Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsBreakfast Topic: What features from other games would you like to see in WoW?
by Robin Torres 
Dec 19th 2011 at 8:00AM
EverQuest had its issues and Blizzard improved on most of them, but one thing EQ had that WoW doesn't is surnames. Once you hit level 20, you could choose a surname for your character. Star Wars:The Old Republic is implementing something similar, only you create a family name for all of your characters. I want to have Roblinator Shinycollector or Peenk Sparkles.
I would also love a sidekick or mentor system like in City of Heroes. Two players of vastly different levels can play together by temporarily kicking up the level of the sidekick or temporarily lowering the level of the higher-level character. I know we have Recruit-A-Friend and there are all those levels to be given, but it's just not the same as playing together in level-appropriate content with balanced experience gain. I want to invite friends to play and run dungeons together, not run them through dungeons.
Something I think we all would like to see is the level of character customization we find in so many other MMOs. I don't need to choose nose size or ear placement, but I would like to be able to choose a body type (like a healthier blood elf) and tattoos, scars, cosmetics, warts or whatever. For Forsaken body types, one of the choices could be to not have my bones sticking out of my clothes! Gosh, I want that so much. I'm OK with bones sticking out of my skin, but really, the clothes thing doesn't make much sense and is ugh-lee.
The thing that has always intrigued me about single-player roleplaying games and now SW:TOR is that there are often choices when doing quests and those choices affect your character. Yes, WoW has reputations that change how some NPCs react to us. But you can only select Accept or Cancel on a quest -- not really a choice. I wish I could take my character along her own path of neutral goodness and have that affect her options in the future, rather than having to torture things or sort through poop to progress through the story.
What surname would you choose? How would you like to customize your character? What are the features from other games that you would like to see in WoW?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 6)
GrandOldDuke Dec 19th 2011 8:57AM
(muscle m- redacted) Sliders
mem0ryburn Dec 19th 2011 9:01AM
I know everybody and their dogs want this but it seems so incredibly nitpicky to me. Like all I ever see of my toon is his back and quite often he's no bigger than an inch in height on my screen. And really, isn't xmog enough? I've always wished my toon could look a certain way too but beyond his armour set who really needs more?
I think that I'm in the minority on the subject but as someone who LOVES customizing characters and spends ten times as much time creating characters in games with an in-depth CaC mode as he does playing, I would expect I'd be the first to be on board if it didn't seem a completely useless thing to add at this point.
Let me say also that I wonder how many of the people screaming for this are the same ones who dislike Cata for its occupation of the developers on things that didn't add to the endgame experience. Just a mere curiosity is all.
OUFanInKansas Dec 19th 2011 9:05AM
* AOE looting, without a doubt. After three days of SWTOR, I jumped back to my Dwarf paladin and immediately missed the AOE looting.
* Multiple hearth locations. Perhaps a "home city" and "current questing hub" dual hearth.
* Elimination of non-hybrid classes. Give the warlock and hunter ability to heal, and the rogue and mage ability to tank.
mem0ryburn Dec 19th 2011 9:16AM
dual/multiple hearth or easily obtained items in new areas that port you to them, something on those lines. That would be brilliant.
Teth Dec 19th 2011 9:55AM
Multiple hearth would be amazing, especially while leveling. I actually had a discussion about this with a friend. My idea would be to have your main hearth be static based on race. Human to SW, Dwarf to IF etc. on a long cooldown similar to the guild cloaks. Then a hearth similar to what we have now.
Or, when you reach a new quest hub, get an item that allows you to port to that location as long as you are within the proper level range. For example, while questing in Swamp of Sorrows you can port to Stonard while in the 48-56 range, or until the quests turn gray.
Glandygm Dec 19th 2011 9:19AM
Same name. Different object. The great thing about Runes of Recall in UO was that you could drop one anywhere and "attune" it so that you could recall to that location at any time. It was especially useful for housing so that you could return home at any time. Also useful when you found a great hunting or farming location.
jtrack3d Dec 19th 2011 9:25AM
Professions should always be relevant and active. As it is, supply-based professions are the only ones that stay relevant (food, enchants, flasks, gems). Gear-based professions become useless and the later recipes have short lifespans and are usually useless because you have replaced that slot before the you get the recipe and only raiders get the recipes/mats. Professions need an overhaul or just be removed.
Content needs to remain progressing. The concept of a reset of gear actually makes older content obsolete which shortens the lifespan of an expansion. I know there is a reason they do this (to help catch up), but there are means to make this easier (LFR / LFD) on older content but NOT on new content. New content should always be the current / future challenge to look forward to do. No more, did it, burn out. LFR on current content will burn it too fast.
Clean up player behavior so people can have more fun. A few trade/trolls and elitists can scare away a lot of players. MVP's could be use with special tools can whammy most of that behavior off the map. The fun will increase.
