Player Systems

I believe there is a big opportunity to redefine what a reputation system would look like in an MMO, specifically having a system to allow impactful choices for players to chose when engaging with different communities. The below is my take on what the bedrock of an engaging Reputation system would look like, with further systems built on top. 

• • Two types, Reputation and Influence

  • Reputation

    • Reputation is an account wide system, tied to “Regions” of the world; Some examples of Regions in popular games:

      • World of Warcraft - Northrend, Pandaria, Eastern Kingdoms, etc.

      • FF14 - Black Shroud, Thanalan, Coerthas, etc.

      • Riot MMO (potentially) - Demacia, Noxus, Piltover/Zaun, etc.

    • Ideally, Reputation is slow to level but grindable with certain activities

    • You earn Reputation from a variety of activities completed in the Region; Main Story Quest, Dungeons, Raids, PvP, Dailies, World Activities, etc. 

    • Non-repeatable sources can only be earned once per account, i.e. Main Story Quest, Reputation Quest Chains, daily quests, etc. 

      • In short, activities that are not repeatable on a single character would have that Reputation only apply once per account. 

NOTE: This is to allow single character accounts to not fall dramatically behind accounts with alts. As an example, completing the Main Story Quest for the first time rewards Reputation on that account, while subsequent completions of the MSQ with other characters (alts) on the same account instead converts the Reputation reward to additional Influence for that character.

• • • Repeatable sources have no earning limit, i.e. completing dungeons, "token drop" turn-in quests, World Events, PvP activities, etc. 

      • Reputation earned will apply to your account total

    • Once maxed (Distinguished), additional Reputation earned will be converted to additional Influence gain for the current player-character

      • Levels of Reputation:

        1. Unknown - Starting place for new account/player

        2. Recognized - Access to a few items from the Region Reputation vendor on that character; Start the Regional Reputation Quest Chain 

        3. Friendly - Access to more items from the Region Reputation vendor on that character; Continue the Regional Reputation Quest Chain

        4. Trusted - Access to full item list from Region Reputation vendor on that character; Continue the Regional Reputation Quest Chain

           • Once maxed, you can complete the Reputation Quest Chain to unlock “Distinguished” rank

        5. Distinguished - Unlocks access to full item list from Region Reputation vendor for all characters on that account; Unique mount reward

  • Influence

    • Influence is player-character only, tied to specific NPC’s within Regions (i.e. "Influential" NPC’s)

      • Typically 2 - 4 "Influential" NPC's per Region

    • Ideally, Influence is moderately paced to level

      • Levels:

        1. Neutral - Start Influence Quest Chain

        2. Amicable - New daily quests unlocked; Continue Influence Quest Chain

        3. Favored - Additional daily quests unlocked; Continue Influence Quest Chain

        4. Respected - All daily quests unlocked; Complete Influence Quest Chain; Unique access to new rooms/locations; Permanent increased Influence earned with this NPC when completing activities in the NPC's Region; Rewards available to purchase and use from NPC (if applicable)

    • Earned by completing quests and activities related to the target of Influence

      • Example - Daily quests that interacts with important NPC’s, the Main Story Quest where you help NPC’s, etc. 

    • Can discover unique “Dialogue” side-quests if Influence with someone/faction is sufficient

      • Chat indicator showing additional dialogue options are available when talking to the NPC

      • Unique rewards for completing, i.e. cosmetics, pets, additional Influence, etc.

    • Discounts unlocked from vendor (if applicable)

    • Reward box once filled to Respected

      • Can repeatedly fill the Respected bar to get a new reward box

      • Box filled with a chance of toys, resources, cosmetics, mounts, etc.

  • Once Region Reputation is maxed (Distinguished) and your Influence with the Region's specific NPC’s are also maxed (Respected), you can proclaim your “loyalty” to that Region

Sometimes, in the act of balancing an MMORPG, the impactful RPG decisions you would have in a strictly single player game can be somewhat lost. Generally there is a good design reason for "watering down" RPG decision elements (story, game-play, conflicting systems, engineering challenges, etc.), however I think ultimately it should be the designers responsibility to try and work around this, adding systems that encourage impactful player choice while not sacrificing general game-play or providing undue power gains (as doing so would ultimately makes the content feel mandatory). That's why I propose building onto the above Reputation system by adding largely a RPG choice at the end: Once you hit max ranks in your Reputation and Influence targets, you can choose which "Region" you want to ally with. 

• System that allows you to select a Region to pledge your “loyalty” once you reach max Region Reputation and Influence with specific NPC’s

• Unique story content pertaining to the next patch/expansion from that Region’s perspective

  • A small quest line showing the epilogue of current content and prologue of future patch content from the perspective of that region and its leaders

  • Unique dialogue for Region characters reacting to you and the content

• Unlock access to Region-only vendor for collectables and rewards, perks tailored towards that Region

  • Custom emotes and dances for the Region

  • Purchase and wear unique cosmetic items

• You can switch your loyalty to another Region that you meet the basic requirements for, at the cost of your Influence towards specific NPC's in your current Region Loyalty being reduced to Neutral

  • Your overall Region Reputation remains unaffected

    • You can immediately start earning your Influence back with those specific NPC’s via the same tasks as before

    • Affiliated daily quests that were previously unlock are still available to complete

Questing is generally the de-facto way to learn about the lore of the world and it's people. I think this should be a combination of standard questing systems with text boxes and unique random events that happen as you're adventuring through the world (GW2 Dynamic Events are a great example of this). There should be a variety of quests you can complete, all having their own spin on interacting with your character and the players around you. I've always felt like variety and depth are king in questing content. 

