Five Features that EVERY MMORPG Should Have
There are a lot of great free to play MMORPGs out there, but many of them lack features that would make these great games even better. Below is a list of features that EVERY MMORPG, both pay to play and free to play, should have.
1 – An Auction House
Why on Earth do game developers feel the need to make life more difficult for us gamers? Adding an Auction House to an MMORPG would make commerce infinitely easier. Instead of an auction house, most Asian MMORPGs have a ‘player shop’ type system where players can open up their own little shops. It’s neat and all, but it just isn’t practical. I should NOT have to leave my character AFK for 5 hours in ’shop mode’ just to sell some rare drops. If you’ve ever tried to sell an Item in MapleStory / Dream of Mirror Online or any other game that doesn’t have an auction house, you’ll know what I mean.
Auction House in WonderKing
2- PvP
That’s right MapleStory – I’m looking at you. There’s absolutely no excuse for an MMORPG not to have PvP. I mean, it doesn’t need to be a game’s ‘biggest appeal’, but every MMORPG should have some sort of PvP system. Something simple like a dueling or PvP arena system would suffice. Personally, when I sink hundreds of hours into an MMORPG I want to be able to duke it out against other players to see how powerful my character is.
PvP in Lunia
3- A Clean, Sleek and Easy to use Interface
The one thing you interact with most in an MMORPG is its interface. For that reason alone, a game’s interface should be both easy to use, customizable and sleek. I say sleek because even if a game’s interface is functional – it should still be easy on the eyes and pleasing to look at. After all, i’m tired of newer games like Soul of the Ultimate Nation having a 1999 like interface. A game’s controls should also be both point and click / WSAD compatible. That way, everyone wins. Another little thing that vaguely falls under ‘interface’ is a game’s graphic options. Every game should be widescreen compatible. MMORPGs like Cloud Nine and Florensia are examples of two MMORPGs with a good interface.
Interface in Cloud Nine
4. Good English Translations
With so many free to play MMORPGs coming straight from East Asia, it’s not surprising that many of that have awful English translations. So many games have such piss poor translations that it really takes away from the game. Magic World Online is notorious for its incredibly bad English translations. One of the game’s job advancements is called ‘Dragonbaking Master’ and another is called ‘Freezing Uranus’. What on EARTH is a Dragonbaking master? Some sort of chef who handles dragon meat? In the same game a ‘Beggar’ inside one of the main towns offers a quest that basically says, “I’ll give you this GOD’S GEM for a piece of fried chicken”. I kid you not – the quest reward for bringing this beggar a piece of fried chicken was a ‘GOD’S GEM’. Not all MMORPGs have such bad English translations, but I think it’s safe to say that there’s room for improvement in most games.
Random NPC Dialogue in Magic World Online
5. A Good Radar / Map
Wouldn’t every MMORPG just be better if you could easily go from point A to point B just by opening up the map and clicking on your destination? Unfortunately only a handful of games seem to think so. Games like Atlantica Online and Asda Story are some of the few that support this feature. I don’t know about you guys, but having to manually run back to town or around town just to pick up new quests is a bit tedious. What’s even more tedious though is having to manually run across half a dozen areas just to get to a dungeon somewhere. More MMORPGs need to automate this process. While on the topic of maps though, all games should mark NPCs and quest locations right on the radar / map so questing is easier. Having to run around for 30+ minutes just trying to find where the camp of ‘Ferocious Yellow Fanged Wolves’ spawn is not my idea of fun.
Map from Atlantica Online
These are just a few of the ‘must have’ features in an MMORPG. There are obviously many more features that a perfect MMORPG would require. Feel free to add to the list with your comments below!
By, Jake Bismarck
February 1, 2010
#
I defintly agree but I got another one.
A good camera control…. -cough Dragon Oath cough-
February 1, 2010
#1
Hmm, I see but Lunia dosent work for me idk why
February 2, 2010
#2
I’d agree on the list. But the image on #3 I don’t think that is from atlantica online.
