Your MMO FPS Vision

[maniacalpha1-1]

As everyone knows, there are only two real MMO FPS games out there right now: Planetside and World War 2 Online(now known as Battleground Europe).

I am hoping that Planetside 2 will spark interest in the MMOFPS genre. As it stands, Planetside 2 won't be out for some months to come, perhaps not even til the end of the year, so even if companies started immediately developing after its release, it would be 2.5-3 years from now at a minimum before stuff starts coming out, so the average user's PC power will be 2-3 years more powerful.

And so, what would your dream MMO FPS be? How big of a game world, what theme(ie, WW2, modern, future, steampunk with a mix of modern and antiquated elements), etc?

Outline your vision as there weren't any hardware restrictions in place. And also, don't worry about monthly subscription fees either, PS2 is going to be free to play, so it does not have to be a $15 per month thing anymore.

I have my own idea but it's going to take a while to write up, and frankly I want to see what others dream up as it might make sense for my own.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

Section 1 of My vision, the Game World:
My vision for an MMO FPS would go something like this. First, the game world be something like WW2 Online's. It has a 1/2 scale of Europe, I'd make it maybe 1/4 or 1/5 scale so that everything is closer together(though still huge). But as you can see, a huge continent of bases and bridges, naval bases, etc. It would NOT have to be Europe, it could be an archipelago with islands but overall the same area(but 1/5 scale, again).

I was going to post a pic of WW2 OL's game map but for some reason it tells me the text entered is too long. So you'll just have to click this link:
http://www.battlegroundeurope.com/index.php/campaign-community/campaign-map

You might notice that it defaults to Front Line view, click Strategic Map for the bigger picture. You'll notice bases every 15km. Since I would change the scale, it would be more like every 5-7 km.

You'll also notice that there isn't an airfield everywhere, often they are 20-30 km away(more if I hadn't rescaled). This means that airfields become a strategic target and as you lose them/as the front line shifts, you have to bring planes from deeper airfields.

And although this is big, note that in my vision there would be Squads and Squad Spawning, and the ability to construct Forward Bases for respawning. Additionally, helicopters with a full squad in them fly pretty fast, unlike how slow they fly in Battlefield.

 

[darkewaffle]

MMOFPS will never work because you can't see your own character and people mostly play MMOs to have cool looking gear

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Hardcore Stalker MMO. Random blowouts, random snork invasions, open wold trading system, military incursions.

Would be the most amazing game ever.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Continent sized maps with no vehicles and only have spawn points on opposite edges. When you finally reach the battle, if you get hit once you die and have to start again at the spawn point (after a 3 day waiting period for "resurrection"). Win.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

Continent sized maps with no vehicles and only have spawn points on opposite edges. When you finally reach the battle, if you get hit you die and have to start again at the spawn point (after a 3 day waiting period for "resurrection"). Win.

LOL, that's a failed mockery. As I said above: Squad spawning and forward bases.

 

[ImpulsE69]

How is it failed. You asked my vision, I gave it Doesn't mean I'd play it lol.

 

[AVP]

I never played Planetside, but open-world MMO FPS seems like such an impossible undertaking that will lead to boring gameplay 99/100 attempts.

Global Agenda and now Firefall went for open world-pve and instanced pvp for good reasons. It is impossible to balance large scale fights, and they are nothing more than aoe / mg / turret spam fests. The mechanics of shooting games are different than RPGs, and lend themselves to smaller fights. 5v5-10v10 is the sweet spot for shooting games. You can coordinate your team properly, you have to focus fire targets and there are trade-offs for team comps that you can't really experience in 32v32, or larger.

So one problem, in my opinion with out instanced fights a MMO-FPS cannot offer competition oriented gameplay.

The second problem is that as you scale opposing sides up, turtling objectives becomes easier. Because this game is online there won't be precise coordination so the only way to take a fortified position will be to out number the enemy. In an even battle people running over open ground will be so easy to pick off it won't be funny.

