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Too many quests!
altairzq
Member Posts: 3,811
Ok developers... you got to give us LESS QUESTS. When you get too many quests you start skipping the text, you just can't keep up with the story of every quest when you have 20 in your log. You just can't!
How on earth haven't you realized this already?
Make sure we don't have more than 5 quests at a time, then you add another one. Nicely.
Unlees another player shares his quests with you, so you can still do quests together.
Easy fix to feel more inmersed in the story and the world.
Doh.
edit: just to make clear my point, I mean less quests at a time. I hightlighted that part.
Comments
I'm a fan of games having a lot of quests. Just don't make every quest "The monster population is getting out of control. Please kill X and return to me." As long as a quest has a nice story and purpose, they shouldn't be limited.
Champions gives me less quests, and as a result I'm constantly having to pick quests 2-4 levels above me to keep earning decent XP.
Don't skimp on quests!
Worrying about players skipping text is a terrible reason to implement less quests, because players aren't going to read them either way. The text exists so that whenever you want, you can optionally learn about the lore behind the game world. For some players this is every quest. For others, this is none of 'em. Notice it's purely optional - you can read as much or as little as you want.
Eventually it'll shift to in-game events (which players pay attention to since it's part of the game, and not this entirely tertiary text) and voiceovers, and it won't even be a problem.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
I'm fine with the amount of quests in most games these days. What I am not fine with is the fact that quests have become the only efficient way to gain experience points, gear, and money. Some of the MMORPG players like me still like killing mobs for such things. We don't really have our place in these games anymore *until max level*. This makes it extremely hard to go through the leveling process doing something we hate just to get to the end.
What we need is an option to the pointless quest grinding. Make group mob grinding or even solo grinding an equal option to questing and we'll be back in business. I'm not asking for "forced grouping" I'd just like grouping to be worth our time.
So you can keep track of 20+ quests with a deep story line at the same time? No way!
Sorry no, it's not optional. If you got too much information, you just skip it becaue you just can't assimilate all of it. If you get information in tiny bits, you get involved, because that information is 1) meaningful 2) you can grasp it easily.
There's bound to be stupid and meaningless quest in game. I don't mind that as long as they have a good main questline that starts from level 1 and slowly unfolds the stories as you level up.
The rest just do/ write whatever you want, be it fetch, escort, or just kill 10 more rabbits for me, as long as it gives good xp and loot.
It is impossible for the devs to have all the quest that's meaningful, when they need to come out with thousands of them...
edit: and yes, pls do not decrease the numbers of quest!
RIP Orc Choppa
"If you got too much information, you just skip it becaue you just can't assimilate all of it."
Mate, I can read 50 pages of a paperback during my lunch break.
Do you seriously think that it's impossible for someone to keep track of a couple of quest lines? .. I credit the average MMO player with an attention span greater than that of a goldfish.
If this is seriously a problem for you, then a simpler option would be to retain the quest text from previous stages of the quest line within the journal so that if you've forgotten what a quest was about, you can refresh your memory.
But to ask for LESS quests? .. that's completely counter-intuitive to me.
I suppose that you could solve your own problem and just do quests one by one so you don't lose track?
Playing: EVE, Final Fantasy 13, Uncharted 2, Need for Speed: Shift
If a game has to be quest driven I would much prefer fewer, longer, slower quests. Instead of having thirty quests for a particular level range that you run through so fast you can't even remember them afterwards I would be much happier with just one big quest for that level range.
And not one big quest broken into thirty little parts because then you're right back into that other mess again. Just don't make everything so damn specific and don't lay everything out in front of players so that they run through it all in a rush. The purpose of this quest (and any quest) should be to create an adventure for the players, not a boring chore.
If A MMO is more of a Quest focused game or a Quest stacker as I like to call them.
You need a good story, voice overs, cinematics and long epic quest chains.
As of right now the only game i've seen that has engaging quests were the main quests in the Guild Wars campaigns.
Questing in MMOs should feel more like adventuring in a RPG just with other players around ya.
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum
So you can keep track of 20+ quests with a deep story line at the same time? No way!
I take it you havent played Aion. At some points you get 10-15+ quest but only 5 or 6 are right nearby. So you keep track of the ones that are close and then track the others as you aproach that area. Its not rocket science!
I hate questing.. they all come down to fedex, collection, kill task, with occasional escort missions. When a game is quest-driven, I find myself doing quests just to do them, not because I like them or understand them. It's kinda like going through the motion but not really enjoying it. Going from one zone to another, the quest giver may look different, the mobs I kill may look different, but it's the same type of quests.
So I do agree with the OP, having less quests will make me read them more. I like long epic quests that give you good rewards in the end. But if you must have a quest driven game, or aka quest-on-a-rail system, then please make the quests easy to accomplish. I don't mind 20 killtask quests, I like killing stuff. But don't give me 20 collection quests that there aren't enough mobs around for, and you end up waiting too long for them.
