In all seriousness, Faction is a vast place that needs to be an MMO. I am currently learning to program in Game Maker, which is capable of making at least a small MMO (like a 1000 players or so, nothing huge like most MMOs). So I will be collecting ideas. On the chance the Game Maker version will only be an RPG that happens to support a few extra players (which is a pretty cool concept itself), I'll be collecting any and all suggestions. So far, here is some brainstorming thoughts I've collected from myself and others:

-Downtime reduction good. Fast healing (Like in WoW / Champs)
-Offline Character can still adventure as an NPC who is hired by people online.
-Make zoning seamless (How DOES WoW do that anyway?).
-Start out as an Explorer, Bounty Hunter or Trader. Can then pursue higher ranks depending on actions (such as joining the Lockman Military and working your way up to becoming the captain of a ship).

Need to work out how navigating the universe works. We all love how CoX is the least restrictive with travel of all the games we've ever played. So teleporting and quick travel should be a huge part of getting from point A to point B.

In platform games like Mario, Sonic, or Spyro the Dragon, the LEVEL is part of your challenge. In CoX, a level exists mostly as decoration. Imagine jumping on a spring that sends you flying to the next platform in the level you are playing in an MMO. Inter-action with level could prove fun. Perhaps pulling a lever or pressing a button closes a door before a mob of angry enemies can get to you.

Anyway... more brainstorming and thoughts appreciated.

/acutionhouse yo.  Yo.  /auctionhouse.

My thought is that an MMO should have sufficient IM functionality that you won't need to have a separate IM or muck or web browser with a forum running.  What else would be nice is an in-game char builder.  In other words, one shouldn't have to have several programs running to enjoy the MMO.

(Tim Edit: So have Mid's Hero Designer, IM/MUCK in the game itself. Good idea!)
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:45, Sat 20 Aug 2011.

More ideas from today:

-Able to solve problems with diplomacy instead of fighting. xp awarded, of course.
-NPC's having a decent AI, to where they can hold a conversation with you.
-Ultimate customization. Think D6. Think Champions Online.

  Nobody loves the... what is it, three different global channels created now in City because people keep forgetting they exist or to turn them on?  It's there in city, but it's rarely put to use (then again, SG chat usually covers it since we're the only ones in that SG)

  Though, that's only for in game people.  Wanting to package in All The Time instant messenger into an MMO is rather ambitious.

  A character planner is always welcome of course.  The only ironic downside to not needing your own fan made offline builder, is that you'd need to be logged into the MMO already to plan your characters ahead of time.

  I know it's not an option, but in imaginary fantasy world where Faction MMO is of WoW or City graphics quality, I'd want small PC's to have the option to use full sized weapon models for max hilarity.  Even city scales your weapons a bit (granted, this is normally a good thing. All Assault rifle's STILL clip through your arms.  This is basically the one integrity trait the limited Pulse Rifle models have over AR, the stock isn't clipping out the back of your elbow).
This message was last edited by the player at 09:40, Sat 20 Aug 2011.

According to software guru buddy, it's entirely possible to have an offline costume builder.  So an offline character designer that can be accessed in-game should be doable too.  Snopes has a way of making it possible to catch up on conversations that kept going while you were disconnected.  So really, the only reason anyone would ever need to be continually online is for the instantaneous interaction with environment and PCs.  Once inside a solo instanced mission, theoretically, the player wouldn't have to be online except to save progress on the server.  Games have been saving progress offline for a long time now, so even that's not entirely "needed."

In short, minimize the need for being connected or logged into an account.  You shouldn't have to have a working internet connection to edit costumes.

What I had imagined was a modulated kind of software.  Imagine if CoX put out a patch or issue where it simply has a new in-game window for viewing your Mids Hero Designer while you're leveling up or while you're enhancing.  Mids would still be stand-alone and usable offline, but it could also be used online, and in-game.  Same could be done for the costume editor.

There's other stuff that could be streamlined.  For example, enhancing.  Suppose I have an invention I need X Y and Z salvage for.  There should be a button to click to locate X Y and Z.  "Your salvage is at the following locations...  X is in base rack 12.  Y is in your vault.  And Z is in the inventory of your offline character Mittens Inferno.  Would you like to retrieve them?  <Yes> <No>"

(There was a fan-made stand-alone program for FFXI that did the locating part)

There should be no such thing as "MMO CHORES."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:05, Sat 20 Aug 2011.

Thanks for the input, guys! Heh. Yeah, I always wanted to have "hilarious tiny character wields giant gun" going on.

