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The quests problem in AA
maccarthur2004
Member UncommonPosts: 511
The developers - so i think - created the quests with the intention of making a "bridge" between themepark and sandbox content, to serve as a tutorial to allow the players used to themeparks master the game before entering in a full sandbox experience (in theory).
However, the quests are the main issue causing complains in foruns. Many people dont feel like doing them and many sandbox content are being overshadowed by them, making people, especially the new players not well informed, and not used to the absency of handhold, to think that AA is just another linear themepark experience.
So, in view of this, are the quests in AA worth being there? if no, could any change be made in that aspect?
Comments
Do you play basketball and insist that dribbling be done away with simply because you can't dribble? Do you play baseball and insist that running be done away with because you have no legs? Do you request tackling be done away with in football because you don't want to get hurt?
It's the game.
Play it, or don't. But stop trying to change everything to fit your game play preferences. Things don't work that way in real life, why is this acceptable in the MMO industry.
It does not matter if your game has 1000 unique features if fed ex solo questing is the main means of character progression. This method of progression is the #1 thing wrong with mmos.
Yup, thanks to WoW.
The quests, right from the start, should have been showing / teaching you the mechanics of the game. I really have no clue why they chose the path they went with quest grinding until 30 like any other themepark MMO. I some times wonder how these people keep their jobs with such poor game design.
They have to know people for the most part would be coming to this game looking for a change to the horror of finding a quest leveling game from the start. I see a lot of people giving up on the game way before they ever see what this game has to offer, what ever it is. The only game I have seen is quest grinding and the restriction labor points put on your game play. Not a good way to hook people in, if you ask me.
If you don't want to do quests why don't you turn off NPC names. It is a check box in options you know. Turn off the arrows and mini map while you are about as clean of a sandbox as anyone could want. When I am in crafting mode I turn off NPC names. I always craft at the stations near my house and I know all the crafting NPC's by look. When leveling though turn the NPC names back on but with the arrows turned off. I find the quests useful for gear and leveling
Now the writing is not exactly great literature but with the exception of LoTRO that's pretty much the norm. Difference between AA's quest dialogue and most other MMO's quest dialogue is like trying to distinguish between a turd and a turd with flies on it. Might just me but I don't want to eat either one on a sandwich.
I am playing for the RvR endgame and the economic system not for any silly PvE quests. They are just an end to the means. You want an interactive book there are plenty out there. You want a MMORPG then do the quests or ignore them, your choice
I miss DAoC
I personally dont mind doing the quests, but i think they are misleading the people, giving them a "wrong" idea about the game, as i see in the flood of "mini reviews" here.
I hate the quests.. I came to this game to not have to do them anymore. People say you don't have to do the quests but that is a lie. You can't get some of the important things like a donkey or bigger scarecrow with out doing the entire trade run quersts.
Also, it feels like if you don't have a good guild this game will suck later on.
Thank god. That's what I want from a real MMORPG.
I played SWG from pre Pub 9 (Pre CU) and back then you were dumped into the game world and left to get on with it, much like was originally the case with AA (I know, it was bliss). Much later after the NGE they added the Legacy Quest which started from the games tutorial and basically "themeparked" the player up to around level 20 before it ended and they were once again left in the sandbox...
Initially I loathed Legacy Quest for exactly the reasons you mention in your post. After a while though I came to appreciate it when making numerous alts as it really did fast track you a stage in the game where a lot more options were open to you IN the sandbox...over the long haul I don't think this type of quest chain that fast tracks you up to a meaningful level and THEN lets you loose is a bad thing.
Well, with all of the info out there. Youtube 'reviews', sites like these, Twich.tv etc., ppl can only blame themselves for not knowing what to expect from a game. Any game.
If with all that information one still is not getting what one wants, then they need look no further than their own expectations. Or maybe the complaints are simply non-issues and the game was never going to be played. Just brought out to troll.
Either way, it's lesson learned and time to move on.
Designing the start of an MMO to make it easier for veteran players on alts is absolutely terrible design. The starter zones should be made to be fun for new players and give them an idea what the game is about.
I don't think the quests in AA have anything to do with making it easier for alts though, I just think they're scared to take the training wheels off and throw people in the sandbox. I'd rather the game didn't have any quests but there's no use complaining about it. That's the game they decided to make. Take it or leave it.
I leveled my three main classes questing and fighting and leveling. I have maxed out all but one (that one is level 33) JUST trading and farming and crafting. So to think that questing is the only way to level is completely wrong. In fact there are three items you can make (semi expensive) that are specifically made to level up quickly. I didnt even bother with them because 'regular' work levels just fine.
Except you STILL have to do a linear quest grind to advance in the game, just now the quests are way harder than they should be because the game isn't designed to be played that way.
read comment above there are many ways that are much more efficient ways to level other than questing.
Quests are so subjective too. Like what is a quest really, an excuse to go to a certain area of the game and play the game?... that would make everything you perform solo a quest.
Every Single player game is then composed of quests.
Your real life is a series of quests.
Dungeons would even be a quest for 4-5 people to complete. Gathering is a quest to find ingredients out in the world. Structured PvP is a quest to kill enemy players for some objective. All have objectives, all have designated areas - except gathering which may have a broader area, but still probably a focused region.
The only non-quest thing I can think of is open-world pvp. That's it! Everything else is a quest or a group quest with people sharing similar objectives.
Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
I asked several people in-game and experienced for myself that the best way, by a LONG way to progress is to do the quests. Not just the main story, the side quests as well.
I tried myself to level up twice by just gathering, crafting and killing mobs. It was like a snail running a mile. Again, the problem with crafting is it was specifically designed to make it take a VERY long time to make anything....let alone something of value....UNLESS you use the cash shop...
It's nonsense. Make a game what it is from the start with all the bells and whistles (accessed as you progress, but progression started from the beginning) and let the game be what it is from start to finish.
The problem is not anyone bashing the game for what it is when everything opens up, but the fact that you must suffer through a quest grind on rails to get there.
I haven't played Trion's version yet but going off the Russian version a big part of the problem is that the quests are just bad. Quests are tolerable in games like LOTRO or SWTOR where they put effort into them but AA was just like "walk down the road to the next npc, kill 10 mobs beside them, turn it in. Rinse, repeat." It was like being back in Tera.
In PvE? Nope. What if I want to mob grind with friends? How come the game penalizes me for grouping?
HAHAHAHA!!! So basically you are telling me that rather than relying on the developers to create good game content to get you from 1-50, just use an exploit....priceless....
Not only that but when has leveling to cap in under a week ever been a good sign?
There's no journey anymore. That's the real problem.
and this brings us back to a very valid point....why bother having those levels if the intention is to skip them? It's counter-intuitive