Another thought I've had and would like to explore/test would be an auto-leveling system, where you didn't HAVE to complete questing to max level (strictly on ALTs). Something like a WoW Proving Grounds style, where you could prove your mastery of the class over X number of trials, each trial gaining a level till max. 

• Main Story Quest with summary book for each Region

  • Story Summary for each campaign chapter in each Region within the quest log

  • Influence the player to the main quests when entering the right area //Make it easier for players to get involved and invested in the MSQ

    • I.e. if you talk to the right person / “overhear” the correct NPC / come across the right part of the Region, you get a popup that leads you to starting the MSQ in that region

  • Auto-complete quests where it makes sense to, but keep the "quest hub" feeling

    • It should feel like it naturally progresses to the next part of the story as you finish the quest requirements, rather than a disjointed feeling of requiring you to go back and forth between mobs and NPCs

    • In the same frame, the feeling of completing a full quest log and returning to town should not be underestimated

  • Tailored to provide enough experience points (EXP) on it's own to level a character to max

• Side quests

  • Variety is king! Make things that are both normal and outside the norm questing experience, like scaling a cliff while unmounted in a certain time limit, play a mini-game, lore-driven and dialogue heavy quests, etc.

  • Use these quests for experimenting with different kind of questing types and see what resonates with players

• Reputation Chain Quests

  • Quest chain that is Region-specific, lore heavy, detailing history and customs that are unique to the area

  • Unlocks unique tools to move around and assist the player-character within the Region

    • Account wide completion

    • Ideally multi-hour long per quest chain

• Influence Chain Quests

  • Side quests that come from talking to characters you have sufficient Influence with

  • Generally more “exotic” quest lines that are specific to that NPC and their history

  • Unique rewards upon completion

The different between Guild Wars 2 mounts and all other MMO mounts is insane! I would love to translate that feeling and system to all my MMO's, while combining it with some other spins on the mounting system. 

Also, no "WASD" flying, but having the ability of flight is a great avenue to take different kinds of mounts. A great example of the right way to create flying would be Dragonriding from World of Warcraft: Dragonflight. 

• Different mount types/species

  • Each mount type/species unique in its properties and way it travels

• Mount Emotes

  • Includes unique dances, sounds, and other animations

• Unique mount terrain movements 

  • Mini-flight paths found throughout the world

  • Usable when riding specific mounts that correspond to the specific "mount path"

  • These are movement paths for your mounts that allow access to old and new places

  • Accessible to specific mount types after completing the corresponding side quests

• Craft-able mount equipment, some examples:

  • Additional bag space

  • Faster mount speed

  • Enemy charge while mounted (out of combat)

  • Reduced fall damage

  • Reduced slow de-buffs amount and duration

  • Active abilities(?)

    • Fear - Fear enemy targets within 5 yd range for 2 sec

    • Stone Wall - Will drop a 5 yd circle for 5 seconds, reducing damage taken from physical attacks while inside by 15%

Homes have an unique place in RPG and some MMO games. You have really interesting systems like Runescape that allow for intricate buildings and can house all sorts of rooms and equipment, but you need to balance that with power gains and keeping people from isolating themselves. I've always liked the concept of a "building" progression system and the design creativity behind it, but it needs to be remembered that you're in a shared world. The ability to escape and work on your own stuff at times is important, but I don't want to sacrifice the idea that "we're all in this together" and have them only as single player accessible. That's why, with any housing system, it should be predominately focused on cosmetic systems and creating your own "corner" in the world that you can share. Additionally, the engagement should come from a source of personal satisfaction rather than an in-game power structure.

• Crafting plans unlocked from associated professions

• Have robust community events and polls that allow periodic votes on the next type of addition to housing

• Crafting would be completed in public buildings, items sold/traded on an Auction House

  • Ideally looking to always see activity around workbenches, city centers

• Types of Furniture

  • Variety, from rugs and chairs, to beds and ceiling fans, bookcases, tables, dungeons, music players, etc.

• Types of Rooms

  • I wonder what the engineering technical limitations would be here? Could you have a completely user created design, or do you need a certain level of conformity? I.e. Valheim (freeform) vs Runescape (some conformity) vs New World (strict housing sizes)

For an Auction House to function well, you primarily need two things: Ease of Use and Participation. 

The Ease of Use for modern Auction Houses look to be in a decently good place. They are relatively straightforward, functional, and the "rules" are easily understood (things like UX/UI and First-In/Last-Out are generally well received from their perspective audiences). To me, general Participation in using the AH seems to be lagging behind in terms of iteration. For example, having an option to list a request for an item instead of just searching the AH seems like an easy win. You could expand that to have a notice appear for the player when a particular item posts and setting up an automatic bid for it (though you would likely need to disallow auto-buyouts for this action). Something more experimental could be a true bartering system, where you would post an item and take payment in the form of another item instead of the currency normally used.