Innovative game mechanics are a rare thing to find these days, but in the past, some developers have brought the MMOG genre forward by creating innovative ways to play a game. Guild mechanics, combat, diplomacy, and a number of other creative features have served to move the genre forward, while some mechanics like instancing remain a hotly debated topic on whether its good or bad for a game. Regardless the opinion, no one can deny what mechanics like this have brought to the genre.
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style="font-style: italic;">AoC's combat mechanics ushered in a new way of fighting for many players.
Combat Mechanics Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (AoC)
Whether you like Funcom or not, they arent afraid to try new things to push the envelope when it comes to trying something different for the genre. AoC's combat mechanics may not be new in the sense that it was just created, but it is certainly a newer form of combat for an MMOG. By allowing players to execute combos and fatalities, AoC brought a new way of fighting and group combat to the genre that no other game has dared to try and few things are as satisfying as crushing your opponents skull into jelly with your foot. AoC succeeded at implementing a collision detection system where many other games have failed. Attempts made by other developers to incorporate this mechanic into gameplay were aborted long before their games launched, but Funcom got this to work in AoC and provide players with a viable collision system.
Guild Mechanics EverQuest 2 (EQ2)
One thing that many modern MMOGs often fail to have when they launch is a good guild support system. EQ2 stands ahead of the pack in this area, providing guilds with a way to advance and earn standing by performing writs. Gaining points through these writs can open up some nice reward options for your guild and also unlock certain Hallmark Raid content. Building up a guild through this mechanic gives players the chance to tackle raid and quest mobs they might not otherwise be able to experience. Certain NPCs will also react differently to you and members of your guild as you advance. Hopefully as time goes on more developers will lead by the example set by EQ2.
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style="font-style: italic;">Burning an enemy's keep in AoC is a very gratifying experience.
Massive PvP and Sieging AoC, Lineage 2 (L2), Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC), Warhammer Online (WO)
PvP has become a large component for many MMOGs, but few games have brought large scale PvP like that found in DAOC, L2, WO, and AoC. These PvP mechanics have allowed large numbers of players to congregate onto one battlefield and beat the crap out of each other. Often times there are things at stake like an enemy castle or keep. The invading forces seek to drive these people from their home and claim it for their own. In WO, you can even sack an opposing city after meeting a few PvP objectives that require a lot of cooperation between players. Only a few developers have used this type of PvP mechanic and while they may not be perfect in their design, they certainly provide an exhilarating PvP experience. In some cases, siege equipment is even added to the mix which only makes things more chaotic. Few things are as gratifying as seeing an enemys keep or city burning to ash as your army closes in for the kill. PvP has become a pretty common part of the MMOG world and massive PvP can make that world even more exciting when done right.
Flight Mechanics EverQuest (EQ), City of Heroes (CoH), Champions Online (CO), Aion, Vanguard, World of Warcraft (WoW)
The first flight mechanic I encountered in an MMOG was in EQ with a spell called Float. While this wasnt an extremely effective spell in terms of design, it added a great experience to the game by allowing players to float across the sky, water, or any other manner of terrain. However, the EQ design was done quite badly as you could be floating around the sky and aggro the mobs below. They would then smack you around in the sky with their apparently super ranged attacks. This was a problem with the axis design, but the mechanic itself was still fun to use.
Later games implemented flight mechanics in a number of forms. CoH and CO offer players superpowers to fly around with, Vanguard and WoW brought flying mounts, Aion gave players wings, and some even added these flight to combat. Aion uses its flight mechanic as an entire part of the PvP game. Flight is becoming a fairly common theme in MMOGs and it can be one of the more fun mechanics to use given the right circumstance.
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style="font-style: italic;">Character advancement mechanics are one great innovation to enhance gameplay.
