can we make use of the loading system that exists with the HL2 engine? (you load up areas as you walk in to them on huge areas; effectively loading a new map, but only for a few second pause)
Isn't that a single player thing? It wouldn't work as well on a multiplayer server (if at all). At least, not in an FPS setting. For an RPG, if individual zones could be contained in that way, interesting possibilities arise.
There's also the possibility of a multi-server mod. Is this going to be a released mod that anyone can download and host? I doubt that, given Particle's desire to hoard his code to himself and not share it with the world.
Personally, I'd prefer it not to be released that way. Instead, you could create a mod that spans across two (or more) servers. Say one server has half the map, the other server holds the next half of the map. Similar to Sinister's mod. It could allow more than a server's limit of people to play the mod at once. Beginners could start on either of the servers. That opens up the possibility of an interesting player vs player (server vs server) setup.
This multi-server setup has already been done and they've even managed to make it so you can 'global talk' across all linked servers simultaneously.
I've been looking around at what other HL2 RPGs (multiplayer) have accomplished, and really, they're crap. Their leveling is based on shooting at bots or other players for EXP. Then you specialize in a weapon or two as you level. You can gain skills like magic, although I'm not sure what they do.
There are a few single player RPG-ish mods that I haven't tried out, yet. They seem to follow the traditional 'hack'n'slash spell slinger' RPG more closely.
Other topics I've been thinking about and would like to see discussed:
Player vs Player; Make it fair for low levels who wish to 'just level' but allow higher levels to have a fun time with it against other high levels (and willing low levels).
Reputation; I think it'd be cool if your actions against other players, and the places that you do it, can come back to bite you.
Quests; More of the typical WoW-style quests, not the FREE EXP PACKS IF YOU KNOW HOW TO WALK quests. Maybe we can attain a comfortable mix of TribesRPG slashing to level and WoW Questing to level.
Administrative Content; I think I mentioned this before, but I think it's really important. If you give admins the ability to create content on their own (like in good ol' TribesRPG) you really take a load of work off the mod developers. Admins can continually bring fresh new things to the server while developers can take their time creating the really big content updates and various bug fixes. A Garry's Mod sort of set-up is interesting; Been playing that a lot recently, it's just so awesome.
