Alright, this is going to be quite a long post. Please bear with me and read this in its entirety because I really want this to be the game of the decade. First lets talk about major changes. I know the game is really close to being released and this could be quite the overhaul but this needs to be brought up. [b]Get rid of levels[/b]. I know its extreme, but hear me out. I say that instead of a leveling system just use skill points. So you have an experience bar. Once it is full, you get a point. Over time, it requires more and more experience to fill. But it never stops. Now these points that you receive can be spent on Skill trees that change up your play style and affect the abilities / guns you use. Or they can be spent on buffing your overall character. For example +0.1% Maximum health. You see where I am going with this? The values would have to be small to prevent overpowered characters very early in the games release. You want this game to last for 10 years. You have to keep them playing for that long. This is not to say that its going to be ridiculously slow. Not at all, give the people a sense of accomplishment. But drag it out so the game doesn't lose its luster or become easy to fast. Second, put every player, and enemy on an equal playing field. Basically, make it realistic (I know this is a Sci-Fi fantasy). By making everything balanced from the start, and through to the end. A veteran player (remember skill points) is going to have an advantage over new players and many enemies. However they are not invincible, and, a new player is still able to contribute just as much. Example, a veteran and a newbie are traveling together and they get ambushed. The veteran takes the fight to the enemy, kills numerous targets, but eventually goes down. The newbie is still able to kill off the remaining enemies and assist his partner. Also, taking down enemy vehicles, air support, etc. Is going to require teamwork. No one is superman in this world. What does this do for the community of players? Taking into account the actual human skill at playing video games leads to significant members of the community (Remember Zezima from Runescape?) So you got a guy (We'll call him John) who is really good at the game, has some good gear. But what sets him apart from everyone else is that he is just naturally good at the game. He has played for a long enough time to amass skill points to give his character a good enough advantage to shine. Thus he is memorable and add to the "unwritten" lore of the game. He is now a part of the game. Back to some more changes. Loot. This will make more sense in the next section of this, but loot is very important. Especially for this type of game. Common things are common, rare things are rare, and legendary things need to be just that. [b]Legendary[/b]. John has been all across the planet trying to reclaim it, through his travels he has found a really nice weapon. A weapon unlike anything else. Its not impossible for another player to get. But it has such a low drop rate that you have to be really lucky, and I mean really lucky. [b]Before you start to rant[/b] I want to make something very clear. This weapon, while very unique and power. Does not make the player a god. But I am so tired of seeing everyone on a game being Maximum level, with the same skill tree layout, with the same armor and weapons. [b]Cookie cutters[/b] all of them. We need unique people, we need unique weapons. A one of a kind thing. But like I said, its not impossible for another player to get them. But if you are going to call something legendary. Then everyone's jaw had better drop when they see someone with it. What does this do for the players? Now John (The guy playing him) can really feel like a badass. Rather than "Ok that's one character complete, off to make a new one." Players will recognize him. They know who he is, and they will either envy, fear, or respect him. Its time to go deeper. Storyline, events, and really making this game a "second life" so to speak. This game is supposed to have a 10 year, ongoing story. Lets make it that way. If you want to get players to play for that long you have to give them a reason to not miss a thing. How do you do that? Make it possible for them to miss out on something. Make the lore player driven. Every month patch the game to add random, unique [b]only to happen once[/b] events where like the Cabal raid an outpost and the players have to defend it. If no players respond to fight back, then the game is changed. That outpost now belongs to the Cabal and the players have to mount an assault to take it back. The world needs to be dynamic. It needs to feel like this story is unfurling every day. At 3:27AM an alien airship was shot down and crashed. If no player responds within an hour. What happens? Whoever the ship belonged to, arrives with med-evacs and secures the area to protect their assets from Human intervention. Lets say John happened to be online and killed the surviving aliens. He opens the cockpit, or explores the interior and finds a black box (common in most aircraft) What did he discover? A transmission from the alien headquarters? Radio chatter between them and another aircraft talking about their current mission to attack a region? This is the kind of stuff I have been looking for in a game. One that if I don't play it. I miss out on something great. Lets take a break for a second. The lore that John not only discovered, but was a part of (because it might not happen again). How do other players find out about this? How can someone who starts later than the pre-orders learn about the history of the game. Simple, make an in game news network that broadcasts significant and recent events. Have newsletters posted around that the players can read. If you want, just add a tab in the menu titled "Lore" Then you can scroll down the list of hundreds of notes, transmissions, videos, maps, tattered papers, mysterious objects, etc. That have been discovered by players and can be understood, learned, theorized by other players. Remember what I was saying about loot, how it was all going to make sense. Well if you add dynamic areas, events and such. Now you open the door for players to discover rare places, which should contain rare items. The weapon that John has. Its a prototype that the aliens were working on, they were transporting it to a production facility to be finalized and mass produced and used by the enemy. Now he has it. I hope you can understand what I mean by all this. If you want to get good gear, if you want to be the strongest player, if you want to be legendary. You have to play, you have to explore and you have to be involved. What does this do for the community? It adds life to the game. Players can feel that they are actually part of this universe, that they control the storyline. John now has legitimate stories to tell people. He was in the great battle between X and Y, he was part of the scouting party that discovered the location of a secret headquarters. He fended off the Cabal from attacking the outpost. He is truly a legend. He was there. He is now part of the game. Not just a random player mindlessly shooting aliens after work to get to max level. Lets make this game Epic. Who is with me?