From that other thread, I thought this was worth elaborating on...
Elements of the perfect Purge game (IMO) --
Meaningful deaths and kills
This could manifest in a number of ways.
For example, in Planetside, your death didn't personally impact YOU but it did hurt your TEAM. Death could basically mean the enemy was that much closer to taking over the tower or the base or overrunning your position -- your team (and thus, indirectly, you) could lose something meaningful as a result of deaths.
EVE and POTBS tended to make it more personal. Your death could impact the team (depending on conditions) but generally it was just a personal loss.
Either way, you go into a fight knowing that something is at stake. Win or lose, something important is on the line and it matters if you live or die. You aren't just out there in the wilderness fighting to see who gets shiny coin.
Goal oriented gameplay
I think we're happier when we have a clear goal to shoot for, be it beating a dungeon or obtaining a particular piece of equipment or overrunning a particular stronghold.
Planetside also did well here, in that there was always another tower or another base to go for. Planetside's failure, I think, was that it didn't present any long term goals, only short term ones (day long at most). I think WAR largely falls into this same pit -- there are some good short term goals but the long term goals seem insubstantial and not very strategic in any case (there aren't a lot of options).
A good Purge game would have solid short term goals (take over the base) combined with some overarching long term goal that persists from day to day and week to week.
Combat which is more strategic/tactical and less twitchy
This seems to be a given for most MMOGs anyway -- I think we prefer battles that last a decent amount of time and involves some good individual tactics as well as opportunities for group movement and strategy. POTBS PvP battles may be the best type of combat I've ever experienced in an MMOG. Lots of negatives about that game but when you actually got a good 6v6 rolling, that was good stuff -- all about tactics and maneuvers and not just who can hit their "kill" button the fastest.
I enjoy some "one shot one kill shooters" too but I don't know that I'd like it as an MMOG. I think that's a big reason why we've never had a good Purge presence is World War 2 Online.
Gameplay which easily allows you to come and go without disrupting everyone else
It baffles me when MMOGs fail at this one. It seems like such a simple, obvious idea: someone logs in at 8:42pm on a Tuesday. They would like to play the game. The game needs to facilitate this, not discourage them because "it's too late to join the raid" or whatever.
Planetside did good at this, too. The world was wide open so whenever you logged on, you just needed to find out where everyone was and go there. You might find yourself blocked by enemy players or something but at least you had a fighting chance to join up with your friends and you weren't simply stonewalled by some silly game mechanic (like backspawn in a private dungeon).
Character balance that lets you hit the ground running and be useful without having to spend a lot of time playing catch-up
Along the same lines as the last point, you need to be able to bring in a new player and play with them. MMORPGs are particularly bad about this. The tendency there is to say, "Hey come join us in Lord of the Worldhammer! ... Well, we're all level 90 but if you play for 2 months straight you should be able to start playing with us."
That's just ridiculous. COH/COV took the step of allowing "sidekicks" I think they called it, which at least made the game playable for newbies who wanted to join vets but I think the better solution is, again, the Planetside model, where there simply isn't a vast difference in killing power between vets and newbies. Or something like EVE, where a veteran can always beat a newbie but 3 newbies can beat most veterans and no matter how big your fleet is, there's always room and value to bring in one more newbie.
Linear games based around leveling through content will always fail at this. Even if they allow sidekicking, you're bypassing a lot of content which is a form of failure in itself.
Elements of the perfect Purge game (IMO) --
Meaningful deaths and kills
This could manifest in a number of ways.
For example, in Planetside, your death didn't personally impact YOU but it did hurt your TEAM. Death could basically mean the enemy was that much closer to taking over the tower or the base or overrunning your position -- your team (and thus, indirectly, you) could lose something meaningful as a result of deaths.
EVE and POTBS tended to make it more personal. Your death could impact the team (depending on conditions) but generally it was just a personal loss.
Either way, you go into a fight knowing that something is at stake. Win or lose, something important is on the line and it matters if you live or die. You aren't just out there in the wilderness fighting to see who gets shiny coin.
Goal oriented gameplay
I think we're happier when we have a clear goal to shoot for, be it beating a dungeon or obtaining a particular piece of equipment or overrunning a particular stronghold.
Planetside also did well here, in that there was always another tower or another base to go for. Planetside's failure, I think, was that it didn't present any long term goals, only short term ones (day long at most). I think WAR largely falls into this same pit -- there are some good short term goals but the long term goals seem insubstantial and not very strategic in any case (there aren't a lot of options).
A good Purge game would have solid short term goals (take over the base) combined with some overarching long term goal that persists from day to day and week to week.
Combat which is more strategic/tactical and less twitchy
This seems to be a given for most MMOGs anyway -- I think we prefer battles that last a decent amount of time and involves some good individual tactics as well as opportunities for group movement and strategy. POTBS PvP battles may be the best type of combat I've ever experienced in an MMOG. Lots of negatives about that game but when you actually got a good 6v6 rolling, that was good stuff -- all about tactics and maneuvers and not just who can hit their "kill" button the fastest.
I enjoy some "one shot one kill shooters" too but I don't know that I'd like it as an MMOG. I think that's a big reason why we've never had a good Purge presence is World War 2 Online.
Gameplay which easily allows you to come and go without disrupting everyone else
It baffles me when MMOGs fail at this one. It seems like such a simple, obvious idea: someone logs in at 8:42pm on a Tuesday. They would like to play the game. The game needs to facilitate this, not discourage them because "it's too late to join the raid" or whatever.
Planetside did good at this, too. The world was wide open so whenever you logged on, you just needed to find out where everyone was and go there. You might find yourself blocked by enemy players or something but at least you had a fighting chance to join up with your friends and you weren't simply stonewalled by some silly game mechanic (like backspawn in a private dungeon).
Character balance that lets you hit the ground running and be useful without having to spend a lot of time playing catch-up
Along the same lines as the last point, you need to be able to bring in a new player and play with them. MMORPGs are particularly bad about this. The tendency there is to say, "Hey come join us in Lord of the Worldhammer! ... Well, we're all level 90 but if you play for 2 months straight you should be able to start playing with us."
That's just ridiculous. COH/COV took the step of allowing "sidekicks" I think they called it, which at least made the game playable for newbies who wanted to join vets but I think the better solution is, again, the Planetside model, where there simply isn't a vast difference in killing power between vets and newbies. Or something like EVE, where a veteran can always beat a newbie but 3 newbies can beat most veterans and no matter how big your fleet is, there's always room and value to bring in one more newbie.
Linear games based around leveling through content will always fail at this. Even if they allow sidekicking, you're bypassing a lot of content which is a form of failure in itself.