For what Chris was getting at for Chat functionality has less to do with Hahachat and more to do with "why are MMO chats nerfed versions of chat programs?" mentality. For example:

*(Typing) <-- indicator that friend is typing.
*Editing what you typed after you've pressed enter (Though in case of MMO, can understand NOT having this)
*Being able to type while zoning (IF zoning is unavoidable)
*Optional showing of video and/or audio for chat.
*Pushing up shouldn't delete everything you type.
*"Your buddy is online!"

I realize that last one IS a function in CoX, but Chris made the point that it doesn't work at times. He's seen me online for 30 minutes and then "Oh your friend Eli Vector is online" pops up. But I added it doesn't have an accompanying sound effect. Or a pop-up window that lets you know. Like those exclamation points that pop up to give you helpful tips on how to play the game. People usually notices something flashing there, so that function would for sure let you know a friend is online.

But aside from just what can be fixed about chat, here are some more thoughts on game in general:

Solid windows to see what is written without distractions from transparency. Able to fade out. Options include how long it waits to fade out. Or a keystroke causes it to fade.

John: "How do I block invites from a particular person?" <-- Being able to block the invite function for a specific person rather than everyone.

I'm reminded of a time in Star Trek Online, I was testing out poses with Joe and suddenly some guy says to me, "I'm blocking you for spam." I'm all "wha?" but since he blocked me, no way to find out what gives. Joe explained the guy probably meant "spamming poses" because the chat window will display "Liberty dances with Joe" or whatever your posing. Do a bunch of this and the chat window gets spammed with it. I know I shouldn't have been angry or insulted, but I was. I don't like being called a spammer when that's not true. And when you're blocked, you can't talk it out. I'm curious some solution ideas to this particular problem. The only thing I can think of is not putting pre-made poses in the permanent log. Just record poses that aren't part of the game (such as Liberty flips the bird to Nimrod). When a pose happens, maybe it can pop up above the chat window and then fade out.

Which leads to another problem that happens in MMOs: Spam. You start with a window that has everything turned on. Understandably. But I think there should be some pre-made tabs that have Pub/Help channels in one, Supergroup/Team/Local in another, others in another, and so on. And the tab can be set to either flash or not flash (depending on if you WANT to pay attention to those channels or not).

Finally, yeah... what Mittens said: Online *and* Offline! :) Character creation, costume creation.

On the topic of MMO Chores: Maybe you can also have ministers you can assign to tasks. So one minister, you can assign to sell your stuff for you. "What kind of salvage do you want me to sell, master?" All/Specific/None. "When should I sell these things, master?" When my salvage rack reaches: 100%, 80%, etc. So for example, I could tell my minister to ALWAYS sell DO enhancements.

One last thing to emphasize before I hit the "post message" button. All this stuff is optional. Nobody should HAVE to play the game our way. Maybe some people actually enjoy being spammed. Maybe (and more likely) some people enjoy MMO Chores. I know someone who strongly prefers to never ever block people. Even when the person is driving him insane. "Why not block them?" "Then I won't know what they're saying!" "...that's the point." But hey. Different strokes for different folks. So again: all things are optional.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:49, Sat 20 Aug 2011.

  Well, in the case of City, I've noticed that the 'Server Friends' get listed as 'your friend is online! Every single time you zone.  Can't double check fight now as someone on that list just went offline.

  Again on City, Window Transparency IS in the options, as well as fade out when not in use toggle On/Off, so that's apparently doable.  (Though, Dim Chat window options are in the General, Window tab.  While the Opacity is back in Graphics And Audio, User Interface).

  I am alas, unaware how to block invites from a specific person in City.  The Ignores only seem to deal with the 'talking' and emails.  But then, I've never had an invite attempt from anyone I've blocked.
  In the STO example, they just did a normal 'cant see text' block.
  Champions, if I remember right (by the same people), stopped sending the emote text alongside emotes after you did it a few times... But since we were cycling through a million of them... yeah.

  If anything the problem isn't being called a spammer (because we WERE, but Tim just didn't realize the local text on his chat window every time he emoted was local text), but being unable to option out of causing Local text when you use an emote.  It basically means everyone is held back by self consciousness to not use or test out emotes unless they are in a vacant corner somewhere (as opposed to the shipyard, one of the most visited places on the Station).

 Sweet!  I got all these cool emotes!... Oh, people will complain if I use any of them. Something wrong with that game design picture.

