Decent and possibly original idea

#1 I like the idea. Though I see it being more of an extra feature to an MMO, rather than a main one. In a way that... Well I hate when games house a certain feature that begs for a more fleshed out system, but stop at that feature.

The lease system you pitch here is original to a certain degree too, as far as I know. I've seen similar systems for a sort of mentor/pupil agreement, but nothing for items specifically. So a little of your idea, a little of the mentor system, and perhaps say, an idea that I've had for awhile- a school system. Like tutorials, but where experienced players actually can set up classes for a per-person entry fee, and show pupils advanced techniques. Put all those things together, and I'd be impressed at [INSERT MMO GAME HERE]'s community helping new players, having the built in tools to do it!

But my point- any of these systems by themselves would seem "lacking" in my opinion. Not to say they shouldn't be implemented, just noting how I feel when I see a "lonely" feature like this. At any rate, it's still a grand idea.

#2 I would think a system like this would be abused for powerleveling no end, in that friends lend each others, or their own newb characters high level eq for no fee. or an agreement to give the fee back in case a fee is required by the system.
So what you end up with is any newbie with a friend who has played a bit, or has higher level characters, running around with super equipment.

#3 Perhaps a similar system to Lineage II, where you are hindered in some way if you use too high level of equipment... In L2, you are slowed down a whole lot if you use items out of your class. And, I just realized that a few games do indeed have this same feature, though it's NPCs that "loan" out weapons and skills to newbies. So actually this isn't a new or original idea...

#4 Firstly, I am not all that opposed to power leveling, I have always enjoyed playing games that had an accelerated exp. "flaw". Most people have to learn the basics and actually learn to play the game before others are willing to let a them leech or power level anyways...

Even so, it is still very possible to avoid people abusing this feature for power leveling, I was thinking that you assign every elite and rare items in the game 3 or 4 tiers or some type of incremental system. For example, if the "915 IthGrandFatherFury" is an elite item, then its base damage for the lvl 99 would cap out at 1000, but the tier for the levels 25 would be a max of 250 base damage. So the lvl 25 would be at an advantage, but would not necessarily be raping the system. Come on, we are all problem solvers here :)

This whole "lease" idea could also benefit the level 99 on other ways. Maybe after leasing an item to a newb low lvl, he gets the item back and the item's value has depreciated some, maybe by losing some damage and durability. In return, he gets some type of "honor" points that give him temporary luck for better drops and even some type of temporary publicity in the game that could be beneficial to a max lvl character. So when he enters a trade chat room or channel and display an item for trade or request an item to buy, his ad listing goes at the top in big bold letters...and how much money do you want to bet he be more likely to get what he wants, as opposed to the newb flaming selfish lvl99 that won't even say "hello" to anyone under lvl 80. These kind of people will be lagging in honor and popularity points giving them a handicap or disadvantage while trying to satisfy his own greed over the more friendly and selfless people that are basically making "low risk investments".

Think of it like Google page ranks...when you Google the word "car" the first and most clicked link is CarMax...the popular and fairly reputable player in the online car market..."popular" and "reputable" being the underlying idea.

This would certainly jack up the benefit and replay factor for veterans of the game, while aiding and assisting the newcomers which will them exponentially benefit the game's "future", if you will. :)

What do you think? Is this becoming less and less unoriginal or no? I honestly do not have experience with many mmorpg's.

#5 Sorry, not original... I remember playing like 10 MMOs with that feature...

#6 Mind naming one...?

#7 I can't off the top of my head. (I played many MMOs)

I can name 1 off the top of my head since I just started playing it. Ever hear of EVE online? It doesn't have one exactly like yours since your talking about levels and stuff like that. But it is pretty similiar if you use it correctly...

#8 Technically most games that haven't embraced WoW's overzealous usage of soulbinding to force a flowing economy (seriously, it's completely stupid and it's artificial gold inflation has created a cash-for-gold market larger than many small nation economies), have a loan system in place, though not a game mechanic enforced one.

As an auction house like system where high levels post lowbie equipment with a sell price and an interest rate, it could work. Lowbies who could afford the equipment now could get it, and if not they could take it and pay interest till they could afford it.

But if it allows lowbies to gain access to equipment for more powerful than their current range, it's game breaking and stupid. Imagine what WoW would be like with that, 19s running around warsong gulch in full epic pvp sets. It would officially end the game for anyone who couldn't get a friend to loan them epic sets at level 1.
Plus the game would suddenly become easy-mode, and most people can't stand to play a game where they 1-shot kill everything for long enough for it to work in an MMO. If your playerbase can level to max in less than a pay period, there's a good chance they won't renew their subscription as they've already "beaten" the game.

