Would You Play a DotA MMO? (Part 2)

Joe commented on my last post about a DotA MMO:

I don't think this could ever work. The nature of a MMO is being in an environment with many people at the same time, having the ability to interact with any of them. You log on and can play with your friend who has been grinding for 2 hours already. If you both are already max level you won't be 2 hours behind him and unable to play with him.

Trying to isolate and start at level one and play a game can only be done with a limited number of people. The more people you try and cram into a game the worse the game is. After dealing with people leaving (rage quitting or disconnects) and having the game length a respectable amount (2 hours max) you are left with a finite group of players. If you require X amount of players in a game then it will start, that will put wait time on creating new games, and that is never fun.

These two genres have such different principles that if one were to try and combine them it wouldn't retain anything from either of the original genres.

So I decided to write up a short description of how some DotA game mechanics could be applied to the MMO scene.

Bare in mind that there are already some mechanics in MMORPGs which are close to local-scope progression. Most instances in WoW will retain temporary progression. The Skill Chain mechanic in FFXI uses a sequence of Weapon Skills to inflict bonus damage; after a level 3 Skill Chain is executed, the players need to start back at level 1. LotRO has a similar party mechanic.

All we need to do is turn character progression (specifically ability and power/strength progression) into a game. I say this as if it were trivial, but this is very tricky. MMORPGs typically reward players for completing an activity, which aids in future undertakings of that activity. For example, a player might:

• PvP to get PvP gear to aid in future PvP encounters.
• craft items to get skill points to craft better items.
• kill mobs to gain explicitly power to help kill more mobs.

But is it possible to play DotA to get [reward] to aid in playing DotA? Giving out explicit power gains to the player for playing the game goes against local-scope progression; it is now global-scope (such as the unlockable weapons in Team Fortress 2). Any explicit reward given to the players which can be used in the next game creates explicit disadvantages for the other players. This is seen as "unfair". An interesting side note: implicit player skill from playing for months and years is not seen as unfair (unless a Matchmaking system is responsible for pitting a newbie against a veteran).

Additionally, this progression game needs to take place in a closed arena which has an end: a map, battleground, party, session, time cycle. They all have an end. (Evizaer and I have a Mission system we've talked about before. It would fit in nicely here.) It's imperative to maintain the power curve also. We can't have a level 1 running around with a level 20 on the opposite team. There has to be a clear beginning with either no player injection (a bad idea, and a major problem with DotA), or match injection, which would do something like give the average (or lowest) experience/progression of all other players to the player joining.

The following would be a middle layer game.

• Player has a selection of locked abilities. These must be unlocked before they can be used.
• Player is on a team of a certain number of members. Teams play against other teams, human- (preferably) or AI-controlled.
• Killing things in combat (think Honor system in WoW) gives some sort of resource local in scope to the current game only ("Vigor"? "Momentum"?).
• This resource allows the player to unlock abilities or strengthen existing ones.
• Only allow X number of Y skills to be unlocked.
• Number of unlocks is related to the players via a "Power Level". There is a Power Level cap.
• Other temporary resources (some currency) used to buy items.
• The game begins with all players at Power Level 1, no items, and a set amount of resources. They can unlock 1 ability to start with.
• The game ends when 1 team accomplishes the game objective. This could be to destroy a key structure (DotA), defend a structure for a certain time, escort civilians, etc. Once play is over, all abilities become locked again and all items and game resources are removed from the player.

Items are more tangible than imaginary "abilities" and players are reluctant to give up items at the end of the game. So the bonuses given by items to heroes in DotA can be renamed to "Magical Enchantments" or something else equally ephemeral. The currency used to receive these boons are also temporary (ears, souls, etc.). The player is more understanding of the time-sensitive nature of these rather than bullion.

Winning the game gives a permanent resource (gold?) which is used to purchase abilities and customize the character's appearance. Players like gear and looking cool, so the vanity purpose is obvious. But should gear give a VERY slight stat increase? Perhaps gear can be used to limit which abilities the player is able to use. This way mages aren't running around in plate mail, and warriors in nothing at all...

As another balancing issue, since there are no strictly defined "classes" or "heroes" (players can pick and choose which abilities they want), I think it would be a good idea to have abilities in groups and only allow "Invigoration" (AKA unlocking) of 1 ability from a group. For example, a player would have 4 ability slots (Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green), and he can only unlock 1 Red ability, 1 Blue ability, etc. even though he may have 10 Red locked abilities, 5 Blue locked abilities, etc.