  And yeah, I have played with the Tab edits and creations more than I used to in city.  Granted, the only difference between my default chat tab, and the Extra tab in the lower half of the chat window, is that it doesn't have broadcast active...

   There are also the 'top 4' numbered tabs.  Since using those minimoze the Team bar, I use them mostly for backlog checking purposes. For me I set em to 1=Team/League/Local.  2=SG, Haha chat etc, Coalition.  3= Tells.  4=Auction messages.

  Don't tell me you try to use the 'Global' tab to read and respond to everything, complete with all the experience awards and such, or I will cry.

  Also, Team, league, and PM make noises.  If anything more than that made noises it would blur out the 'important' channels.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:23, Sat 20 Aug 2011.

-Instant Replay! See the battle you were just in, but from new angles!
-Astral Projection power?

FFXI's main chat window, when inactive, would shrink over time, one "line" worth at a time, until it vanished entirely leaving a beautiful unobstructed full screen view of the world.  Very nice.  Was customizable for how quickly it would vanish, and max number of lines that would shrink.

WoW had customizable UI and lots of plug-ins.  Granted, it took a little bit of know-how to get them working, but they added a large amount of flexibility and functionality.  Much of that functionality I would argue should have been built into the game in the first place.  For example, knowing the approximate value, both to an NPC and in AH, of an item that you just got while in a dungeon.  I'll forever be in love with that plug-in.

But that's largely due to the inventory space issues.  No MMO should fill your inventory to the max with stuff in one dungeon or even one TF.  Again, you shouldn't have to have the chore of selling vendor trash or even valuable stuff.  No MMO chores.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:46, Sat 20 Aug 2011.

Mittens mentioned possibility of making an MMORPG that is turn based. Kinda like DnD in that respect. Neat in concept, though the idea of turns still means people have to wait their turn. :\ Not smacking the idea down, but just reminding what turns would mean and probably why MMOs don't have such.

Joe has been giving good "this is why MMO's have or don't have thus and such" feedback so far, and the idea he gave for BFG makes me smile. So, Joe, more feedback when you can, please!

Meanwhile, after seeing that youtube on the AA12, my mind raced on the idea of customizeable weapons. CoX gives you a bunch of weapons to choose from. But I wanna take it a step further:

Imagine you can design the appearance of your gun/sword/mace/bow/etc. Imagine you can design it's damage/effects/recharge/etc. :) One thought I had was that size would be a factor (like maybe better battery life / ammo, but it's heavier) with the possability of eventually being able to upgrade the weapon to be lighter and such.

Chris strongly wants MMO chores gone. So the less equipment, the better in his mind. But as I've mentioned, lots of people like those chores (I know I'm personally in love with choosing feats in DnD or choosing talents in WoW, but Chris would see those as necessaries more than fun). This is important. Simplification with the option of complexity.

"Serious Business" has been Joe's term for the folks who want to eek out every little drop of advantage from the game's mechanics. Not all are minmaxers at heart as I'm sure some are just downright competitive (Like Kalinka). But in the same game, Joe has fun without doing that. I have fun without even doing as much as Joe does (As I've mentioned, I usually go without enhancements for the first 15 to 20 levels. Thankfully, this has been softened lately by Chris' PL incorporated).

Buuuuut we are all still left with "vendor trash". Even a game as amazing as CoX has that.

I wonder; what would happen if we changed economy entirely by making ALL things bought by an NPC store (rather than sold by players)? Not saying we would (there are people who strongly enjoy the part of the game that involves trade/commerse, BUT i'm unsure if they care if they are buying from / selling to other players or not).

  'Serious Business' For me is more the people who want to eeke out every possible benefit, AND scream at people/offer no help to those with no such mindset.  Such as the 'If you're not using set's you're doing it wrong', and 'Here is a guide for PowersetA/PowersetB.  It is a respec build crammed full of sets... Leveling build with normal parts? what?' mindsets.  As in 'This is SERIOUS Game people, play it right or go home!'

  ...This has been a waste of a post.

  Oddly, The endgame content Incarnate system of all things seems the most streamlined of 'crafting/equipment' setups in City.  Common, and even Uncommon powers are amazingly easy to get.  Rares get into 'conscious effort', and then very rares are 'You are either VERY lucky, or dedicate yourself to it'.

  However, there is also no trading or auction angle when it comes to the Incarnate bits.  So no ludicrous 'common parts cost OMG,' economy.

Dumping brainstorm ideas.  Reminder: None of these things are "must be" or "will be or else" but rather just ideas for maybe eventually being options.