Another problem that I see if if you want to make a realistic war mmofps then balancing vehicles becomes enough of a concern that they cannot be made realistic. When I played BC2 I always thought the missions were most balanced when an idiot got into the chopper and crashed it into the ground. But if you are going to have vehicles that move at their proper speed, these are going to offer a huge advantage to the crew inside, their gunners, and the unit that is going to repel out. Competition for these spots will be huge, and cause a lot of drama.

If you are on the ground fighting for territory, as you say, and it is your job to throw yourself at a well-defended objective 2km away with 50 players and room for 10 the 2 respawning jeeps you basically spend your time dying to skill-less mg, mortar or vehicle spam, waiting for respawn, and then running back over and over.

And then there is the issue that you are in a group running around with 10s, or even hundreds of people followed around by who exactly? Is it the loudest mouth-breather or did someone get "promoted"? How did they get promoted, time played?

Then with large groups of people on flat land, vision becomes a problem. There can't be friendly-fire because people will abuse it so there will always be competition for space in the best spots.

So basically in a large scale online environment spray-pray weapons, aoe and vehicles will your strongest assets. Leadership will be a problem. Respawn mechanics are tricky if you don't want people spending most of their time just running. Numbers of players on each side becomes critical in each engagement. If you want defenses to not have a huge advantage you need to allow tanks and mortars to severely cripple them, and what fun is that for a guy on the ground?

Lets not even get into the technical issues. Maybe in 20 years this type of game could be made fun. For now any shooter that takes skill and coordination will be 5v5-10v10.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

I never played Planetside, but open-world MMO FPS seems like such an impossible undertaking that will lead to boring gameplay 99/100 attempts.

It's simply a matter of the fact that only 2 companies have done it. WW2OL is not fun because the gameplay is too mil-sim. Soldiers need to be able to run fast, aim fast, etc.

Planetside is much better, but still doesn't hit the mark, but PS2 will fix that.

5 v 5, has zero strategy and is basically a twitch-aim contest. 32 v 32 isn't much better. Twitch aim matters in an MMOFPS but it isn't the only thing that matters. I'm not making any wagers or stepping out on any limbs but I think Planetside 2 will surprise people.

Naturally, there is a large section of the community that does not want anything but twitch skill in their game, and wants maps so small that you can see and shoot at the enemy without moving from where you spawn. There will always be games for these people, but they shouldn't be the only games.

Anyway, as I say, the biggest problem is that only 2 companies have done it, so we've only seen 2 takes on it.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Just change Eve's firing mechanic to be like a space FPS. Done.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

Just change Eve's firing mechanic to be like a space FPS. Done.

Actually, EVE, I mean, it wouldn't be a "shooter", but if the combat style was changed to be where you directly fly the ships instead of flying them like an RTS, that would be a great improvement. And actually, a game like Planetside would be good to add space combat to it.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Just change Eve's firing mechanic to be like a space FPS. Done.

Lag issues would make it impossible.

 

[vshah]

it would be cool if it was linked to a separate RTS game. so the guy playing the rts selects a bunch of units and right clicks a point on the map to send them there. the players in the mmofps then get an objective on their HUD to that same place.

would never work, but interesting idea.

 

[Arsinek]

Just change Eve's firing mechanic to be like a space FPS. Done.

Hit the nail on the head. The EVE universe is cool but they totally screwed it by giving it RTS mechanics.

EVE universe + XWing/Tie Fighter mechanics = win.

 

[vshah]

Hit the nail on the head. The EVE universe is cool but they totally screwed it by giving it RTS mechanics.

EVE universe + XWing/Tie Fighter mechanics = win.

i've been dreaming about a game like this since before i was born

 

[Arsinek]

WW2 online but from a good studio with good financial backing would be nice.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

Hit the nail on the head. The EVE universe is cool but they totally screwed it by giving it RTS mechanics.

EVE universe + XWing/Tie Fighter mechanics = win.

This. Now, hardware requirements won't let us model hyperspace, but we COULD have trade lanes and jump gates like Freelancer.

 

[SunnyD]

You shoot people, they die. Lag need not apply.