I was looking over delphinae's post and while he covers some excellent points one thing I have been thinking about with MMOs is the content of Solo vs Group vs Raid.

MMOs try to either blend the two together or keep them seperate.

What I think MMOs need to do is link them...

lets take gear as an example. currently most mmos have solo gear, group high end gear and raid gear, each offers a new level of power and often dwarfs the latter. yes raid gear should be far better than solo gear but the problem comes with balance. quite simply a character that is raid geared can walk most solo content making it unchallenging and boring.

Games like EQ 2 have tried to blend tradeskill gear in to allow raids to feed solo players with the ingredients to make better gear but that still requires the solo player to have access to a guild and potentially, by proxy, a raid group.

What an MMO needs is content appropriate gear that doesnt impose on the other...

heres my suggestion to the problem.

1st - create 3 different games within one MMO. A solo game, group game and raid game.

Those that solo, experience the game as a solo player. if they choose to group new content is opened up to them with grouping in mind and cannot be solo'd (non of this I can solo on my level 60 necromancer what everyone else needs a group for). Raid content likewise remains exclusive from grouping and solo. characters should not feel compelled to experience certain content by group solo or raid unless their playstyle allows.

2nd - link the experience from one to another.

Everyone can experience solo play and this should be where everyone gets their basic equipment. link it to crafting if need be. Crafting is a good starting point for many characters and is very solo orientated. crafted gear should be the best with only minor legendary exceptions (such as finding excaliber).

Group play is the first incentive to working together. grouping should emphasize this fact. it should not be about what the individual brings to the group, but about how the group works better with that person. groups should have their own teamwork abilities that are seperate to solo. they offer the user little but offer the group much more compared to solo abilities. same with equipment, use rewards that promote group play. Augments and special gear and objects that require a group (thinking siege weapons and 2+ man chariots). augments should be solo usable (as ways to enhance your character further) but with keeping the idea that a solo without can still do the job on a solo mission.

Raid play is the strategy orientated approach to gaming, what a group cannot achieve through skill a raid can through planning and numbers. again promote raid based (and guild based) rewards. raids should reward prestige and achievements over individual gear...

The results

From a solo viewpoint.
A solo player can experience all the content presented. he can casually group when friends and time permit but overall because hes soloed he is no less effective to that group than someone who has grouped his entire career. Raiding is something a solo will never really strive to seek but again if 3 years down the line life changes and he feels the urge to raid he can do so knowing hes not being carried by the raid for having no raid gear. The only thing that will mark him as a new raider is experience.

From a Group viewpoint.
You can solo and group at will. you can find groups from any walk of life and are not restricted by players who have done the same content or have the same level of gear needed to succeed. Raiding might come to you more often that a solo but again your experience is the only detrimental factor. you might bring a bit more group experience to help win the fight than a solo player.

From a raid viewpoint.
Your guild is your home and heart without it you are not whole. everything you raid is for the guild and the prestige of that guild. you can solo and group while the guild is not actively raiding but when the call goes out you are ready to fight at a moments notice. nurturing new members is a simple case of tactics and occasional grouping to get up to speed. when the dragon is slain at the end of a raid, the whole raid (and guild) benefits, no arguments over loot rights or favoratism over one raid or another. everyone had fun and bragging rights and healthy competition remains outside of the guild vs other guilds.

I think this 'wishlist' is an invitation to EQ-socialism. Does everything need to be equal and fair? If you ask me, to many restrictions are placed on those that like to actually "roleplay" their characters.

I will admit the zone-hogging, or extremely rude play, or the ivory-tower/stone-throwers that refuse to utilize the /filter command--but ***** about "filthy language" really do get on my nerves; but it is "just a game". Furthermore, with as much content in the game, I just succumb to the /ignore command and find another 'endless' quest to chip away at.

While you can please everyone all the time; I do believe that SONY has done a pretty good job at maintaining itself...the game keeps me coming back from time to time; however its the whiny pus*y sh*theads that keep me leaving.

So... I'll give my two copper here. Some of the folks who started playing EQ near release will agree with me, those who came in later, most wil have no idea what I mean.

Everquest was one of a kind, since the Shadows of Luclin expansion, no game (including EQ) has given you the same experience. Some folks are glad about that, but there are many more, like myself, who have, since then (or within an expansion or two of then) found ourselves wandering from game to game. Where once we were dedicated players, now we.. well we try things out, hoping to find something that gives us that experience again.

What was that experience?

First: It was a world of CHALLENGES. Yeah, it was hard. Back when the level cap was 50, doing Plane of Fear or Plane of Hate.... HARD. Heck, even when the cap was raised to 60 PoF and PoH weren't exactly easy. Most games these days, when compared to that, are easy mode. WoW is Easy Mode from day 1 until you get tired of it and quit playing. THe only way to find a challenge is in PvP. Original EQ, we were challenged without having to kill each other. And, of course, there will always be those people who don't want a challenge, they want easy mode, and for them there's WoW, and a dozen other games. Don't worry about stealing those players, instead, just round up all the people who DO want a challenge, and you'll have more than enough customers to be a success.