-Adorable avatars
-CoX has no cussing in the storyline.  Faction should have the most powerful language filter: Click on bleeped out text, have option to show.  It then asks, "continue to block this word or phrase?"
-When blacklisting someone, can list the reason.  pull-down list of common reasons, and "other" (insert comment here).  Also, have the option to "blacklist" a player's avatar so you don't have to look at them any more.  Yellow list / temporary blacklist.
-Spam detector.  Maybe the software gives the offending player "a talking to"  Also safety warning if person is giving personal information.  Also tracks the # of a player's offenses.
-Player made "grafiti" (Tim: custom wall hangings like in sims.)
-In-game Library.
-"Learn more" button popup for everything in game.
-Voice Tutorial like in DC online
-Game should be playable by a 4 year old
-Badguys are never human.  Portal is a fun game with very little in the way of defeating enemies.  Focuses on overcoming obstacles.
-When players find cheats, rather than punish them, implement the cheats as features.  (When everyone's super, no one is.)
-Performing music like in LotRO
-Game can span multiple genres with mini games.  Some mini games designed specifically to relax and unwind with.  One mini game ideas: DDR (can use dance pad), deck of cards, chess, checkers.
-Avatars can sit and eat at a table as a environment emote.
-Selectable, customizable voice for your character.
-Voice mail for players.  Voice changer software.  Sound like a robot!
torrent style data transfer to minimize work load on server.
-Story based XP should be > than kill stuff XP
-Rare Ex items and gear. like in FFXI
-Game can be skinned.  Fantasy mode turns office walls into stone dungeon walls, etc.
-Randomly generated villain groups.
-Skillchains, Magic Burst
-Special "birthday" bonus.  Maybe not RL b-day, maybe instead "day you got game" bonus.
-Chat log!
-Emulate the internet in game.
-Custom Powers (can change sound effect, look, damage, status effect)
-Non Einsteinian Physics.  How would space travel work if light weren't the speed limit?
-PvP should be rare, and entirely avoidable if you want.
-Player's character acts on it's own, trying to survive if the player gets disconnected.
-Pen and Paper MMO!
-Personal Mog House.
-Skill Chain + Magic Burst like in FFXI

I agree with both Joe and Tim.  Serious business attitude is just that, serious.  Very memorable Kalinka quote: "Games are not for having fun."  It would be impossible to make a game that is immune to players with such an attitude, but one can be designed to discourage this attitude.  FFXI made serious business very serious because the highest high end gear was in such limited supply that even the most dedicated min/maxers who were at each other's throats competing for it would still wind up without the item they were after.  I had to camp a monster for weeks and get my Linkshell to help claim and fight the octapus monster in order to get the Rare Exclusive sword that attacks twice.  Just like everyone else who ever got one.

One monster / item (the craken club) was so valuable that it was impossible for players to get it because the goldsellers camping it 24/7 used mods for claiming the monster before it even appeared on the screen.  FFXI devs fixed this by making the monster instanced in a level capped "mission"... with a 1 in 1,000 chance of getting the item if you manage to beat the incredibly powerful monster.  Or maybe it was 1 in 5,000.  I've since forgotten, but it was very very hard to get.  Instead of impossible.

Instanced missions is a huge improvement over FFXI and WoW because people don't have to compete for the limited recourse "monsters" in a crowded server.

Player economy.  CoX you can theoretically play without ever using the auction house.  But it would be a severe handicap to try and play that way.  So frustration arises when basic salvage becomes something only super wealthy high level players can afford.  An idea I had was having NPCs sell salvage.  Unlimited supply.  CoX already has this for invention recipes, IO/SO enhancements, etc... why not salvage?

I've never been a big fan of making players depend on player based economy.  FFXI had insane prices thanks to gold sellers.  WoW became unplayable for me without plug-ins because the auction house was such a chore without them.  Etc.  Even CoX has it's inf sellers spamming the auction house.  At least the spam emails have stopped.  But games can be designed to make gold selling discouraged.  Or entirely unneeded.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:47, Tue 23 Aug 2011.

  Champions and STO have showcased a snag with the 'Story Based rewards vastly greater than kill based' situation.  Team up with someone but don't have the missions/aren't elligible for mission sharing?  Well, sucks to be you.
  Enjoy your ONE experience point per enemy and random whatever random drops you get while mission holder gets the experience bundles and items per mission. (Seriously, literally, one skill point per enemy for majority of game.  Sometimes like, 3 for bosses).

