Making the next generation MMO

I haven't played SWTOR since the summer despite the fact the game went free three months ago.  Bioware as we knew it is dead with the exit of the original owners and now EA is going to squeeze every penny they can from this brand.  Their problem is they've destroyed most of the loyalty they've earned and only a great game will attract new sales.  (I'm only buying used EA games in my determination to never give them another penny).

As I look back on SWTOR, it is obvious the problem started with game design.  The funny thing is Bioware has experience with what I think will be the next generation of game design and I would be surprised if Blizzard doesn't have some of these options when it goes live.

1) Game engine - The game has to be able to rend new instances quickly and as seamless as possible.  The key is it has to be able to handle battles with a 100+ participants.  Every game states this is their goal but always forget it as they create their world.  THIS CANNOT HAPPEN IF  YOU WANT YOUR GAME TO SUCCEED!

2) Game design - Everything in the game should be designed to eliminate wasted time.  Give fun places to visit but allow players a quick way back into the action.  The world should be interspersed with interlinked safe havens surrounded with things to do.

3) Character models - Realistic models are nice but many times they add little and if they aren't done well can actually detract.  I always thought the SWTOR world should have been a mix of the Clone Wars cartoon style and realism.  I think fans would love it and put less stess on the game engine.

4) Abilities - Get away from ability trees and design something more like a Secret World with hundreds of different abilities and all of them have their uses.

1A) Design tools - This is the most important after game engine but I moved it to last as I wanted to expand the comment.  Make your design tools flexible so that a small design team can create a raid/flashpoint in under a month.

There is one thing that players can't get enough of and that is content.  After seeing Blizzard struggle to keep up for years it is obvious that designers can't work fast enough.  The answer is obvious - use your playerbase to create content.  A few examples prove it - First person shooter mods, the apple ap store, and WoW mods.  Bioware had a great example in the Neverwinter Nights games.

Many games have adapted to players hesitance to pay for a monthly subscription by going free to play.  They add trinkets to the game that add cosmetic value and some even trick players into gambling like EA does with their cartel coins.  It frustrates the playerbase as the value is limited.

Imagine instead if they added the ability for players to play as a DM and create a flashpoint/instance at endgame.  I always thought that EA messed up during the leveling process by not having 'episodes' on planets that just worked on your class story.  This episode concept would be extended at end game so people could create content for others that could be bought on the MMOs App store.  The players would buy content and keep 50% of the purchase price.  The company would review the content to make sure the design was sound and review the content for a rating.

One thing I'd still love to see is the ability for DMs that create these dungeons to be able to interact in the worlds they create.  Give guilds the ability to create Free Dungeons for their playerbase but only for active subscribers.  That would allow would-be DMs to create stories and attact players to make the MMO world more immesive.

Using SWTOR as an example lets say that a DM creates a mod and it starts from the guild capital ship.  Everyone meets there and queues the mod then enters the guild ship instance.  It ports them to the planet the DM created and he walks them through their adventure.  As it only works at max level, this is done for fun though I could see RP coins given that would be used at the MMOs store for specific vanity items.

People spend a lot of time on things like this and the only way to keep people paying for MMOs is  to up the content and the best way is to use their people.

1B) Massive PvP battles - Look to Planetside for an example but we don't want anything that large.  Look at offshoots like WoW's Alterac Valley or World of Tanks.  The key is that we want players to feel frantic but make it big enough so that strategy is necessary and big picture views are enabled for some.  Require players that join PVP are given specific roles (can be opt'ed in the queue system) in the command/player structure and set up the chat to ease interaction.  Don't give people the ability to opt out as they will and reward the commanders that succeed and make the world change based on victories.

The leveling story is secondary to all of the above though that isn't to say it isn't important.  The key is to give people things to do once they hit max level and never give them a reason to go elsewhere.  It would take a combination of population density and variety to work but the current system is broken and something like I described will fix it.