How to get hooked on an MMO: The Metroid approach

[Soviet Heavy]

"It gets better when you level up."

"About fifteen hours in, it gets really fun."

"The beginning is a boring drag, but once you do X, it's better."

Said every MMO ever. These games are a major time commitment, and it's a wonder why more of them don't try to spruce things up to draw in new players. You've always got your tutorial zones and beginner's quests, where you do little more than beat on pygmies with sharpened mangos using a 2-by-4.

I propose the Metroid approach to make the early slog more fun. Instead of teasing the player with skills further down the line, start them off with a full set of skills and maxed out capabilities, and set them loose to experiment. Not only will this make the early game more fun, but it will give the player a chance to try out a bunch of different combinations and see what sort of build they want to go for in the long run.

And then take the powers away ala magic or whatever contrivance just like Metroid. Give the new player just enough skill points or what have you to get started after their little joyride is complete.

Short entry, but just a spur of the moment idea. Thoughts?

EDIT

Okay then, how about this? Keep all the powers you've got at the beginning of the game, allowing you multiple methods of play, but as you progress, you are only able to specialize in one or two? So you still have the multitasking, but you can choose which styles you liked the most and develop them more?

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

What about giving the players a bunch of powers to start with and then as they progress *gasp* GIVE THEM MORE POWERS. Don't start the characters at nothing, wearing nothing, and carrying a pointy stick. Give them some decent starting gear and some abilities that are actually fun to use and don't require you to grind for 20 levels before actually having a class. Really, would that be so hard?

Now I know that this isn't an MMO, but one of the reasons that I really like the Souls series of games is because they always start you off with gear that's completely viable going through the entire game. Your character starts off at a base stat where you're able to participate in decent combat, and then only gets progressively better. That's why Soul Level 1 runs exist in Dark Souls.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

What about giving the players a bunch of powers to start with and then as they progress *gasp* GIVE THEM MORE POWERS. Don't start the characters at nothing, wearing nothing, and carrying a pointy stick. Give them some decent starting gear and some abilities that are actually fun to use and don't require you to grind for 20 levels before actually having a class. Really, would that be so hard?

Now I know that this isn't an MMO, but one of the reasons that I really like the Souls series of games is because they always start you off with gear that's completely viable going through the entire game. Your character starts off at a base stat where you're able to participate in decent combat, and then only gets progressively better. That's why Soul Level 1 runs exist in Dark Souls.

Okay then, how about this? Keep all the powers you've got at the beginning of the game, allowing you multiple methods of play, but as you progress, you are only able to specialize in one or two? So you still have the multitasking, but you can choose which styles you liked the most and develop them more?

I'll edit this into the OP, since it sounds like a good idea.

 

[madwarper]

Said every MMO ever. These games are a major time commitment, and it's a wonder why more of them don't try to spruce things up to draw in new players. You've always got your tutorial zones and beginner's quests, where you do little more than beat on pygmies with sharpened mangos using a 2-by-4.

I propose the Metroid approach to make the early slog more fun. Instead of teasing the player with skills further down the line, start them off with a full set of skills and maxed out capabilities, and set them loose to experiment. Not only will this make the early game more fun, but it will give the player a chance to try out a bunch of different combinations and see what sort of build they want to go for in the long run.

And then take the powers away ala magic or whatever contrivance just like Metroid. Give the new player just enough skill points or what have you to get started after their little joyride is complete.

Short entry, but just a spur of the moment idea. Thoughts?

You still have the tutorial, but you've exchanged the 2x4 for a temporary tactical nuke.

Besides, depending on the complexity of the skills of said MMO, having everything available all at once may be way too much for a new player. Whereas when skills are doled out over the time spent leveling, it gives players time to get used to the skills they have and experiment with the new ones as they get them.

Okay then, how about this? Keep all the powers you've got at the beginning of the game, allowing you multiple methods of play, but as you progress, you are only able to specialize in one or two? So you still have the multitasking, but you can choose which styles you liked the most and develop them more?

But, if you don't have access to the specialized version of the skill, do you really have access to all the skills? I mean, you could start off with electric magic, but there's a LARGE gap between rubbing a balloon against your head to create a spark on finger to actually shooting bolts of lightning.


If this were to work, I suppose it'd be better to have the character start out maxed, then as they advance (in whatever metric this game would measure advancement in) they get debuff points that they must spend to debuff skills of their choosing. So, instead of working to buff the skill you use often, you're only debuffing the skill you don't use, which would leaving you specialized in the skills that you choose to not debuff.

 

[DarthUsopp]

Said every MMO ever. These games are a major time commitment, and it's a wonder why more of them don't try to spruce things up to draw in new players. You've always got your tutorial zones and beginner's quests, where you do little more than beat on pygmies with sharpened mangos using a 2-by-4.

I propose the Metroid approach to make the early slog more fun. Instead of teasing the player with skills further down the line, start them off with a full set of skills and maxed out capabilities, and set them loose to experiment. Not only will this make the early game more fun, but it will give the player a chance to try out a bunch of different combinations and see what sort of build they want to go for in the long run.

And then take the powers away ala magic or whatever contrivance just like Metroid. Give the new player just enough skill points or what have you to get started after their little joyride is complete.

Short entry, but just a spur of the moment idea. Thoughts?

You still have the tutorial, but you've exchanged the 2x4 for a temporary tactical nuke.

Besides, depending on the complexity of the skills of said MMO, having everything available all at once may be way too much for a new player. Whereas when skills are doled out over the time spent leveling, it gives players time to get used to the skills they have and experiment with the new ones as they get them.

Okay then, how about this? Keep all the powers you've got at the beginning of the game, allowing you multiple methods of play, but as you progress, you are only able to specialize in one or two? So you still have the multitasking, but you can choose which styles you liked the most and develop them more?

But, if you don't have access to the specialized version of the skill, do you really have access to all the skills? I mean, you could start off with electric magic, but there's a LARGE gap between rubbing a balloon against your head to create a spark on finger to actually shooting bolts of lightning.


If this were to work, I suppose it'd be better to have the character start out maxed, then as they advance (in whatever metric this game would measure advancement in) they get debuff points that they must spend to debuff skills of their choosing. So, instead of working to buff the skill you use often, you're only debuffing the skill you don't use, which would leaving you specialized in the skills that you choose to not debuff.

Debuffing would just give you the feeling of becoming weaker as you progress, which wouldn't be very fun.

How about rather than debuffing a skill, you still start with them all but have to allocate Points to buff certain skills instead while getting few enough points that by the time you reach endgame only some of your abilities will still be viable. At certain levels your skills could also get some new functions, since in my opinion a leveling system needs to provide you with something completely new beond increased base stats to be interesting.