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Linearity (or less thereof)


Wondertje

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It's come up in quite some discussions and I've always been a strong proponent of non-linear games. What does that mean? It means that it's a game that doesn't make you "finish" an area and simply never return. At the moment ROSE is very linear, once you out-level a map you very, very rarely go back to it. I believe it would be highly beneficial to look into ways to make it less so. It would make the player base less disperse (i.e. not only level 10 character in zant and max level characters on Oro), which I believe would help player retention rate as well. A few things have been discussed here and here already, so I'd like to summarise my thoughts on the matter. Here is a list of previously mentioned and not mentioned ideas with a short summary of why I think it would help. These are all ideas that will open for sideways/horizontal playing, rather than pushing max level in 3 days and skipping most of the game. And sideways gaming is important for any MMORPG to survive. Aside from horizontal gaming, completionist gaming is also a huge thing for a lot of people. Completionist items would be things that would take a long time to finish, and that can be done at the leisure of the player - not something that makes or breaks gameplay itself if you don't want to care about it.

Boss Log
A boss log would entail almost like a pokedex, best way to describe it. It would be an area (a window) with a list of bosses you've encountered (seen), whether you've defeated them, and what their boss drops (special drops) are. It could either list all bosses openly, or like a pokedex only show the ones you've seen.

Achievements
This would be a collection of tasks and accomplishments, such as "Defeat a Jelly Bean" (that's a great first achievement). There is an endless stream of things that could be made into achievements. "Finish 10 Quests", "Gather 5 Animal Furs" - really whatever we want.

Menagerie (Yes, I shamelessly got this idea from Guild Wars)
This would be a map, unique to each player, which has one of every mob you've ever defeated roaming around the map. They're friendly and can't attack, nor can you attack. So for example, if someone is new and have so far only killed a Jelly Bean and a Choropy, they will see a green grass field with those two mobs walking around. This is a great part of completionist gameplay.

Other Completionist things include

  • Collection logs/achievements such as "Collect all Launchers" or "Collect the full Dimple Set".
  • Easter Eggs
    • Find all 17 stars hidden in the game

These are just a few examples I can think of at the top of my head.

The main reasons for this being a good things are

  • It gives a huge boost to the amount of things you can do outside of purely leveling.
  • It makes the distribute of players of different levels much more even throughout the maps.

All of these things would yield cosmetic rewards at best, no actual stats or benefits other than being what they are as a mechanic. I personally wouldn't need much more than seeing my log and menagerie fill up, it's very satisfying.

Would love to see some opinions and the developers' take on this.

Edited by Wondertje
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I like the ideas. You can really go wild with it.

Like having exploration quests. Go visit every POI in a zone to complete the map exploration. And complete all maps of a planet rewards you with full planet explored reward.

Defeat a boss (King) in each map would be another fun one to do.

Edited by Zeror
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34 minutes ago, Wondertje said:

It's come up in quite some discussions and I've always been a strong proponent of non-linear games. What does that mean? It means that it's a game that doesn't make you "finish" an area and simply never return. At the moment ROSE is very linear, once you out-level a map you very, very rarely go back to it. I believe it would be highly beneficial to look into ways to make it less so. It would make the player base less disperse (i.e. not only level 10 character in zant and max level characters on Oro), which I believe would help player retention rate as well. A few things have been discussed here and here already, so I'd like to summarise my thoughts on the matter. Here is a list of previously mentioned and not mentioned ideas with a short summary of why I think it would help. These are all ideas that will open for sideways/horizontal playing, rather than pushing max level in 3 days and skipping most of the game. And sideways gaming is important for any MMORPG to survive. Aside from horizontal gaming, completionist gaming is also a huge thing for a lot of people. Completionist items would be things that would take a long time to finish, and that can be done at the leisure of the player - not something that makes or breaks gameplay itself if you don't want to care about it.

Boss Log
A boss log would entail almost like a pokedex, best way to describe it. It would be an area (a window) with a list of bosses you've encountered (seen), whether you've defeated them, and what their boss drops (special drops) are. It could either list all bosses openly, or like a pokedex only show the ones you've seen.

Achievements
This would be a collection of tasks and accomplishments, such as "Defeat a Jelly Bean" (that's a great first achievement). There is an endless stream of things that could be made into achievements. "Finish 10 Quests", "Gather 5 Animal Furs" - really whatever we want.

