Ahoy,

From what we've seen so far, TESO comes with a few weary old mechanics, and a few exciting new ones. However, personally, I feel that graphics, lore, and a few slight innovations apart, the game doesn't look interesting enough in its present state to pull me away from Guild Wars 2, The Secret World, and what-not.

Now, the following idea is really something that should be in every MMORPG if you ask me, because it feels so natural in a persistent world. I realise that the game might be too far into development for this to happen, but hey, there will probably be expansions expanding the game.


So, here follows the main mechanics of this idea, summarized:

You form your own House/Dynasty. You name it, create your Coat of Arms (displayed on your shields etc. if you wish), and possibly move into your very own dwelling of choice. From here, you create your own family and expand it, by marrying either NPCs or other PCs, have children, etc. At some point, your PC will die, and your selected heir will become your new PC - thus the legacy is passed on and former deeds of your family remembered through the years. The bigger, older, and more prestigious your House is, the more respect you will get within the game. It should also come with a few boons, such as a buff, unlockable skills, or items. Mostly, though, it is all for fun and immersion.


For this to work really well, the following would first be true:

• At Character Creation, you choose a surname/name for your House, e.g. 'Odin Wolfmane'. It must be unique.

• Next, you design a Crest/Coat of Arms to adorn your House's own Shield. Let's say it's a super-original white wolf howling at the moon in this case. (Keep in mind this house is your house and yours alone - not something anyone can join. However, you may be able to invite others to it at a later stage through marriage.)

• Time in TESO moves at a decent rate, and people should age. Let's say a year to us is twenty or thirty years in the game. So every sunrise and sunset actually matters, unlike other games.

• Player housing needs to exist, and preferably let players choose from and upgrade between lots of different types of dwellings: cottages, keeps, towers, castles, caves, etc. These can all be instanced, so they won't take up too much space in the world. Inviting others to your home shouldn't be a problem, however, and perhaps you could even choose to make it a public instance every now and then to fully display your achievements.

The following are some crucial mechanics for this to work well.

Let Player Characters [PCs] die permanently under certain conditions.

These include:

• Old age - differs depending on race, but e.g. humans should die automatically after 1-2 real-life years.
  
• Player choice - you may be fed up with your character, and want to simply end it with the click of a button.
  
• Being defeated several times, or without a form of blessing required for the normal kind of resurrection in the game. This should be the most common cause of death, and should preferably be rather hard to avoid by using magic etc.

Let us bury our dead PCs.

Once dead, let us bury the PC at a local cemetery, or at our very own cemetery (provided we get player housing), and erect a tombstone of our choice with the PC's name, age, class, extraordinary achievements, etc.

Let us marry each-other or NPCs.

• Players could chat up NPCs and eventually befriend them or even marry them.

• Players could decide to marry each-other, but also break it off whenever they like, with certain conditions to avoid abusing the system.

• Once married, our PC should be able to move into, or have its significant other move into its home. If you married another PC, there should be certain rules as to what both of you can access and share, so to avoid anyone getting ripped off.

Let us have kids.

• The main purpose of having children in the game would be to have heirs, and the ability to create new PCs in a more meaningful and prestigious way than simply creating a new character in the menu.

• We should be able to prepare our children for the big world, train them in different ways, name them, etc. and select one of them to be the PC's heir and next PC within the dynasty.

Let us manage our House/Dynasty.

This could mean:

• Selecting the heir.
  
• Teaching individuals in different disciplines.
  
• Arranging proposals to lesser members of the House.
  
• If we are child-less, name a sibling or other relatives the new heir instead.
  
• Banish members of the House as we see fit.

Provide meaningful rewards for keeping up a strong and lasting House and legacy.

• There could be a buff called Legacy, carried on to every new character and made stronger each time. Depending on how my former characters were played (meelee, ranged, magic, etc.), the buff could look and behave a bit differently.

• Family heirlooms, like a shield that can only be improved with every new generation.

• Treasure and gold should stay in the House even if the current PC dies, so there can be a fortune built over the years. The same goes with houses, etc.

