Or, it could also mean that the developers did not implement quests into the game as a deliberate design decision. There's no reason for namecalling.
Same thing with the map - I've seen a few criticisms in this thread about the "glitched" map from people posing as if they are informed, when the game intentionally does not have a global map or mini-map.
Overall, I think the OP has some good points in his review, and I agree with much of it, though I will say that I'm not much for assigning numerical scores to reviews in general.
I don't think it was a design not to have any quests on purpose, but more of a lack of time/schedule handling and SV simply failed at having a quest system.
Below is a screenshot of the MO concept presentation slide that was published in the middle of 2009, about a year before release (entire presentation can be downloaded from this page):
If you look at the 5th paragraph, it pretty clearly states the words "no quests". That was the overall and deliberate plan for the game at that time. If you have proof to the contrary which indicates that MO was supposed to be a quest-based game, feel free to provide it.
Now, having said this, the presentation was just a concept, and not a contract. I agree that quests do not "destroy" a sandbox MMO. I also do not believe that quests are mandatory for a sandbox game.
Additionally, this concept slide is now a couple of years old. If the developers determine that the concept was wrong, and that the playerbase wants quests, or that they do fit within the design of the game, then by all means they should at least consider adding them. It wouldn't bother me at all (as long as I'm not "forced" to do them).
But quests were clearly not a part of the original game design. The lack of quests was one of the things that originally attracted me to the game. I don't miss them.
Personally, what I would like to see them add would be tools that would allow players to create "quests", or contracts.
Or, it could also mean that the developers did not implement quests into the game as a deliberate design decision. There's no reason for namecalling.
Same thing with the map - I've seen a few criticisms in this thread about the "glitched" map from people posing as if they are informed, when the game intentionally does not have a global map or mini-map.
Overall, I think the OP has some good points in his review, and I agree with much of it, though I will say that I'm not much for assigning numerical scores to reviews in general.
I don't think it was a design not to have any quests on purpose, but more of a lack of time/schedule handling and SV simply failed at having a quest system.
Below is a screenshot of the MO concept presentation slide that was published in the middle of 2009, about a year before release (entire presentation can be downloaded from this page):
If you look at the 5th paragraph, it pretty clearly states the words "no quests". That was the overall and deliberate plan for the game at that time. If you have proof to the contrary which indicates that MO was supposed to be a quest-based game, feel free to provide it.
Now, having said this, the presentation was just a concept, and not a contract. I agree that quests do not "destroy" a sandbox MMO. I also do not believe that quests are mandatory for a sandbox game.
Additionally, this concept slide is now a couple of years old. If the developers determine that the concept was wrong, and that the playerbase wants quests, or that they do fit within the design of the game, then by all means they should at least consider adding them. It wouldn't bother me at all (as long as I'm not "forced" to do them).
But quests were clearly not a part of the original game design. The lack of quests was one of the things that originally attracted me to the game. I don't miss them.
Personally, what I would like to see them add would be tools that would allow players to create "quests", or contracts.
Some creative MO players have created third party tools that allow players to create there own "quests".
Henrik has said that features would be added to allow players to more easily create there own quests just like you mentioned in your post. Everything Henrik says will be in game does get implemented in game eventually. Rather or not these new questing tools will be included in Dawn, we'll just have to see.
It is fairly obvious that Raff01 does not know enough about the game to make a fair observation. He has made litterally dozens of negative MortalOnline posts on these forums, often times posting about bugs that have been patched for months, or posts about lack of features that have already been implemented. I would advise you to add him to your ignore list like I have. Fair critisism is one thing, but now it's just trolling.
Haters Gonna Hate......
Anyways for the OP, I hope enjoy MortalOnline for the long run like I have. I look forward to reading your post Dawn expansion review if you choose on writing one.
Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!
Or, it could also mean that the developers did not implement quests into the game as a deliberate design decision. There's no reason for namecalling.
Same thing with the map - I've seen a few criticisms in this thread about the "glitched" map from people posing as if they are informed, when the game intentionally does not have a global map or mini-map.
Overall, I think the OP has some good points in his review, and I agree with much of it, though I will say that I'm not much for assigning numerical scores to reviews in general.
