Features you'd like to see in Shroud of the Avatar

on second thought there may have been some eppisode like that. Maybe that's why Dr. Bombay never really came right away.

 

ANOTHER IDEA ABOUT WEAPON SPECIALIZATION:

To aid in the hope people don't switch between a broadsword to a long sword... it would be nice to have only one single hand specialization, and one two-handed specialization.

That's if you guys like the specialization idea in the first place. Either way I think this would help limit people's desire to switch between different kinds of weapons for their special ability.

 

You know what I take my last comment back. If a person wants to specialize in a number of weapons that will take away from their other skills. I would rather error on the side of freedom to create a character anyway they want... sorry about the extra posts.

 

@Zeal: FireLotus has told me there will be female Avatars, and I believe Lumberjacking is on 'the larger skill list' or some such. Not sure where I heard that, I believe an RG interview.

Lots of good posts in here. Will try to aggregate them again soon.

 

Mechanics which don't allow macroing of skills/resource gathering.
- EUO, UO Assist, and Razor destroyed the UO economy (or just created a new normal), Make rare item spawns truly random where the random seed changes so there aren't just 20 spots, but a really random drop, and resource regeneration slow based on the frequency of exploitation in that spot so macroing sees a diminishing return. An algorithm for skill gain or item drops should include distribution and frequency feedbacks perhaps based on a unique object id which is spatially aware in whatever coordinate system your map uses.

 

I would like to have chuckles the jester in the game.
Where me makes us play 'the game'

 

Ability to create and play my own party of self rolled characters, out of a collection. Further, the ability to take any one character from the collection and join another players' party.

 

TURNING THE UNDEAD:

Good cleric causes undead to flee (or destruction of weak undead).

Evil cleric causes undead to fight on their side (penalty to Spirituality or some virtue tied to that action).

 

SILVER ORE:

So we can craft silver weapons and armour vs the undead.

This could be one of those rare metals found only in those "danger zones".

 

In UO, I intentionally dyed my ranger's robes the same color green as the trees because it was easier to hide from the PKs in the early days. I don't like to PK myself, but I would like adequate means in-game to use stealth to avoid. You don't have to go full-on Splinter Cell gameplay, but it would be awesome to have cover, detection levels that are affected by light, stance, speed, etc.

 

I agree with the "no flying mounts" sentiment.

 

I wanted to add my two cents to this interesting discussion.

I saw a few people talk about it but instead of the camera views being set up like in the preview, I would like to see it revisited and placed back overhead in a 45 degree or isometric view as that is what I think of when I think Ultima. If not changed, a camera change option to a simular camera would be awesome! When I see the cameras in a 1st person or over the shoulder, I instantly think of the EA screw up of Ultima 9.... I know that is not fair to think that way but I can't help it. In my preference, All RPGs that I truly got lost in had top down/ isometric views. Would like to see others input on this as well.

On another note, the only other thing I would love to see is game scenarios where we get to interact with the devs. Since they are working so hard to bring this world to us, they should have their fun inside as well!

Other than that, I loved everything you guys have shown so far. Being a game programmer myself, I have no idea how you guys are going to get all that you have shown in such a short time! Glad to be a contributor.

 

As some of my other interests have already been mentioned, I hope as was part of the Ultima/UO games of the past, that the player character creation system which allowed the player to choose gender, skin tones (fair to dark) and a few other physical attributes is a "given" or "planned" part of the game (along with the virtues, of course). I personally don't need or mean to imply "The Sims" level of character creation per say; simply that diversity of player character is an option here too.

Thanks for reading.

 

FEATURE: A game that can immediately 'smack down' all lawbreakers or provide justice against all lawbreakers in 'safe' areas, with some areas of wilderness being unsafe, where a traveler would have to be wary and have friends or hired protectors, and risk attack by murderers and thieves.

A 'realistic' version of the 'world' (having to do with the 'grief-player', also the 'PKer' who isn't solely out to ruin everyone else's game, and the PvPer). I'm 100% disinterested in fighting [in-game] ALL the time, though I am not 100% against EVER fighting [in-game]. UO tried -- unsuccessfully -- to provide some lawful NPC [Lord British's guards] to help the playing adventurer.

If the game 'world' could be realistic, then in every lawful area, guards would be on patrol [possibly with trained guard dragons or the like], and adventurers within these lawful areas would be safe from murderers and most thieves, most of the time. There would also be the possibility of 'proofs' and witnesses, and prosecution, jail time or executions, bounties, and so forth. However, if the game world cannot be realistic due to the available internal game mechanics at the time of launch, then the ideas Richard Garriott has been proposing for compromise will have to do.

