Warhammer 40k MMO idea!!!
 

well, I just felt it would be fun to throw my idea out there on how I wish the game would be made. Once I heard that they were going to make this game I almost cheesed by skivvies, but then I quickly ran into the common problem that it seems everyone else runs into, "how to make the game true to the 40k universe but not suck". I was pondering this very question when an idea came to me in a flash, such a good idea (I think), that I got goosebumps. So without further ado...

1. Firstly, we have the problem of what kind of game it should be, there are a few different camps, one wants it to be a FPS, so it can capture that intense gritty feel of that universe, but then you are stuck with the problem of everyone being marines, and the battles wouldn't be nearly epic enough. Then you have the group that wants to capture the epic feel of 40k, with galactic crusades where the fates of planets and trillions rest in the balance. For this you would need an RTS game, but then you would lose that intense, blood pumping action that only an FPS can provide. Then you have the idea of basing the entire game in a hive, which, I think, would not nearly capture the true feeling of the universe and would end up just being another run-of-the-mill MMO.

My idea is this.

Firstly, in 40k you races that are more suited to RTS style game play, like 'Nids and IG. Then you have races that are better suited to FPS style, like Marines, Eldar (possibly), Chaos and so forth. So basically what you would have are players can choose to either create an RTS commander for the races that make up most of the armies in the universe. These would be the fellows that organize the crusades, or defense, of planets and carry them out in RTS style, building bases, cities, troops and so forth. They would build the masses of troops that fill the universe, they would probably also control Titans and such. Then you have the races that there really aren't a lot of, for this example I will use marines. Marines would be a FPS race, if you choose a marine you would immediately have to pick a guild to join. There would be a list of guilds, and you would have to pick one before you get in game. When you pick a guild, you would start out as a neophyte, this would be equal to a probationary period that a lot of guilds use. A player would learn how to play the FPS part of the game, and he would have to prove himself to the guild. If he proves himself he is allowed in, if not, he has to start over. This process would really cut down on people just joining and leaving guilds, since if he leaves he would have to go through the process again. Of course this would need tweaking, but the general idea is true to fluff and is practical. There would also be caps to the players allowed in a guild. The caps could be raised by the success of the guild in combat. So a starting chapter would only be allowed, say, 10 players. These players would have to work hard, and together, to make their guild capable of recruiting more players. This would give players something to work for, and also make them loyal to their guild, and cut down on guild jumping, plus I think it's cool.

The way the two player types would interact would be this. Say you have an IG commander that is getting worked on a planet by orks, he decides that he needs help from a Marine chapter. He would have the option to create a "mission" where it would send out a distress call to all chapters in that vicinity in space. The level of RTS commander would limit which chapter could respond to his call, this would eliminate low level commanders calling in a massive bombardment of marines that would devastate the enemy. The high ranking marine chapters wouldn't even see the mission, and it could be assumed that, like marines often do, they feel that fighting that battle is not worth their time. So you have your mission created, it could be anything from, "defend this area for 20 min" to, "break through this defensive line and destroy their power generator". The mission is really only limited by the ability of the player to create it. When the marines accept the mission they would have to fly to the planet in the battle barge or whatever, and then drop in. They would then be fighting in the battle where all the other troops are controlled by the RTS players. The RTS guys can see the marines kicking ass, and the FPS players get the feeling of an epic battle, and that they are supermen. Of course you will have FPS vs FPS battles also, or FPS/RTS VS FPS, or any other combination you could think of. The world will have to be designed as such where it accommodates both RTS and FPS game play, but I think we will have the technology to do that by the time this game comes out. All experience will be earned by battles, which will be mostly all PVP based. RTS players will gain more access to better units and more req the more they win and the higher their commander gets. FPS players can gain better armor/weapons and such, plus the commanders and officers of a chapter can give battle commands to the other players and call down ammo drops and bombardments the higher lvl their chapter becomes.