I don't think it was a design not to have any quests on purpose, but more of a lack of time/schedule handling and SV simply failed at having a quest system.
Below is a screenshot of the MO concept presentation slide that was published in the middle of 2009, about a year before release (entire presentation can be downloaded from this page):
If you look at the 5th paragraph, it pretty clearly states the words "no quests". That was the overall and deliberate plan for the game at that time. If you have proof to the contrary which indicates that MO was supposed to be a quest-based game, feel free to provide it.
Now, having said this, the presentation was just a concept, and not a contract. I agree that quests do not "destroy" a sandbox MMO. I also do not believe that quests are mandatory for a sandbox game.
Additionally, this concept slide is now a couple of years old. If the developers determine that the concept was wrong, and that the playerbase wants quests, or that they do fit within the design of the game, then by all means they should at least consider adding them. It wouldn't bother me at all (as long as I'm not "forced" to do them).
But quests were clearly not a part of the original game design. The lack of quests was one of the things that originally attracted me to the game. I don't miss them.
Personally, what I would like to see them add would be tools that would allow players to create "quests", or contracts.
Some creative MO players have created third party tools that allow players to create there own "quests".
No question, Flintwick's Noticeboard is an outstanding contribution to the MO community, and I am hoping that some of the same systems are implemented in-game as well. I doubt that all of it will be included with the Dawn expansion, however, since they haven't mentioned anything other than the trading and mail tools.
So if a system that's integral to a game, say, crafting, in this case, is so broken you cannot use it, they just get a pass and that doesn't count?
Look, if you're serious and love this game, good for you. For some of us, especially those who have a full loot bag from the pre-order, this is a sad, pathetic joke. SV could probably mess up the standard "hello world" intro to coding tutorial. These guys are completely fricking clueless when it comes to programming, design and community relations. The only thing they have right is the "vision" of what the game should be.
So if a system that's integral to a game, say, crafting, in this case, is so broken you cannot use it, they just get a pass and that doesn't count?
Look, if you're serious and love this game, good for you. For some of us, especially those who have a full loot bag from the pre-order, this is a sad, pathetic joke. SV could probably mess up the standard "hello world" intro to coding tutorial. These guys are completely fricking clueless when it comes to programming, design and community relations. The only thing they have right is the "vision" of what the game should be.
Crafting's not broken. He had no crafting skills and didn't know where to go to get them. When you have no crafting skills (and gathering skills are not crafting skills), then it's impossible to craft. I have an armorsmith - crafting works fine, at least with the things I can make, which obviously is not everything. In my experience, it is most certainly not "so broken you cannot use it" - I know that's the mantra, but it's also a lie.
On this or any game, some are going to like it, and some won't. Same thing with "loot bag holders". Some loot bag guys were disappointed with the game. Other loot bag guys, like myself, like the game quite a bit. Just as with almost everything else, it comes down to opinion. What a shocker.
The game isn't perfect. That's been stated many, many times. But, it's also not nearly as bad as some people are trying really hard to make it sound, and it has gotten a lot better since launch. To me, it's both playable and fun, with a decent enough playerbase to make it an enjoyable MMORPG. And I think some of the features coming with Dawn will make it even better.
If you look at the 5th paragraph, it pretty clearly states the words "no quests". That was the overall and deliberate plan for the game at that time. If you have proof to the contrary which indicates that MO was supposed to be a quest-based game, feel free to provide it.
You are right, I had a bit hard time believing that anybody would deliberately avoid quests in a game, but it seems SV did so. In that case I will just stick to saying it's a bad design decision on their part, but hey, hard to say who is right or wrong. I do however pity people defending the lack of quests with "it's a sandbox" excuse.
If you look at the 5th paragraph, it pretty clearly states the words "no quests". That was the overall and deliberate plan for the game at that time. If you have proof to the contrary which indicates that MO was supposed to be a quest-based game, feel free to provide it.
You are right, I had a bit hard time believing that anybody would deliberately avoid quests in a game, but it seems SV did so. In that case I will just stick to saying it's a bad design decision on their part, but hey, hard to say who is right or wrong. I do however pity people defending the lack of quests with "it's a sandbox" excuse.