I'm so weary of those whose idea of a fun adventure is only to fight and take trying to bully the rest of us into that kind of a game. They come into the chat and whine, basically saying, "Why won't you let me kill everybody and take their stuff like I want to?" They spread the falsehood that this is the funnest type of game for everyone, the most 'thrilling', and then they start the immature name calling. Trying to provoke [as they love to do] they try to bully by saying 'Trammie' and '********'. They also claim that this is the most 'realistic' type of 'world', where everyone can PK anywhere, and anytime. Knock it off.

Thanks.

 

I would like to see a world where the Gaia Hypothesis is put into practice. I'm thinking particularly of something like Mount & Blade, where individuals and groups have their own priorities. Kingdoms would have macro-level agendas, and then individuals have micro-level priorities and attitudes. The economic/political/social aspects could create a system of friction that coalesces into a flow of behavior and a sense of reality that the world is full of rational and irrational actors.

I would take that, and then adopt the EVE online/UO way of things. Have a few competing factions in the world that can't really be conquered by the players or each other, and then create large regions of uncontrolled territory that players can craft their own kingdoms in and compete amongst each other. I would like to see players have some access to NPC soldiers, but mostly for security on roads and in populated areas, and perhaps some armies that are incredibly expensive but useful in wars. I would still keep the possibility of being ganked while in untamed areas in the NPC kingdoms, but following roads should be safe for newbies or neutral players that aren't a part of the faction wars among the NPCs, and also because there would be NPC soldiers patrolling the roads. I feel like this would greatly satisfy me in terms of the PVP/PVE question, because These are 3 different levels of involvement that everybody falls into at some point or another. Some just wanna chill with friends and do stories and exploring(PVE,) others want to chill with others and kill other people(factions,) and others wanna kill and profit for a cause(player kingdoms.) It seems like this would preserve the sense of danger and satisfaction.


These 2 walls of words, at least in my mind, would result in the ability to create a system where quests can be synthesized from numerous variables. The way I'm looking at it, the macro-level kingdoms and institutions are playing and thinking on a strategic scale like the AI in a 4X Turn-Based Strategy game like Masters of Orion or Civilization. The micro-level communities and individuals are living their life kind of like Sims on the other hand. They have a hierarchy of needs, and they are interacting with those traits and the way to fulfill their priorities. It makes quest creation easy because they are related to real needs and problems. For the player it would be like the radiant quests in Skyrim I suppose. Some would approach you, others you would hear others talking about, some would be found in literature. Directed storylines and events are obviously still doable inside this kind of thing, I just think that it would add a lot of re-playability if there was a legitimately active world where surprises are possible.

I didn't want to write so much, but it all kinda spread out as I thought about what I like about emergent gameplay.

Aside from that, I would like if there was gender equality with regards to gear appearance, no women-only skimpy stuff, its weird. The only other thing that I would like to see is an interactive combat system kinda like Mount & Blade, War of the Roses, or Chivalry. That kind of control model is the best kind of stuff we'll have until Brain-Computer Interfacing.

 

Treasure Hunting. please!

 

Rentable plots with vendors on marketplaces

 

@cs2501x Thanks for the response! I hadn't seen any info about genders, so I am glad to hear that.

I can't think of any suggestions that don't boil down to "please make this UO".

I look forward to playing!

 

1. Skill based system with a cap
2. Full player crafting
3. Full loot
4. Open PvP outside of Player made laws/politics and newbie zones
5. Murder/Bounty system

MMO's haven't had a decent game like this since UO. People are too focused on items and not on the experiences. Having full loot and everything player crafted removes the item based grind. Instead of gear checks and DPS meters, you outfit yourself for that day's adventure risking only what you are willing to lose. An entire generation of MMO gamers have no idea what they are missing since a successful fantasy game like this doesn't exist. EVE is the best model to point to as a way to do it and make it work.

 

No limit on the crafting professions. Since we're limited to one character only I would like to see we can teach ourselves all the crafting professions there are. I mean, in the real world I can use an axe and needle and thread as well. And if I practice a lot I can become very good at both.

If you want make the process go slower when you already have a craft learned. To make it a bit harder/interesting to achieve all.

That's at least I would like to see in-game!