I could go on forever.
LynMars Dec 19th 2011 9:31AM
In no particular order:
Aoe looting.
Surnames, in-game RSP boxes (these would have to be monitored, but could also be given a character limit to help).
Improved professions like someone else suggested--at least fishing. Give us options! make them interesting beyond hitting "create all" and tabbing out (though that is convenient at times).
Seasonal weather/changes. Something else even Asheron's Call could do way back when.
I at least want to see 3 height options and 3 body type options; wouldn't change silhouettes and too much or strain servers too far. Tattoos and scars would be neat (Night Elves get face tattoos, why don't Dwarves have that option too?). More skin tones, too, so folks can play different types of Trolls or Dwarves, etc, if they want.
There's probably more, but those are the things I can think of immediately.
Zachariahs Dec 19th 2011 11:55AM
This is a perfect list.
zinckiwi Dec 19th 2011 9:34AM
Personally, I'll take a good set of stock bodies/faces over sliders any day. Sliders always seem to result in either hideous abominations (if they're too lax), or an army of clones (if they're tight enough to avoid the hideous abomination zone).
Grithnir Dec 19th 2011 9:40AM
How about some decent storytelling and consistancy through both faction questlines instead of the meaningless dribble we've got this expansion?
Twowolves Dec 19th 2011 9:49AM
Tattoos and scars. Oh, and the ability to close the female worgen's mouth. That snarl face gets old.
chaosdefined Dec 19th 2011 10:03AM
More character customisation and updated models.
And just less grind to it. Like someone else has said, once one character reaches top rep they should be able to buy stuff for their alt. The Molten Front dailies were a chore and a half to do, but the idea of doing them on an alt as well was horrible.
Maybe make the raids a bit more fun as well. This entire expansion all the raids have felt...just the same old. Go here, kill trash, go here, kill boss, repeat.
Mortenebra Dec 19th 2011 10:03AM
I actually like to think about my gameplay, especially from a lore perspective. I want the option of being able to tell someone off if I don't like the way they're going about a certain mission. Even something as simple as, "You can turn this quest item in to So-and-so for this, or turn it in to That-and-that for this," would be enough. (And I know not everything is as simple as it sounds, but it sounds simple for the moment.)
And, you know, what? I really wouldn't mind a companion who actually interacted with me once in a while. As a hunter, I actually miss the pet happiness system, as frustrating as it could be sometimes. But feeding my kitty (read: gigantic wildcat) and seeing him like me more made me quite happy back in the day. It's those little interactions that made my character feel more, for a lack of a better word, authentic.
babywhiz Dec 19th 2011 10:05AM
Ability to make clothing customized, like in The Sims and Second Life. Not Stats, but colors/graphics/etc.
Also would like my rings to sparkle, esp if they are enchanted.
Moeru Dec 19th 2011 10:08AM
I'd like a community that isn't as self-destructive, as other MMOs would suggest.
Aegrid Dec 19th 2011 10:32AM
- Surnames (EQ, EQ2, Warhammer, StarWars Galaxies & Tor, every other damn game)
- Flourish Animations by Class for Melee (AION) And I guess ranged too (Poor hunters)
- Height / Weight options on character creation (EQ2, AION)
- 'Mentoring' (EQ2) ie: Temporarily lowers your level to that of a buddy so you can group with them, and grants them a small XP bonus. You get a reduced rate of XP gain.
- Public Quests (Warhammer:AoR) - Something similar in MoP
- Automatic texture lowering in high impact scenarios (AION)
- Horizontal or Vertical title display (EQ2) Let's make those things compact, yo.
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Notably I did not mention Housing, either personal or guild (EQ2, FFXI, uh, some others I'm sure) for one big reason. The amount of energy it would take to make truly good housing would be atrocious, and even then I doubt that they'll ever make it as good as it is in EQ2. As EQ2 is now free to play if I want to muck around with designing a house I'll just go play that. I don't want some SIMS based housing where I just plunk stuff down... I want to build a castle out of barrels and a fireplace out of twenty ugly wine racks and a flaming boar head...
Moon Dec 19th 2011 10:23AM
Don't know if this is in any other game but I am hate it when they make u pick up trash first and quest/pets/ect. Last. Reverse it plz.
notos Dec 19th 2011 10:27AM
Guild Wars 2, PVE-PVP Separation and Dynamic Events.
Delurm Dec 19th 2011 10:28AM
I'd like to see more rep rewards be 'bound to account' - this would help people with alt-itis *alot*.
I'd like to see a real LFG system. Why there is soooooo much resistance to allowing people to flag /lfg and then search your local server for these people to create a group ... is beyond me - it's a simple system and would help foster community.