Thats the basic overview of my idea. I got a lot more that i'm going to write down here, but i gotta do some homework (dam you finals!!! dam you!!). I would love to hear some feedback on this, because I'm thinking of really filling it out and showing it to Vigil games or THQ.
"Serve the Emperor, buy war bonds!"

Oh, your God...

You put into words an idea I've had for years. I've always thought a game that featured a few commanders playing RTS style, alongside a number of people playing the same area in FPS style, would be amazingly fun. But I never would have thought to take it all the way to MMO levels. I also like your idea for how to handle 'requesting help' from the Space Marines or whatever. There would need to be some kind of cost to the requesting commander, to keep them from helping Chapters "farm" by having them guard areas where there is no combat, or assault abandoned bases. Plus, I love the idea of making 'guilds' something you actually have to put work into to get aything out of, instead of just being a social club tied to a house or base of some type. I really hope you can get the company making the game to listen to you. Once you perfect your idea, I'll be happy to spread the word and join in on sending them email suggesting they use your idea, just lemme know.

If I may post my suggestion
If you set it up like battlefield 2142, but then allow choice of races. The races have certain unlocks others don't and can play on certain campaign maps (like Battle for Maccragge). Then you could have matches were all races can play at the same time. The vehacles (to stop one race being imba) can only be driven by specific races, i mean space marine in Monolith=Boom. Also depending on the different races, you have different titles (like head c'tan, high librarian, carnifex chief, etc)

If it was just Planetside meets 40k I would be more than happy. :p

I was actually talking to a guy earlier today and I was thinking about the very same thing. Given the fluff in 40k, most troopers don't really upgrade to "better" weapons very often, you don't really see the "+5 bolter of the Emperors grace", you just have bolters, in fact, fluff wise, bolters are considered holy weapons, the roar of which is a prayer offered up to the emperor. 40k is about war, conquest, and eventual control of the galaxy, not level grinding and getting fancy, shiny new weapons. I figured that the leveling up element for the FPS players would have to focus on the skills of the players character, and be very limited. For marines they are genetically enhanced killing machines that are already made to be the best they can be. This being said, there are marines who, because they have lived so long and experienced so many battles, that they become better than a newer recruit. That is how the chapter masters are chosen! I think it would be reasonable to be able to level your character up by investing points into battle skills, like heavy weapons, close combat, etc. There could also be little things like purity seals and inscribed armor type things that could provide little bonuses. Then you have your relics, these would be one-of-a-kind items that would hold tremendous power. They would be so powerful that gaining control of them would be worth hundreds of players working in conjunction to gain, or prevent, a side from acquiring it(the claw of Horus for example). Once again, the main goal of this game I don't think would be character development, but the development of a guild and relationships, the conquest of the universe, and constant pvp action. You also can't have conquest without deaths, for the FPS players I feel that dying would have to carry a hefty price, being that they would be MUCH more powerful than the basic RTS troopers. I was thinking that if a FPS player got wounded enough to make his character unable to fight on, there would have to be a apothecary to heal him. There would have to be a time limit on how long the dying marine could hold out until he would actually die (marines are tough bastards), after a certain point the medic wouldn't be able to heal him, and would have to extract his gene-seed. This would be bad for the player, but then he would basically start a new marine with the gene-seed from his past marine, thus keeping a good portion of his abilities that he gained through leveling up. There might come a time when the gene-seed cannot be recovered, at this point you would default to the gene-seed that had been harvested to check for impurities that chapters must turn in to the Imperium to make sure they are free from mutation. This back-up would happen on a schedule every couple of months. I feel that there needs to be this harsh a punishment to stay true to the fluff, because not every marine is going to live forever, in fact, a lot of them die. This will enable the FPS side of the game to not have to have new "items" made all the time, since most players will probably be hover around a level that is appropriate to their skill, which will limit them to their weapons. This would also make the really old characters very respected and cool. It would also keep the FPS side of the game from getting flooded with people who want instant gratification, but make people care about how they plan their attacks, and that a guild works as a team and fight more like you would if you were actually fighting and dying. Not like the other FPS games where dying means nothing and you run around spamming the jump button (which I HATE!!)