#9 To avoid lvl 19's running around owning everything, read me responses above. Simply have a tier system for elite items...then the level 19's would simply have a slight advantage as opposed to raping everything. I went into better in a previous response above.

BTW thanks for all the input, I do appreciate it :)

#10 I think a tier system is an interesting idea to avoid misuse of high level eq, however, in most MMOs high level eq is plentifull for high levels, so this would lead to all manner of low levels running around with high level eq, instead of low level eq witch they should be using. if not restricted further that is.
Pherhaps you could generally level/ability limit equipment, and only have some select items that have the tier functionality? And this should be eq that is rare to find for high levels also.
I'm thinking that could work. Make tier functionality a _very_ rare feature equipment could have, so that a high level would be lucky to find such a weapon that he could give/lend to a lowbie. The eq the high level finds doesn't even have to be powerful enough for himself to want to use, but it could be valuable anyway because he could lend it to a select newbie. Implement some sort of ritual/contract in the game to give the eq from the high to the low level and it could be an interesting feature.

however I must comment on something else, which I think Andrew is also touching on.
from the OP:
"MENOOB: Hey there sir_kikbutalot!
LVL99: Hello there mature and clean fun-seeking noob!
MENOOB: Can you help me level to 25 SO I CAN START HAVING MORE FUN SOONER?"

Seems to me like you pherhaps are trying to cure a symptom instead of the disease itself here?
Here you are stating that you expect your game to be less fun for the first 25 levels?
If you plan on your first 25 levels beeing so boring, but don't want your players to be bored , why don't you start your characters at level 26 then?

Or... one could pherhaps try making the game more fun for these levels?

#11 Yes as Jan Resaland stated above me here... Well let me put it this way. Ive played WoW for 1 and a half years and in that short time even i have noticed that all the "fun" or "new" stuff is for high levels. for Instance in WoW's expantion Burning Crusade outland was added for level 58+ Not much if anything got added for 57- though they did add in new classes and new areas that low levels could get to it was very small. Another example would be WoW's up comeing expantion for 68+ There is nothing for low levels that is "fun". I belive not sure though that at lvl 40 u get a quest top unlock Deathknight so theres a little,but what about the 39- Anything would be nice even a new instance or items. So as Jan said i belive games Like WoW should be made even more fun then it is now at lower levels. But you can not make it to much more "fun" because thenit would make the rest of the game A downer so its something you really need to think about.

#12 Actually I had an idea similar to that, because I was a heavy EQ addict (Everquest for those of you who have never been online....teasing)

Basically instead of a level "Max level goes here" farming level 1 items and getting in new players ways, they have the low levels give them "level 1 stuff in large quantities useless to them" to let the larger level player get items they need.

Mind you this could end up as people making alts/twinks etc, unless you hard code a rule where people who play under same "real name" cannot trade with themselves, and ban gold for cash schemes.

You could effectively set up a barter/trade system in game, (similar to what EQ has now for barter/trade in the bazaar)

I will place my "quest" for 100 "Kitten whiskers, in trade for 1 Small breastplate" and that way I get items "I" need, and the new players get items they need, So they get what I earn at my level to help them up, but I don't return to low end zones needlessly and take what they need most....Fun.

Just a thought.

#13 Hmmm but wouldn't there be endless amounts of noobs annoying higher lvl players? Personally I think it takes a bit of the motivation out of it. Usually in an MMO you lvl up to get cool armor and stuff. It'd be a bit too easy just borrowing off someone. It might work, you never know.

#14 Hey John,

It's cool that you're out there testing your ideas with other developers. I'm fairly new to Torque too, though I focus entirely on Torque's 2D engines, and therefore would most likely not have any use for this type of system implementation. In addition to being a 2D developer, MMOs are not my strong point, so take any or all of my comment on your ideas with a grain of salt.

You stated earlier that you really didn't have that much of a problem with 'powerleveling'. While this may be the case, MMO developers really try to avoid this at all costs. They want their players to spend as much time with the game (and spend as much money with the company) as humanly possible. Also, powerleveling tends to alienate higher-level players who got there purely by skill and understanding of the system. In simplest terms, this kind of thing really pisses veteran players off.

Something similar that you could implement is something like a 'Mentor' system, something I'm sure has already been implemented in one MMO or another. Let's say one player wants to learn 'Level One Lighting - Offensive'. If another player fights alongside that player in a clan, and chooses to select the Mentor option for that skill, the learning player would receive an experience bonus in that area of development while the teaching player would gain a bonus in that same area as well as his 'leadership', 'charisma', or 'personality' skill as well. Doing something along these lines would augment the community aspect of your MMO and reward players that use teamwork. In contrast, you can also have skills like 'scout', 'stealth', or 'survival' that are more difficult to level up when you're not on your own.