Fun Fact: it's possible to play a game without the computer telling you where to go (well, some games... not to bring up the sandbox word that god-forbid gets used in a sandbox games' forum). In fact, some poor souls think that there's better things the developers can do than blow all their time writing trite little story lines about how the player is totally gonna save the world (again) from a series of evil rats or something, and be a hero across the land just like the other 200 guys to do that quest that day.
sarcasm aside, quests (or rather, computer-generated busywork) are not as vital for some players as they seem to be for you. For people who need quests to enjoy a game, yeah, MO's probably not for them. At which point, you might as well downvote wow for having goblins because you think goblins are stupid, or downvote EVE because you lose loot when you die.
If you look at the 5th paragraph, it pretty clearly states the words "no quests". That was the overall and deliberate plan for the game at that time. If you have proof to the contrary which indicates that MO was supposed to be a quest-based game, feel free to provide it.
You are right, I had a bit hard time believing that anybody would deliberately avoid quests in a game, but it seems SV did so. In that case I will just stick to saying it's a bad design decision on their part, but hey, hard to say who is right or wrong. I do however pity people defending the lack of quests with "it's a sandbox" excuse.
sarcasm aside, quests (or rather, computer-generated busywork) are not as vital for some players as they seem to be for you. For people who need quests to enjoy a game, yeah, MO's probably not for them. At which point, you might as well downvote wow for having goblins because you think goblins are stupid, or downvote EVE because you lose loot when you die.
It's rather simple, if quests do not ruin a sandbox, why not have them? As I said, the only true reasons (despite what SV may claim) for MO lacking quests, is lack of time and experince to get them right. Sure, the world saving quests and kill 10 rats (or collect 10 mushrooms, for the matter, eh?) are quite cliche by now, but I do think that a wellmade, varying objectives can be a good entertaiment for many people, and we all know that MO is lacking stuff to do atm... to just PvP or craft all day long is getting dull.
If you look at the 5th paragraph, it pretty clearly states the words "no quests". That was the overall and deliberate plan for the game at that time. If you have proof to the contrary which indicates that MO was supposed to be a quest-based game, feel free to provide it.
You are right, I had a bit hard time believing that anybody would deliberately avoid quests in a game, but it seems SV did so. In that case I will just stick to saying it's a bad design decision on their part, but hey, hard to say who is right or wrong. I do however pity people defending the lack of quests with "it's a sandbox" excuse.
sarcasm aside, quests (or rather, computer-generated busywork) are not as vital for some players as they seem to be for you. For people who need quests to enjoy a game, yeah, MO's probably not for them. At which point, you might as well downvote wow for having goblins because you think goblins are stupid, or downvote EVE because you lose loot when you die.
It's rather simple, if quests do not ruin a sandbox, why not have them? As I said, the only true reasons (despite what SV may claim) for MO lacking quests, is lack of time and experince to get them right. Sure, the world saving quests and kill 10 rats (or collect 10 mushrooms, for the matter, eh?) are quite cliche by now, but I do think that a wellmade, varying objectives can be a good entertaiment for many people, and we all know that MO is lacking stuff to do atm... to just PvP or craft all day long is getting dull.
Well actually... if the mail system turns out the way many fans are speculating... it will result in a new and groundbreaking task system. Players might be given a task of taking mail from point A to point B. Instead of XP you will get cash or some other reward for your time. This takes questing to the next level and is far and away better than having a magic "!" over the NPCs head. Just another reason to get on board the DAWN bandwagon!
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
If you look at the 5th paragraph, it pretty clearly states the words "no quests". That was the overall and deliberate plan for the game at that time. If you have proof to the contrary which indicates that MO was supposed to be a quest-based game, feel free to provide it.
