World of Warcraft

POSTED BY: RIVER6213
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 1, 2011 15:25
VIEWED: 11774
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DREAMTROVE

Thursday, January 27, 2011 12:09 AM

What about WoW do you like? What keeps you playing?

A friend of mine asked me about a week or two ago to help him on a new online game he's designing. I haven't played WoW. The time investment scared me off (I bailed on Final Fantasy on the time investment) I'm busy, anyway.

So, he asked me because we've designed some tabletop stuff together, and I've done design for a lot of different formats, including a lot of video games, plus the more obvious, I'm know how to program.

So, on our discussions on design, we largely agree on the direction we want to go, so this will be a different type of game, but we're trying to pick elements of games that we like, or are successful.

Anyway, neither of us play WoW, so any input on what is awesome about it, what elements of the game make it the most fun would be greatly appreciated.

As for Blizzard, small world.

BYTEMITE

Thursday, January 27, 2011 12:23 AM

One of the things I like most about WoW is the exploration and the attention to detail. Back in the beginning when some of my friends wanted to play Alliance but I always liked Horde, I divided my time between climbing all the mountains in Dun Morogh as a gnome or doing the same in Durotar or Barrens. There was always something to find.

And I also liked when I would see something that made scientific or geological sense. They put a lot of time and thought into the world, though the zone transitions are still just a little too abrupt. They've made them better though.

With the new expansion, things have changed a lot so it's interesting to see how much now.

The other really good thing about WoW is that it's very streamlined, so there's almost no learning curve, and just about anyone can jump right in. The quest system helps make the level grind not seem so much like a level grind.

My guild raids a lot, but I'm always lagging way behind in levels so I've never been able to join them. I just spend my time doing the regular quests. It'd be neat to raid sometime, one of the big 40-mans.

RIVER6213

Friday, January 28, 2011 6:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
What about WoW do you like? What keeps you playing?

A friend of mine asked me about a week or two ago to help him on a new online game he's designing. I haven't played WoW. The time investment scared me off (I bailed on Final Fantasy on the time investment) I'm busy, anyway.

So, he asked me because we've designed some tabletop stuff together, and I've done design for a lot of different formats, including a lot of video games, plus the more obvious, I'm know how to program.

So, on our discussions on design, we largely agree on the direction we want to go, so this will be a different type of game, but we're trying to pick elements of games that we like, or are successful.

Anyway, neither of us play WoW, so any input on what is awesome about it, what elements of the game make it the most fun would be greatly appreciated.

As for Blizzard, small world.

I like the questing aspect of the game more so than the dungeons, arenas, and battlegrounds. I love getting a whole bunch of quests at once and spending a few hours completing them. I also like the professions part of the game. With all of my different characters combined I've maxed out mining, leather working, skinning, alchemy, jewel crafting, blacksmith, cooking, and first aid, and I make a lot of gold in the auction house because of the crafts I sell.

I love being able to ride horses and flying mounts, and I really like the feeling, and environment of the World of Warcraft universe. I really like that creepy feeling you get when you just entered a new area that you've never been in and you don't know what to expect, but you DO know that the area is a high level area and any creature can show up and chase you around till you throw up and die.

I like the fact that the game is very social, and you can make cyber friends and go on quests with them, and fight creatures with them. After a while you really get to know these people and it gives one a sense of connection.

WOW is fun and it IS very addictive, but that's what I play it for because it's very involving and can make you forget your real life problems for a while.

DREAMTROVE

Saturday, January 29, 2011 6:02 PM

Byte, River

Thanks for the insights. This deserves a longer response, which I won't get to until Monday. I have to head out to my sisters. She's on weekend break from Chemo and Radiation, and she needs someone there who understands the importance of slushies and Dr. Who, and not just macrobiotics.

DREAMTROVE

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 3:12 AM

Okay, I'm back

Byte

The game we're designing is a little more chaotic, an don't think it will make sense on that sort of level, see my comments below. But what sort of things do you like finding when you explore, I don't mean cools stuff for your character, like what makes you say wow about WoW.

Good point about the learning curve. I also want to curb the power ratio of experienced players. I've heard a lot of people say about various MMORPGs "I couldn't compete because I wasn't at that level. I want people to be able to jump right in and play along, with a decent chance, but not enough that someone could just create characters to do damage. We have a mechanism that's going to do this, but I don't want to post details of the game to a public forum. I've had too many game ideas stolen from me already by other designers.

Quote:
I'm always lagging way behind in levels

This is the sort of thing I hear a lot on other games. Usually in three forms:

1. I joined too late
2. I don't play as much as they do
3. I didn't buy in enough real $

I want to make sure that doesn't happen here.

River

When you say questing I think of a sort of mission or treasure hunt. Is this what it is? I was planning to set up much of the game in this manner, though there are a lot of people who will want to just build kingdoms, or maraud the landscape. We're building in a lot of different forms of play. Just trying to get a picture of WoW questing, and what draws you to it.

