Darion presents to you the fundamental pillars of MMO design, on which the entire concept of a game often rests. He identifies these in combat, progression, exploration, and story.
In the combat system, the goal is to establish the best possible balance. A popular way to achieve this is the Holy Trinity, which divides roles into tank, damage dealer, and healer. Essentially, MMO battles always focus on damage – the damage you deal and the damage you take.
Progression begins to diverge more here. There is leveling, which represents progress in character levels; a vertical progression. There is also horizontal progression, where it could involve expanding skills or a changed appearance of armor.
Exploration is pretty self-explanatory. You always offer the player new things to see and discover. Sandbox games particularly rely heavily on this factor to keep players engaged. And finally, there is the story. This encompasses all the narratives told in the game, whether through quest text, cutscenes, or player-driven stories.
But if every MMO is programmed according to this scheme, is innovation even possible?