You are right, I had a bit hard time believing that anybody would deliberately avoid quests in a game, but it seems SV did so. In that case I will just stick to saying it's a bad design decision on their part, but hey, hard to say who is right or wrong. I do however pity people defending the lack of quests with "it's a sandbox" excuse.
sarcasm aside, quests (or rather, computer-generated busywork) are not as vital for some players as they seem to be for you. For people who need quests to enjoy a game, yeah, MO's probably not for them. At which point, you might as well downvote wow for having goblins because you think goblins are stupid, or downvote EVE because you lose loot when you die.
It's rather simple, if quests do not ruin a sandbox, why not have them? As I said, the only true reasons (despite what SV may claim) for MO lacking quests, is lack of time and experince to get them right. Sure, the world saving quests and kill 10 rats (or collect 10 mushrooms, for the matter, eh?) are quite cliche by now, but I do think that a wellmade, varying objectives can be a good entertaiment for many people, and we all know that MO is lacking stuff to do atm... to just PvP or craft all day long is getting dull.
You answered the question yourself: quests have become cliche, and neither ruin nor make a game. They are, and always have been, an illusion of content that has meaning in the gameworld, a thin disguise for the grind. Routinely there are posts by members on this website that complain about quests just being "more of the same", and for the most part, they're right. Most people admit to not even reading the text, which is usually just a very basic and contrived rationale for killing X of Y, collecting A of B, etc.
Ultimately, it comes down to the design and tuning of the game. There are plenty of games that offer quests - many of them are bemoaned by the community for contributing to a soloer's mentality within a multi-player game. Right or wrong, the lack of quests in this game attempts a return to a more self-directed approach, as well as a more social, community-based focus, which are things a lot of people who frequent this website agree are elements sorely unsupported by the majority of today's games.
In short, you can use that sword you got from a quest NPC to kill 10 wisents another NPC told you to kill, to get some money and a helmet from said NPC.
Or, you can use the sword you bought from a swordsmith (player), and choose to kill 10 wisents, sell the carcasses to a butcher (player), so they can dress it and take the components to sell to an armorsmith (player) to make a helmet that you could potentially buy from said player.
I believe the use of quests, or tasks, to form an in-game tutorial for new players is a good idea. Other than that, I would prefer that the rest of the game be left in the player's hands to decide. I'd like tools for player-defined tasks or contracts to make the community-based game more efficient. But beyond that, I don't need some BS rationale from an NPC on why I need to gather the crap for a Samophlange, so on my next character, I can gather the same crap for yet another Samophlange ("Hey, didn't I already get you one!").
If you need NPCs to tell you what to do and reward you in a game, there are plenty of games that will do that for you. MO is trying to provide a platform for players that don't need or want that, and would instead like to play in a world focused on player interaction and interrelationships.
Below is a screenshot of the MO concept presentation slide that was published in the middle of 2009, about a year before release (entire presentation can be downloaded from this page):
If you look at the 5th paragraph, it pretty clearly states the words "no quests". That was the overall and deliberate plan for the game at that time. If you have proof to the contrary which indicates that MO was supposed to be a quest-based game, feel free to provide it.
Now, having said this, the presentation was just a concept, and not a contract. I agree that quests do not "destroy" a sandbox MMO. I also do not believe that quests are mandatory for a sandbox game.
Additionally, this concept slide is now a couple of years old. If the developers determine that the concept was wrong, and that the playerbase wants quests, or that they do fit within the design of the game, then by all means they should at least consider adding them. It wouldn't bother me at all (as long as I'm not "forced" to do them).
But quests were clearly not a part of the original game design. The lack of quests was one of the things that originally attracted me to the game. I don't miss them.
Personally, what I would like to see them add would be tools that would allow players to create "quests", or contracts.
Apparently this has been changed according to Slapshot in another post in this forum. Guess SV has changed their minds about questing.
"Sean (Murray) saying MP will be in the game is not remotely close to evidence that at the point of purchase people thought there was MP in the game." - SEANMCAD
Apparently this has been changed according to Slapshot in another post in this forum. Guess SV has changed their minds about questing.
Actually SV has always planned to have "very big quests" in their game!
Q: We know from the Mortal Online website that it has an expansive and intriguing back story. How will the quest lines in the game follow it?
