MMO on Rails

[Rokien]

Oh great, another topic about Rokien overreacting

Yes, please tell me where I overreacted, I would love to know.

[Atoli]

Yes, please tell me where I overreacted, I would love to know.

SE said there's going to be more help for players (which is not a bad thing if done right) and you start panicking 2.0 might be a "MMO on rails" - oh please, even the thread title is an overreaction to the statement Yoshi-P made.

[Rokien]

SE said there's going to be more help for players (which is not a bad thing if done right) and you start panicking 2.0 might be a "MMO on rails" - oh please, even the thread title is an overreaction to the statement Yoshi-P made.

I asked a question, what yoshi said is kinda indicating it, it is a theme park mmo after all, so I don't think that was an overreaction question at all. Would it have better if I didn't quote him?

[Atoli]

Yoshi never said FFXIV 2.0 is going to be an MMO on rails, he only said he wants to make sure "players know where to go and what activities are there to do once they enter a new map" as you quoted.
Example of how this can be added without it being an MMO on rails?
Let's say you travel around Thanalan, and you enter a new map. A few meters in front of you you see a signpost at which a group of NPCs is camping. If you talk to them, they say stuff like "Travelers told us about 3 ferocious beasts roaming this area..apearently one is a giant ant and another one a herd of XY (cow-thingys?). I hope we don't get attacked!"
Heck, they could even give you a quest of finding and slaying the NMs (of course without a quest map).
That way you know in this area you can slay NMs X, Y and Z but exploring that area or even finding the NMs if you want to kill them is all up to you.

Thinking about it, you probably are not extremely overreacting..just totally dramatizing the idea of "letting the player know what is there to do in this area".

[Kasathar]

Themepark and on-rails are very different. I don't mind having a little more direction (although the system in place is pretty good) but I definitely don't want an experience reminiscent of the Space battles in SWTOR (now, that's "on rails")

[Zantetsuken]

.

Move along folks, move along...

[Onisake]

How do you guys feel about a mmo being on rails?


"making sure players know where to go and what activities are there to do once they enter a new map."

I thought SWTOR was pretty much on rails. but this was because i was following the storyline. I could have at any point stopped doing the story and done something else to level up. (PvP as an example) to me SWTOR is the closest to being on rails.

I don't think an MMO on rails would be successful. but it also depends on your definition of 'rail.'

the flight missions in SWTOR were on rails. you had a set path. you could not deviate from it. all you could do was shoot at stuff. to me, this is what being on rails means to me. you cannot deviate from a given path. That being said I would be against rails in an MMO. it would be like playing the first half of FFXIII but multiplayer. >.> with no option to go and craft, go explore, or do anything but move the story along. it would be boring as crap.

that being said, in FFXIV currently you can craft, you can do story, you can grind, you leve, you can explore. so i don't think the game will ever truly be on rails.

Story, to a degree, must be on rails. IE: in the current story line we don't have the option of stealing magitek armor and using it in the final battle. we also don't have the option of stealing an airship and blasting our enemies from afar with artillery. we can't strike an alliance with the level 100 gobs and have them fight for us. the only option we have is what class we go into the final battle as. if you consider this 'being on rails' then I am all for it. if there are too many options people get confused.

If you remember the initial class system, you could make any role you wanted with any class you wanted. you could level MRD and THM/CNJ and turn yourself into a DRK wielding a greataxe. and throw elemental magic and swing your axe around.

Being able to use any ability on any class at anytime made the game very open. but people were too confused. so rails are needed to help give people direction and say 'this class is for DD/Tank/Support' Again, if this is your definition of rails I am all for it.

[Emulord]

I don't even know why I got confused and I read MMO on Railroads.

Sigmund Freud (Can I have it?)

[Gramul]

You want a FF XI-2? Where quests were just telling you "go find [thing]" without any detail at all?



Sure there is a big difference playing with a wiki open and having direction in-game. The advantage of in-game directions over wiki is that at least you are not spoiled since you don't see what's coming up next. And that's impossible to avoid with a wiki. You will at least see how long the page is, so have an idea how far you are in a quest.

I'd like a game like that. I enjoy figuring out those kind of things.

I only use the Wiki for things like gear stats, material locations, and prerequisite knowledge anyway.

And I actually can provide an example of an audience for that kind of game. The Legend of Grimrock is a classic style dungeon crawler RPG with a mapless mode where you have to draw out your own map on grid paper, and the game itself is filled with all sorts of puzzles and secrets without any menus telling you where to go or what to do next. The game has sold very well on Steam and is one of my most recommended indie titles.

[Seif]

It also tells me that challenge people don't want is "I don't wanna read!", Heck, they could have the npcs tell exactly where to go and how to get there and people would still be like, HOW DO I GET THERE!?!?! We don't NEED an arrow pointing to where some gobs are, go out and find em! We don't need a bubble saying HEY QUEST HERE! We definitely don't need HEY THERE IS A NM IN THIS LOCATION, BET YA CAN'T FIND EM!!!! lol it's really laughable. Like, this game should have adventure, it's not even about challenge, it's about laziness. Hell, I'm a super lazy guy, but do I wanna get even more lazy? No.

With silly things like that going to be added, they might as well add auto path. So everyone can just go afk and have the game play it self.

I sense a XIII joke coming up...