February 3, 2010
#3
Whoops. Fixed! Thanks for the heads up
February 5, 2010
#4
You are welcome. Oh by the way, the image in #3 you misspelled it. You typed “cliud” instead of “cloud”.
February 3, 2010
#5
it may be cliche but a graphics is also very much needed who would like to play
on a game with good gameplay but very ugly to the eyes
February 3, 2010
#6
wheres full loot?
February 3, 2010
#7
a few more things that should be added:
1. quest based not grind based, the more things you have to do makes it more fun.
2. active skill leveling system, by using your skills more they will level up faster, like flyff had a few years ago, that will eliminate the need for skill builds people will just use what they feel is useful to them.
3.a very large veriaty of skills, something to look forward to every few levels, skills are something that make me personally wanna keep going.
4. a veriety of classes and not just standard classes, i wish some games will have alchemists that create weapons and potions during combat to use during combat, like creating a sword and above the monster and drop it on them and such. there are so many classes i have in my mind that its absured.
5. skill scrolls or something like that, a random and rare loot that will enable you to learn skills that arent bound to any perticuler class, of course some classes can use those skills better then others but it will give a more stratigic aspect to the game.
this is just the tip of the iceberg, i have so much more ideas.
February 3, 2010
#8
Community is definitely one of the most important aspects of an MMORPG. That isn’t always under the control of the game developer though – which is why I left that one out. I actually think community is one of THE most important aspects, because after all – an MMORPG has to be ‘MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER’ to even be an MMORPG.
February 3, 2010
#9
maybe a guild bank??
February 3, 2010
#10
No they need this
1) better gameplay
2) Better storyline and a background story about Your character
3)Clear directions on where to go and what to do
4)Better quests, ( not kill 40 this kill 40 that )
5)Npc’s Must have voices ( i dont mean that they should make one sound ) they should read you the quest they give
6*) CUTSCENES!!!
July 15, 2010
#11
I know the perfect game just like that… except its not an MMORPG its a single player RPG but in some bizzar way it feels like one… its called Dragon Age: Origins. If you are looking for an rpg like that then check out Dragon: Age
February 3, 2010
#12
agree ^^
February 3, 2010
#13
and also Great MMOs need active community that all!!….
February 3, 2010
#14
Agreed. All of these are also important. I referring more to ‘features’ rather than the actual game itself. But I agree with all the points you made.
February 3, 2010
#15
usually a good MMORPG should have these elements
1.Good Storyline
2. W,A,S,D controls spacebar jump
3. Auction House
4. good money drops
5. Map radar
February 5, 2010
#16
Those features if implemented right will really make a good game. And I’m sure, I’ll be rooting on it.
So far, most of the existing games has 1 or 2 features(mentioned above), these games aren’t really that bad, but they also don’t have what it takes to make a player stay and play.
February 7, 2010
#17
lunia pvp dose not work =-=
i know it never really worked
but yes everything dose need an Auction House(and its not that hard to sell in maple story S> 60% spear scroll @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ easy <- just need to have what people want)
February 17, 2010
#18
Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease make the camera not suck. There have been times I shouted at my computer because the camera was so bad. Oddly, it didn’t fix it.
Also, speaking as a laptop gamer with small arrowkeys, WASD movement is a must for me.
February 21, 2010
#19
Auction House it`s not good in game …… because if some one like to sell something he will add low prize not high ( low gold we will make with Auction House) !!!!!!!!
February 23, 2010
#20
some 1 plz put full loot on da mmo its ridiculous not to b able to loot some1 after a good murder.
February 23, 2010
#21
Unfortunately the only game that had Full Loot was Ultima Online in 1998-2002 or so. =[. That was a lot of fun though. You gank someone outside of town with some friends and loot all their stuff.
June 29, 2010
#22
Lol at the english translations part. I noticed omer talks about it in his first look videos too. Its actually quite funny but makes for poor understanding of directions.