A: First of all, I want to make it clear that there are no regular "quests" in MO, just like there are no "levels" or generic "experience points". We have chosen to embed the majority of the lore in the world itself for you as a player to discover, if you are interested, instead of reading about it beforehand or getting it fed to you by NPC’s with flashing exclamation marks over their heads.
What we do have, are very big quests in the form of riddles and chains-of-events spread about in the world that will often involve several players or guilds, and from time to time affect the development of the world. These quests will start slowly even from day one, and we have some deep events planned for the players - where their actions will get reflected back upon the world and the rest of the future players. We’ve even presented clues for some of these events before the game starts, one is embedded in the countdown image on www.mortalonline.com
Below is a screenshot of the MO concept presentation slide that was published in the middle of 2009, about a year before release (entire presentation can be downloaded from this page):
If you look at the 5th paragraph, it pretty clearly states the words "no quests". That was the overall and deliberate plan for the game at that time. If you have proof to the contrary which indicates that MO was supposed to be a quest-based game, feel free to provide it.
Now, having said this, the presentation was just a concept, and not a contract. I agree that quests do not "destroy" a sandbox MMO. I also do not believe that quests are mandatory for a sandbox game.
Additionally, this concept slide is now a couple of years old. If the developers determine that the concept was wrong, and that the playerbase wants quests, or that they do fit within the design of the game, then by all means they should at least consider adding them. It wouldn't bother me at all (as long as I'm not "forced" to do them).
But quests were clearly not a part of the original game design. The lack of quests was one of the things that originally attracted me to the game. I don't miss them.
Personally, what I would like to see them add would be tools that would allow players to create "quests", or contracts.
Apparently this has been changed according to Slapshot in another post in this forum. Guess SV has changed their minds about questing.
The best information we have right now is that Tasks will be created by players for other players, not fed to players by NPCs. The tutorial tasks might be the only difference.
Yeah i bought this game a while back. Was kind of just check ing up on it..potential...yadda yadda yadda.....
I only spent about 2 weeks playing my months sub. My time in game was doubled by being able to talk to someone about the game on this forum, since you cant talk to anyone in game if you choose the wrong race/starting area, which is what gave me my second week of playing, since i could see other people.
See i started out in some desolate browngrey area, not a single player, not a single thing to kill, and i did the whole exploing thing. I ended up rerolling a few times because i explored so far out that i had no clue where i was, had no one to talk to, nothing to kill.
My next week of constant rerolls involed another race, and trying out diffrent skills, basically i was chopping wood and banging rocks naked, still with not a soul in sight, and since no global chat or anything i was on my own.
About day 6 i saw someone else, i spammed the local chat, ran up to them....nothing, so i attacked, there they started talking...gave me a horse and ran off without much said. That horse, got stuck and i had to abandon it after about 5min, not sure if there was something wrong i did or if it was a glitch as no one to talk to.
After expressing this here, i got a PM about needing to reroll (yes reroll again...in a sandbox...) to get to the populated area, which was. Only it was full of other people chopping wood and banging rocks....i thought...great there has GOT to be something else to do.
I found a mob spawn, it was one type of animal mob that dropped crafting items...great, most of the crafting didnt work so where do i get some gear to lose? Eventually i realized this game want everything i had done already, and everyone was just waiting for that big magical day when the game would become real or whole. This was the game that led me to play darkfall for so long, since after leaving that game after a month, playing MO made me miss terribly the other player aspect and the combat aspect of a full loot pvp game, and i can bang rocks and chop wood there too but i can make things with the stuff (at the time i played MO all the recipes had no description and figuring out what they did or what to do was nearly impossible)
So its been quite a while, whats changed in MO? If i were to resub, would i be chopping wood, banging rocks and possibly killing one animal type mob or skeletons out of boredom, forced to be one race and forced into a build that caters to banging rocks and chopping wood since that was the only thing to do? Did they add the sandbox yet and give me the fredom to do what i want when i want, on any race i want??
Or did the just fix some bugs and ignore the whole "game" part of it all ?
i think he was referring to the character creation when he talks aboutcustomization...
Still doesn't make sense to me. Unless it has expanded since I saw it at release, the customization during character creation is even more basic than EQ2's. Although being able to specify two levels of your ancestry is nice.
