One of the problems with creating a new MMORPG is that the players are likely veterans of the genre and if they are trying your game they have likely burnt out on the genre a bit. For example when WOW was released the quests were relatively new and interesting but anyone who has played to max level in WOW has done a large number of quests at this point. So a new game will have a harder time selling quests as a fun game play mechanic than WOW did. So the obvious solution would be to offer something new and different. This is also problematic because learning something new and different requires the player to change their expectations. While they may be sick of the quest model they will also try and play the new game like it was the old game. So what are some solutions to this problem? How can players be introduced to new MMORPG game play concepts?

For example, imagine you decided that you want to offer more than just single player quests in order to level. Should you offer them at all? If you give players a new option plus single player questing then you are devoting resources to the second option which leaves fewer resources devoted towards the single player quests.

What could easily happen is that players ignore the new option you created for them and they just focus on the single player quests because that is what they know. Your game will then be compared to their past experiences with single player quests.

Single player quests are great in the beginning of a game. They allow players to learn the game and do not rely on other players to make the game fun or even playable.

Hype. You should build hype around the key feature of your game. That way, when players come into the game, they expect something and look out for it. They have to be convinced the new feature is great before creating their first character.

There is no doubt you have to try and sell your game and your game features. The same problem is still going to be there though. They are still going to have expectations based on older experiences.

For example if you make a game that has a new type of group dynamic and the game play is built around grouping and not single player questing. Players will learn the your game is built around grouping and will assume that grouping in your game will be like grouping in a game they have played.

This puts a lot of emphasis on your ability to market and advertise your game.

Tiblanc may have meant hype within the game. For example, a game's name often refers to something the player won't encounter until they are at least level 20. NPC dialogue and/or narrative tutorial text is the major way of creating these expectations. Telling a player what interesting goals or paths are available within the game for the player to pursue is an important part of what a game does. Games aren't actually about leveling, that's just time-filler. The actual fun part of the game is that the player finds a goal they want to achieve and works toward it.

In the case of quests, an NPC asks the player to solve a problem for them, and ideally the NPC dialogue gets the player emotionally involved in the fact that the NPC has this problem. In the case of a game as a whole, players come into it with expectations and achievements, but within the first 10 minutes a good writer can give them a new goal, a new method, an idea of what their attitude and place within the world are, and this pretty much supersedes the player's previous experiences. Gamers are gamers because we play games, lots of them, and while the first game of any genre makes a big impression, most gamers are eager to explore a new game and find out what different possibilities are available within it.

Quests work if the player decides they want to solve the problem presented, and if the player then feels satisfied with the results of doing so (or intrigued if the result is a new clue to some mystery or start of a new quest. Level requirements for mounts work too, because a mount is one of the objects in any MMO that a player is most likely to covet and want to earn. Levels in the sense of physical areas the player has to complete to 'graduate' to the next area are another thing that works. In this case the player ought to be repeatedly getting killed by monsters (with little or no penalty so it's not to enraging) and the monsters are sort of like a puzzle where the player has to improve their strategy, equipment, and/or stats until they can survive running the gauntlet of the monsters. You can also use an actual puzzle to block the gateway between levels, like an adventure game.

Some other things that work: players like to customize their appearances. Players will thus work with satisfaction for quite a while if they feel they are making good progress toward earning an appealing customization. This could be completing a quest chain to unlock the ability to dye something different colors, completing a quest chain to change a character's race or undergo a magical operation to gain a new body part, raising reputation with a faction high enough to be able to wear that faction's tabard or a scrollwork around the player's name, drop-hunting or gathering ingredients to craft something, raising a crafting level to be able to make dyes or clothing, or to be able to breed pets or mounts, or to be able to build and then decorate a house, vehicle, or garden.

People also like to gain titles or ability upgrades by completing achievements, but will pursue achievements for their own sake even if they have no reward. A lot of games handle achievements very stupidly by not telling the player what ones there are to earn or making them impossibly difficult. Achievements are best handled by giving the player a (level-appropriate and slightly above) checklist of them, and making the achievements themselves in one of 4 forms: complete the set, new high score, fill your quota, and solo the boss/dungeon.

sun, maybe I wasn't clear because you basically just repeated the standard MMO gameplay but tried to fluff it up.

I am talking about creating a NEW type of gameplay based on the following observations.

1) You can only fluff up the old model so much. (single player quest grinding or the end game raid dynamic)

2) It costs a ton of money to create it.

3) You have a major competitor in the market (WOW).

4) Players are getting sick of the gameplay model. Most players will be ex WOW players and most likely they quit WOW for a reason.

The standard assortment of MMO rewards are needed to provide carrots for the player and there is no doubt that rewards will be part of any system.

No, I don't think you understand what I'm saying at all. First, what I listed is not a particularly standard set of MMO gameplay, I believe I listed the types of gameplay that occur in almost all genres of game. I'm trying to say, these are all the types of gameplay which have been invented - period. Different games put more emphasis on one type or another, some games have only one or two types while some have many, but this is what gameplay is built out of, the way it has evolved for games as a while form of entertainment. If you actually have a new type of gameplay to suggest, please explain it, but it's almost impossible to come up with something totally new. But I can imagine a dozen games I would love to play built out of the 'old' elements I've listed.

I'll also explain that I am personally an ex-WoW player (and played several MMOs before WoW and have continued to play several more MMOs after WoW). I love well-written quests that aren't too obnoxious to carry out. Generally I play each MMO for 2-6 months. When I quit it's pretty much always because at higher levels quests get sparse and it takes too long to complete each one, I have run out of goals to aim for which I can achieve in a reasonable amount of fun without putting myself through torture, and on top of that monster AI usually gets boring and I'm not getting new spells or pets or anything that changes my gameplay very often.

I was talking about marketing hype. If you don't hype your new gameplay, they will come with expectations. However, if you sell your game with the new gameplay, they will try it for the gameplay with less expectations.

If you play flash games, you most likely saw dozens of ads about some brand new MMORPG. Most have the same generic gameplay, but some explicitely say in the ad what new gameplay they propose. When you see an ad saying "Tactical turn-based MMORPG" or "2D Fighting MMORPG", you don't download the game expecting the usual point, click, kill gameplay.

If your new gameplay is a minor tweak to the tried and true formula, then you may still have expectations problems.

So far it seems there is a common answer. Sell the new gameplay with marketing, NPCs/story, and in game rewards.

These are good points and all of this is needed but I am not sure it is really enough.

Any other ideas about how to help transition players to new modes of gameplay?

Another question you could ask yourself is why you would want to appease the "experienced" MMOer crowd. We are talking about a crowd that is very big in the head with baggage to say in the very least(CROWD not individual).

Based on the assumption that you're an indy team working as a "hobby" you're better off making whatever you want.