One thing I see alot of in the MMO genre are games in which players aren't held accountable for senseless actions. Sound too much like "Hey let's
penalize players with a hefty death mechanic!" ?
Well, while I have nothing against that at all, I'll rephrase my intro.
One thing I do not see enough of in the modern MMO period is hefty praise and rewarding of players who use progressive thought in tackling in game objectives. It seems the most convenient manner to implement "content" is to make it as simple to tackle as throwing bodies at it. "Run at it and die enough times" and eventually you will overcome the task. Hardly does a player these days ask "Should I or shouldn't I go into this strangely ominous looking area?".
Just as a high level level example I'd like to see a mission with a sewer component that rewards player playing a race that doesn't have a form of night vision with something "extra" for bringing a light source and using it. Conversely, a like race player without such source should find that portion of the mission almost impossible to complete alone or with mates who are similarly ill-prepared.
I would also like to see a return to the mission statements actually containing hints and clues that players need to complete their runs. This has gone away for the most part and been replaced with a minimap and a quest location marker. While I am not really a fan of the latter I'd like to see a nice compromise between having very little clue of what or where you are going to having an increasingly better idea of the situation based on how your legwork phase goes.
One other thing I hope the development team does since it has kinda of been admitted that this is a niche effort is that they not be afraid to let players who do not prep properly fail. My personal belief is that with
max preparation (by this I mean you nailed all of your legwork rolls):- A team should have a 55 to 60 percent chance of success on missions where there are forces actively working against the team.
- Runs in which there aren't forces actively working against (but there is the off chance that some other entity might see intervening as a profitable opportunity IF they hear about it) should experience a 70 to 80 percent chance of success.
- Runs in which no forces are acting against and that aren't involving any universally high value items (the items are only important to the limited parties involved) would see a 85 to 95 percent chance of success.
Personally I don't like the idea of 100% success considering the setting. I've joked that Shadowrun should carry the subtitle "Shadowrun: Murphy's Law".
I would be very disappointed to see talk of "Hey, let's run X mission" real fast so I can get Y item". In my view the idea of literally running from start through to finish of a mission should be met with only one thing: failure. Thought and tactical planning should be at the forefront of every mission.