Favorites: EQ, EVE | Playing: None. Mostly VR and strategy | Anticipating: CU, Pantheon
The game is in much much better shape than it was at release. Give it a chance and you just might like it. I couldn't even play the game in beta or after release, but I just checked out the 14 day trial a few days ago... and I have to say I am having a great time. The game is a thousand times better than it was last time I played.
i cannot give any solid review as i mostly only run around like a chicken without it's head,
and most of the time i am just gathering some woods, and the crazy thing is, the population is so dead, i almost never see a chat on the local channel or anything, now i am not sure that if there are another channel which is more alive, but yeah. even at a point, after playing for around 3 hours, my chat log haven't even goes down
which i think it killed the game for me, I just felt bored without any other player interaction, i will try and finish my trial, hopefully, by the end of the trial, i can give more solid review
Comments
Below is a screenshot of the MO concept presentation slide that was published in the middle of 2009, about a year before release (entire presentation can be downloaded from this page):
If you look at the 5th paragraph, it pretty clearly states the words "no quests". That was the overall and deliberate plan for the game at that time. If you have proof to the contrary which indicates that MO was supposed to be a quest-based game, feel free to provide it.
Now, having said this, the presentation was just a concept, and not a contract. I agree that quests do not "destroy" a sandbox MMO. I also do not believe that quests are mandatory for a sandbox game.
Additionally, this concept slide is now a couple of years old. If the developers determine that the concept was wrong, and that the playerbase wants quests, or that they do fit within the design of the game, then by all means they should at least consider adding them. It wouldn't bother me at all (as long as I'm not "forced" to do them).
But quests were clearly not a part of the original game design. The lack of quests was one of the things that originally attracted me to the game. I don't miss them.
Personally, what I would like to see them add would be tools that would allow players to create "quests", or contracts.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Some creative MO players have created third party tools that allow players to create there own "quests".
http://www.mortalnoticeboard.co.uk/
Henrik has said that features would be added to allow players to more easily create there own quests just like you mentioned in your post. Everything Henrik says will be in game does get implemented in game eventually. Rather or not these new questing tools will be included in Dawn, we'll just have to see.
It is fairly obvious that Raff01 does not know enough about the game to make a fair observation. He has made litterally dozens of negative MortalOnline posts on these forums, often times posting about bugs that have been patched for months, or posts about lack of features that have already been implemented. I would advise you to add him to your ignore list like I have. Fair critisism is one thing, but now it's just trolling.
Haters Gonna Hate......
Anyways for the OP, I hope enjoy MortalOnline for the long run like I have. I look forward to reading your post Dawn expansion review if you choose on writing one.
Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!
No question, Flintwick's Noticeboard is an outstanding contribution to the MO community, and I am hoping that some of the same systems are implemented in-game as well. I doubt that all of it will be included with the Dawn expansion, however, since they haven't mentioned anything other than the trading and mail tools.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
First post to write a favorable review of a game that almost nobody finds favorable...
*sigh*
So if a system that's integral to a game, say, crafting, in this case, is so broken you cannot use it, they just get a pass and that doesn't count?
Look, if you're serious and love this game, good for you. For some of us, especially those who have a full loot bag from the pre-order, this is a sad, pathetic joke. SV could probably mess up the standard "hello world" intro to coding tutorial. These guys are completely fricking clueless when it comes to programming, design and community relations. The only thing they have right is the "vision" of what the game should be.
Crafting's not broken. He had no crafting skills and didn't know where to go to get them. When you have no crafting skills (and gathering skills are not crafting skills), then it's impossible to craft. I have an armorsmith - crafting works fine, at least with the things I can make, which obviously is not everything. In my experience, it is most certainly not "so broken you cannot use it" - I know that's the mantra, but it's also a lie.
On this or any game, some are going to like it, and some won't. Same thing with "loot bag holders". Some loot bag guys were disappointed with the game. Other loot bag guys, like myself, like the game quite a bit. Just as with almost everything else, it comes down to opinion. What a shocker.
