Here's how I would completely overhaul the game

MisterBigglesworth

1. Remove Champion System and Veteran Ranks. Make everyone level 50. Remove Cadwell Silver/Gold and the whole concept of questing for another Alliance. Strengthen faction identity. An AD character entering Stonefalls, for example, should be considered a hostile act and the town guards should respond accordingly. Allow for opt-in PVP (i.e. flagging yourself) for players who wish to defend their homeland.

2. Get rid of gear stats in PVP. Make your stats be based around your "spec" (your 6 slotted abilities + weapon type). Balance classes and abilities around this much simpler system. Tightly control time-to-kill by both limiting burst damage AND mitigation/healing (with larger health pools instead) thereby ensuring a 1v1 lasts more than 10 seconds without potentially becoming endless.

3. In PVE, get rid of 5-piece set bonuses. Repurpose some of the more interesting bonuses to show up as an effect on a single piece of gear. Limit this to helms, necklaces (jewelcrafting), and weapons only, thereby allowing up to three bonuses on character at once. Implement the tried-and-true Diablo style loot system. Something drops, equip it right away, become more powerful, rinse and repeat. Ideally you would want to see a new upgrade drop a couple times per week of normal play (2-3 hours per day).

4. Make a separate resource for dodge/block/breakfree/bash/sprint/sneak. Equalize the damage, cost, and regeneration rate between Stamina abilities and Magicka abilities. Give more abilities cast times and, most importantly, only allow damage to actually go through at the END of the cast time. If you cancel out of a cast time (aka the animation) it should also cancel that damage.

5. Introduce dungeon "seasons" whereby the Normal Mode gear of the current season is almost as good as the Veteran Mode gear of the previous season. These seasons can be three months long. This would provide a natural catch-up mechanic for new players. Dungeon bosses would become more difficult each season, but there would be other catch-up gear (equivalent to last season's Normal mode) available outside of dungeons (world drops, crafted).

Anyways, these are just some of the ideas I think would strengthen the long-term health of the game. I don't expect any of these things to ever come to pass in THIS GAME necessarily... it's really more just a general list of good game design practices we should expect from future MMOs if they expect to retain and grow their playerbase.

Mojmir

I definitely like no.1

phairdon

Likes no.2

silky_soft

6. No give a *** because they make what they think is good, not what would actually be good. Would help if they were decent at playing their own game before bringing in changes.

7. Wait for Crowfall because the days of forced pve will be over. Oh you siege from wall and not come outside? No worries, I'll tunnel under.

EDS604

disagree with all the set bonus stuff, but definately am pro no. 4

Glaiceana

Pretty good ideas! And I'd also love for Coldharbour to be neutral, where all factions are able to see each other and can trade face to face, no pvp, would make sense with the lore too, rather than have two thirds of players invisible and non intractable with you... Could also have a vamp and ww shrine here for cross alliance bite sharing.

Mojmir

Glaiceana wrote: »

Pretty good ideas! And I'd also love for Coldharbour to be neutral, where all factions are able to see each other and can trade face to face, no pvp, would make sense with the lore too, rather than have two thirds of players invisible and non intractable with you... Could also have a vamp and ww shrine here for cross alliance bite sharing.

same with craglorn

JD2013

You can wish all you like. They aren't going to take the game down and completely overhaul it.

This game is already a product of the community, thanks to all the nerfs, vet levels, champion system, all added as reactions to the community.

kmorganlfcb16_ESO

Your premise for number one is complicated by the fact that there are many NPC's - many of which you receive quest from, or are linked to a quest/dungeons etc - found in another factions area. Either these will have to be completely removed and replaced by the 'correct' faction, or some back story needs to be introduced in those quests in order to explain their appearance within them if their being in a different faction's territory is considered a hostile act. Of course, you could make the rule apply only to players and not NPCs, but that would make the decision meaningless.

Sneaky-Snurr

I especially like point number 4. Animation cancelling (AC) is ruining the game with its macro exploits and its byproduct which makes attack speed in this game practically the useless element in the game. It's a broken game design and is not intended by @ZOS themselves. I remembered that during launch, attack speed had a lot of buffs, passives and synergies available but all combined (5 or more medium armour set passive, Weighted trait, Haste and rapid strikes speed buff among others I couldn't recall) gave no noticeable effect. All those combined contributed close to +50% attack speed if I remember correctly. I was disappointed to see the effect being lackluster due to AC as I was focused on building a toon based around high basic attack speeds. AC used by itself contributed a lot more DPS than stacking all available attack speed buffs.

They should've been more careful with the combat system implementation.
However, hindsight's importance is next to none in this game as it's been said and done. I just hope that @ZOS take another chance on fixing animation cancelling. Believe me, it would solve A LOT and I mean BUTTLOADS of different types of exploit that's prevalent in the game as of now.

M_TeK_9

Horrible ideas. The champion point system is what separates a smart man from an incompetent man. If anything, limit the amount of champion points.... but not even it makes for a game where people who put time in get results.

Instead of being so negative about this awesome game, try to make your own game and put all of your ideas in it. It would make for a very short, repetitive game. It would be the call of duty to this as battlefield so to speak.

OtarTheMad

Just say no to overhauls.

Sneaky-Snurr

OtarTheMad wrote: »

Just say no to overhauls.

@OtarTheMad
I'm not sure if I like points 1, 2, 3 and 5 conveyed by the OP but I would LOVE to see @ZOS fix animation cancelling. It has replaced the whole aspect of attack speed and is ruining the game due to macros and exploits.

OtarTheMad

Sneaky-Snurr wrote: »

OtarTheMad wrote: »

Just say no to overhauls.

