The Division's multiplayer mode sounds a lot like Dark Souls
32 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Cloak Raider;41784292]Exactly the opposite
why spend time working in a game if everything is meaningless and utterly secure?
The fact that it can be lost, is what makes it more valuable
if they're making the game like Dark Souls, then they're not making it to cater to people like you I guess?[/QUOTE]
Personally, I feel that progression is one of the most important aspects a game can have, especially in something involving multiplayer, which is why a lot of popular games focus on it. Games like World of Warcraft, Team Fortress, Battlefield, Call of Duty, etc don't punish you massively because you died, but they reward you greatly for coming back to play more or just staying alive. You might lose a weapon you found on the map, have your vehicle blown up, have to walk back a long way to your dead body, etc but in the end you still progressed. Obtaining levels, equipment, skills, and other kind of stuff adds longevity because those are proper incentives.
Of course, there are plenty of different types of games that don't have that much progression. RTS games like Starcraft have you constantly starting back over from scratch and it can be very easy to be screwed over because of losing something. Arena shooters like Quake start you out with a basic loadout and have you scavenging the map for better gear, the only reward at the end of it all being the fun had. MOBA games let you slap on some outside runes, get game character skins, but in the end the round still depend on what happened in-game. Day Z focuses on permadeath, making you lose absolutely everything your character had...so you try to stay permanotdead. Overall, it all comes down to player preference, but in the topic of an in-development game, its best to consider what the game seems like its gonna be.
As The Division is an MMO third person shooter, already showing off levels, skill trees, and loot (all the kind of things you'd see from the progression focused games above), I assume they aren't trying to appeal to the hardcore Day Z players. In that case, the ability of random jackasses stripping you of your progression at any time purely just adds grief rather than fun. As I said earlier, there should be incentives to [B]not[/B] kill other players and lots of rewards for helping them out. That, along with a few other possible work arounds (like, rather than losing everything when you die you just lose a couple of inventory items or experience points), could add tension AND fun rather than just tension. Something like adding a bounty + lowering reputation when killing someone who isn't in a appropriate situation (like being on a rival mission, inside of a building where they can't be seem, or in an open PvP zone) could encourage people to kill for real opportunities while still allowing them to make the choice themselves. If they really think they're up for people having a mission to kill them just so they can steal a weapon (or just kill because they're dicks), they can go for it. Of course, people might exploit the system by letting friends collect their bounties or camping certain PvP areas (shifting PvP areas sounds like a nice way to change that up though), but it actually sounds kind of neat in the EVE "let players do what they want by encouraging certain aspects but not denying them the ability to do the opposite" kind of way. In fact, hell, lets just make every MMO like EVE and it'll work out.
On a side note, Dark Souls isn't [B]that[/B] hardcore. Its not like any player ever can stroll in, kill you, and then steal all of your shit like in Day Z. You [B]choose[/B] to go human which enables you to go online and therefore accept the chance of being invaded at the same time as possibly getting help from other players. Its a risk reward system, but even if you do get invaded the only things you can lose are experience points and souls (which is what'd you end up losing if you die normally anyways).
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