I think it would be fun to play in a zone like the movie Labyrinth. The labyrinth itsself an all of the things inside it. The bog of eternal stinch, the oubliette, the tunnels beneath it, the goblin city in the center with a goblin king and all the tricks and fake paths.
Just something that came to mind while reading this thread. Maybe a little off topic.
As for a climate/region,.. my favorite is lush green areas with grassy plains, waterfalls, clear creeks and ponds, rolling hills covered with wildflowers where I can sit and enjoy the views, cliffs on the sea edge. Antonica from eq2 comes to mind, lots of fun memories there.
:)
kellindil said:werzul said:out there kinda idea, but how about a 'Bermuda Triangle' - esque region, where direction is thrown off (each player in a group might be getting a different sense of what north is , etc) magic abilities may have wrong effects (fire randomly heals a mob, a stun randomly sets it ablaze). weapons become too heavy, or rust quickly, or even randomly do far more damage. areas that are dark as night, take a step it isdaylight, 20 more steps its night again. strange portals that may send you to a different part of the zone, or world (maybe drop you in the middle of the sea or in front of a raid boss - all random)
second thought it might be the most frustrating place ever lol
maybe a truly floating, sargasso sea type place, not really a landmass but thick seaweed, stuck ships, odd flora and fauna that has adapted to this environ, tons of sea creatures of aall types hanging out below the floating mass waiting for the unwary to fall through....might be an interesting dungeon type area
Wild Magic areas.....
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Wild_magic
I would pay twice for this....
excellent catch, friend
in truth, both ideas were inspired by old school DnD
the seaweed 'island' was a scenario from a very old guidebook i have, and still read on occasion. the idea itself is so compelling to me im willing to have VR risk copyright infringement to make it happen.
I was thinking of something different that could fit and came up with this...
A phosphoric / rocky / sandstone area full of hot springs and unique vegetation and creatures. Obviously, it would have areas of heat or steam gushes which the adventurer would have to protect against. I would imagine that the terrain would have amazing colors and be a different experience due to the unique conditions.
Secondly, within this area, you could have pockets of heated water that the player could jump into and head under water. Again, this would be heated water to prepare for... This could open up to some big under water zones and resurface in other areas only accessable from the original path. I am imagining all sorts of colorful vegetations and unique formations... You could also have areas that pop up into unique zones that may lead into other areas on exploration.
I get excited when I think about hidden ways to explore like this... Soon it becomes rumor and then people seek it out.
Lost Odyssey had a pretty good ancient temple maze. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb_4-Dj1l60
Even after completing it it took me forever to figure out how to get back to the start.
Idk if you could call it an "environment" per se, but I find zones like Plane of Mischief fascinating. Frustrating sometimes, for sure. But definitely interesting. Where nothing is quite as it seems. There are all sorts of secret passages and traps and doors don't lead to places you would expect them to. Maybe some pathways are constantly changing and you need to study the patterns to not get lost. It's kinda like the entire zone is one big puzzle.
From World of Warcraft, i liked the warm colors in Azshara:
http://www.fotos-hochladen.net/uploads/azshara1elkph8cs2u.jpg
http://www.fotos-hochladen.net/uploads/azshara2t5lo0qi89g.jpg
The cold mountains and frozen seas in Winterspring:
http://www.fotos-hochladen.net/uploads/ws1cetw5novgi.jpg
http://www.fotos-hochladen.net/uploads/ws2bw0g4nrvos.jpg
The mysterious and magic forest in Ashenvale:
http://www.fotos-hochladen.net/uploads/ashenvaleb1h5c9jivd.jpg
And find a simple forest with a sea is OK too. :)
http://www.fotos-hochladen.net/uploads/hinterlande8modvu1yg.jpg
Greetings
Fun House Isle of the Damned (gouls,zombies and such)(green,purple mist on the grounds)
Crystal Isle of the Spirits ( ghost,etc (crystal formations that float /move)( lots of fog )
Isle of Youth (step back in time ,say like forest area,animals)(rain and thunder storms)
Wasteland Isle ( deformed giants,bugs etc) (ice storms)
I think it was in D&D where there was a world in which a heal that would surpass the target's max HP would actually instead harm the target! I don't remember the lore's explanation for this, but I think it's an amazing way to keep the healers on their toes :D It's much more challenging yet efficient to only heal people up to about 90% hp. I plan on being a Cleric main and I'm always looking for ways to put my skill on display and differentiate from those lazy healbots that just spam heals and waste their mana making sure everyone is constantly topped off lol
Climate wise I’ve always been a fan of storms, and when I say Storms I talking about storms such as when the ocean has a “White Squall” that comes out of no-where with no notice, or on the main land’s when the clouds turn dark and move fast due to a major storm coming through. I want Thunderous Thunder with Lightning streaking through the sky and Lightning Strikes that have the possibility of striking players for instant death, if players wear their Steel Armor or run around with their weapons held high they should be more prone to getting struck by lightning than players wearing Leather Armor or no armor at all. I want the rain to blanket an area so thick that you can’t see if a mob is close by or not (Obviously the mobs agro radius works fine J ..) I remember in EQ in the zone Overthere when it would Rain hard it was impossible to see very far and often players would run into Dragoon’s who kill them quickly; I Miss that type of anxiety when playing in game.
