[Starting Off]

What I hate in MMOs is the starting zones that you pass through and never return to... have no later use for.  I've tried lots of MMOs that are like this and I don't stay with them very long... I believe this is the WoW style.

 

There are 2 MMOs that have used a different system which I like.  Final Fantasy 11 and 14.  In these you start in a town.  You wander around town for a bit talking to people... learning the lore and game systems... then you head outside to fight.  The town is your home base which you always return to... where the shops are... market... where your player house and storage are... where the class trainers are... always useful and used.  Then the areas outside have difficulties ever increasing as you get further and further from town... but in low level areas there are entrances to "secret" high level plot related areas as well.  So you always have a mix of low and high level players traveling back and forth doing their thing side by side.

 

Now neither system really fits a game such as this...  But the second system is more of a fit I think.  If you can colonize worlds... the devs could take such worlds which have reached a certain level of development and make them safe zones... where new players could arrive in.  Then the rules against pvp and such could get more and more lax as you get further and further away from such a world.  Until you're in wild space where anyone could gank you but also the resources haven't been picked clean yet.  Oh and I think the transforming of a player colony into a safe zone should be an opt in type thing so it's only done if the player or guild of players in charge of a colony wants it done.  Up til then they could be responsible for making and enforcing their own rules.

[Some thoughts on stealth ships..]

I'd like to have a device that emits a radio signal that throws off radar detection, or at least reduces its accuracy, but doesn't necessarily visually cloak my ship.

 

Or which simulate drive emissions which fool the opponents sensors into thinking there are multiple ships.  Only works at long range since they clearly don't look visually like ships.

[Crafting, Markets, and work orders]

Some people really like gathering materials... be that some sort of mining or taking down boss monsters to use generic terms... and it'd be wonderful if they could supply the crafters.

 

And some people hate all that but have to do it in order to do what they like... making things for others to use... It'd be wonderful if the game had a formalized method to allow these crafters to tell other players what they need and let them gather it for them.

[Crafting, Markets, and work orders]

Crafting...

 

What do we got? weapons? armor? ships? buildings? space stations?

 

Whatever it is I want an in depth way of making them which allows a crafter to visually leave their mark... also to have quality levels that means there are relatively few capable of producing top quality items and are thus sought after.  But mostly the visual mark should be there so you can see other people are using a certain crafters items. 

 

Markets...

 

There shouldn't be a physical location... in this scifi theme game it should just be a UI thing... But there should be a robust market UI... and I want personal store fronts. 

 

I mean at some point you as a crafter should be able to purchase and set up a in game "webpage" store front to sell your wears... buy materials... accept orders...

 

But there should also be markets... they could be player faction markets or NPC faction restricted... so you can only put stuff up if you have neutral or good standing with whatever faction.  Needed features are of course looking up what value items have sold for recently... and that should be on the same screen you use to put something up for sale...  Something like right click... see recent prices... right on the same screen where you're entering the price.

 

I've been so frustrated in games where looking up prices and selling things are not linked... looking up 20+ items prices and writing them down on a note pad... so I can then put them up for sale on a different screen.  ARGH just thinking about it frustrates me all over again.

 

If there are a bunch of different factions with their own markets and your character can't have good standing with all of them... sets up potential for smuggling.

 

Work orders...

 

Basically player given quests.  Something you want not on the market?  Create a work order for it.  You could set how much you want to pay... and maybe even provide the materials for it... And Crafters could look through the work orders tab of the market and accept your order.   There would have to be time limits where the work order gets relisted if the crafter fails to deliver... and if any materials were provided they would be returned... and they would have to have been locked so they could only be used for completing the work order.

 

If someone is high enough to have a store front then They should be able to give out fetch quests for materials there.  Set what material you as a crafter need and how much you need and how much currency you'll pay or items you've already made to give as rewards.  Either break that up into a bunch of quests your self or have a system where that's done for you.  And such quests would need time limits as well so it gets relisted if someone fails...  Or just have a value per unit of the material with an upper limit for how much you'll pay and people can turn in any quantity up to your limit.  Many ways to do this.