Branching TF/Trial

This is a concept which I hope SOME online game will implement at some point. As things stand, a trial/TF/dungeon is a linear story. You do task1, task2, task3 ... the end. You win.

What I'd like to see are branching story lines with up to 4 or 8 outcomes.

Example:


1. You start the Lambda

2. 1 of 2 random events occurs - which branches out into 2 alternate storylines.

2.a You start task A.
At some point, you make a choice. Based on this choice, you can do task 2.a.a or task 2.a.b.

2.a.a. You perform your 3rd task.
2.a.b. You perform your 3rd alternate task.

2.b You start task B.

and so on.


The devs could start out small and perhaps have 4 possible outcomes for a trial. If it works well, they could branch out into perhaps 8 or 16 outcomes.

Again, some branching could be through random events, others are based on your actions, success/failures, or choices.

This would alleviate some of the "grinding" aspect of the trials, if you never knew going in which exact storyline you would encounter.

I would be really nice if this could be expanded to mission architect, but that's another topic.

Would the branching events be random, success/failure based, or choices for players to "customize" a story arc.

I would put a success/failure branch in the beginning or middle (NEVER the end!), and add a mission/episode that allows the heroes to recover from their failure. For example, if they fail to protect a witness, they get a chance to rescue the witness.

Actual choices might allow players to pursue personal/roleplaying preferences, or maximize the difference between multiple passes through the same arc. For example, if two villain groups are working together, the heroes might meet another (name NPC?) hero at the end of an early mission/episode who offers to pursue one group while the heroes go after the other. Players who have already done the arc chasing Group A would be able to choose Group B for a different game experience. Or a team that is mostly magic-based could choose to go after magic-based villains if that is their preference.

an idea was discussed in the "good trials" thread on the i20.5 test section, which kinda went along these lines. An infiltration event could be started, say some Praetorian labs of some sort.

If the guards/security systems along the way are bypssed without a guard raising the alarm, you could complete some sabotage objectives. However if the alarm IS raised, then the trial could switch to different objectives, perhaps about overcoming the alerted security and disabling key systems through more forceful measures.

Each path in the trial could have differing opponents depending on the path taken.

Multiple missions within a mission area or branching mission areas is awesome. Bank Missions are my favorite mission types in the game, but they're too short.