Gameplay Suggestions for Switching between the different Gamestyles and Modes

Greetings everyone,
as we know, there will be three online modes (solo player online, friendly player online and open player online) and the developers don't want, that players can switch between this modes all the time to prevent exploiting. So, why don't we look for some suggestions, where and when you can change this modes ingame and maybe make it a bit more game immersive.

Also, we know, that people have different expectations to this games. Some want a spiritual successor to pre Trammel Ultima Online, but others look more for a challenging solo or cooperative game and a living world in the spirit of Ultima 4-7. The selective multiplayer mode of this game tries to put players together in miniature shards according to their preferred game style. I absolutely love that plan! But some preconfigurations could help, to find the best solutions for this faster.

My suggestion would be: Add a temple of the virtues to the big towns and cities (and only there), where players can pray to the shrines of virtue. When you pray at a shrine, you activate a specific ingame option.

Since this game will be a selective multiplayer game, the game will determine on the basis of your prayer choices, with which players it will put you in instances, areas and game regions.

Let's begin:

There are the three principles and you can only pray to one principle a day (of course, the game would remember your prayers, when you log out):

1. The principle of truth: When you pray at the shrine of truth, you change your game mode to Solo Player Online

2. The principle of love: When you pray at the shrine of love, you change your game mode to Friendly Player Online

3. The principle of courage: When you pray at the shrine of courage, you change your game mode to Open Player Online (this could be the default option, since it is the mode Lord British hopes, that most players are heading for).

And there are the eight virtues. Every virtue has a shrines, that can be prayed to, to activate additional game modes. You can only pray once per day to a shrine, but you can pray to as many as you like. Rewards for activating shrines could be achievements, trophies, prestige and cosmetic stuff (I don't like the idea of giving better resources, equipment, etc. since it would harm the balancing of the game; in my experience, the biggest reward for a player is, when he overcomes an obstacle by himself, so he is proud of himself):

1. Honesty: This prayer activates the bounty option. You can put a bounty on the head of a real or alleged criminal (who has activated this option, too). To prevent the abuse of this mode: when a player can prove, that he is not guilty (there could be judges in the world, that you can convince in a dialogue), the accuser gets automatically on the bounty list and can't put new bounties on other players for the next week.

2. Compassion: This prayer activates the PK option. You may hunt other players outside the safe heavens aside from the PvP missions and get hunted by others, too. In SPO, only one PK can attack you at once (similar to Dark Souls).

3. Valor: This prayer activates the permadeath mode. When you get killed, there is no coming back. You have to create a new player, that acts as the heir of the deceased predecessor (such inheriting houses, ingame bank accounts, etc.)

4. Justice: This mode activates the prisoner-option. When you get caught after doing a crime (or you get accused of doing something wrong you didn't do), you can get thrown in a dungeon by city guards (or overland guards and other players). You have to stay in prison for some time (depending on the crime), but have the chance to break out and sneak out of the dungeon (you remain a fugitive, until you sit out your time or prove to a judge, that you're not guilty).

5. Sacrifice: This prayer activates the full loot mode. When you get killed, other players and even monsters may steal from your corpse (except some Kickstarter rewards and story line related stuff)

6. Honor: This prayer activates the PvE hard mode. Monster won't get more hit points or better stats, but they recognize players earlier, are more likely to call for help, ambush and swarm the player, lay traps, jump you everywhere outside the safe areas and can make the live of a player to a nightmare in the wilderness.

7. Spirituality: This prayer activates the challenge quests mode. You get experience and you level your stats during quests, encounters, etc. as normal, but when you fail in an encounter or quest, get killed, etc. all experience and stat upgrades are put back.

8. Humility: This prayer activates the pickpocket mode. You may steal from other players or rob their houses, but others can steal from you, too (except kickstarter rewards and story line related stuff)

Ok, I had to be a bit imaginative, to find game options for all of the virtues. Maybe you have better ideas.

Why do I think, this is a good solution? Because with such a system, everyone can choose the game mode, he wants to play in and the selective multiplayer game system will automatically put you in instances, encounters, etc. with other players according to your prayers. It should never happen, that a Full Loot Player, a Permadeath Player or a PK player gets put in an instance with players of other modes.

And since we achieved the 2 Million stretch goal, guilds could have the option to be dedicated to specific shrines. Those guild prayers would be mandatory and can only be renounced when leaving the guild (after leaving or getting kicked out of a guild, it should take at least a week, until you can join a new guild or be taken again by the old one).

As an additional idea: Make it, that not all cities/towns pray to all virtues, except the capital. So some cities have shrines of valor, but no shrines of sacrifice, etc. And all villages could be dedicated to a single virtue (and such have one shrine)

Please tell me, what you think of my ideas and post your own suggestions, if you have better ones =)

Cheers,
Andreas

 

Well as to mode.
If you are in FPO or solo mode you should be able to switch to any of the 3 modes.
If you are in OPO mode and have not attacked anyone in PVP you should be able to switch any time.
If you have attacked anyone there should not be a switch available till the next day.
If you have attacked and killed someone you should be locked in OPO mode for a long period of time. No running away, and in game real time, no logging out and waiting for your timer to expire.
If you were in OPO mode and were attacked and killed you should be allowed to switch at any time.

