Zeylon Rho
Subdreddit
Test Alliance Please Ignore
3339
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Posted - 2014.02.06 19:27:00 -
[1] - Quote
On the subject of MMO vs. FPS, I figured I'd echo some of the earlier comments about being able to overlook some balance issues with gameplay incentives.
A game doesn't have to be perfect in terms of balance. Speaking from experience in playing other MMOs, like Everquest, Ultima Online, etc., players will and do overlook serious balance issues to have fun. This is true in the PvP aspect of these games as well; it isn't getting stomped alone that makes new players lose interest. Rather, I think it's when your ONLY option seems to be getting stomped that a gamer can lose interest.
When people played games like Everquest on a PvP server, and got stomped horribly - logging off in frustration was a thing. They didn't necessarily quit though. It's the new players that got griefed, had their corpse camped, and only experienced stomping that were more likely to just up in quit.
People had other things to do, whether it was grinding for levels, gear, or doing tradeskills. Oftentimes, the other things would bring PvP in new and exciting places. Even EVE isn't PvP all the time. You CAN just sit around and run missions, which are often a bit dull. You can also work on production, scam people, or mine.
In both cases (EVE and Everquest in this example), the parts weren't perfectly balanced. PvP in Everquest had all sorts of large balance issues from it not being a primary consideration in the game. The tradeskills had a monotonous grind where you'd combine stacks and stacks of materials hoping to randomly get a skill-up to make gear that was usually far inferior to dropped gear. PvE (their focus) had numerous exploits, class issues, and mechanics that would kill players through little fault of their own. There's probably less to be said about EVE here, but anyone that's run missions in EVE knows how quickly you get repeats, how bare the stories are, etc.
It's the sum of the parts that helps. An MMO should give you more options of what-to-do. Getting killed out and about in Everquest didn't mean you couldn't sit around and fish, do some tradeskill, or level your character instead of PvPing. EVE gives you various options as well. In Dust, we just have the lobby shooter element. If you're frustrated? Too bad, because that's your only option.
I post about suit balance, etc. issues often enough because I'd like to see the future game be better, but it's the core notion of what exactly the player experience amounts to or is reduced to that matters in the end. Ties to EVE can make the game great in a number of ways, but I'd bear in mind that expecting new players to enjoy Dust merely because it impacts something in another game they don't play won't matter if it's still just a lobby team-deathmatch shooter on our end.
All this is to say, even crappy PvE would be better than no PvE, because it serves as a release valve for players to do something else. Even crappy means of manufacturing or impacting industry is better than none, because it means something more than just lobby-shoot or spin in circles in our quarters. Variety and an impact in a larger universe is the promise of Dust, but you can't feel that with just Team Deathmatch.
Dren and Templar equipment stats, wrong since release.
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