Multiplayer is in the works, how can we help?

[Metropolice]

As long as it is a relatively big world and allows at least a notable amount of players at a time or on a server, etc...and if I can be some kind if cop or corpo (freedom of role or background) I will be happy.

I also strongly suggest to avoid classic MMORPG (Tab) targeting mechanics and so on. While easy or historically popular I do believe an FPS approach will be hugely more popular or feel immersive and be more aligned to the other CP games.

I played classic theme park MMORPG long enough and despise the tab targeting and "shooting down health bars for an eternity".

An FPS approach feels more immersive to me.

TlDr : An open world MMO approach w/o the classic tab targeting mechanics.

E: maybe also the ability to run custom community servers so you can tailor it a bit to your experiences, like RP servers, etc.

 

[HalewoodGaran]

I hope it doesn't come with the base game because I hate multiplayer trophies.

 

[Mk3rd]

If I heard right, they mentioned in one interview that they wanted the community to be more involved. I'm hoping this might be some sort of RedKit/Game-Master mode not unlike AC Odyssey's newly added quest creator but has the party quest option(making netrunners and getaways essential). People can make the quests and move assets around the fixed NC map then either upload it to the community or play the game with friends as the GM(works with Divinity 2 but i'm not sure how it might fit a fast paced game). Just thinking about it because of Witcher 2's Redkit..

But virtual beers and some form of chat would be nice. Would love to hang out in the Afterlife..

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

The only way I see this could be interesting for me is that multiplayer has a big narrative and you can play it as a single player game with drop in drop out from other players (= mainly PvE), but you don't really need to interact with them. Think borderlands or the division 2, but with mature narrative and way way way less loot.

Anything close to rainbow six siege (proper coop is fundamental) or COD (only PvP) is a huge no, even if narrative is neat.

 

[dvaythavvar]

While I play MP games and PvP games and even played the joke that Fallout 76 is (as someone briefly mentioned it in above posts) - then the biggest problem in those newer games is PvP balance and cheating which make gaming experience boring waste of time. How am I supposed to battle another player, when everything is tied to RNG or anything else, but my ability to play the game and control it. And as much I like CPR I have actually little to no faith on CP's multiplayer.

So I do hope it is fully separated mode people can pretend does not exist.

At the end it all depends on the execution and the 1st steps would be keep PvP balanced (when there's any), and story interesting (hopefully there's any!). I rather see a co-op MP instead of "random people on my map" scenario. I quite enjoyed the "play with friends at random" ability I had in some Assassins creed games.

 

[HalewoodGaran]

While I play MP games and PvP games and even played the joke that Fallout 76 is (as someone briefly mentioned it in above posts) - then the biggest problem in those newer games is PvP balance and cheating which make gaming experience boring waste of time. How am I supposed to battle another player, when everything is tied to RNG or anything else, but my ability to play the game and control it. And as much I like CPR I have actually little to no faith on CP's multiplayer.

So I do hope it is fully separated mode people can pretend does not exist.

Aside from the multiplayer aspect of Cyberpunk 2077... Fallout 76 would have been better without Battle Royale so I didn't want Fallout 76 anymore.

 

[dvaythavvar]

Aside from the multiplayer aspect of Cyberpunk 2077... Fallout 76 would have been better without Battle Royale so I didn't want Fallout 76 anymore.

For me 76's major issue was lack of mods. Bethesda is kind of developer that had its own aura with all the tinkering and messing with the game worlds, and suddenly you land in version of their game, where you cannot bug fix, and their PvP balance is worth of couple of memes.

I mainly play co-op and PvP in Blizzard games , and they have PvP generally alright and well maintained and I understand it is a difficult job, but when I look into handful of other titles with Pvp component then 76 is not even worst offender what comes to balance fails. So it happens I am slightly overcautious.

Of course part of me hopes that CPR puts some kind of twist into MP game that makes it super fun, but lets put it this way, my expectations are so low.

 

[HockeyMike24]

Being able to invite friends to your apartment or seeing other random players in certain places like bars would be cool. Kinda like Fable 2's online orb system, but more depth. Would be a nice way to show off your character/stats/gear.

If it's an actual multiplayer mode I have almost no interest in it.

 

[Vernon_Vega]

I also think virtual bar with beer etc would be great. But also I see MP as a set of different missions. And missions are like in those bank robbery movies. You find a team, each team mate with special skills. Invite those you've been already working with or find new ones on mercenary sites or in a bar. Then hackers hack target's network systems to get necessary data (amount of guards or defense systems placement, passwords etc). This data is uploaded to squad that runs the raid. When mission is complete the team shares money (and/or reputation). Main idea is to play it as RPG with different roles for different team mates.

