07-12-2012, 03:36 PM
Strife Wrote:In an MMO... I think it's possible, but not going to be like WoW successful.
Diablo 2/3 have hardcore mode, which a lot of people like... But it's not for the masses. Also, it's not the entire game. Diablo 3 wouldn't be as successful as it is if there was ONLY hardcore mode. Fact of the matter is, the masses don't like harsh punishments for dieing in their games.
Games with the survival aspect, don't really promote PvP. They promote avoiding PvP and picking your spots... which for most people, isn't exactly why we play video games. Also, with the nature of the internet, stupid shit happens that could really cause frustrations... one of the guys in the DayZ thread posted about a guy who lagged out, came back, saw a guy standing in front of him... killed the guy, only to realize it was himself that he just killed. If you play a game that takes work building up your character with decent gear, levels, skills... and then you lose it all because you got dc'd... that's pretty frustrating and doesn't exactly promote replay value.
In order to do this successfully, I believe you'd have to be more in the FPS environment, where all of the characters are basically the same. .. If you're going to add the survival aspect to it, it should be more of a scoring system... in a game where leveling and items aren't really involved.
No. I'd go with the Slamz model of designing a game how I'd like it and not for the masses. That isn't really a WoW model.
The difference in gameplay vs something like D2/3 is that you don't have to spend 100 days getting xp to "be something". When you spawn you have just as much of a chance to kill someone who's been alive for years. Its ease of access to content thus very little "grinding" which D2/3 have. Even hardcore D2/3 people complained about lag deaths... I don't see that changing but if its easier to start over then who really cares?
Ease of play would hopefully balance death making the fun part just surviving or ruining someone's day. I think in a MMO style game of survival you'll definitely have those who don't PvP just to stay alive. However, that in itself is risky because around the next corner you could run into someone who'll blow you away. Especially if you're on a large map with thousands of people... that likelihood is real. It makes the game intense even for non-pvpers.