Quote: "maybe auction system"
Quote: "I don't think thats a good idea."
I believe it is a very good idea, if it weren't for the problem of growing economies in online games.
You see, all games have some form of introducing money to the world. For example, FFXI allowed you to earn money in the following fashions: from a select few monsters (not every monster was stuffed with gold and potions), selling items to NPCs (which sold for very little in comparison to what a player needed when I first started playing), and beating events (such as quests, missions, Burning Circle Notorious Monsters, which are instanced challenges). Yet, the player base eventually became self sufficient. Very few items needed to be bought from NPCs, and money didn't leave the economy very quickly, resulting in massive inflation.
An auction house is an effective way for players to be self sufficient, so long as the money in the players hands is controlled and limited. Players could sell the items to other players for more an NPC would pay you for them, and likewise the buyer would pay less than an NPC would charge. This also supplies other players with items they couldn't find on NPCs otherwise.
But removing money from the economy is the problem. In FFXI, putting items on the auction house required you to pay a fee. Bazaaring items in the Grand Duchy of Jueno had a tax on them. Riding chocobos required a fee based on the rate people were using them. And, of course, the only really useful NPCs were the ones who sold cheap items for low level crafting which were inefficient to farm on your own. But this on its own doesn't remove enough money from the economy, and new players are quickly overwhelmed trying to keep up with the money required from them, with little experience to make it.
This problem also results into a major entrance for RMT, or Real Money Trade, where players, overwhelmed by the costs of items on the game, will pay real money for a certain equivalent in the in-game currency. On Lakshmi server for FFXI, before I quit, Gil was going for 1 Million for $24. Or 1 Million Gil for two months worth of a subscription.
Someone who had their crafting skills levelled up could make that easily. On one day, I decided I wanted to make a million, And I made a million (and flooded the market with cheap and oh so useful Meat Mithkabobs and Yagudo Drinks). But lazy players who don't want to work with the economy presented to them, or new players who are overwhelmed by the inflated economy they walk in to may turn to RMT quickly. Even a quick look at most MMORPGs show the player base generally hate the activities of RMT, and them being a prevalent force will quickly decline the quality of your game.
So, my point is, Auction Houses and a Player Base economy are perfectly viable ideas, as long as you have a way to balance the amount of money that enters and leaves the economy to keep inflation down.
Me, I would like to see a skill-based, classless system in MMORPGs, where numbers set by your items and armor have less of an impact than player skill.
I'd also like to see one that keeps you constantly involved. The possibility of NPCs or players to rob you, keeping you on your toes. Hell, I'd even like to see quick time events in crafting to determine success and failure, just to make it more than holding a button on a keyboard and taking a nap.
AMD Opteron 185 2.6 Ghz | 2 GB RAM | 8800 GTS 640MB | Vista Home Premium
