113009-restart-the-clock

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This is more of a general gripe about game design in MMOs in general and I'm not sure if there's an easy way to overcome it.  I'll scope in terms that apply to Wildstar but really it's not just Wildstar but most MMOs in the last two decades.
 
The issue being static temporal content in the open world.  Every "area" is frozen in time and doesn't seem to change much -- if ever.
 
A couple of anecdotes for example sake:
Take a ship to Wilderrun and wander around Fool's Hope and see someone who's dead to me.  I can find them elsewhere too.	Run over to Celestion, and then hop over to Everstar Grove to see the beginnings of Nexus colonization all over again.
I assume creating a dynamic world isn't easy, and on some level might not be "fair" for players to miss events that shape out the world in general.  But the opposite - when the world is locked in time - even worse like in Wildstar where you can travel "through" time just by changing location - it makes the world feel flat, like you're looking at a three-dimensional snapshot.  More dead than alive.
 
As I said i don't know if there's a way to overcome it either.  But of course I'm going to share my ideas.  It's too late for current Wildstar but future game designers might at least think about it, maybe implement it to some extent in future zones / planets / expansions. 
 
Like when it comes time to go retake Arboria (hint hint major expansion nudge nudge).
 
Beginning Acclimation
 
Have new players run through a series of static temporal content to get "up to speed" on lore and the game environment in general. This part of the game is a combination of tutorial and a reliving or the past - since every player has to do it, and are doing it at different times, it should not have a timeline that overlaps with the open world at all.  It is the past.
 
An example from WS exile side would be leaving cryo, doing Everstar Grove + Celestion, or Northern Wilds + Algoroc.  Then once you're done and ready to hit Thayd, you go through a dramatic cutscene of time passing showing some events between the Acclimation and current times .. and that's it.  You're now in The Present. 
 
If you create additional characters, give you the option of going through Acclimation again, or spawning directly in The Present as a level 1 (babies can be born and grow up in the city, not everyone has to come off ice).  Skipping Acclimation could lead to skipping some of the world story too, a fact that would need to be a warning to the player skipping the content.
 
The Present
 
You can't turn around and go back in time and the open world should feel like an open world.  The zones you went through during Acclimation are no longer the same zones.  You might have new reasons to go there depending on what's HAPPENED.  Any personal "Storyline" stuff that is individual to the player's experience should be in instanced areas that the player will not be visiting during normal gameplay, designed in such a way that it does not bleed out into the open world.  "I thought you were dead.."
 
The world is dynamic.  Stuff happens, and not everyone can do everything that everyone else does, and that is fine.  Otherwise it feels like a console game with a checklist until you're done.
 
It's fine that some NPCs have the same or similar "quests" all the time but they need lives too.  Maybe today they want you to to do this - but tomorrow maybe they want something else.  Or they've moved from one are of the city to another and you have to find them to give them what they wanted.  The Bounty Boards could have different one-off creatures that pop up and the bounty is only there while they are alive.
 
Some big titan creature might come through and destroy Sylvan Glade in Celestion.  Epic battle to kill the thing.  Settlers have to rebuild the town over the course of a week, maybe adding some more defenses to it with the help of Scientists and Soldiers - Explorers finding defensible spots to put the things.  Afterwards, NPCs remember the people that helped kill the creature and rebuild the town and offer them discounts on their services or maybe offer them an item as a thank-you.  If you were there for the creature battle AND helped reconstruction efforts, the head of the town has something special for you.. go see him.
 
These types of things should be often, but not predictable,  "Forming raid for Sylvan Glade destruction in 10 minutes, /join lootgrabber"
 
"You weren't there?  Man .. let me tell you the story.  AH CRAP storytime will have to wait, my comm just beeped - there's an invasion fleet attacking Thayd.. LETS FRIGGIN GO."
 
Keep players on their toes, with stuff going on everywhere and reasons to adventure the world.  I'd much rather hear gripes that players can't complete everything than hear gripes that they've completed everything.
 
So Yeh....
 
Designers, it might be possible to create a living world while still having personal storyline that makes sense within that world.  Some players will gripe that they missed out on stuff, but then other stuff will happen that they CAN take part in, and will appreciate the experience more overall, I think - rather than looking around a landscape of "been there, did that, no reason to return now."  If the rewards are worthwhile I think it would work - keeping in mind the experience itself is a reward and not everything has to be about loot. 
 
Some players don't and won't agree with that.   But then not every game is for every player, myself included.  That's why I don't play every game.  I enjoy Wildstar for what it is and how they've designed it - for now.  I just have a hope for the future to get away from this style of time-locking to make games more enjoyable overall and perhaps have longer lifespans.
 
TL;DR
 
Pie is good.	
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			Doesn't need to be forced. Some people don't care, some people do. Those that do have the option of never going back, and only going to places like Northern Wastes and Crimson Badlands to see what the passage of time has done.All things being equal, giving people a choice is a better option, and Carbine took it.	
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In my opinion what you have described sounds like a really great game. However, it is not this game.
 
Starting a game from scratch with that concept at it's core is a brilliant idea, and I suggest you have a look at Everquest Next who are aiming to provide exactly what you have described. For this game though your suggestion is such a shift in concept from what we have. Altering the fundamental design of game which people already paid for and enjoy is, in my opinion, an unwise choice.
 
As you say not every game is for ever player so be happy you enjoy this game for what it is and leave fundamental shifts in design philosophy to new titles.	
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			I agree that Pie is good. Especially Steak and Kidney Pie.	
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I'm with you!  One of my biggest complaints about WoW was that Azeroth is a series of history museum exhibits rather than a game world.  If you go to Dalaran, you're transported to 2009.  Ashenvale is mired down in the low point in recent night elf history, split three ways between a tyrant who no longer reigns, an elemental lord who no longer lives and a people who no longer have to take back their homes.  Once you've played through the quest content the whole game world turns to pointless, out of date fluff.  Each zone is as much a time as it is a place, and I was hoping that wasn't going to be the case here on Nexus.
 
I'm also thoroughly fed up of the Gambler's Ruin.  At this point I wouldn't mind a less story-driven (or barring that, less linear) newbie yard option that puts your boots on the ground and gives you some work to do until you hit 14 or so.	
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Oh gods no. Look, this seems like a great idea but in a game were advancement is supported by questing hubs it's really, really not. Rift used to do something similar to this. Say a zone invasion happened and the players lost, well the invasions used to stick around sitting on top of all the dead questgivers until they themselves were killed. This meant that if there wasn't enough interest in finishing off the event or stragglers people who just wanted to quest and see the story were screwed. It wasn't fun. 
 
I'm not saying this isn't a good idea, but the game needs to be built with this in mind. It would need to be more of a dynamicy sandbox type game than the quest driven themepark Wildstar is. I would suggest checking out EQN. What you suggested seems to be the direction they wish to go in, and it sounds amazing if they can pull it off. :)	
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