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Questing Freedom - TSW Throws Linear Out The Window.
bcbully
Member EpicPosts: 11,843
It took me about a week of heavy play to understand how questing for progression worked. There's story everywhere in TSW. From the buildings in London to the actual stroy quests.
Freedom came when I hit the Savage Coast. At that point I looked back and understood why all the quest are repeatable. They are repeatable to give me as much freedom as possible on my questing progression path. This is when the comments from the press about TSW being a Themebox/Sandpark clicked.
On a daily bases I could choose and taylor my questing progression to what I liked and cut out the stuff I didn't. I've never been much of a quester, but back in the day when I played WoW I loved the Isle of Qual'Danas. For those of you who don't know the Isle was a big zone with about 10-15 or so daily quest. I don't know why but I loved those quests and I loved that zone.
What I did from that point was cut out all the main story quest and all the sabatoge and investigation missions (I didn't want to ruin them) and just did the action kill quest. Come launch i look forward to making a daily or weekly route from Soloman Island to Transylvanya of only the stuff I like to do 
There are no quest in the entirty of TSW that you "have to do," not one. At first you you might not see the Freedom, but it's there from start to finish 
Comments
Well I thought that was pretty damn cool and something we could talk about.... I can't stand you guys!
Why? isnt pvp drop in?
Wrong.
You only have to do the city intro + enter the Sheriff's Office in Kingsmouth.
After that, PvP is enabled.
Maybe there is locked stuff that requires the main story quest? I don't think so though. Please let us know if so, because so far, it seems that you only need to enter Kingsmouth.
Which is 10 minutes into the game.
To OP:
This is all true!
However, you still might be served to do every quest at least once. It gives you a good foundation in gear, exp, and pax overall.
Otherwise, well, you might have to grind for stuff still. Or take on some crafting to get more helpful gear, or grind dungeons, etc.
But yes, for overall quest structure, it is only SEMI-hub based. The NPCs are the 'hubs', but there is no other direction for you other than the cookiecrumb quests scattered through the zone, and the main story quest which is obviously more linear.
Only if you rush. If you go at a normal pace, its more like..over half an hour in, at least.
Still, not a big deal at all, so I don't know what Shaky meant.
Do you mean the fight club or the rest (BG and WZ)? If i remember correctly, they said only in Egypt, which would make sense since you'll probably get QL10 gear and be "max level" to even the powerfield
The rest. The persistant zone may require a higher ql of gear, might. That has nothing to do with what quest you do though.
The zone progression is still pretty linear though. You have to quest in Kingsmouth before you can go to the Savage Coast. Even within the zones themselves, progression is linear. For example in KIngsmouth, as a brand new character, you can't just go anywhere. Stuff on the other side of the river is out of the question until you level up a bit and get better gear and a few AP/SPs. Even the beach and the wisp woods are probably too difficult.
Once you level up a bit, sure you can repeat whatever quest you want in whatever order. Before that, there is still a certain progression order for content.
It is, still its very different to say Tera or TOR. The quest hubs are more disguised and there is more freedom as to what you can select to do. The limit on quest is also interesting although Im still not completely sold on that.
Nah beach is fine. Reason I know is because when I was brand new to the game that ended up being the second quest I did in Kingsmouth. Other side of the river would be tough though.
There is still a progression level to an extent as you said. Simply isn't as locked in as most other mmos.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Agreed, TOR and TERA are both way more linear. Still, saying that TSW throws linear out the window is a bit of a stretch I think.
I'm not really feeling the limit on quests either. It feels like an artificial barrier that exists specifically to keep you in the zone as long as possible.
Yeah, I kind of romped around and let the world take me where it took me. I got into a situation where, because I wasn't doing everything, I had quality 1 items and quality 4 items at the same time.
The zone progression is linear. Do this zone, then this zone, then that zone. What happens within those zones is not. From what I've heard, the zones become less linear and it becomes more horizontal progression based at some point. Can anyone confirm this?
It also offers something for completionists through achievements and it can be rewarding to do everything so that you are able to build your character's options to have more variety.
Overall I felt like I could choose to do pretty much whatever I wanted within a zone and I didn't have to finish a zone to be powerful enough to move to the next one.
Hmm. well you could technically run polaris 50 times, get enough sp to equip QL10 gear, then head to any zone you want rockin like 3 moves from the inner wheel. Id ratherplay a little more "linear" heh
I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back.
I tried TSW beta this past weekend, and to be honest with you its kinda bleh. This is a great idea on pen and paper, but as a game I am not seeing this as a worthy AAA title. I would rather see this as a movie then a game TBH. I feel it's still linear as story and other side quests are not unlocked unless you finish pre-requisites. And from what I could tell quests were all in HUBS with a few random quests lying around. Also I am not happy about the limited quest tracker you get. Often I want to try a new quest but have to drop a previous quest I havn't finished yet.