Menagerie (Yes, I shamelessly got this idea from Guild Wars)
This would be a map, unique to each player, which has one of every mob you've ever defeated roaming around the map. They're friendly and can't attack, nor can you attack. So for example, if someone is new and have so far only killed a Jelly Bean and a Choropy, they will see a green grass field with those two mobs walking around. This is a great part of completionist gameplay.

Other Completionist things include

  • Collection logs/achievements such as "Collect all Launchers" or "Collect the full Dimple Set".
  • Easter Eggs
    • Find all 17 stars hidden in the game

These are just a few examples I can think of at the top of my head.

The main reasons for this being a good things are

  • It gives a huge boost to the amount of things you can do outside of purely leveling.
  • It makes the distribute of players of different levels much more even throughout the maps.

All of these things would yield cosmetic rewards at best, no actual stats or benefits other than being what they are as a mechanic. I personally wouldn't need much more than seeing my log and menagerie fill up, it's very satisfying.

Would love to see some opinions and the developers' take on this.

I absolutely love this! Regarding your field of monsters slayed.. that could be part of your housing map where only you can access or invite others to access if they’re in a party/group/clan with you. It could be treated like the clan house to where each map is unique to the players. 

Another idea to get players back to these maps could be mounts as rewards. For example, once you reach level 100+, quests start to open up for you to grab mounts (all same mspd) that are only available upon completing the quests and not the item mall. Each map can have a mount that is derived from the map itself. Adv Plains will have a choropy, Eucar a wolf, etc. Just an idea.

I hope they read your suggestion!

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Great ideas! Especially boss logs and achievements would give Rose way more depth in gameplay.

11 hours ago, Wondertje said:

It gives a huge boost to the amount of things you can do outside of purely leveling.

Exactly! Besides farming/crafting and wars, there wasn't much to do when you've reached max level.

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The Menagerie is a good idea - but what use is it? You've stated that rewards should be cosmetic at best. I feel this is an insufficient draw for the greater playerbase to disrupt the linearity of the current meta. Path of Exile's Menagerie allows for beastcrafting. More crafting options known only to the crafter, very much unlike the usual crafting results. 

On the other hand, some players are sweaty tryhards and others are casual chatters parked (and making out) in their CGs. If all you have is a pokedex and a cute little Park Of Your Own then few of the casuals and only the completionists among both these groups would find that appealing, whereas beastcrafting options would imbalance the game in favor of the tryhards.

 

This is a step in the right direction and we should think of more stuff like this, though.

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1 hour ago, Bobbity said:

If all you have is a pokedex and a cute little Park Of Your Own then few of the casuals and only the completionists among both these groups would find that appealing

And that's enough, that's the point. Not everyone has to like everything. These things added to the already existing game will, as I already explained in my post, give all players more optional things to do as they progress through the game. It increases the likelihood of players not spreading out as much based on level and it will definitely be of interest to people. Have you played any other MMORPGs with these functions? They are always appreciated by the community, and those who aren't completionists simply don't do them.

These things yield nothing but cosmetic rewards for that very reason. This thread and these ideas are about horizontal gameplay, it's not a suggestion to adding game features which at its core affects the gameplay with stats, boosts or any additional items as rewards.

Edited by Wondertje
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Beat xxx of jellybeans and get a recipe to craft summon capsules, after getting the recipe all jelly beans (types) drop material or souls to craft them.
As you craft them the recipe could level up to a better types

 

1 - mini jelly bean

2 - jelly bean

3 - jelly nut

4 - ect 

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41 minutes ago, Zurn said:

Beat xxx of jellybeans and get a recipe to craft summon capsules, after getting the recipe all jelly beans (types) drop material or souls to craft them.
As you craft them the recipe could level up to a better types

 

1 - mini jelly bean

2 - jelly bean

3 - jelly nut

4 - ect 

Kill 999 Jellybeans would be a perfect secret achievement if achievements are ever added to the game, and also a neat reference to the stress test :DeadBean:

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21 hours ago, Wondertje said:

I believe it would be highly beneficial to look into ways to make it less so. It would make the player base less disperse (i.e. not only level 10 character in zant and max level characters on Oro), which I believe would help player retention rate as well

I love this idea and would really like to see this implemented the game! places like for example Goblin Cave are just places you want to return to also on higher levels! Continuing on GC, it also is a perfect place where higher level mobs could roam around! There is so much opportunity there and in other maps! Great idea ❤️ The secret achievement of killing 999 jelly beans is also a wonderful idea xDD :DeadBean:

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