What mistakes Albion Online has made and what the Fractured devs should avoid.
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Some of my remarks:
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The economy. The ability to buy in-game currency with real money absolutely ruined the economy and put 'whales' way ahead right from the beginning. It allowed them to monopolize and manipulate the market in very unnatural ways (ex. buying out crafting buildings at day 1).
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Giving too much power to large or established guilds. It was almost impossible to be able to succeed playing solo or in small groups in Albion Online as you could be killed constantly with no chance of retaliation due to sheer numbers of the aggressor guilds.
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The map. Most of the zones were extremely repetitive (they were the exact copies of previous ones in most cases) and had boring design.
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Not enough variety. Although the item system wasn't terrible, it didn't allow for deep customization and after a while it was clear that some setups were strictly better to run than other ones resulting in very stale gameplay. Luckily it's looking good for Fractured so far with races, the knowledge and talent systems and hopefully some interesting spells.
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Professions. The professions were not distinct from one another at all in Albion Online. They all came down to running around and clicking on objects for hours to make a profit. I hope they will be implemented in a much more interesting and engaging way in Fractured, possibly adding some skill-based mechanics or somehow encouraging thinking and planning as opposed to a mindless grind.
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Separate servers. As a European player I had to deal with a ~150 ping in Albion Online due to a single North American server which made the already clunky combat even worse. It would be great if no player had to put up with a high ping.
Thanks for reading and I hope to see other people's opinions on the matter. :slight_smile:
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@nozy Hey there nozy! Those are some good points
I like the comparison to Albion as its a relatively new MMO thats very much in the vein of Fractured. My 2 cents;1/ Tbh I dont have much to say here as I completely agree. Its much better to invest development time in anti gold selling tactics and coding than implementing their own gold selling market. The only people who like this are those who want to dominate others with their wallet, this time for money argument holds no weight as there are plenty of hard working people who still play and are relevant. If you cant put in the time, their MMO's arent the gaming style for you, plain and simple.
2/ I definitely see your point but I'm not sure how someone can circumvent this. Maybe a karma penalty to those who are in a guild who pk others who are not? Thats easily abused though and the whole PK thing can kind of be avoided depending on the race you choose. At the same time I would be oneto say apply for a guild - there is strength in numbers, always will be. Dont think thats avoidable really, but thats just my opinion. I'd be happy to be proven wrong.
3/ Yep - one reason I'm so looking forward to Fractured is that the game is based round exploration, so the maps MUST be interesting or its doomed from the start. In saying that, I do have faith in that they will deliver.
4/ 400 spells sounds pretty diverse and good to me
Cant comment on the gear since that hasnt been explained but I'd be surprised if that wasnt quite a pool of variety itself. As you pointed out too, the races do look pretty good; I personally like that there are variances within the different races too. Adds depth to the world. I'd like to ask what your thoughts are on a loot system actually. My 2 exmaple are that of the Diablo franchise? Where loot is much just randomly attainable with a percentage chance with various rarities or that of DnD style where items are more crafted specifically and dev's have created them? I know they have mentioned that most of the gear earned will be crafted and thats a good method to keep everyone relevant but I do think there should be a point to treasure hunting and adventures beyond just a knowledge point. Killing an elite or boss at the end of a dungeon should net you a nice little reward in the form of a shiny piece of gear, even if only marginally better than whats crafted - again my opinion.5/ Thats a very interesting point, i always thought that rare resources should be placed behind some kinda of combat situation or hidden area but a skill-based mechanic sounds pretty good too! Even some form of a puzzle to get to a rich fill resourced area would be fun. Could even be a shifting portal to get to the puzzle area so people dont just spam farm them without the effort put in to seeking them out.
