Stretching the blob to allow for massive battles

[Dustie]

* Soloable objectives (encourages people to split off from the main force)
* Multiple fronts (gives people somewhere to split off *to*)

I don't want people to split off so much as spread out and participate in one large battle that extends past an individuals clipping plane to one side and the other. This would be a battle whereby you hold your line so that the enemy can't break through and attack the position/thing/resource you're trying to protect. Further, if your section of the line is broken, the enemy will gain some advantage by being able to come at the back of your line to either side of the breakthrough.

* Friendly fire and AE weapons (discourages clumping)
* Defense is easier than offense (makes people care more about losing something, which means they will spread out and defend multiple areas rather than clumping together for one big fight)

Note on this one -- this doesn't mean that defenders necessarily have a strategic advantage, just that it's less bothersome to defend than it is to attack, so many players will see the value in defending a spot rather than trying to capture a new one.

I don't think defenders have much advantage in Planetside or WW2O. If anything, the attackers probably have a strategic advantage. But defending is easier. You spawn in, run 20 feet and start shooting. Attacking involves placing mobile spawns, driving your tank 5 miles across terrain from the next nearest base, etc. It's more troublesome than defending.

I agree, but do games like planetside, with their various ranged weapons and vehicles, make battle line creation easier then MMORPGs? I would say they do, so we also need to figure out if this can be done in an MMORPG with only melee and relatively short range spells and arrows. I would think it would be easier to form battle lines with shorter range combat systems in MMORPGs but it seems to be the opposite.