The main issue is that the overwhelming majority of MMORPG quests aren't the sort of "figure out what to do" riddles like some of the stuff in TSW was.
Those sorts of riddles can be (and were) fun.
Most quests aren't like that. The interesting decision-making isn't about figuring out where the quest is (the NPC told you directly) but rather the actions required when you get there (usually focused on the abilities of the monsters you encounter, or in the best of cases the unique game mechanics involved in the quest.)
So for most quests, indicators of the quest area fast-tracks an otherwise dull and decisionless part of the quest.
Give me the meat. The gameplay! Don't waste my time with dull filler.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
L2 is the first time I encountered it. Though L2 had so few quests in it's early days I wonder if most players even bothered with them.
CoH had it too, but only preceeded WoW by ~six months. Variety of SP games beat them all, of course. CoH would lead you right to the mission door, from four zones away.
Sorry Blizz hatahz.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
IT WAS ASHERON'S CALL 2 WITH LABELED QUESTGIVERS. All other games even if they had quests was cryptic, you had to speak to any given NPC and just found out what was what. it was AC2 that started it.
AC2 also predates the feature being patched in to games like EQ.
The first I heard of it was EQ2 and the glowing path for quests. It was a big gripe on the EQ boards at the time.
I am sure EQ2 was not the first, though.
certainly EQ2 werent first at all, when I started playing this game 4 months past release, it didnt even show what NPCs had quests or not, had to go hail all npcs, or try find something that would highlight for the possibility of it having a quest.
you could go to websites and find map locations and use an ingame command to make it show the way though, and there were a fan made map mod where you could get maps for non mapped areas and quest update points....which really ruined EQ2 alot for me already there....though not to the point of an /unsub
certainly EQ2 werent first at all, when I started playing this game 4 months past release, it didnt even show what NPCs had quests or not, had to go hail all npcs, or try find something that would highlight for the possibility of it having a quest.
you could go to websites and find map locations and use an ingame command to make it show the way though, and there were a fan made map mod where you could get maps for non mapped areas and quest update points....which really ruined EQ2 alot for me already there....though not to the point of an /unsub
I played eq2 on release
I dont remember any golden trails -- except to help you recover your spirit shard
EQ2 spirit shard explained (this was later removed from the game)
Originally posted by dave6660 And after they stopped doing that and added the arrows it became pointless to read the quest text.
This occurred in vanguard for sure:
Click on quest npc Scroll down past all that pesky quest detail. Click 'Accept,' Pull up quest Journal. Follow indicator on your compass.
All $ that sigil spent on the story telling, which was considerable, was a complete waste. Kind of like the voiceovers in SWTOR. For that matter, all $ sigil spent on graphics was kinda pointless to since everyone had their eyes glued to the quest compass.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon. In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
Comments
The main issue is that the overwhelming majority of MMORPG quests aren't the sort of "figure out what to do" riddles like some of the stuff in TSW was.
Those sorts of riddles can be (and were) fun.
Most quests aren't like that. The interesting decision-making isn't about figuring out where the quest is (the NPC told you directly) but rather the actions required when you get there (usually focused on the abilities of the monsters you encounter, or in the best of cases the unique game mechanics involved in the quest.)
So for most quests, indicators of the quest area fast-tracks an otherwise dull and decisionless part of the quest.
Give me the meat. The gameplay! Don't waste my time with dull filler.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Its still mild compared to some Eastern F2P titles, though, which have not just arrows but autorun to quest objective.
CoH had it too, but only preceeded WoW by ~six months. Variety of SP games beat them all, of course. CoH would lead you right to the mission door, from four zones away.
Sorry Blizz hatahz.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
IT WAS ASHERON'S CALL 2 WITH LABELED QUESTGIVERS. All other games even if they had quests was cryptic, you had to speak to any given NPC and just found out what was what. it was AC2 that started it.
AC2 also predates the feature being patched in to games like EQ.
certainly EQ2 werent first at all, when I started playing this game 4 months past release, it didnt even show what NPCs had quests or not, had to go hail all npcs, or try find something that would highlight for the possibility of it having a quest.
you could go to websites and find map locations and use an ingame command to make it show the way though, and there were a fan made map mod where you could get maps for non mapped areas and quest update points....which really ruined EQ2 alot for me already there....though not to the point of an /unsub
I played eq2 on release
I dont remember any golden trails -- except to help you recover your spirit shard
EQ2 spirit shard explained (this was later removed from the game)
http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/10047
some quest npcs did call out to you verbally or wave their arms gesturing for you to come over at game launch
(the original quest npcs still do this)
EQ2 fan sites
This occurred in vanguard for sure:
Click on quest npc
Scroll down past all that pesky quest detail.
Click 'Accept,'
Pull up quest Journal.
Follow indicator on your compass.
All $ that sigil spent on the story telling, which was considerable, was a complete waste. Kind of like the voiceovers in SWTOR. For that matter, all $ sigil spent on graphics was kinda pointless to since everyone had their eyes glued to the quest compass.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit