Thoughts on endgame

[Roccandil]

In most RPGs (MMO or otherwise) I've ever played, very little happens to change the world unless the player triggers it, thus emphasizing the importance of the player. That tends to reduce immersion and leave endgame as the traditional cycle of getting better gear so you can kill a bigger monster.

In fact, I can only think of one RPG-like game that broke this mold: Space Rangers. In that game, the galaxy was being overrun by Dominators. You were a single ship captain tasked to resist them wherever possible. Progression worked like a traditional RPG in that you did quests, killed enemies, got exp, earned credits, bought bigger ships and prototype weapons, and even looted Dominator weapons.

The difference was that the war went on no matter what you did. You weren't the only space ranger in the galaxy, and the Dominators were constantly launching attacks on free sectors. You could be farming credits in one sector, while watching distant sectors fall. You constantly had to decide if you would join the fight to push back the Dominators, or keep levelling. Progression was only a means to an end, not the end itself.

I'd love to see something like that in Project Gorgon! :)

[alleryn]

In fact, I can only think of one RPG-like game that broke this mold

There are other examples. One off the top of my head is Spiderweb's Exile 3 (now known as Avernum 3). I recall at least one city full of npcs that was turned to ruins after 100 or so game days regardless of your actions.

[Henrycc265]

None of your suggestion will work
I think the practical way is to just copy Everquest ? 80% of people playing project gorgon are because of that game

They should have at least release one end game zone like Cazic Thule ,and throw in a rare spawn raid boss like that
a zone that combines both grouping & raiding
Why is no one able to do this nowadays ? I really miss the good old times in eq


Race: Cazic-Thule
Class: Shadow Knight
Level: 63+
Spawn
Zone: Plane of Fear
Location: Wanders (NE)
Respawn Time: 7 Days (+/- 8 Hours Variance)
Stats
AC: ?
HP: >271k (?)
Damage per hit: ? - 600
Attacks per round: 2 (?)
Special:
Avatar Power (100 DD + knockback + single top slot dispel)
Avatar Snare (AE Snare)
Panic (Random target, single target fear)
Cazic Touch (30 sec refresh)
Zone-wide Assist Agro
Enrage

[Sheawanna]

The good ole day :) Yes EQ was one . there are others .. :):):)

[Roccandil]

None of your suggestion will work

Here's one way I envision my suggestion working:

- Create an "unrest" variable for dungeons;
- Increase unrest over time at a set rate;
- Decrease unrest as players kill mobs and bosses within the dungeon;
- If unrest increases too much, spawn roving level-appropriate mobs outside the dungeon.

So, if the Serbule Crypt isn't cleared enough, it will increasingly spawn roving undead. The mushroom cave would spawn Myconians, and so forth.

This mechanic could trigger other possibilities:

- If any particular dungeon roving mob becomes a serious problem, an appropriate NPC (like Sir Coth) may issue dynamic quests to deal with them.
- Varying roving mobs might encounter each other, and fight each other: the undead and the Myconians might be bitter enemies, for instance. That would provide texture to the world, and make the player feel smaller, in an immersive way (especially if nastier mobs were whaling away at each other!), while providing looting opportunities.
- Roving dungeon mobs might kill normal animals.
- NPC locations could spawn guards of their own to fight roving dungeon mobs.
- NPC work orders could strengthen those NPC guards.
- If too many guards are killed, councils available to NPCs could decrease.

And that's just a beginning. I could see something interesting being done with all those Snow Orc camps, for instance.

[Dumdidum]

You could make the final zone into a battle ground against monsters. If you hold certain objectives (a mill, a bridge, a fort) you have access to the NPC's that sell items needed to craft certain gears, or get game wide buffs. If the monsters push you back too much, you have to reconquer grounds to get the benefits again.

Also while we are on the topic of endgame.
I would like to see something that makes me want to keep playing the game beyond max level/max gear.
Points/tokens that you can aquire in certain ways (crafting, hunting, helping the community) or just plain counsils that can be handed in to buy:
- skins or fluff items to make your char look different
- extra character slots
- extra storage
- rare materials
The prices can be ridiculously high, but reachable.

Also some mechanism so that your character keeps evolving even if you reach max level. Maybe an extra sidebar slot for every x amount of xp you farm, or lesser cooldown options for skills for y amount of xp farmed. X and Y may, again, be very steep.

Lastly. You could introduce some competition between guilds. Have each guild do speed runs in certain dedicated dungeons, weekly.
The guild to clear a dungeon fastest that week, gets a % of counsils dropped in that dungeon (or mats, or guild xp, or guild bufs).
You could even introduce pvp. The guild that clears the dungeon fastest that week, gets to battle the guild that holds it, to determine the winner of that week.
To accomodate small guilds, you could introduce guildlevel requirements to be min/max for a specific dungeon.