  Custom graffiti.  Have First Person Shooters taught us nothing there? Bad plan if something even slightly offensive makes you go out like the Opening of the Arc in the obviously titled Indiana Jones movie.

  City does have PM log option, but it's Global name based and stuck as files in a folder you have to dig up yourself (and in city, how would you know what global name was to who unless you already knew that?)...  Plus I've never looked to see how long they can get or if there's some cutoff.

  No clue what or how a FFXI skill chain/Magic burst is like.

  Beyond the memory and technical issues for Voice mail, there is also the lesser chance of understanding things too for some people (like myself, Reason B I don't use voice chat in games I DO have a headset for like Xbox 360 are most of it completely flies over my head.  I can't listen to a podcast or video unless that's the only thing I'm paying attention to).

  STO has the most convenient crafting and salvage system I've experienced (though, again, I've only played five MMOs in my life and have forgotten nearly everything about original EQ), outside the fact you can't make 'everything'  Even on the common/uncommon sense.  You can only craft two our of four kinds of wepons, with pistols both are 'expose' weapons.  (STO has Expose, chance to basicaly make enemies grant Combat advnatage with secondary, and Exploit weapons, which basically add Sneak attack damage seconrady to).  They have changed up the weapon availibility a bit in the alst giant update, but I haven't played much since then and it was mostly to make more ready access to their 'ooooh! new!' Energy shotguns, Rapid fire assault rifle, and modified minigun items that work better than others in the new '3rd person shooter mode' option.

  STO has taken your 'why cant we just BUY parts?' logic to heart with their recipies, which previously you had to craft with the newbie tier salvage so you'd see people of all levels Node farming in those places.
  Only THREE kinds of common salvage per Rank.  Stackable to 250 (though anything worth a damn takes 60 of one kind, and you are also having to equip a bunch of controllable NPC's), and you can still craft with them even if they are in your bank vault.  You only need the luck based Rare components that occasionally come with a node to make Very Rare items.
  Getting all the non rare salvage you need is just a matter of taking a relaxing, if drawn out, circling ride through 'no enemies here' explore sector and doing node scans till you have enough parts.  Because while missions have nodes inside them (and your all purpose scan LEADS you to them.  Glowy's don't make noises in STO, but you have a glowing thing that points in their direction on command), you won't get enough parts inside missions to build everything you want.

  My primary issue with STO crafting, as stated, is you can't craft everything, even on a basic level.  Sure, LATE game you could craft more variety (except gun types still, but with a wider range of damage types for existing), but there were plenty cases of 'you can't craft a ship power enhancer, you have to turn in tokens for that' at lower tiers. And unless you are satisfied with the weapon types available to craft, endgame you need a stack of 'once a day' max level rank tokens, AND remember what vendor even sells them off in the depths of space, to get say a fancy split beam rifle.
  Oh, you are also forced to either craft, find, or token exchange for ship weaponry that doesn't fit your side's 'theme'...  Cannon style weapons are the Go To gear for Federation Escorts... Not even common cannon types sold in Federation vendors. (unless they've changed that).

  But I can't say you depend on the auction in STO at all.  I've never bought anything from it unless it's relatively cheap. (Though if you were desperate for a specific type of weapon or ship gear you couldn't conveniently get yourself, could see why) And I made all my desired Very Rare goodies, BEFORE they lowered the Rare crafting component requirements (the ship engine/shield/deflector dish VR set I made, you needed either EVERY rare element too)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:16, Tue 23 Aug 2011.

In FFXI, you have something called a "Weapon Skill" that is very similar to FFVII's "Limit Break". You have a meter that fills up as you hit an enemy or as enemies hit you. When it's full, you can use a "Weapon Skill."

The weapon skills you had available were dependant on how much you have used your weapon (You leveled up how much skill you had in a weapon just like WoW used to do) As you leveled up your skill in a weapon, you got new weapons skills.

Being a White Mage, I generally used a club as my weapon. When my club skill reached 10, I got the "Shining Strike" Weapon Skill. So when my meter filled, I used Shining Strike.

But that's Weapon Skills. Which are neat in and of themselves. Skill CHAINS are where things get awesome.

A Skill Chain happens when 2 or more people perform the correct sequence of Weapon Skills in a row. So say a full party gets their Weapon Skill meters full, then the party leader says, "Skill Chain!" and he pulls out his Weapon Skill. The next person pulls out his Weapon Skill about a second after. Then the next person, then the next. Each person getting bonuses to damage and getting special status effects as a result.