 

[Cybunknymph]

The PvP thing only sounds good if it has story-driven reasons behind it. Like gang vs. gang, or merc vs. merc. Then there is the whole "corpo vs punk thing" that could be played out in numerous ways.
It would be amazing if certain loot was on the line as rewards, like you are able to steal things from your enemies and they could easily do the same to you. Get all the guns!!!

What happens when you have all the guns and material stuff??

I've been thinking about the "eternal chip" thing. How can that play into the story? There is supposedly just one and many things could happen, story-wise, that may take it out of the MP by time it gets released. Buuut.

Could there be some kind of tactical advantage to having a "Silverhand hallucination" on your team or whatever is on the shard memory? I can't see a huge multiplayer fight all over the city for one shard, that would put one person on top of the playerboards being tip-top-tier with the ultimate item...that would suck.

I'm thinking that the single player game is going to be based around the idea of V being a puppet for the chip...very corpo-like, right?...maybe...and your "immortal character" is just an excuse to be just a little OP...you know, so the people who are going to be dying all the time don't end up rage quitting the entire IP.

But what if you are the chip?...Oh gawd that's meta af yo...

We may end up only being a cyberpunk-pawn for a corpo scheme as well, but the entire reason behind V as a character could be to make the chip have more "experience"(XP). Having an "immortal object" in the game opens all sorts of possibilities. One of those possibilities could be that your character is actually the chip itself as it passes shard-slot to shard-slot gathering more and more XP, ultimately leading to a more customized character that could show up in the MP. This "eternal chip" could be using punks like "hosts" and the chip itself is the ultimate Cyberpunk.

The MP could offer a constant "meat bag death(RIP V)" so that the XP/memory on the chip is the sole thing that survives it all. It could also be a choice of the character to destroy the physical shard in some kind of "last stand" during online battles. If a physical copy is destroyed the software MAY still end up in parts of the brains of the people it interacts with...if anyone put that software on a simple everyday shard/chip then it physically survives again and again, but only in the hands of...whoever. This could give players a reason to get what is in their heads onto a shard as fast as possible while others are trying to kill them before that can happen(Or never put the software in their heads at all and keep it only on physical shards.)Otherwise your enemies will be able to take the shard info from your corpse. This may also incentivize your friends to get to your body and take your head/corpse before enemies can get to it.

Imagine having the help/skills of a hundred dead cyberpunks once you get your hands on this shard in the MP. That would be a good reason to play the SP over and over again to build shard XP/memory and could serve as a main reason to play the MP over and over again.

What better way to embody the culture and outlook of Cyberpunk than to put all of it's knowledge/XP on a shard that may, or may not, be able to be destroyed?

It was mentioned by @Lilayah that the reason behind Johhny's hair not being blond is because the chip changes hands repeatedly...so it may take the traits of others after it finds a new carrier. What about after numerous "carriers"/SP play-throughs? Could we be left with the ultimate customization for our character, more than what is already offered? Not just aesthetically, but with many skills as well, like a melding of classes. Is there a size-cap on the "eternal shard"? Like after a playthrough on the SP you get rewarded with an aesthetic or skill, based on the "size-cap" the shard has? Maybe after the tenth(?) playthrough an option is available to update that "shard size cap"? Maybe a risky mission could offer a brand new shard from a corpo hotspot that has a bigger "size-cap"...and that mission is only offered after the tenth(?) playthrough.

There should be crucial reasons to do multiple play-throughs in the SP and I am hoping there are incentives to do so that end up leading to a better experience for the MP. Then again I could be over-thinking all of this, I still don't know the basics of how the chip operates. This could all be moot upon the SP release.

 

[Rawls]

If there's going to be multiplayer ... I think I would like it to still be tied to stories somehow. Assuming everyone is in FPP, and that there aren't conversational cutscenes, it should be doable even for a group of players simultaneously. I think the way I would like it would be having all of Night City to traverse in co-op with up to 3 other players, or by yourself. In night city would be random encounters and such you could run into. Not sure if you should be able to see other PCs not on your "team." I think probably yes. And probably have some servers where NC is PvP and some where NC is PvE.

However "missions" are done in "levels" or "arenas" or whatever you want to call them, that you and your friends go to and perform raids. When you enter a mission area, your will always be part of a 4 person team, even if you were walking around NC by yourself before. Inside "missions" the game is always PvE. Probably also include an explicit PvP area within the world. Maybe call it "combat zone."

You get your missions from various NPCs and such.

As you compete missions you get gear rewards and the like.

