My thoughts an a League MMO

So I found this thread (https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/bLHavk3O-id-be-so-down-for-a-league-mmo) that detailed what they thought a League MMO could look like and I wanted to give my own version. However, due to the size of my reply, I decided to make it into its own post.

So here's my take on an MMO:

I want it to be a true MMO experience, not a hybrid of a MOBA and an MMO for a Diablo kind of experience. I think those could easily be made into two different games and I would play both of them. For me, an MMO based on the League universe should follow the conventional WoW format, but with their own unique spin on it, such as what Guild Wars 2 has done. This can be something related to the combat, such as having ultimate abilities for characters or something.

So on a creative point, here's my character creation process:

1. You select your starting race - Human, Yordle, Iceborn, Troll, or Vastaya. There are other races in Runeterra, but most would classified as enemies for now.

2. You select your starting City/Faction. For instance, as a human, you can start in Piltover, Zaun, The Great City of Demacia, The Immortal Bastion, and other settlements around the world that could make good starting zones. For Yordles it would be Bandle City, Piltover, Zuan, The Immortal Bastion, etc. You get the idea. Each race would have certain starting zones that may or may not be unique to that race.

3. I think one way League could make its MMO unique is by expanding the basic DPS, Tank, and Healer paradigms that are traditionally in MMOs. Encourage teams of 5 for dungeons and perhaps teams of 10 for raids. Make very clear distinctions between the usefulness of a Ranged DPS vs an Assassin or a Fighter. Make it matter whether I choose to be a Tank or a Juggernaut. This is something that a League MMO has the potential to explore that really no mainstream MMO out today is exploring. Additionally, in order to tie in with the whole "pick a primary and secondary role" feature, I would suggest that a character can only learn two classes, but you can have multiple characters so you can still experience all the different classes.

Now, onto the World. Good news is, we already have an interactive map we can explore. We know what Runeterra looks like. All we have to do is put it in the ol' Hextech Digitizer and bam, we're good to go. Now, of course it isn't actually that simple, but at least we have a starting point. Some thoughts on World Building:

1. The World needs to evolve, and we need to see that evolution. I'm not saying we need to go full on Living World like Guild Wars 2, but making sure that we are advancing in time at least from expansion to expansion is important, and when new releases come out, the rest of the game needs to reflect that.

2. Look, Runeterra would have the coolest raids EVER. I wanna go into a Shuriman dungeon only to encounter the Void and end the whole deal off with fighting some big Void monster. That would be awesome.

3. The entire Runeterra map does not need to be made from the get-go. The vanilla release of the game needs to have at least, say, 40%% - 50% of the world. That's still a lot of content, and then developers can introduce more parts of the map later, and eventually even new landmasses. For example, Shadow Isles do not need to be explorable from day 1. We'll still be able to fight the undead and such, but it'll be when they invade. In fact, Shadow Isles would make a pretty dope expansion, now that I'm thinking of it. But this could be the same for other regions as well. Perhaps northern Freljord, where Lissandra inhabits comes in a later expansion (with plenty of references to Wrath of the Lich King). Basically, don't give us all of Runeterra from the start. Feed it to us over time so that way we can build longevity.

That last point actually brings to my final part of this post: the business model. Right now, there are 4 different business models for MMOs right now. The first is a monthly Subscription, such as WoW. The second is Buy-to-Play like Guild Wars 2, where you purchase it one time and that it. The third is Free-to-Play, where you get to play for free, but there will be microtransactions, such as with most Eastern MMOs like Blade and Soul, or even a Membership Subscription such as Star Wars: The Old Republic. The last model is a combination of Buy-to-Play and Subscriptions, which is currently only used by Elder Scrolls Online.

Now here's the deal - I do not want a League MMO to be Free-to-Play. That is a difficult model to sustain and it eventually leads to dwindling playerbase numbers because in order to make money, the game needs to include a Members only deal and/or microtransactions just to stay alive. I would much prefer to either do a Buy-to-Play or Subscription model for the game, as that will be the best way they can make sure they are making money while not locking players out of content or making the game Pay-to-Win. For example, we can compare the top MMOs out right now. First, lets take a look at the OG, World of Warcaft. That game has survived off of a subscription model since it came out and has continued thriving for 14 years. next, we have Guild Wars 2, which uses the Buy-to-Play model, and is also super popular. Finally, Elder Scrolls Online, which uses both systems. Now compare these to Free-to-Play games like Blade and Soul, and you can see the differences, not just in player counts, but also in the quality of the games. If you charge for something, you have the ability to take that money and put back into the game, rather than being forced to cram microtransaction and such down your players throats. I'll be honest, I would pay 10-15 bucks a month to play a League MMO, with a large part of that reason being that I know I'm paying for a quality experience.

Anyway, that about wraps up my thoughts on a League MMO. I think it would be an amazing idea that has the potential to really compliment the main League of Legends game. I really hope Riot makes it.

Also they should totes call it League of Legends: Clash of Fates.