BTW I know this is semi off topic, but there really isn't as many skills as they say there are. After looking at the abilities most of the skills are redundant with different names. At the begining its awesome because it looks like you get so many passives and active skills, but in reality most of them are just fillers. It kind of reminded me of how awesome Rifts soul system was until you realized you really cannot mix and match as much as you want because the builds just dont work together.
Sorry for that tangent but I was kinda mindblown that this game is getting the attention it is based on its current game state. AAA this is not, it may have been 5 years ago.
TLDR: Story is still linear with a few pickup quests randomly placed in between quest hubs. Skills are redundant , combat feels cheap and boring.
*puts on flame proof jacket and glasses, let the good times roll*
Actually the start of the game is as linear as it gets. Just look at the QL of the drops you are getting, and the max QL of the game.
Now there are 6 more zones and only 5 more QL to divide between them. Let's say it's divided like this:
One QL in difference means the content gets a bit harder, but quite doable, which again means that the game opens up even more as you go. The "endgame" zone isn't one out of 8 zones, but 4 out of the 8 zones. This isn't just a bit more open than SWTOR or WoW, it's what the designeres said it would be - a themepark where you can take any ride you want.
I think they did a great job with adding vertical progression to the game. Sure it starts out a bit traditional, but it goes more and more open, both when it comes to abilities and builds, but also how you progress through the game.
When I got my character to Savage Coast I kind of just wandered around after doing the first side quest and took a look at the scenery. I then ran into a side quest that took me towards the lighthouse and kind of worked my way through quests I could pick up there.
Btw, the second time I went through Kingsmouth I kinda skipped 50% of the quests and went to Savage Coast. It was kind of hard, but I got some gear quite quickly, and it evened out. The amount of "grind" in TSW is really really really low, and it's refreshing.
I have not wandered nor gotten myself into predicaments like I have playing TSW, since my SWG days. I ended all the way out at the airport evading those BFMs (Big Effing Mob) for a better word probably not more then 20 inutes after I got to KM. How I got out there I have no idea but I see a road or a path and I just have to follow it lol, always adds excitment. I actually quested my way back slowly some were way to hard some I could do but at no point in time did I feel pushed down a path
The quests are repeatable because without them you will be forced to complete your skill wheel by PvP and rerunning dungeons. It's a good decision, especially since PvP is still being worked on (the masses will see it on Friday), and repeating dungeon runs can get a bit tedious (even though they are well done) .
With that said, there is very much a linear progression which is dictated by your gear quality score. But within gear range, you are free to roam wherever and explore.
So you played for like one hour, because kingsmouth police station is the only real hub in the game. I've not found anywhere else with more than 4 quests.
It's not like the "gear score" is a "hard" limit either. Going with QL3 gear vs QL5 mobs is hard, but you can do it. The other way, QL5 gear vs QL3 mobs is easier, but it's no walk in the park if you get more than one mob on you. I think they have done a beauitful job with the vertical progression. It's steep enough that you notice when you get better gear, but not steep enough that you feel controlled.
Innsmouth Academy, just saying had I think 5, and Mr Boone might have had 4 or maybe 3, but there was a nearby quest to him as well. Not busting on ya but lets stay true to facts before the haters start hating.
I disagree to a certain extent. Progression is still linear, go from zone A to B. The way main story works, you need to do side questing in the zone to keep up with your progress. Keeping progress in mind, the optimal way is to do all the quests available (skipping some), before changing zones.
The choice is given to players, whether they want to do sabotage or investigation over grind quests. It's completely possible to make progress by doing investigation quests, however it will require time, and daily repeatables. This way is not optimal for progression.
You sure about that?
I know it has you in a linear progression at the start but i could have sworn that theres a lot of content that has you going back, and i recall there being mobs in the "linear progression maps" at the start that are meant for much more advanced character.
Regardless, youll be able to join a new player in kingsmouth as a vet and still get rewards from the repeatable quests, and you may want to go back there to flesh out some new skills that may be too weak for the map your currently on, in this aspect there is replayablility since most people will not quest hub the areas, which will leave content untouched as you progress through the maps.
Questing as intended will gurantee theres untouched content that you can come back for, either to unlock the lore and acheivements, to help a friend, or to level up using a new build or "rerolling" in terms of picking up a new weapon with no SP in it and doing some noobie content to gain AP/SP for it.
Daily repeatables are not how your going to fill out your skills...why do people keep ignoring the dungeon and pvp aspects of the game that will serve this purpose in a much more entertaining and acceptable way...no one ever wants to grind repeatables...hell id rather farm mobs than do that.
You can run Kingsmouth for a week, go to the AH then buy or craft QL 6 gear and skip to egypt if you want.