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Throttle · 10-22-2007, 01:15 PM

Here's what I look for in a PK mud:

1) A balanced class system. No vastly overpowered classes, no useless classes, and preferably no class that appeals to too many players. That's an odd preference, but I just dislike games where 40% of the playerbase is playing one particular class.

2) A balanced combat system. No one-hit kills that you have no way of preventing or defending yourself against. Things like that take the skill out of PvP, and I prefer fights to be more like duels where you actually test your skill and your character against an opponent, as opposed to gankfests where assassins sneak around and one-hit kill people in complete safety. Likewise, no classes that can become virtually immortal.

3) If there's item loot, make equipment reasonably easy to get. I don't mind losing my stuff if it takes me a day or two to at most to get it back, but if dying means losing three months of work then I'll simply quit playing. Really, I've always prefered muds without looting because they tend to have a much better atmosphere among the playerbase.

4) Equipment should matter, but shouldn't be the only thing that does. I've seen muds where any given PK fight boiled down to whoever had the best equipment with little to no skill involved, and it just didn't make for a very interesting PvP environment.

5) I don't mind a system that rewards succesful PvP, but don't turn it into text-based Quake. If everything's about ranks, scores, points and records then I'll just go and play one of the many fine online FPS games. I like a bit of theme, a bit of realism, and a reason for PvP that goes beyond "I want more PKPoints".

6) Classes should differ. If your mud has clerics, druids and shamans, please distinguish them further than the name of their full healing spell and the elemental type of their primary nuke. There will always be some overlap if you go anywhere beyond the four basic class archetypes, but there has to be something that sets classes apart fundamentally.

There's more, but my pizza just arrived.

10-22-2007, 01:15 PM	#9
Throttle Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 31	Re: What constitutes a good PK system? Here's what I look for in a PK mud: 1) A balanced class system. No vastly overpowered classes, no useless classes, and preferably no class that appeals to too many players. That's an odd preference, but I just dislike games where 40% of the playerbase is playing one particular class. 2) A balanced combat system. No one-hit kills that you have no way of preventing or defending yourself against. Things like that take the skill out of PvP, and I prefer fights to be more like duels where you actually test your skill and your character against an opponent, as opposed to gankfests where assassins sneak around and one-hit kill people in complete safety. Likewise, no classes that can become virtually immortal. 3) If there's item loot, make equipment reasonably easy to get. I don't mind losing my stuff if it takes me a day or two to at most to get it back, but if dying means losing three months of work then I'll simply quit playing. Really, I've always prefered muds without looting because they tend to have a much better atmosphere among the playerbase. 4) Equipment should matter, but shouldn't be the only thing that does. I've seen muds where any given PK fight boiled down to whoever had the best equipment with little to no skill involved, and it just didn't make for a very interesting PvP environment. 5) I don't mind a system that rewards succesful PvP, but don't turn it into text-based Quake. If everything's about ranks, scores, points and records then I'll just go and play one of the many fine online FPS games. I like a bit of theme, a bit of realism, and a reason for PvP that goes beyond "I want more PKPoints". 6) Classes should differ. If your mud has clerics, druids and shamans, please distinguish them further than the name of their full healing spell and the elemental type of their primary nuke. There will always be some overlap if you go anywhere beyond the four basic class archetypes, but there has to be something that sets classes apart fundamentally. There's more, but my pizza just arrived.