• A big and respected family-tree should feel rewarding and be up for display to others. Perhaps the House should receive a mention in in-game history books, etc.

• High-score (forgive the demeaning term) lists on the website should display Houses and family-trees, with noted achievements, characters, and a small history written by the player.

Let us leave a lasting mark in Tamriel, and forge our own opportunities, relations, and destinies.

The point of the Dynasty/Family-system is to:

• Provide an increased sense of immersion to the game world. Imagine thinking back on your first, or seventh PC, who perished in a battle a few years ago, and feel proud over it as you carry on that legacy.

• Allow players to feel like they really belong to the society of the world, and aren't just random heroes sprung out of the ground.

• Build the foundations of something potentially great for the future, where Great Houses may influence what goes on in the world in terms of trade, politics, and war.

• Truly reward players for investing a lot of time in the world, all the while providing them with an infinite amount of content relatively easy.

• Let people show how awesome they are by waving their proud banners, wielding the armours crafted by their ancient forefathers, or displaying their wide family-trees.

Lastly, here is a simplified example to how my experience in Tamriel could look after 3 year of play.

I begin by creating the aforementioned character, Odin Wolfmane. I also create the Coat of Arms of my House, and move into a cottage near the woods. I play Odin like a warrior, and take an active part in dungeons etc. with my friends. I manage to marry a local NPC and have a son, Isvindaur, whom I prepare for the life of a mage, before I expire at the respectable age of 70 (say, 1½ real life years). I've chosen Isvindaur to become my heir, and as I die, player control moves to Isvindaur.

Next, I'm Isvindaur Wolfmane, son of Odin. I'm a cunning mage living in the cottage my father moved into all those years ago. I let my mother stay for the remainder of her life, and I find myself a wife of my own. It is a PC called Lyda Wintersun. She can choose to keep her surname, or start wearing mine. She could also choose to move in with me, and we'll share the treasures we find, somehow.
I bury my father Odin in the first lot of my own cemetery, and purchase a tombstone with an inscription I chose, which is placed on top.
My first child is a daughter, and the second a boy. I train them both in different ways. The boy is a priest, and the girl an archer. As they grow up I get to choose more than their names - their appearances, personalities, relationships, etc. At least to an extent.
Eventually I choose the girl to be my heir, and let the boy be married off into another House. I take an active part in PvP, and after severe punishment on one occasion, my character dies. The girl, named Angela, is my new PC because she was my heir.

I bury Isvindaur my father, and embrace my new character Angela Wolfmane, daughter of Isvindaur, grand-daughter of the famous Odin Wolfmane. Over the years, my family has managed to collect quite a fortune. I decide it is time to move into something more appropriate, and purchase a manor near the capital city of my region. By now, the House of Wolfmane has actually grown to some considerable fame and fortune, and is well known on the server - among players as well as NPCs. I'm an archer in a notable guild doing 'raids', and I end up marrying one of the guild members - Drego Stonefist. I'm faced with the same choice as always at marriage - to use his or my name, to stay in my house and let him move in, or sell it and move into his. My House will remain whichever choice I make, but only if at least one of our future children becomes MY Heir, and not that of my spouse's House. So let's say Angela dies in a raid, and her and Drego's son, Torvald, becomes my new heir and PC.

I still have the House, my manor, fame and fortune, and my respected Coat of Arms of a white wolf adorning my shield. Angela rests beside Isvindaur and Odin (I suppose characters will need to be cremated and place in urns to allow for transportation of graveyards) near my manor, and my Legacy Buff is actually quite powerful now, three years into the game. Because my previous characters (ancestors) did so well, and so much, I'm currently holding a good position on a server-wide scoreboard for Houses. My Coat of Arms is displayed on this high-score list, and if clicked on, will display my former characters and their history.

And so on.

some nice ideas there, too bad we most likely will not see any of it in the game

except maybe some crests on shields, but if we have that at all it will be probably be clan based

I really like these ideas! Very well thought out and expressed. I have to agree with flabber...I don't know how likely it is that this will arrive in-game, but there's always a chance. Hopefully a trimmed-down version will be present though, or a (god help us) Diablo-esque hardcoe mode.