Once again I think this game should focus and skill, tactics, battles that actually will affect the universe, bragging rights, and fluff. With other MMO's they focus on items, stats, money, and how you look. 40k has amazing looks, but thats not what it's all about, it's about the how in the grim darkness of the far future there is only WAR!!!

If you like these ideas please post your thoughts and your own ideas, what you don't like, what you do like. I think it would be really awesome if we could get a community involvement in this, polish up the idea, compose it, and then spam THQ and Vigil games with this idea. I honestly think if we get this idea polished up enough, and we get enough people emailing and contacting them, we might actually be able to influence how the game is made, and all I want is a 40k MMO that is worthy of the name.

I've always hated permadeath servers, take a look at Savage 1 (it's free now that they'ree working on savage 2)

it comes across as a pretty good version of what you're looking at for the battles, you have the commander who is doing the whole resource building and RTS stuff (building um.. buildings, and stuff) and then the players, who are in a FPS style interface.

take a good look at it and play it if you can, after all it's free

There are three ideas that you have here that really would change gaming as we see it now.

1. Players creating quests/missions in any game style is just a good idea. Of course you would need a fair amount of developer created missions at first, but it has great potential. I've not played Savage 1, but if they do it, then great.

2. Intertwining more than one style of gameplay into one world (not just a mini game)? That's incredibly usable, and if done right, sellable. I think that you could also make the game interesting by allowing different 'classes' within races that would actually serve different purposes. Like if the warrior class was FPS like Gears of War, the wizard class was RTS, the Healers would be more RPG.(Sorry, I don't know warhammer 40k, so I have to make other analogies.)

3. A perpetually changing online world. I don't know if we have the technology for it, but if someone were to develop a world that the players could actually affect on a large scale (by more than just socially interacting with other players)...I don't know. I just don't know.

I will have to check that out once I get home, since my college internets is really bad. I am not really saying there should be perma-death per-se', but when you die your character would revert to an older version of yourself, as saved by your, "gene-seed" (in the case of marines, we would have to figure out other ways for the other races). The problem this is supposed to minimize is seeing TONS of marine players that have leveled up to a point where they would be chapter master statues (the leaders of chapters) or chaplain status. It would also (I think) mitigate to some level the problem I see with a lot of FPS games where people just keep dying, respawning, and rushing. Teamwork would be essential for maximizing your survival chances.
Of course, now that I think of it, you might be right. Instead of a harsh-death penalty, there could be a reward system for the longer you stay alive, and the more you kill. Being that the 40k fluff for space marines is kind of limited for the whole leveling up kinda thing, it makes adding that element difficult. Typically the characters that become truly powerful warriors are the ones who stay alive, are ferocious in battle, and typically end up succeeding in some impossible task, where afterwards they end up with a unique weapon, or a high rank. Keeping this in mind, we could implement some reward system, as your character ages (doesn't die), and you defeat more and more enemies, you have a meter that fills up, and when it reaches a certain point, a truly heroic event might occur (what this would be, I don't know), and if you manage to survive it, and come out victorious, your name would be entered into the book of heroes, and you would be gifted with a unique item. Getting this bar to that point would have to be VERY difficult, and the task itself would also would be random and also VERY difficult. FPS players would then have something to work for, and IF they complete it, a very unique and powerful item. This would still encourage teamwork, not dying, and also limit the amount of over-powered marines.
Any thoughts on this?

I was actually thinking the same thing for the point of view. I think the gears of war style view and gameplay would not only be perfect for a 40k FPS, but make it even better, since half the fun is watching your guy kick ass and cut people apart with a chain sword. I think there would have to be the option though of choosing to be able to switch between first person view, and third person.