Also, yes, I'm a big fan of creepy. Very much. This game is going for new levels of creepy. It's so tempting to spill details, but I'm not going to do it, suffice it to say, we're aiming for a phantasmagoria level of creepy, and we want to make sure that no one is really comfortable in the world outside their little corner.

On the social aspects, do you like a global social, or would you prefer it local to where you are on the physical map. I've been wondering about these two options. It seems kind of like barbarians with cell phones. I want to work this in as a dynamic, but also it might be nice to have people interact with the people physically close to their location. I'm gnawing options.

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 4:38 AM

I've never minded that much about finding cool stuff for my character, since I don't raid (I do like my gear to look good but I pay for it at the Auction House). Often my gear is way behind in level because stats aren't a priority for me and I can usually function okay against the computer AI with not much time investment.

What I really like is 1) scenery. Even back when my computer processor was almost nonexistent, I liked being able to climb up a mountain and see a view of a colourful and stylized horizon, sky, clouds, stars, etc., with distant terrestrial objects, trees and hills and such. All with lighting elements and a colour palette to really set an atmospheric mood. It made the game feel open to me. I'm a little artistic, so it appeals to me, but it doesn't even have to be ultrarealistic, just interesting and eye catching.

2) on a smaller scale, I like running across little details when I'm not expecting it. I'll be running along, there's a colourful boulder I'm going around, and then I realize it's the ruins of a statue, fallen over, carved to look like one of the enemy creatures I might be fighting but with "tribal" decorative accents. Or maybe I find an abandoned building somewhere very remote, and look inside, and I get an idea of who the last tenant to occupy it might have been like. Or I'm running around on a salt flat and I find a fossilized sea turtle partially exposed and realize some time in the ancient past the entire area was probably under water. Or sometimes I admire how the biomes are represented, there's birds and bugs and larger fauna everywhere that complement each other, the world feels like a plausible living world. Except for the dinosaurs, but that's more the genre, kitchen sink fantasy, everything is tossed in.

Quote:
Good point about the learning curve. I also want to curb the power ratio of experienced players.

That's what I love about the one game I was telling you about. Won't go into specifics in case you're thinking the same thing and don't want the idea stolen.

Quote:
2. I don't play as much as they do

This.

Quote:
I'm a big fan of creepy. Very much. This game is going for new levels of creepy. It's so tempting to spill details, but I'm not going to do it, suffice it to say, we're aiming for a phantasmagoria level of creepy, and we want to make sure that no one is really comfortable in the world outside their little corner.

Ooh, this sounds neat. I like a little bit of morbid creepy, but I have to admit I like a lighthearted morbid, like a Tim Burton movie or something. Whimsical, with and without a sense of sinister malice.

I have a friend though who's got me a little into HP Lovecraft and such.

RIVER6213

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 3:25 PM

[QUOTE
River

When you say questing I think of a sort of mission or treasure hunt. Is this what it is? I was planning to set up much of the game in this manner, though there are a lot of people who will want to just build kingdoms, or maraud the landscape. We're building in a lot of different forms of play. Just trying to get a picture of WoW questing, and what draws you to it.

Also, yes, I'm a big fan of creepy. Very much. This game is going for new levels of creepy. It's so tempting to spill details, but I'm not going to do it, suffice it to say, we're aiming for a phantasmagoria level of creepy, and we want to make sure that no one is really comfortable in the world outside their little corner.

On the social aspects, do you like a global social, or would you prefer it local to where you are on the physical map. I've been wondering about these two options. It seems kind of like barbarians with cell phones. I want to work this in as a dynamic, but also it might be nice to have people interact with the people physically close to their location. I'm gnawing options.

Yes questing as in going on mission or a whole string of missions to solve a larger, common problem for some quest-giver in the area. I love doing this because it takes a lot of time, and you get to see and learn a lot about the game. I like having to fight my way everywhere I go, or having to try to sneak through an area that has higher level creatures than me without getting mauled. Questing gives me a sense that I've actually accomplished something even though it isn't real, and sometimes this is a plus if you're depressed or not feeling good about your real life situation, so for me WOW is half therapy half fun.

As far as collecting gear I love doing that as well. The better armor and gear you get the more powerful you are, and the better your chances if you run across some pvp clown who wants to gank you.

The social aspect of the game is good. You can be globally social or you can limit your social interactions with just a few people, and this is what I do. I only interact with the people in my guild, and my friends. we go on quests and do dungeons together and we are yapping away the whole time on TeamSpeak. It's fun and makes you feel like you are in a home with a lot of people. The social part of WOW is very important too me and with out it I don't think the game would be as fun as it is.

Oh, BTW here's my main character:
http://www.wowhead.com/profile=us.velen.borinsia

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