I haven't described lower or higher game layers around this, but they aren't terribly hard to imagine. The standard MMORPG camera/control scheme can be used on a low level, or even the RTS style, which is what DotA uses. Higher levels can include map control or land conquest. Another middle layer can include a crafting system (someone has to make the cool looking gear). As long as there is higher level persistence and the player can interact with other players in a virtual world, then the "MMO" feel is preserved.

There. Would you pay monthly for that?

Would You Play a DotA MMO?

What would a DotA MMO even mean? DotA (Defense of the Ancients) is a custom map (Blizzard's version of modding) for WarCraft 3: The Frozen Throne. Because it is custom content, Blizzard does not officially support the game, but I'm willing to bet that all the WC3 box sales in the past 3 years have been because of DotA. There are in-depth articles, tournaments, even songs about the game. One interesting feature is that it is constantly being updated and expanded by its makers, The DotA Allstars (TDA), specifically IceFrog. Items and heroes constantly get balanced, retooled, or added. The game boasts of over 95 heroes and over 100 items.

There are tons of mechanics which make DotA extremely fun and rewarding. The trend games have taken during the past decade has been to integrate elements of RPG games. This includes everything from item and cash acquisition in Counter-Strike to character stats in Dawn of War 2. Seeing your guns get progressively better or your units do more damage between missions is explicit progression. Not only are the players' skills and knowledge of the game increasing, but also the attributes of the mechanics themselves are becoming better. When done correctly, this is layer of depth which compounds the entire experience for the player.

DotA has what I like to call Local-scope character progression. The game starts, you progress a character, the game ends, and all explicit progression gained on that hero is lost; it goes out of scope. The next time you start the game, the hero is level 1, you have the standard amount of gold and no items. Everyone starts this way. An unfortunate side-effect of WC3 modding, but a brilliant mechanic. Not only must the player understand the low level game mechanics, but he also needs to know how to effectively progress his hero. Given his team composition and the enemy heroes, what are the best ability choices, and what items will be the most effective? I know not of any other game with this same strategic layer as deep as the one in DotA.

Another really important layer is that of team play. DotA is five versus five. You need to push towers, coordinate enemy hero kills, and complement each other's hero builds. The team that works together will almost always be the team to win (some game modes like All Random might give the team a bad composition; here you are at the mercy of the random-number generator). Heroes have implicit roles: some are pushers, gankers (killers), early-game nukers, late-game behemoths, etc. A well balanced team is paramount to success. Game modes like All Pick or any -Draft game bring team composition to the forefront at the start of every game. Don't pick 5 intellect nukers if the other team has 3 gankers. You will be waiting to respawn more often than playing.

But don't let this team play talk fool you: you personally are still responsible for the power of your individual hero. If one player is dying a lot, he is often termed a "feeder" because he is giving large amounts gold and experience points to the other team. When is it OK to be by yourself? Where is it OK to be by yourself? There are 2 enemy heroes unaccounted for--should you be pushing that tower? In team battles, you have to know when and where to engage (terrain matters), when to use abilities, whom to attack first, and when to retreat. Mind games, lures, and straight up fog-of-war trickery are common place. Here is another layer of depth.

All in all, I view DotA as a Strategy Mini-MMORPG. Obviously the team-centricity and individual responsible layers carry over (with some work) into the full-fledged MMORPG genre, but I'm curious about Local-scope progression. MMORPGs usually have global scope progression. Meaning that every time you log in, the character has retained all explicit progression from the last session. Players who level alts or different jobs/classes can make the explicit progression into a challenge--see how fast they can get to the level cap--but there is no real game layer which all players need to learn and master. Sure MMORPGs have talents and specializations, but you are pretty much locked in to your choices for the length of your character's career. There is never a time in your character's career when you need to actively think: I should first get Rank 1 of a stun spell before max'ing passive damage increase because I am against a very aggressive player with an early game hero, and the stun will allow me to escape if I need to.

There is no game encompassing ability progression in most MMORPGs. This is largely because the leveling aspect of character progression is usually against stupid AI-controlled enemies. Obviously a DotA MMORPG needs to be played primarily against other players.

Would it be possible to zone into Alterac Valley, have your character at level 1 with minimal gold and no gear? You have to kill other players and any monsters roaming around to get experience and gold. After you kill the General and win the match, you would be back at level 1. Would this work? Would local-scope be something players would pay monthly for? Or is everyone too much attached to global scope progression where time = gain and their shinies indicate their characters worth in the world?