But wait! Then the white mage casts Holy and the black mage casts Fire and BOOM! Magic Burst! A magic burst is when you finish off a skill chain with a spell. It's a beautiful sight and often ended the fight with a glorious atomic explosion.

This obviously takes a lot of coordination, but nobody was forced to do it. Just that when you did, the reward was worth it. As Chris got good at the game, he started doing that all the time and encouraged me to. By the time I left the game, I had gotten to where I could do a skill chain or magic burst as a reaction to someone using their Weapon Skill without even having planned a skill chain. Sometimes, newbies would be all "what in the world did you just do?" and it filled me with glee.

The concept is pretty smart. FFXI is probably the most "you have to party with others" centric game I've ever played. You know how I love duoing with Chris or you or trioing with both if you? Yeah... in FFXI, you ALWAYS had a full party. You could do mini skillchains with yourself in FFXI too, but as gratifying as it was, believe me when I say the party skillchains rocked hard.

But I would like to have WS/SC/MB concept as an option for any game really. It's a neat bonus to throw in.

Jotting down 2 thoughts.
-Levels of access / parental controls.
-Account theft detection.

-Cooperative spell casting.  What if instead of RDM, you had BLM and WHM combine to cast refresh?
-What can characters do in the 1st place?  The sky's the limit.  Missile command even.  FFXI's capture the flag garrison.
-d6's "you create your class as you level"  Champions can grab any power.
-Champions can change your role on the fly.  (Change from tanker to healer)
-Equipment?  Buying ships, body armor, guns, etc.  In armored core you can switch out heads, arms, etc.
-CoX multiple builds a good thing.
-1 planet, many environments and many races.  (Roll eyes at the Star Wars "desert planet" or Star Treck "only 1 interesting thing about this planet")
-CoX haz more than 1 animation for the same power.  You can customize the power.  What if "aid other" had an animation for each of the backgrounds - magic, mutation, tech, etc. and you could CHOOSE which animation it uses?
-2nd life.  Player visual customization to the max.  Nothing player built would affect how quickly they could kill a monster.
-Do we even want an auction house?  If you have and auction house, you WILL get gold sellers.
-Create an economy that encourages teamwork.  /auctionhouse brings up NPC store, not PC store, PC not selling stuff to you, BUT if you want a Joyeuse (an untradable item), it will be more than 50% easier to get if you have a 2nd player helping you.
-Do we even want specific drops of any kind?  What if monsters only dropped inf, and everything in the game could be obtained with inf?  Or take it a step further, and the only reward is XP and you spend XP on gear, enhancements, etc.
-Time = "money" = reward.
-FFXI Moogles kept track of how many times you've defeated a monster, how many words you've typed, etc.  Interesting FYI stats.
-A.E. has "build your own enemy"  Joe says it's hard to make an enemy that isn't overpowered.  Imagine if you had sliders.  This enemy does 50% damage, 25% resist, etc.  Ultimate control over enemy powers.
-When going to set difficulty level, have more controls like damage and damage resist.  -This does not mean you can make a rikti monkey grind.  You do not get the same XP from and "easy" monster as a "hard" one.  Problem with assigning a XP value to certain bits that make up a monster is that you can't predict how challenging certain combinations are.
-What if the NPCs could break the 4th wall and complain about your resisting their status effects, etc.?  Or they complain IC.
-Ships vs landing parties?
-Do we want Challenge to equal Reward?  Or is there something more important
-Badges are so fon.  Especially important in a game where there's only 1 reward (such as inf)
-Rankings.  Who's the #1 killer of CoT bosses?
-We want all the USEFUL stuff available to everybody at some point.  Lvl 1 person doesn't want to have to do incarnate trials but wants incarnate stuff.  He earns X amount of generic "effort currency" some other way and can buy incarnate stuff with that instead.
-Race templates.  What if I want to play Wall-E?  Or a centipede?  In STO you had several alien races and a "create your own" option.  Could technically duplicate one of the other races with the "create your own" but the existing race templates saved you the effort of having to.
-Myst series had Uru... your own world.  What if you could make your own world with other members of your unique race?  NPCs based off your own character's appearance (Closest to this is CoX's dopplegangers.)
-Destructable terrain.  Incredible Hulk.  Ultimate Destruction.  'nuff said.
Gardening.
-Warcraft 3 map editor.

Better spam filter / blacklist.
"Mark as Douchebag" puts people in your Douchebag list.
"Mark as Spammer" puts people in your spamblock list.
"Mark as Rulebreaker" flags someone as having broken the rules.

So on.