Less quests, more exp per quest ftw.
EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO
Its not a matter of quantity but QUALITY
Most "quest" in MMO's reading the text is unnecessary as the log boils it down to the "kill 10 rats then come back to the ! on the map" basics.
Although a few games do a decent job...DDO is pretty good and some parts of LotR and even Warhammers PQ's are pretty cool just to name a few. (although WH PQ are really nothing more then timed kill task, they are delivered very well and pretty fun to do)
Hah, now that is a seriously pathetic flame attempt. Insulting my intelligence on the basis that I like italics?
You might as well have just typed "ur mom" and be done with it.
And yeah, there's an easy solution to this "problem" .. if you lack the wit to be able to track 20 quests at once then just pick up 5 at a time rather than attempt to hobble everyone based on your own shortcoming. How the hell is this even an issue for you when it's 100% within your power to prevent it?
And please, either skip the insults entirely or at least think up some half-decent ones.
Playing: EVE, Final Fantasy 13, Uncharted 2, Need for Speed: Shift
OP, I completely agree with you. I would love it if these games gave you a few long, deep, interesting and exciting quests over 1000 boring, brainless "go kill this" quests. The current quests are so boring I not only don't read the text, it will actually drive me away from the game.
Tried: LotR, CoH, AoC, WAR, Jumpgate Classic
Played: SWG, Guild Wars, WoW
Playing: Eve Online, Counter-strike
Loved: Star Wars Galaxies
Waiting for: Earthrise, Guild Wars 2, anything sandbox.
Nah .. very few want the text or read the stories anyway. More quest is good. In fact, that is the number one thing players want. Here is a survey showing that.
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001630.php
Nice find. (fixed your link) You can easily see the trend of MMO's reflected in these.
Here are the top 10 from that survey
1. Quests (9%): More interesting quests. Quests with variable outcomes. Quests that involve trade skills. Quests that drive social interaction. Quests that utilize logic.
2. Customization Options (8%): More customization features. Ability to look truly unique. Unique classes or races. Hybrid classes. Unique abilities.
3. Solo Content (7%): Soloability and solo content.
4. Storylines (6%): More lore and background threads. Interesting stories or plot lines. Active storyline.
5. Casual Content (6%): More casual-friendly content. More content for small groups. Low-level content.
6. PvP Content (5%): More opportunities for PvP. Well-designed PvP content.
7. Crafting / Tradeskills (5%): Robust crafting and economic systems.
8. Role-Playing (5%): More support and enforcement for role-playing. Tools for role-playing.
9. Community Changes (5%): Regulate farmers. Ways to report people. More mature / honest / civil players.
10. Social Tools (5%): Ability to build houses or social spaces. Group transportation. Collective player-created content. Social events tools.
IMO, collection quests are just fedex quests, and escort missions are kill tasks.
Collection is just carrying something. And escort missions are just killing something.
They twist it a little by not telling you where to start carry something, or who exactly you will need to kill (for the escorts), but its the same requirements.
Devs have pointed out before that despite the complaints about kill task and other boring quests that they also tend to be the most done quests. They are easy and a good source of xp so despite a person saying they hate it they keep running them.
Devs have also said before that when there are complex involved quests only a small portion of the population (which complains about not having more interesting quests) don't complete it. Why? Because truthfully most of the players complaining about such things don't actually want it, they want to level as fast as they can over having good story and fun quests. So they do the kill tasks and fedex quests for the quick easy xp to level up.
Metrics are why more and more MMOs keep having more and more of the simple standard boring quests, because despite the forum outcrys the players own actions show those quests are much greater successes. And if something is more successesful and at the same time 10-20x easier to produce, why wouldn't they create a million of those killtasks.
Modern day players don't like complex and interesting because it requires thinking and work. So when a quest is tricky or makes you think people either don't do it or find a walk through. If a quest takes skill by requiring tricky jumps and puzzles then players avoid it because they might fail which means lost time with leveling. Players want easy simple and straight to the point, which means seeing the same 3 quests over and over.
Wha-- not optional?
(Psst, if there's a bad man behind you forcing you to read all the text in quests just post "Huffi muffi guffi" and I'll send help!)
It's optional. You choose whether to read it. Just because it's a bad move to put too much textual information in your game doesn't cause it to be less optional whether you read it or not - nobody's forcing you to read it and nobody's forcing you not to read it.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
I am not sure what the compaint is?
I don't want 20 quest's in my log, so I choose not to.
Why if you don't want 20 quest in your log you seem to select them anyway? Just don't
would fix your little issue.
Surface measures (statistical data) does not indicate true laws/rules.
Congrats, you have read 20 post.
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So you can read 20 quest.
I love kill quests. It is what hack-n-slash games are all about. The fun is in killing DIFFERNET mobs with DIFFERENT powers and feel good about overpowering your enemies. When I want deep thinking, i go read books.
Games like Diablo has nothing but kill-kill-kill for a long time and there is a reason why they are immensely popular.