Rint
I browsed through everyones ideas and I like most, I'm typically not that creative but..
I would like to see an Ocean/Sea with flooded caverns (old mineral/ore mines keeping 2D, different spin on underwater zone), maybe floating islands in the Ocean that move with the day/night and seasons.
I really liked the mazes in EQ, think is was Plane of Nightmare? There was another that was under populated on your way to the Sirens were in EQ.. Spin it a bit, the maze evolves and changes based on mobs killed, or is always changing so that in Winter the foilage lessens and you can get into an area that was previously blocked..
Hate snow in real life but loved snow zones, foggy zones?
/shrug thats all I gots.. (edit paragraphs/spacing)
Settings I would love to experince in mmoprg ...
1. Like many others have stated Icy lands or dungeons (Velious comes to mine...running on ice not a smart thing to do btw).
2. Dungeon thats in a volcano that has moving lava around (and it hurts) and everthing shakes periodically.
3. Going out on limb here because I know sure whatelse to put down ...land or island above clouds (obviously tropical climate).
Vandraad said:Kilsin said:Name a region / climate you would love to experience in an MMORPG setting that isn't typically offered.
I want a dungeon created by and constantly affected by the delirious and incoherent thoughts of an insane wizard. Give me this:
Give me a dungeon where gravity isn't always pulling in the same direction everywhere, or even with a consistent strength or direction. Ceilings become floors that become walls. Tunnels and hallways reachable only when gravity just happens to make getting there possible otherwise it is completely inaccessible.
Think about the possibility: You enter a room (and for the sake of simplicity, that room is a cube. In each face of the cube is a doorway. This means 4 hallways share the same gravitational 'down', allowing you to walk acros the floor and enter those doorways. You open each door and see a hallway stretching out in front of you with other passageways further down the halls. The remaining doors though...one is in the ceiling and the other the floor. You open the door in the floor and you see a straight hallways stretching straight down, down further than you can see with no 'floor' in sight. You could jump 'down' into the shaft where you'll reorient yourself to the new 'down' in this hallway. As you continue moving around you see other areas you cannot reach because their 'down' is not your current 'down'. Maybe if you went back to the first room? Or maybe somewhere further on is another nexus where you can switch orientations?
Or what if just randomly gravity just decided to switch. Imagine if you're in that same long hallways enjoying the adventure when you notice gravity reorientating..but 'down' now is along the length of the hallway. You need to find a hallway fast or an outcropping on a wall or get that levitate passed around so you can float down the hallway until you reach a suitable floor.
This is a really good idea actually. Plenty of optical illusions, invisible walls, traps, warps. There should be no way to zone back out except through a player created portal. A hellish trip of a zone. If done properly, this could be extremely original, difficult, frustrating, and loads of fun.
Any area or region that showed the footprints of everyone else that passed by for the past 30 minutes.
Sand, Mud, Dirt, Snow, Grass. If it's not bare rock, it should show footprints, temporarily. Dynamic Texture/overlay/alphamap projection has been around for more than 5 years, and should be trivial to accomplish this task, with almost no overhead. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texture_splatting )
)
I'll add a modern revamp of the Estate of Unrest. It was by far my favorite zone in classic EQ and I know I'm not alone in that opinion. It would be awesome if they took that same concept and threw it into overdrive. Make it even more creepy and scary, especially when in first person view - almost like you were actually walking through a haunted house in real life, where you always feel like you're being watched and stuff jumps out at you when you least expect it. The anticipation gets your heart pounding. There are grotesque images around every corner and you never know when you might step on a trap door. I know immersion is going to be a big part of this game, and I think some zones should take extra advantage of that by toying with your fears. A haunted house that is not for the faint of heart. I can only imagine how the music in this zone would amplify the creepiness factor.
