solo you are likely to fill your well quickly and went to a 'node' you could absorb your experience fairly quickly but also have time to interact with your surrounding adventurers. If you grouped up, your group would hunt longer but would eventually need down-time as well.

It also stopped people from power-leveling because it required time as well as hunting to absorb experience.

As far as I know, Simu is the only company that did something like this. Hopefully they'll use its concept in some way to keep role-playing a part of the graphic-saturated world of MMORPGs like we saw during the text-based days.
 
I like that concept Silver, and hope that it, or something similar is used in HJ.

BTW, I like your avatar ;) Running with scissors... I have guilds in DAoC, WoW, Anarchy Online and Guild Wars named "Runs with Scissors". The WoW one never really took off and I ended up joining another guild with my main character, and AO's guild was a spinoff, "The Runners". The theory behind all the guilds was that we were a courier service known throughout the lands to run dangerously and proud with scissors in hand ;)

~ Jaraeth
 
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