Suggestion Cycle 4 (Nominations)

[[PhiberOpticks]]

Today, I begin the fourth cycle of suggestion. I will continue this process unless participation goes down significantly enough. But the third cycle had much greater voting turn-out, so I am inclined to continue the fourth cycle on schedule. This will be open until 10 features have been officially nominated.

Guidelines for Nominations:

• Ideas cannot interfere with the current development process. That means nothing that will change how the core game functions.
• If the feature that you are suggesting has already been implemented, don't suggest it, unless you can put forth a strong argument as to why you would suggest it. Given the "swimming" debacle, I am inclined to review further suggestions with more scrutiny.
• When nominating suggestions, embolden your nominations, so I can tally nominations with more ease. (i.e. I nominate Emote Content)
• All suggestions need a minimum of 3 nominations total to be officially nominated. Your suggestion counts as a nomination, so you obviously don't want to suggest something you don't want. If there is negative feedback regarding your suggestion, I may be inclined to ask for more nominations.

I will begin...
I nominate the Bounty System

I strongly urge people to be creative and make up wholly new ideas if possible. And now is the time to re-nominate suggestions from previous cycles. Be aware that if activity is lacking, I may close the poll early and delay further cycles, in order to keep the program fresh.

This thread will remain open until a total of 10 nominations have been made. The voting will begin the following Thursday, and will end the Thursday after that. Unless the threads are inactive and/or poll turn-out is not good enough, the next cycle will begin the following Tuesday.

[Delthis]

I second the Bounty System nomination.

That is something that I think will be very interesting and just add more drive to PvP.

[[PhiberOpticks]]

Indeed, I think it will.

By the way, when you guys nominate suggestions, make sure you know what you are or aren't nominating. I've noticed a problem with people not reading the posts in previous cycles. Although posting about that may not address the issue as it should, it doesn't hurt. Read before you write. Know what you're talking about.

[BahamutKaiser]

OK, so I'm editing this post to add my first wave of ideas. (rolls right shoulder).

First I will offer the Interactive Defense enchancement.

I've brang this up alot already in a few threads, basically, the simple and limited system of agro and taunting or provoking in most MMOs is very weak, not only is it not a direct defensive measure which does not translate into a legitimate tactic or ability in PvP, but it is severly limited, often to a single target, and failing to offer a valid strategy behind defense, multiple opponents and AoE damage, and better tactics against projectile strategies and kiting.

Interactive Defense is fairly simple, by using skills, a player would momentarily gain the ability to intercept an attack, projectile, spell or combination of these. Instead of simply boosting up defensive stats, the player would actual interact with the opponents attacks, manually utilizing a skill which will temporarily enter your charater in a defensive maneuver, which would block and maybe counteract the next attack. This is ment to be a short term reaction, not used in syncronization to block the attack, but to preempt an attack.

This function can operate in a variety of ways in a variety of strengths depending on the characters alignment to defense. primarily combat oriented melee characters should all have some form of this ability in order to negotiate the fierceness of frontline battle, as well as counteract ranged attacks to some degree. Also units with a shield are more proficient with defensive actions, presuming that even a cleric would have at least a basic blocking skill as well.

Where this truely shines is in the use of enhanced blocking by warrior type professions to intercept attacks not only directed at themselves, but at adjacent allies. By accompanying an ally, within close proximity, and facing an incoming attack, a tank class can provide the option to intercept and manually block attacks directed at an ally. In this way a class, particularly a Templar, would have the option of standing near an ally, and intercepting attacks directed at that ally to defend them, instead of trying to draw agression onto himself in some fanicifal manner that doesn't equate to live opponents. And wile you could also develop a group taunting ability to allow players to enslave groups of foes to attack the tank, it is even more effective for a defense unit to defend the soft target manually by accompanying them, and intercepting attacks directly even against multiple foes. Most of all, this offers a legitimate tactic to defend allies in PvP vs centient players who will not fall for control tricks.

To finish this up, there is also the option to bodyguard an ally by sheathing your weapon and bridging your arm onto an ally, physically linking your movement. The protected unit would control the movement of both players, wile the defending unit will guide himself in front of the ally automatically due to the outstretched arm, and move together, wile intercepting all attacks directed at that ally from the front and sides, and only using defensive and support skills to reduce damage and heal if available. In this way two players can join forces to offer maximum defense and the safety to nuke wildly or heal profusely.