The game isn't perfect. That's been stated many, many times. But, it's also not nearly as bad as some people are trying really hard to make it sound, and it has gotten a lot better since launch. To me, it's both playable and fun, with a decent enough playerbase to make it an enjoyable MMORPG. And I think some of the features coming with Dawn will make it even better.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
You are right, I had a bit hard time believing that anybody would deliberately avoid quests in a game, but it seems SV did so. In that case I will just stick to saying it's a bad design decision on their part, but hey, hard to say who is right or wrong. I do however pity people defending the lack of quests with "it's a sandbox" excuse.
Fun Fact: it's possible to play a game without the computer telling you where to go (well, some games... not to bring up the sandbox word that god-forbid gets used in a sandbox games' forum). In fact, some poor souls think that there's better things the developers can do than blow all their time writing trite little story lines about how the player is totally gonna save the world (again) from a series of evil rats or something, and be a hero across the land just like the other 200 guys to do that quest that day.
sarcasm aside, quests (or rather, computer-generated busywork) are not as vital for some players as they seem to be for you. For people who need quests to enjoy a game, yeah, MO's probably not for them. At which point, you might as well downvote wow for having goblins because you think goblins are stupid, or downvote EVE because you lose loot when you die.
It's rather simple, if quests do not ruin a sandbox, why not have them? As I said, the only true reasons (despite what SV may claim) for MO lacking quests, is lack of time and experince to get them right. Sure, the world saving quests and kill 10 rats (or collect 10 mushrooms, for the matter, eh?) are quite cliche by now, but I do think that a wellmade, varying objectives can be a good entertaiment for many people, and we all know that MO is lacking stuff to do atm... to just PvP or craft all day long is getting dull.
Well actually... if the mail system turns out the way many fans are speculating... it will result in a new and groundbreaking task system. Players might be given a task of taking mail from point A to point B. Instead of XP you will get cash or some other reward for your time. This takes questing to the next level and is far and away better than having a magic "!" over the NPCs head. Just another reason to get on board the DAWN bandwagon!
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
You answered the question yourself: quests have become cliche, and neither ruin nor make a game. They are, and always have been, an illusion of content that has meaning in the gameworld, a thin disguise for the grind. Routinely there are posts by members on this website that complain about quests just being "more of the same", and for the most part, they're right. Most people admit to not even reading the text, which is usually just a very basic and contrived rationale for killing X of Y, collecting A of B, etc.
Ultimately, it comes down to the design and tuning of the game. There are plenty of games that offer quests - many of them are bemoaned by the community for contributing to a soloer's mentality within a multi-player game. Right or wrong, the lack of quests in this game attempts a return to a more self-directed approach, as well as a more social, community-based focus, which are things a lot of people who frequent this website agree are elements sorely unsupported by the majority of today's games.
In short, you can use that sword you got from a quest NPC to kill 10 wisents another NPC told you to kill, to get some money and a helmet from said NPC.
Or, you can use the sword you bought from a swordsmith (player), and choose to kill 10 wisents, sell the carcasses to a butcher (player), so they can dress it and take the components to sell to an armorsmith (player) to make a helmet that you could potentially buy from said player.
I believe the use of quests, or tasks, to form an in-game tutorial for new players is a good idea. Other than that, I would prefer that the rest of the game be left in the player's hands to decide. I'd like tools for player-defined tasks or contracts to make the community-based game more efficient. But beyond that, I don't need some BS rationale from an NPC on why I need to gather the crap for a Samophlange, so on my next character, I can gather the same crap for yet another Samophlange ("Hey, didn't I already get you one!").
If you need NPCs to tell you what to do and reward you in a game, there are plenty of games that will do that for you. MO is trying to provide a platform for players that don't need or want that, and would instead like to play in a world focused on player interaction and interrelationships.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Apparently this has been changed according to Slapshot in another post in this forum. Guess SV has changed their minds about questing.
Actually SV has always planned to have "very big quests" in their game!
Q: We know from the Mortal Online website that it has an expansive and intriguing back story. How will the quest lines in the game follow it?