@OtarTheMad
I'm not sure if I like points 1, 2, 3 and 5 conveyed by the OP but I would LOVE to see @ZOS fix animation cancelling. It has replaced the whole aspect of attack speed and is ruining the game due to macros and exploits.

I see why people are asking for overhauls, some things are pretty broken and need attention but honestly after over a year of playing this game and only 1 real content filled release since then I just want more content.

Like I said in another post, I don't think the CP system should have been introduced but I get why it was. We were all asking for veteran rank removal and more exciting vr zones. That could have been remedied with a combination of what they have now (less XP needed to level but more XP given) and maybe a unique storyline to the VR zones, like the aftermath of beating Molag Bol.

Sneaky-Snurr

OtarTheMad wrote: »

I see why people are asking for overhauls, some things are pretty broken and need attention but honestly after over a year of playing this game and only 1 real content filled release since then I just want more content.

@OtarTheMad
A fair point indeed. I share the same feelings too. :thumbsup:

Sausage

This way please. https://www.kickstarter.com/ Have fun to create your own game!

Septimus_Magna

And why would anyone play beyond level 50 if there's no character and gear progression?

A big part of mmo's is the progression and the feeling that you get stronger over time, without it the game will get boring very quickly for most players.

AshTal

I like number 1 because I hate Cadwell gold and Silver it destroys my characters story, and just adds 2 more areas I have to grind through to them get to Craghorn which is dead and I am sent back to my Vet 11 zone where I can run round a dungeon a million times to get XP.

Tandor

JD2013 wrote: »

You can wish all you like. They aren't going to take the game down and completely overhaul it.

This game is already a product of the community, thanks to all the nerfs, vet levels, champion system, all added as reactions to the community.

Not mention Cadwells which was never part of the original game design but was added in beta after complaints from those who weren't willing to roll an alt to see the other alliance content areas.

sekou_trayvond

Idea 4 is intriguing. Adamantly against any CP changes.

Props for making suggestions, though.

Alucardo

Replace Cadwell's Silver/Gold with an open world PVP island, but with villages to pick up quests and delves if you prefer PVE. Kind of like Cyrodiil but without all the sieges, keeps, scrolls. I just refuse to do the Cadwell quests because it's lonesome, full of grinding, and makes zero sense from an alliance point of view. I've got nothing against Raz, but I don't want to help that stupid cat bring down DC.

corrosivechains

So...you'd make the game Guild Wars 2 with factions instead of WvW?

grumlins

I can support 1 and 2 but nothing else. Sorry. The rest of it is just nonsense and would break the game entirely.

tplink3r1

2. "Remove gear stats from pvp" LOL
This game would S*CK without progression, just like EVERY other mmorpg that tried it.

MisterBigglesworth

Septimus_Magna wrote: »

And why would anyone play beyond level 50 if there's no character and gear progression?

A big part of mmo's is the progression and the feeling that you get stronger over time, without it the game will get boring very quickly for most players.

Maybe try reading the WHOLE POST before commenting?
Same goes for the 2 people who agreed with you.

MisterBigglesworth wrote: »

5. Introduce dungeon "seasons" whereby the Normal Mode gear of the current season is almost as good as the Veteran Mode gear of the previous season. These seasons can be three months long. This would provide a natural catch-up mechanic for new players. Dungeon bosses would become more difficult each season, but there would be other catch-up gear (equivalent to last season's Normal mode) available outside of dungeons (world drops, crafted).

Btw, if you're skeptical whether or not the system I've described would actually work, be compelling, and keep people playing, you should know that this is essentially the progression system that the MOST POPULAR SUBSCRIPTION MMO IN THE WORLD uses... so yeah...

RatedChaotic

Give everyone same lvl, gear, stats. Everyone the same on everything. What a fun game that would be cough cough bs.

What you proposed would ruin the game. I like the game how it is. Keep the vet ranks and no cp cap. If we put in the time we should be rewarded. Those that cry should play a single player game.

TX12001rwb17_ESO

z_aromb16_ESO wrote: »

Horrible ideas. The champion point system is what separates a smart man from an incompetent man. If anything, limit the amount of champion points.... but not even it makes for a game where people who put time in get results.

Instead of being so negative about this awesome game, try to make your own game and put all of your ideas in it. It would make for a very short, repetitive game. It would be the call of duty to this as battlefield so to speak.

No the champion system sets a Grinder with no life apart from a person who actually has one.

Molag_Crow

I dunno. I like how things are.

Gorilla

Love all the suggestions. Won't happen, but great advice.

RAGUNAnoOne

Alucardo wrote: »

Replace Cadwell's Silver/Gold with an open world PVP island, but with villages to pick up quests and delves if you prefer PVE. Kind of like Cyrodiil but without all the sieges, keeps, scrolls. I just refuse to do the Cadwell quests because it's lonesome, full of grinding, and makes zero sense from an alliance point of view. I've got nothing against Raz, but I don't want to help that stupid cat bring down DC.

I see a problem with that, Professionals who just want to **** with newcomers and casuals the game will have no low levels left and even if they did have some they will have no chance to get better because they would get killed if they even set foot outside of the cities...

Glaiceana

Mojmir wrote: »

Glaiceana wrote: »

Pretty good ideas! And I'd also love for Coldharbour to be neutral, where all factions are able to see each other and can trade face to face, no pvp, would make sense with the lore too, rather than have two thirds of players invisible and non intractable with you... Could also have a vamp and ww shrine here for cross alliance bite sharing.

same with craglorn

Indeed! That would be perfect for bringing the alliances together when not wanting to PVP but still interact with each other.