Talents, Deeds, and Alternate Advancement
Character progression is a major feature for any MMOG and one thing that has plagued many games is what a player should do once they reach the maximum level to keep their character progressing. Sure there are raids and gear runs, but that only serves to enhance your characters gear, not your actual character. Thats where systems like Deeds, AA (Alternate Advancement), and Talents come in.
- Deeds Deeds are a form of character advancement in Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO). Players accomplish specific tasks such as killing a certain amount of enemies, exploring an area, or collecting items to unlock a talent which can be used to enhance their characters skills or stats. Some even provide skills of their own.
- Talents Talents are a common fixture in games like WoW and AoC. As a player gains levels, they unlock talent points which can be used to enhance their character. While this doesnt really advance beyond the maximum level, it offers players several options to explore with various character builds.
- Alternate Advancement AA is a system made popular by EQ. After a certain level, players can choose to start sending a portion of their earned experience to level up AA points. AAs level up much like your character and when you get what is popularly known as a mini-ding (AA Level), you gain one AA point that can be spent on AA skills. EverQuest provides a fairly large number of AA skills, so once a player reaches maximum level there is still a lot they can do to improve their character.
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style="font-style: italic;">Player housing offers an area to store items, trophies, and have guild and roleplay events.
Guild Housing
Guild Housing has become a commonly used mechanic in many MMOGs. EQ2, LOTRO, and a number of other games have integrated a player housing mechanic into the game going as far as making neighborhoods such as those found in LOTRO. Player housing provides players with a place to keep furniture, trophies, and to just call their own. Housing often provides extra storage space and even great halls for guilds to lay claim to, offering an excellent place for roleplaying events, guild gatherings, and a number of other community activities.
Instancing
I have never been too fond of instancing. Ive always felt that the way many instancing mechanics are designed turns great online worlds into small places devoid of real population. However, despite what I may think of instancing, many people enjoy the mechanic and it does offer certain benefits to an MMOG. Instancing allows players to have access to raid and dungeon content that an open world would force competition on. This has the benefit of allowing everyone a chance to experience all the content without having to wait on world spawns or compete with other players for the right to experience certain things. Instancing can also be used to keep areas from becoming too crowded by making a copy of an area after so many people enter it. Like it or not, instancing provides its own layer of benefits to an MMOG.
Instancing can also be a benefit to quests as they offer an entire area for scripting events to take place. The open world isn't always the best place for complex game scripts that an instance is better suited for, but Vanguard once attempted a mechanic that may have helped provide that benefit to an open world with their A.E.S. (Advanced Encounter System). Unfortunately, the system was never developed for the game's initial launch.
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style="font-style: italic;">Instancing provides plaers with an area to experience detailed scripts and storylines.
PQs (Public Quests) WO, CO
Public Quests are a fairly new and innovative concept for MMOGs. Players can cooperate to achieve a goal with or without being grouped. Events are set up around the world in a number of places and take place on given time intervals. At the end of the event there are often rewards given to those that took part in achieving the goals. WO and CO use this mechanic in several areas and its a great way to get some cooperative play and a little loot in the process. In some cases there are PQs in PvP areas, and that can become really chaotic. PQs may be one of the newest innovations to gameplay to be incorporated into an MMOG and it can certainly be one of the more fun things to experience.
Diplomacy Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Diplomacy was a very creative concept and one that offered players a way to influence towns by driving the diplomatic sway in the region to cause certain benefits to a number of skills. While not everyone enjoyed the way the Diplomacy system of Vanguard was implemented, it is a great concept and one that would be a welcome addition to future MMOGs. The ability to influence a region by diplomatic skill rather than sheer brute force adds a nice layer of depth to Vanguard not found too often in other games.
There have been many great innovative mechanics brought to MMOGs over the years. Innovation is a slow process and not all of what could be potentially great ideas catch on. The genre continues to move forward, new ideas emerge, and we, the players, continue to watch for the next innovative idea that will enhance our gameplay experience and make our MMOG worlds just a little bit more fun.