Second: It was a WORLD. Not just a bunch of points on a map where the flight paths went to, with a bunch of mostly unexplored area between. I mean, really, I knew every inch of the Karanas, Everfrost, ButcherBlock, etcetc. Mostly because at one time or another I had had to find my way around them. I had lists of /loc's for different points of interest in the different zones. I had seen and explored places and seen wonders the likes of which no game, even with their improved graphics, has ever rivaled. Being in the Oasis, and seeing, in the distance, one of the Sand Giants, slowly striding across the sand, and there I was, level 12 or 14? Something in that range. It was impressive and awe inspiring. Not because it was a feat of graphics, but because, here I am, in a place I belong, fighting things my level, and this.... THING just walks through. Games these days don't wanna do that, because we might be upset. Pffft.... sure running from the giants was occasionally annoying, but it was also a part of the world. In a WORLD things are going to always be nicely segregated for you. There is going to be danger. Oasis was the fastest best XP at that level, but there was a risk.

Which brings me to Third: Risk vs Reward. There should always be rewards for the adventures we take on. Sometimes big rewards, sometimes little rewards, but always rewards. What I'm about to say is gonna be very unpopular. But there should also be risks. In most of these games there is no risk. You might lose a little time having to run your ghost back to your body, but thats all. You might have to repair your equipment a little sooner, but thats all. Thats a load of bull hockey. Give us risks that matter. Give us penalties that we won't want to pay. Make dying have some meaning.

Fourth: Classes/Races. Races, we'll start with that since it's the easier of the two. There should be so many races you can't hardly shake a stick at them all. Each with different advantages and disadvantages. These should be minor, but enough that each one will loan themselves to a different play style. Again, not a massive change in playstyle, but say, two warriors of different races, one who chose his race based on hit point bonuses, the other of whom chose his based on dodge bonuses. Since one already has hitpoint bonuses, he looks for hitpoint gear, stamina gear, etc, to make himself the kind of warrior that simply soaks up damage. The other looks for yet more gear to increase his dodge, parry, riposte, and general avoidance. In the end, both warriors should be roughly equally effective, making the racial differences minimal, but noticeable to the player. Then we have class. The original EQ did class balance better than any game, I think. First, I'm one of those people who love a wide variety of class choices. Also, I believe that the key to class balance is to make each class DESIRABLE for some reason, but not NECESSARY. Of course, there were some classes where SOE failed to make them entirely desirable. Like the druid, many people wanted to play it, but no one wanted them for groups. On the other hand, how they handled balance between most of the classes was excellent. You had, at one end of the spectrum (remember, I'm talking about EQ before all the expansions) the Warrior, who could take tons of damage, yet dealt very little, and at the other the Wizard who could deal tons of damage, but take very little. For the most part, each class took those two variables (Damage out and Damage in) and adjusted them in such a way that you maintained equality. As you moved from the Warrior who could take tons of damage and deal very little, to say, the Shadowknight, you found someone who could, in most cases, take a little less damage than the warrior, but deal a little more. And so on and so forth down the line. This worked for me. Of course.... everyone wants their class to be better, and so many people complained. This leads to the biggest problem with game design for a persistent game.

Fifth: People are gonna complain, and whine, and give you 101 reasons why this that and the other are all broken, and why their class/race/tradeskill is worthless. And, if people are given what they want, they'll most often be absolutely pleased, for a while, then discover that, for some unknown reason, the joy has gone out of the game. I refer you to the first point I made.

Sixth: Solo vs Group content. Okay, I understand, you want solo content, even in a multiplayer game. I get that. So we throw in some solo content. That was actually one of the things that the original EQ did really well that folks just don't think about. Remember all the raider camps? And later the Hill Giants? And later the Ice Giants? All those are examples of solo content that was provided, and I'm sure there are dozens of others if we sat and thought about it, like the butcherblock guards, the minotaur's in the beholders maze. So yeah, maybe they need more of that as you get higher, and maybe even some dungeons you can be somewhat safe in solo, that would be cool. But lets not forget one of the things that made this a successful franchise from day 1. MULTIPLAYER. FOlks from the original EQ, they talked, they grouped, they knew one another. The pace of the fighting wasn't such that you couldn't have a conversation while playing. We weren't just powering from 1 to 50 so fast that by the time we hit 50 we didn't know anyone else. By the time you hit 50, you had tons of friends. Not just people you threw on your friends list because they were competent and you wanted to make sure you kept their name around so that if you needed them again, you could remember it, but people you genuinely enjoyed conversing with. So while I'm all for giving solo players some content, let's be aware of what makes for good group content as well.

Seventh: Someone above mentioned the open UI. One of the worst ideas ever. Sure, it's been great for WoW, but many of us are trying to get AWAY from all the crap that WoW created. Like guilds that say you must have X Y Z addon to raid with us. I don't want a bunch of addons I have to manage. I want the borking game, and thats it.

I could go on and on and on, but I'll stop here, since I already have a wall of text no one will read.

Not for nothin but you DO know that the fancy consoles these days are keyboard and mouse friendly...right?