What follows is a list of things I'd like to see/do/program/play in a MMORPG that doesn't exist. The goal is that I will have some hand in bringing it to fruition, but there are lots of years of study before that happens. Most of these things are possible (if difficult) today. Others may simply be beyond our technical capabilities at this time. One item of note: the general premise is the single-player campaign would have a basic AI (although far richer than what most games ship with), but the online game would have a much more complex and deeper AI than anything I've yet heard of. This will definitely be one area where the game will be pushing some technical/theoretical limits.
Horses for travel
Horses in combat
No hitpoints. A 20th level PC with 20 times the life force (via hitpoints) of a first level character, is ridiculous. If you slit someone's throat, they're dead -- it doesn't matter what "level" they are.
Melee combat should be more realistic. Limbs were severed. "Magic" might be able to heal the damage, but going to a healer with your own arm in your pack is a good admonition to be careful. Conversely, being beaten silly with your own arm is quite an ego blow, even if you are left to fight another day. "damage" should have more far reaching effects than the hit point bar getting lower -- skills should be affected.
Fires (magical and normal) should cause real damage...buildings can burn down, grasslands can be destroyed, forests can be ravaged.
There are things in the world that are far more powerful than you. The concept that everything a party encounters is within the realm of defeat is ludicrous. While I'm not suggesting there should be no balance whatsoever, some pause to evaluate a threat should be necessary. Players should not be able to assume they can defeat anything thrown at them.
Some sort of a robust tracking system.
Throwing knives should definitely be included. If I hit you in the eye with a thrown knife, you're probably going to die. See note above about hitpoints.
Almost anything is a weapon. In a bar, someone is thrown on a table and the table splinters. I should be able to pick up a table leg and use it as a club. I should also be able to throw the table leg at someone.
Everything in the world is destructible, from buildings and walls and trees, to characters' armor and weapons. You have to maintain your equipment (also a good resource drain).
Some sort of sniper-like use of a bow for taking down targets at distance.
More realistic AI. NPCs that attack you wave after wave, all of them being slaughtered is dumb. Have characters run if the fight doesn't go their way. Or maybe surrender ;)
More customization in combat, with a potential for more control by the player. Some players are really good at boxing games, for instance, so they might prefer a blow-by-blow type system. Others are not that good at combat, and would prefer a more automated combat system: "I'll attack when I have an opening, but don't make me press the button at the exact time". This is basically "attack mode" versus a blow-by-blow approach. Both systems should be competitive. See the note on AI above.
Gear Customization -- every piece of leather armor should not look the same as every other piece of leather armor. Color and style should be selectable. I can buy a car, but the style of the car is one of factors (for some people).
Gear should include camping equipment that works. Tents, sleeping apparatus that's period-appropriate, whatever. This is a fantasy game. Much of the party's time will be spent outdoors. They should be appropriately equipped. Same goes for their mounts. That means tether lines or hobbling gear if your horse is a wanderer.
AI-controlled party members should have more customization options. A "buffer" might do his best to stay out of harm's way, while keeping you buffed. A "tank" might try to engage the enemies on your behalf while you use range attacks. But they're not going to fight your battles for you, either. To pull this off effectively, there would probably need to be 3 phases: pre-combat, combat, post-combat. A healer NPC could have a "buffer" characteristic set for the pre-combat phase, with a "heal" behavior set for combat and post-combat phases.
In NWN, some servers developed that were purely social -- places players could join and interact in-character. I recall there were even some weddings I heard about. Most players like to RP to some degree, so it's worth giving this factor some attention. Could be social clubs in cities, abandoned cabins in the woods, or maybe just a banquet room in the back of the local tavern.
Skills should improve as they're used, not by some point allocation system.
Player-adjudicated justice systems.
Power base -- as players grow more powerful, one feature is they can hire people to do things for them. This could be as simple as purchasing equipment, or as complex as arranging shipment of ore from a mine the PC discovered, perhaps even to include issuing bounties on another PC that's been particularly troublesome.
Tracking - this could be accomplished by using something similar to the way ants move. When ants move, they leave behind a bit of scent that other ants can detect. So in the game, each step a player takes could leave behind a little packet of information (speed of travel, general size, time of passage, etc.). The more skilled the tracker, the more (and more accurate) the information that can be derived from these tracks.
The mechanism listed above could also be used for dynamically built roads. In the same way ants will eventually start to all follow the same path, the NPC AI could detect these tracks for pathfinding, and eventually develop roads that were never put in place by the level designers.
Senechals or stewards could be available for handling the PC's business affairs. I'd like to see player-owned businesses, crafting, resource-hording (mining, farming, etc.).
Messaging. The channel communication in NWN was cool, but the idea that you could communicate with people that weren't in close proximity was crap, because people abused the shit out of it for spoilers and griefing. However, some sort of long-distance communication should be possible. Carrier pigeons or perhaps runners/riders to carry messages.
Camera. The camera should be adjustable to the user's preference. If you prefer first-person, that's available. If you want a camera that stays directly behind your characters left foot at an angle of -12 degrees, then you can do that too. Oh, and there should be several "follow" options for the different preferences as well (controls how the camera follows the character).
Basically, ditch the whole "Dungeons & Dragons" style of character building. While the character creation method needs to be more fully-fleshed out, thanks to the plethora of dnd games, I have a pretty good idea what I *don't* want to do.
Testers are going to hate me...there are way too many features here. Need to clean this up into categories at least.
All NPCs should have characteristics to help determine fitness.
AI uses genetic algorithm to determine fitness and offspring of NPCs. This way, succeeding generations of NPCs potentially improve. This will allow the NPCs to remain competitive with the PCs.
From Brandon: Weapons in first person shooters are overly accurate. All weapons should be affected by wind, rain, etc. If sniping in pouring rain, I can't just shoot straight forward and hit my target. The same should go for every other weapon.
From Brandon: Damage caused to AI should affect their movement and attacks. If you stick a knife in their arm, it should be disabled.
