I quit AO a few months ago because the game got boring, and it was just a levelling treadmill with no point. I returned a few days ago in anticipation of static, story line based quests, missions, and dungeons. A game has to have A POINT to be fun.

Funcom it seems is beginning to catch on, but I want to reiterate a few things:

- one or two of these static dungeons is a good start, but what I really want is something like Asheron's Call: 300+ quests / dungeons that all relate to the story line in some way

- unique-ness to the dungeons: don't use the random mission generator and simply drop unique quests into them; each one needs its own design and surprises: it should feel like a mental challenge rather than just a stats / combat challenge

- puzzles and such in the dungeons: I don't want to just run through every dungeon and find / kill the boss: I want the story line to inform me of what to expect from each particular boss' minions and style; and vice-versa: after finishing the quest I should have some further understanding of the back story and have gained knowledge of how to better handle future quests

- put responsibility back into the players hands, and take some of it out of the character's stats

- if the only thing holding you back from designing unique, static, human-designed dungeons is the fact that the maps and strategies will be posted on spoiler sites: who cares!? people who use these sites deserve to lose the excitement that goes along with discovery and succeeding by their own smarts and abilities; and ANY additional lore about the game on 3rd party sites should be a welcome thing: we should feel like we are in a static, real world, not a simulation machine that creates unique adventures for every person...that only disconnects us from the desired imersion

- expand the ability to gain XP from grey mobs, and keep level-restriction to dungeons broad: characters of higher levels / lower levels should not have to miss out on the majority of content because the level restrictions are so narrow (see point below about spawning fresh versions of dungeons to avoid uber-characters ruining low-level characters' fun)

- to continue on that last point: vary the distribution of monster levels where applicable in dungeons (but keep them permanent): i.e. after getting beat up in Steps of Madness 3 times, I should have learned what it takes to conquer the place, and plan accordingly: I don't want a completely new arrangement of monsters and monster levels for any static quest: I should play the place until I have beaten it and reaped its rewards and move onto the next: there should be no reason to camp it over and over (see point below)

- spawn multiple instances of the static dungeons to avoid multiples groups ruining the experience for each other: i.e. give people keys to the dungeons / quests and spawn a fresh version for each team / soloist (or spawn a new one only when a dungeon is overloaded)

- follow Turbine's lead on Asheron's Call: if you can reproduce their unique content output with your game engine you'd have the best game on the planet, and I might even stay with you after Star Wars Galaxies and other top MMORPGs come out


I will continue to pay you $12.95 a month as long as you pay someone (preferrably multiple people) to continue to design new, exciting, unique adventures for me to explore: I have been back in AO for less than 4 days and I am already exceedingly bored by the random mission generators.

Thanks and good luck!

Berlioz / Thira / Woland