CDPR would support the game long term by creating new new "arenas" and "quest-lines" through expansions or whatever you want to call them regularly. Each expansion includes is a separate 2-6 hour questline with it's own short story. Which ever player starts the conversation with an NPC is the PC in control of that particular conversation. The PCs would likely be all unvoiced. Would love it if they were voiced too ... but could lead to issues where two players have the same VA in a group. Would require maybe 8 VAs to voice PC lines. Prbably two expensive. Maybe have the base game start with 10 or so different unconnected stories.

Those are my random thoughts at first blush.

 

[Tangsta]

MP of any kind to come at the cost of future singleplayer DLC. If you can't make both in tandem with different teams, please don't bother with MP at all.

This can't be stressed enough. I understand the need for a live service title so a consistent revenue stream can be established, but I really hope CDPR don't follow the EA and R* path and start abandoning SP titles specifically so they can focus on this revenue stream. I can't think of a more effective way for CDPR to destroy their well-earned reputation.

I lost a lot of respect for R* because of GTA and RD Online.

 

[Snowflakez]

This can't be stressed enough. I understand the need for a live service title so a consistent revenue stream can be established, but I really hope CDPR don't follow the EA and R* path and start abandoning SP titles specifically so they can focus revenue stream. I can't think of a more effective way for CDPR to destroy their well-earned reputation over the years.

I lost a lot of respect for R* because of GTA and RD Online.

Me too. I really don't like what they did to GTA V's SP. No DLC, no free updates that add content that was added to multiplayer... Sucked.

 

[Cybunknymph]

If there's going to be multiplayer ... I think I would like it to still be tied to stories somehow. Assuming everyone is in FPP, and that there aren't conversational cutscenes, it should be doable even for a group of players simultaneously. I think the way I would like it would be having all of Night City to traverse in co-op with up to 3 other players, or by yourself. In night city would be random encounters and such you could run into. Not sure if you should be able to see other PCs not on your "team." I think probably yes. And probably have some servers where NC is PvP and some where NC is PvE.

However "missions" are done in "levels" or "arenas" or whatever you want to call them, that you and your friends go to and perform raids. When you enter a mission area, your will always be part of a 4 person team, even if you were walking around NC by yourself before. Inside "missions" the game is always PvE. Probably also include an explicit PvP area within the world. Maybe call it "combat zone."

The combat zone should be the place for PvP. Like if you need some quick rewards and action, head over to the combat zone and get an idea of why it is called that.

I really like the idea of having very limited "cutscenes" between players also, the immersive aspect goes out the window with too much cinema-esque stuff...it is beautiful most of the time though, so I am not against it. I really really want things that happen in the MP to be heavily tied to the story and the lives of the characters you encounter, or even the others on your team. Like if there is a lot of risk involved and someone dies, then it can really take a toll on the team emotionally and the loss is felt and followed with some kind of grief/consequence...even if it means the heartless players out there end up loosing some shiny gear that they would much rather hang onto.

I really like the idea of being able to somehow be connected to your friends while taking care of things that may have to have a lot of distance between you and them as well. Like your teammates may be doing things outside the city that could effect things you encounter in the city. Your team may be spread far and wide, but it is somehow known real-time what is happening.

It's like the idea behind military and police always having the upper hand in some situations because of something as simple as a radio. Communication is key and I'm wondering how the net and tech will be used for it. Even the idea of netrunners making things happen in the real world is amazing to me. I picture half of a team laying low in a bar until the get a signal from a netrunner who was busy getting into place. It would be amazing if certain missions really needed to have some planning set up with decisions coming from everyone involved.

I'm also wondering how long some of these missions may take. I am not opposed to the idea of taking a lot of time to accomplish some things, like big/risky missions.

Like playing some MP missions may actually be like sitting down for a PnP game.

To have various operations happening all the time with other various people just "enjoying the city" is going to bring Night City to life.

 

[atomowyturysta]

Multiplayer games are silly

 

[Cybunknymph]

Multiplayer games are silly

Agreed, but I don't want 2077MP to be the same...

 

[xer21]

as someone who was once deep into multiplayer FPS, i think going PvP would be a terrible move for this game until i get more info on how the shooting and movement fundamentals look and feel.

the only things that matter in a shooter online in terms of competition are movement fluidity, shooting fluidity and balance. everything else is extra.

those three things are HARD to achieve and i cant imagine them coming off a game designed around explicitly exploiting those features in the offline game in order to play with how they work, translating to any sort of PvP environment. MP requires you to largely scale back, pare down and simplify in terms of creating a satisfying shooter experience. that's fundamentally opposed to the philosophy of the offline game.

my hope would be more of Co-op or instanced MP structure. the only way PvP will work is if they go so far away from shooter mechanics that they dont even figure, which will be difficult.