The auterior benifits of this is a dynamic defense role for Templar, and perhaps partially for Gladiators as well, which would ensure that they have significant value which does not faulter in PvP gameplay. This technique can offer equally valuable effect in PvP as well as PvE. Also, this offers the opportunity for multiple Templar to be in the same team. Wile the damage of a templar is probably designed to be the weakest, only above priests, their effective combination of shared defense and damage will offer a party the option to utilize less healing, and add several layers of defense in a party, that way Chanters can operate as dedicated healers, and advanced tactics can even allow a party to form without priests.
Another auterior benifit is the enhancment of combat vs multiple opponents, wile most games which utilize taunts focus around single opponent combat, which is an extreme failure, with an interactive defense system, you can construct effective defense around allies vs multiple opponents, and even though a group taunt could offer an alternative in PvE, this would offer value against multiple opponents in PvP as well.
This form of defensive action and enhancement also ofsets the advantage of most ranged attackers, who will operate the advantage and safety of distance. Wile ranged attackers will have a defensive advantage of distance, a melee combatant can now have equal advantage of defense. And also the primary counter attacks to defensive interception is to attack from behind, where the attacks cannot be intercepted by an ally or for oneself, and by using AoE spells which will counteract the advantage gained by sharing defense with multiple hits. For ranged attacks, backstabbing, and AoE damage, this allows the attacks to be just as powerful and frequent as other attacks, since they are a valid part of counteracting a legitimate defensive tactic instead of an outside feature which is limited due to their uncontested advantages.

This form of defense is what seperates an RTS and typical RPG from an action game, it is the single essential element neccessary to offer multiple alternate combat strategies, defining tank value in all situations, and interactive action packed combat that goes beyond pretty looking skill spamming.

Prepare yourselfs, I'm just getting started.

[[PhiberOpticks]]

You can suggest as many as you want. It's simply a matter of acceptance by your peers. But don't forget to give other ideas some credit. Nominate and be nominated!

[Renly]

I nominate the Bounty system and pvp journal.

[Anuxinamoon]

Is there a Custom Quests Board idea that I can nominate for?

IE a custom quest system that works totally through a PC driven system, similar to an auction house.

[Amanda Hugnkiss]

Bounty System + PvP Journal sounds nice, oh and Guild Bank Log!!! ^^

Too many cool things to list...

[lyankyj]

Jamie's aprils fool idea:
Religions

Upon character creation, the player may pick the religion the character is to belong to. Later on, the player is free to convert to any other religions and sects existing within the game; penalties will vary depending on the religion.

The religion system will bring a fresh, new depth to Aion’s gameplay, which we believe will encourage players to find common grounds in times of conflict or ostracize those who do not belong to the same religion. The system will work akin to the bloodpledge system featured in Lineage.

Each religion will feature clerical positions filled by players. The higher-ranking clergymen may decree inquisitions and crusades against the religions they deem as heathen. Religions will come with dedicated info panels, which will display several important statistics such as fanaticism, congregation, position, participation in the inquisition, etc. There will also be religion-exclusive crafting skills such as manufacturing of banners, headscarves, and explosives.


Background Books

Random dropped books, containing lots of information about the world of Atreia. Funny, interestng, historical stories.


More currency

Instead of counting qina to millions, add 2 or 3 more currency. (1000qina=1 xy, 1000xy= 1 yz)


Roaming NPCs

Instead of just standting in one place, write them a script to walk around their spot, so cities, villages would be more life-like.



I approve:
Bounty-System

[huangker]

I also second the bounty system.

Being able to put prices on people's heads really adds that extra spice in pvp.

[Amanda Hugnkiss]

Roaming NPC's, I like that one too! Definately adds some life to villages when you got people moving around.

[Fleiva]

Aren't Roaming NPCs already in game? many of them are moving already.

[Katsuro]

Originally Posted by lyankyj

Jamie's aprils fool idea:
Religions

Upon character creation, the player may pick the religion the character is to belong to. Later on, the player is free to convert to any other religions and sects existing within the game; penalties will vary depending on the religion.

The religion system will bring a fresh, new depth to Aion’s gameplay, which we believe will encourage players to find common grounds in times of conflict or ostracize those who do not belong to the same religion. The system will work akin to the bloodpledge system featured in Lineage.

Each religion will feature clerical positions filled by players. The higher-ranking clergymen may decree inquisitions and crusades against the religions they deem as heathen. Religions will come with dedicated info panels, which will display several important statistics such as fanaticism, congregation, position, participation in the inquisition, etc. There will also be religion-exclusive crafting skills such as manufacturing of banners, headscarves, and explosives.


Background Books

Random dropped books, containing lots of information about the world of Atreia. Funny, interestng, historical stories.


More currency

Instead of counting qina to millions, add 2 or 3 more currency. (1000qina=1 xy, 1000xy= 1 yz)


Roaming NPCs

Instead of just standting in one place, write them a script to walk around their spot, so cities, villages would be more life-like.



I approve:
Bounty-System

Religion would be um...bad in my opinion however the Roaming NPC and the Bounty system have already earned my nomination

[lyankyj]

Originally Posted by Fleiva

Aren't Roaming NPCs already in game? many of them are moving already.

some are moving, but only a few steps back and forth and not everyone of them, only the neutral (cant speak cant interact) npcs.

Questgivers and such are not moving and since there are many of them its kinda lifeless.

[Katsuro]

Originally Posted by lyankyj

some are moving, but only a few steps back and forth and not everyone of them, only the neutral (cant speak cant interact) npcs.

Questgivers and such are not moving and since there are many of them its kinda lifeless.

Yea I've always hated the smiling npcs that are ALWAYS just standing there, hell it would be better if you could only talk to certain NPC's at certain times of the day/night, don't they have to sleep?