6/ Its been mentioned already that they are planning a singular server for everyone but so long as latency issues arent a big deal. I cant remember their reasoning behind not thinking there would be any problems but its worth looking up if its something particularly important for you as to put your input in. I have several friends around the world who would enjoy this game so this method is my preferred choice but only if done effectively
Adding my own ideas and thought to the list:
7/ I'd like to see something in the form portals to pockets of space other than just for puzzles to resources. I know this has kind of been mentioned in the asteroid part of the exploration journal so this could already be something planned, but portals adds an element that deters from the 'meta' finding mechanic. Once a place is found within a game it usually just spammed to hell and back, but if portals are random and its luck or effort in the form of exploration it means its not as spammable as if the mechanic was not there.
8/ Will the economy and cities be run by players or NPC's? Would be fun if different sections are run by various 'Dukes' or the races own version and ultimately collectively help towards a kingdom and its ruler. I know this is a very taboo subject for most as its not ever been done very well, partially because those games that have tried usually put these positions to people who have spent the money to get there, not by merit of character or skill/achievement. But I think if done right, could be very interesting. Guilds could choose to side with different Dukes, they can vie for control or work together. This can also be limited to the races depending on their 'natures'.
9/ Lastly, will there be a housing system that is beyond just vanity and pass time. For e.g. as a merchant being able to setup shop out of ones property or build it into a blacksmith or armorer's workshop. Will there be a limited amount of building crafts involved? I say this in a very minimal sense -not building wherever you please and ruining the landscape and populated areas. Maybe designated sections are open for building and maybe just can bring a small portal tent wherever you go so long as you have it packed. It would give you a limited amount of option as opposed to an actual property but that could be an interesting mechanic, especially if weather patterns and changing seasons is an important thing.
Anyway, I think thats far more than a response you were looking for, sorry!
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although there will be only one server for this game, but there's always a method to deal with the latency, somehow
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I hope there is no crazy ideas with the cash shop
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Working in Marketing(not in the gaming industry) I see games make so many mistakes around monetization. There needs to be a balance around a games ability to continue to make money as well as making sure it doesn't detract from the game in any way. So far the best monetization system I have seen over a long period is Warframe, maybe followed by Guild Wars 2(which they have messed up a few times for sure). Devs do need to also balance feedback from people who will spend money and those who just want everything for free, because game dev does cost money, but you don't want people forming online mobs to witch-hunt your game for predatory monetization strategies.
I really hope Fractured gets it right, or even if they don't be open around communicating that they are working on getting it right. No one is perfect and getting the community on your side to be successful is a fine balance...
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yea i agree. no money laundering because if you followed what happened on reddit concerning farm bot guilds affiliated with albion devs and the treatment of the iron bank and the revealing of all this crap all over reddit a while back is why i stopped playing albion...
yea i hope this game doesnt go that route.
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I really feel like #2 is the most important out of the lot here.
Allowing for large groups to effectively smother any hope of smaller groups from doing much of anything is a quick way to ruin fun. Many people prefer to play games with just a couple of friends. Zerg guilds (large invite-all-the-things guilds) are often seen as "bad" by the common player in titles. Then there's always the fact that many like to do things on their own once in a while in an online title. You don't ALWAYS want to be forced into grouping.
I feel like Albion Online completely missed that mark. You feel worthless the majority of your time in Albion Online. Same goes for small groups. You just aren't going to make a dent or even hope to keep pace with what large guilds can do. So whats that leave you with? Join them and be a lowly peon to help feed that bloated behemoth or rot alone. Neither are fun. Games should be fun. So.. you know.. that's kinda a problem if things aren't fun for the most common ways of playing.
That said I do feel grouping should be important. What I don't think is it should always be necessary to be part of a zerg in order to play.
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I'd be very interested in how a karma system can be abused.
The overpowering guilds thing might be circumvented by having a huge map, which has its own difficulties, or maybe special zones, or missions or activities which can only be done solo.
Isn't Albion in isometric view? that always puts me off a lot. One of the main reasons I didn't get into Marvel Online after beta testing.
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@nozy said in What mistakes Albion Online has made and what the Fractured devs should avoid.:
Some of my remarks:
- The economy. The ability to buy in-game currency with real money
While I'm not a big fan of this, the problem all games make with this is by having at release of the game. The game's economy needs to build and plateau for several months or longer before something like this can be implemented.