 

[Cybunknymph]

as someone who was once deep into multiplayer FPS, i think going PvP would be a terrible move for this game until i get more info on how the shooting and movement fundamentals look and feel.

the only things that matter in a shooter online in terms of competition are movement fluidity, shooting fluidity and balance. everything else is extra.

those three things are HARD to achieve and i cant imagine them coming off a game designed around explicitly exploiting those features in the offline game in order to play with how they work, translating to any sort of PvP environment. MP requires you to largely scale back, pare down and simplify in terms of creating a satisfying shooter experience. that's fundamentally opposed to the philosophy of the offline game.

my hope would be more of Co-op or instanced MP structure. the only way PvP will work is if they go so far away from shooter mechanics that they dont even figure, which will be difficult.

With this being said I am very glad that the MP is a long way off...
We can only hope CDPR has a lot of practice in making shooting what it should be with the initial releases.

Annnd I really hope there is not just a focus on MP shooting mechanics....It should, for sure, get perfected, but there are all sorts of weapons in the Cyberpunk IP.

Maybe the combat zone will have Melee Mondays or something???

 

[xer21]

Annnd I really hope there is not just a focus on MP shooting mechanics....It should, for sure, get perfected, but there are all sorts of weapons in the Cyberpunk IP.

which is kinda why I don't want PvP. there's way too much going on to get anything even approximating proper balance.

its not going to work.

 

[Mk3rd]

I've been thinking about the "eternal chip" thing. How can that play into the story? There is supposedly just one and many things could happen, story-wise, that may take it out of the MP by time it gets released. Buuut.

Could there be some kind of tactical advantage to having a "Silverhand hallucination" on your team or whatever is on the shard memory? I can't see a huge multiplayer fight all over the city for one shard, that would put one person on top of the playerboards being tip-top-tier with the ultimate item...that would suck.

I'm thinking that the single player game is going to be based around the idea of V being a puppet for the chip...very corpo-like, right?...maybe...and your "immortal character" is just an excuse to be just a little OP...you know, so the people who are going to be dying all the time don't end up rage quitting the entire IP.

But what if you are the chip?...Oh gawd that's meta af yo...

We may end up only being a cyberpunk-pawn for a corpo scheme as well, but the entire reason behind V as a character could be to make the chip have more "experience"(XP). Having an "immortal object" in the game opens all sorts of possibilities. One of those possibilities could be that your character is actually the chip itself as it passes shard-slot to shard-slot gathering more and more XP, ultimately leading to a more customized character that could show up in the MP. This "eternal chip" could be using punks like "hosts" and the chip itself is the ultimate Cyberpunk.

The MP could offer a constant "meat bag death(RIP V)" so that the XP/memory on the chip is the sole thing that survives it all. It could also be a choice of the character to destroy the physical shard in some kind of "last stand" during online battles. If a physical copy is destroyed the software MAY still end up in parts of the brains of the people it interacts with...if anyone put that software on a simple everyday shard/chip then it physically survives again and again, but only in the hands of...whoever. This could give players a reason to get what is in their heads onto a shard as fast as possible while others are trying to kill them before that can happen(Or never put the software in their heads at all and keep it only on physical shards.)Otherwise your enemies will be able to take the shard info from your corpse. This may also incentivize your friends to get to your body and take your head/corpse before enemies can get to it.

Imagine having the help/skills of a hundred dead cyberpunks once you get your hands on this shard in the MP. That would be a good reason to play the SP over and over again to build shard XP/memory and could serve as a main reason to play the MP over and over again.

What better way to embody the culture and outlook of Cyberpunk than to put all of it's knowledge/XP on a shard that may, or may not, be able to be destroyed?

It was mentioned by @Lilayah that the reason behind Johhny's hair not being blond is because the chip changes hands repeatedly...so it may take the traits of others after it finds a new carrier. What about after numerous "carriers"/SP play-throughs? Could we be left with the ultimate customization for our character, more than what is already offered? Not just aesthetically, but with many skills as well, like a melding of classes. Is there a size-cap on the "eternal shard"? Like after a playthrough on the SP you get rewarded with an aesthetic or skill, based on the "size-cap" the shard has? Maybe after the tenth(?) playthrough an option is available to update that "shard size cap"? Maybe a risky mission could offer a brand new shard from a corpo hotspot that has a bigger "size-cap"...and that mission is only offered after the tenth(?) playthrough.

There should be crucial reasons to do multiple play-throughs in the SP and I am hoping there are incentives to do so that end up leading to a better experience for the MP. Then again I could be over-thinking all of this, I still don't know the basics of how the chip operates. This could all be moot upon the SP release.

Yeah, I think the idea of the chip being used as a plot device to tie MP in the world makes more sense. How they'll implement it though? Thinking about PVP netrunner vs solo might be alot of work to balance out. But as a coop party would be much more fun if they can structure out missions where each party member's specific character/class skill is integral for success.