 

@Karsh: This would assume, that PKing in OPO is automaticalle enabled and all players are subjected to it, that go to OPO. But Chris stated yesterday pretty clearly:

"The open world is NOT PVP. That rumor is being spread by some trolls in the forums. We?ve been VERY clear that PVP will be consensual and not required. The rewards of PVP will primarily be things that are only valuable to PVP?ers. You will be safe from PK?ers and so will the goods of your house unless you choose to join in."

So the selective multiplayer must be able to put PvPers/Pkers in the correct minishards and the same for the opposite

 

I generally agree with what you're saying. That you can take up some cause of a virtue and put the game into hard more for some small buff. I'm not sure about any of the specifics though.

 

@PrimeRib: It's just an idea, I created on the fly =p . So the specifics are open for better suggestions^^ . And it doesn't have to be according to the virtues, too (Roleplayers could have problems with it). I just wanted to create an options system, that is a bit included in the game environment and not boring check boxes on an options screen.

Btw, do we know, if there will be the three online modes + a slider, or does the slider preconfigure the three online modes (slider to the left is SPO, slider to the right is OPO)?

 

The simple and boring option would be off course: Sliders and Check Boxes for everything, that can only be changed in safe heavens;

- Which online mode do you want to play: FPO, SPO, OPO
- How often do you want to be placed in shards with players, that killed other players before: Slider from never to often
- How often do you want to be placed in shards with players, you never met before: Slider from never to often
- Checkboxes for Permadeath, Full Loot, Bounty System, etc.
etc. etc.

I just like to see those options included in the game more elegant.

 

No, i like the virtues thing. As in there's some valor associating with wanting the PvP cranked up or perma-death. Or I can sacrifice 20% of my HP for better active avoidance.

I just think you may be trying a little to hard to map the virtues to the game modes and can just make them separate things.

 

I'm assuming that the issue isn't people switching between solo and friend only. Thinking at the way I play Diablo I would think that those 2 should be quick and easy switching between them, if your exploiting your real friends then you have issues outside the game

 

I think it is unnecessarily complex, and counter intuitive. What does compassion have to do with PKing? To my mind, Pking involves attacking another player without cause, and murdering them.

I think it perverts the concept of virtues, praying to the virtues to enable a particular action. It is your actions that determine if you are virtuous or not, not your just visiting a shrine somewhere.

As I understand it right now, I think you have to travel to a town to be able to change modes. I think that is sufficient.

 

@Owain: But where in the town would you change your game mode? A fun thing about Ultima IX (and something Lord British was very proud of) was, that nearly all game options where somehow integrated into the gameplay (even if some of them were like an Options menu in the journal). I don't think, it would be impossible to include such choices somehow in the game itself.

And even if you prefer the simple options menu solution with sliders and checkboxes, it would interest me, how you would handle that.

You're right, off course, that PKing has nothing to do with compassion. It's more the opposite of it. Like I said before, the virtues thing it's just an idea (and in many cases not a very good on, I admit that ;-) ).

But this thread is not intended as an attempt to convince you of my infallible suggestions, but more some kind of brainstorming , with the goal to help the matchmaking system find the best player combinations for the minishards.

Another idea, that came to my mind, is, to add city guilds like an assassins guild to the game, where you can turn on the PK/Anti-Pk option and where you can find a bounty board, or a guild of thieves (maybe hidden on secret places like in the town sewers), where you can turn on the pickpocket and house robbery options. Or a Temple dedicated to a god of the Underworld, where you could turn on a Permadeath option. Or how about a gypsy camp at the periphery of each city, where you get asked several questions and according to the answers, you get put in other minishards.

Cheers,
Andreas

 

@AntiZ275, the exact mechanism for switching modes hasn't been announced, and probably hasn't even been decided upon yet. I'm hoping the devs will come up with something simple and elegant. When they propose a method, I'm sure everyone will provide inputs on how that should happen.

The assassins guild would be a far better approach for a solo PK to select than twisting a virtue beyond recognition. It could also be a place for players who will be thieves to learn their craft. I don't think anyone as suggested that before, so that is a good idea.

As far as permadeath goes, as I mentioned elsewhere, that is simple. Any player can do that. If you die, delete your character. I doubt many would do it, but it's more simple that adding a game feature that few if any will use.

 

Andi. No idea where you are getting that I said OPO=Open PVP. I think you're jumping to conclusions.

 

Not sure I would like changing my mode of play that way.
I mean if I have to do a solo mission one day and a run through pk land the next day so be it.
But having everyone running around with a different flag would cause some confusion.
If your guild goes on a hunt and everyones flag is different and we all die, I can't image the out come of that.
Maybe it would make it interesting.