Bazgrim said:I'll add a modern revamp of the Estate of Unrest. It was by far my favorite zone in classic EQ and I know I'm not alone in that opinion. It would be awesome if they took that same concept and threw it into overdrive. Make it even more creepy and scary, especially when in first person view - almost like you were actually walking through a haunted house in real life, where you always feel like you're being watched and stuff jumps out at you when you least expect it. The anticipation gets your heart pounding. There are grotesque images around every corner and you never know when you might step on a trap door. I know immersion is going to be a big part of this game, and I think some zones should take extra advantage of that by toying with your fears. A haunted house that is not for the faint of heart. I can only imagine how the music in this zone would amplify the creepiness factor.
I agree!! Unrest had this eerie atmosphere about it and had just the right amount of content from low level mobs, high level mobs, under-con’s and much more… It was just creepy… I would hope Pantheon has something like this for us to experience, but I also would want it to be ramped up in regards to intensity. I want to hear scarier sounds, see scarier mobs, and bring back the trains…
Rint
Ok, going for something I have never seen before in an RPG: I would like to see a huge salt plane with shallow poisoned lakes. Vast almost featureless zone with hot blue skies and the odd fluffy nimbus floating around.
In the distance, I can see a tall thin spire, white, glinting in the strong sun. At its base, light grey smudges. Could they be buildings? Are the smudges moving, or is it just the shimmer of the heat? What is this place? Why is it here? What creatures lie in wait out there? How could anything survive out here? What is the tower?
I come across a large ancient boat poking from the salt, half submerged. So this was once a vast inland sea? Why is it now dry? What’s left on the boat? Did the hatch just close?
Maybe I should go back to that ghost town at the edge of the lake that I skirted and investigate there more before trekking out here?
Hints of things in the distance fade in and out of view, shimmering, tantalising my senses, pulling me deeper into this wasteland. Some are mirages, some are more substantial in nature.
In the daytime, hot, humid. At night, cold, biting deep. Survival would be hard and a group would need to be well prepared, carrying food, water and be able to keep cool and warm.
Wildlife would be far and few between, but very, very dangerous and because of the lack of features, agro ranges would be huge. Most would be scavengers and hunters, making use of anything they come across. Maybe flying creatures would dominate, too. Easier for them to get in and out of the area.
Lots of hidden areas, entrances to mines, villages hidden behind shimmering veils. I think the lack of visible landmarks in this type of zone could challenge players, developers and level designers.
Example: Great Salt Plains
Rint said:Bazgrim said:I'll add a modern revamp of the Estate of Unrest. It was by far my favorite zone in classic EQ and I know I'm not alone in that opinion. It would be awesome if they took that same concept and threw it into overdrive. Make it even more creepy and scary, especially when in first person view - almost like you were actually walking through a haunted house in real life, where you always feel like you're being watched and stuff jumps out at you when you least expect it. The anticipation gets your heart pounding. There are grotesque images around every corner and you never know when you might step on a trap door. I know immersion is going to be a big part of this game, and I think some zones should take extra advantage of that by toying with your fears. A haunted house that is not for the faint of heart. I can only imagine how the music in this zone would amplify the creepiness factor.
I agree!! Unrest had this eerie atmosphere about it and had just the right amount of content from low level mobs, high level mobs, under-con’s and much more… It was just creepy… I would hope Pantheon has something like this for us to experience, but I also would want it to be ramped up in regards to intensity. I want to hear scarier sounds, see scarier mobs, and bring back the trains…
Rint
Lol, only one problem, to properly implement the feeling of Unrest, they would also have to add in zone lines for epic trains to zone and major aggro bugs for allowing stuff to get aggrod through walls and floors lol. Other then that, love the idea.
Kilsin said:Name a region / climate you would love to experience in an MMORPG setting that isn't typically offered.
Google "Netherworld"
And not just a zone that has an entrance someplace, but a portal that could randomly appear anyplace, A field, a forest, a town, a bank, a lvl20 dungon, a lvl 60 dungon, like a tear in the fabric of reality... then it persist in that place for a week or so(rng) and then disappears, only to return in an unknown (rng) number of days.
Players would never know WHERE this portal would appear, WHEN this portal would appear, how long it would STAY, or when it would REAPPEAR.
Finding the tear, getting the word out, getting everyone too it all would be part of the fun.
(Not my idea credit goes to coworker "acha")