A: First of all, I want to make it clear that there are no regular "quests" in MO, just like there are no "levels" or generic "experience points". We have chosen to embed the majority of the lore in the world itself for you as a player to discover, if you are interested, instead of reading about it beforehand or getting it fed to you by NPC’s with flashing exclamation marks over their heads.
What we do have, are very big quests in the form of riddles and chains-of-events spread about in the world that will often involve several players or guilds, and from time to time affect the development of the world. These quests will start slowly even from day one, and we have some deep events planned for the players - where their actions will get reflected back upon the world and the rest of the future players. We’ve even presented clues for some of these events before the game starts, one is embedded in the countdown image on www.mortalonline.com
http://www.gamesnafu.com/readarticle.php?ArticleID=180
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
The best information we have right now is that Tasks will be created by players for other players, not fed to players by NPCs. The tutorial tasks might be the only difference.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Yeah i bought this game a while back. Was kind of just check ing up on it..potential...yadda yadda yadda.....
I only spent about 2 weeks playing my months sub. My time in game was doubled by being able to talk to someone about the game on this forum, since you cant talk to anyone in game if you choose the wrong race/starting area, which is what gave me my second week of playing, since i could see other people.
See i started out in some desolate browngrey area, not a single player, not a single thing to kill, and i did the whole exploing thing. I ended up rerolling a few times because i explored so far out that i had no clue where i was, had no one to talk to, nothing to kill.
My next week of constant rerolls involed another race, and trying out diffrent skills, basically i was chopping wood and banging rocks naked, still with not a soul in sight, and since no global chat or anything i was on my own.
About day 6 i saw someone else, i spammed the local chat, ran up to them....nothing, so i attacked, there they started talking...gave me a horse and ran off without much said. That horse, got stuck and i had to abandon it after about 5min, not sure if there was something wrong i did or if it was a glitch as no one to talk to.
After expressing this here, i got a PM about needing to reroll (yes reroll again...in a sandbox...) to get to the populated area, which was. Only it was full of other people chopping wood and banging rocks....i thought...great there has GOT to be something else to do.
I found a mob spawn, it was one type of animal mob that dropped crafting items...great, most of the crafting didnt work so where do i get some gear to lose? Eventually i realized this game want everything i had done already, and everyone was just waiting for that big magical day when the game would become real or whole. This was the game that led me to play darkfall for so long, since after leaving that game after a month, playing MO made me miss terribly the other player aspect and the combat aspect of a full loot pvp game, and i can bang rocks and chop wood there too but i can make things with the stuff (at the time i played MO all the recipes had no description and figuring out what they did or what to do was nearly impossible)
So its been quite a while, whats changed in MO? If i were to resub, would i be chopping wood, banging rocks and possibly killing one animal type mob or skeletons out of boredom, forced to be one race and forced into a build that caters to banging rocks and chopping wood since that was the only thing to do? Did they add the sandbox yet and give me the fredom to do what i want when i want, on any race i want??
Or did the just fix some bugs and ignore the whole "game" part of it all ?
There is a free trial... so before taking someone elses word... or subscribing blindly.. I would suggest just loading the trial.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Still doesn't make sense to me. Unless it has expanded since I saw it at release, the customization during character creation is even more basic than EQ2's. Although being able to specify two levels of your ancestry is nice.
The game is in much much better shape than it was at release. Give it a chance and you just might like it. I couldn't even play the game in beta or after release, but I just checked out the 14 day trial a few days ago... and I have to say I am having a great time. The game is a thousand times better than it was last time I played.
been playing for around 5 days now trial account
i cannot give any solid review as i mostly only run around like a chicken without it's head,
and most of the time i am just gathering some woods, and the crazy thing is, the population is so dead, i almost never see a chat on the local channel or anything, now i am not sure that if there are another channel which is more alive, but yeah. even at a point, after playing for around 3 hours, my chat log haven't even goes down
which i think it killed the game for me, I just felt bored without any other player interaction, i will try and finish my trial, hopefully, by the end of the trial, i can give more solid review
So What Now?
@ ; TweFoju:
Local chat only. If you can't see 'em, you won't hear 'em. So yeah, if you're out in the woods chooping trees you won't hear alot of chat going on.