One should be able to dodge and/or counter an attack [in a similar fashion to Assassins Creed], leap / dive to the side to avoid an attack [see the last 30 seconds of the WoW intro movie with the Orc vs NE], use the environment [like in a stealth game, Crysis and Theif] to duck behind rocks, trees, to avoid detection or being hit, etc. Also, instead of just hitpoints, there should be a system to keep track of injuries to body parts, like in Deus Ex. If I swing my sword, or shoot an arrow, and it looks like it connects with the targets arm, well it should affect that arm in someway. Maybe they can’t swing their sword as effectively, or hold their shield as high for example.

And for GOD’S SAKE, do NOT rely on a lame ass “To Hit” dice system. All hits that look like they connect with an enemy should do damage, just have the amount of damage done vary from just a scratch, to ZOMGBBQ one hit. Lets be done with the To Hit system. That’s fine for a pen and paper dice game, but in a graphically rendered MMO, if it looks like my sword goes through the enemy, then have it do some damage instead of a “Miss” showing up above the targets head.

In the same vein, I feel that more games need to add the ability to one hit kill a monster (within limits). I am not talking about critical hits here, I’m talking about “uber” critical hits, where instead of 2x or 4x damage, you actually just flat out kill the target. Think of it like a backstab, but not just for theif or rogue types. A warrior with a two handed sword should be able to kill an enemy with one hit, a mage should be able to do the same with his spell of choice, and so should a ranged type character. This should not depend on some random chance to “trigger” [NOT like ".004% chance to one hit target regardless of HP"], rather it should depend on how the player first engaged the enemy. If the player was able to get close enough to the enemy without alerting the target [or what have you], then they should have a higher chance of killing the target in one hit / spell / arrow, etc.

Err… way too long of a post, lol.

One last thing: The skill system should be like whats discussed in the the World of EveCraft article by Jim.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=453

I can dream, can’t I?

Fixed.

Elder Scrolls Online would be cool also. There’s the risk of it becoming just another fantasy MMO, which of course it would be, but Elder Scrolls is one of the very few fantasy series that I think seems even remotely unique and different from every other Tolkien knock off out there, so I’d go for that.

My money is on Elder Scrolls for now, just because it seems unlikely that they would license the engine for a game they aren’t yet sure they have the rights to make.

About the same, except with way more actors around, who all insist in speaking in leet speak. The level of intelligence in the discussions should be about the same, though.

The HeroEngine site may or not be useful.

Only MMO I play, though, is CoH/CoV

Though I’ve played both GemStone IV(well, III moreso) and DragonRealms extensively.

To me, new MMOs are rarely something I’ll play, but more of a “I wonder if they’ll try anything new and exciting??”

…the answer is usually “No”.

Be interesting to see what HeroEngine can do, though. I’ve been hearing about it for years.(I’m now only slightly bitter about Shalnhh leaving the DragonRealms Warrior Mages for Hero’s Journey. Heh!)