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Your Ideal Quest
Wingeye
Member Posts: 58
Today most of us are probably complaining about how MMORPG quests are done and how unimaginative and mind numbing they can be
- Fetch quests
- Repeatable quests
- Chore quests
- Dailies
- Monster hunts
- resource collecting
to list a few
and most of them have a huge ammount of quest text (or voice) that is trying to explain why exactly you have to collect those 100 rat tails and dog sperm.
what i want to ask this community is that what exactly is your "ideal"
just write an example of the quest if you cant put it into words any other way
because imo with enough frequency even the most imaginative quests become repetitive and boring so there really is nothing wrong with the quests that are done today they are just too frequent and overly used, we need something different to fill the gaps for "variety" yeah lets say CONTENT, are quests even considered as content anymore? since they are said to be so boring..... well, enough rambling
(THREAD START)
(have pity on my bad english)
Comments
Quests I like to see: -
Questing to level has always bored me. I would rather have fewer quests which are more epic in scale, like the epic weapon quests of Everquest.
Let people make their own adventures while levelling. GW2 kind of got it right, but did too much hand holding and big 'THERES A QUEST OVER HERE' markers. It should be natural and intuitive that you go pick up items while you are adventuring then give them to someone who may want it and get a reward, or you can help people in need as you run across them, but having a quest giver asking you to gather something 10 meters away is just dumb. Why on earth are they standing so close to those dangerous mobs if they cant handle them themselves?
I guess I am just after something a little bit more organic. I don't mind quests for good rewards, but as the bread and butter of levelling it can get quite tedious. I think the only exception to that would be TSW, the way they presented the quests really helped to mask how obtuse some of the tasks were.
I always hated it when you had just killed a shitload of mobs, walked to the next area, and there was a quest-giver asking you to go and kill the same mobs again. Games always should reward you for content you have already completed, rather than forcing you to repeat it to tick another box.
I don't really want quests. At least not in the whole pre-determined start, middle and end with respawnable mobs that has been completed at least 10,000 times already today.
What I would prefer is the whole idea of crating a character and trying to interact with the world and seeing what happens.
A 'quest' should be finding a place I think would be a good place to build a cabin, heading into the woods, chopping down some tree's, dealing with some wild animals, collecting the wood, returning to the clearing, building a cabin, stocking it with food...all those activities are 'quests'. They are things you need or want to do while interacting with the world and from time to time other people. All of these activities from finding a clearing to build a cabin to killing some wild animals is a quest, it just isn't scripted.
I'm not that concerned with the details to be honest. I'm just not a fan of the quest hub system. I am fine with a quest being linear, and extending over a long period of time, otherwise I wouldn't actually have finished the Silent Hill games I played and I probably wouldn't have even finished the Bioshock games.
That does change a bit when I get to dailies in an MMORPG though. I don't mind doing them for some reason. Perhaps it's the difference between leveling and being at max level. While leveling, my character should be on a journey. At max level, my character has finished their journey and is hanging around just looking for stuff to do.
So my ideal quest system is something similar to a single player game like Bioshock or Bioshock Infinite, followed by dailies at the max level that consist of any of the quest types because apparently the type of quest isn't that relevant.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
My ideal quest is where you have an objective and by obtaining that objective you ...
kill mobs
find clues
fetch items which then open up other objectives ...
Look at the Original Dragon Age ...
With a few minor exceptions, you mostly head out to get allies, find out what happened to x, protect Y, and along the way you kill mobs, find things, figure out where to go next, etc.
I would prefer much longer quest arcs that were more story based than go out and fetch me this, kill x of y.
I also don't want glowing gps markers on maps. Because that's just a relay race and that doesn't interest me.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
The biggest problem is the nature of the beast dictates what is / is not possible in terms of questing.
However , as the guy above said I would the levelling to me more 'arc' questing So each 'quest-hub' would consist of various clues towards the bigger arc
Levels woudl infact tie into the part of hte arc done.
Something like this
Your born into the MMO having lost your memory, the journey through the stages of the game involve learning things, Either your past , or skills (you once knew)
Eventually the game leads to the reason you lost your memory.
But each 'mini-arc' might well have to invovle killing x/y/z or going to meet a person but to get to the person your having to fight / sneak / discover way through or around objects.
I dont think enough is made of quizzes / problems - TSW got it 'almost' right, all NPCs have ability to piece different parts of the Arc
hope this makes sense.
This post is all my opinion, but I welcome debate on anything i have put, however, personal slander / name calling belongs in game
where of course you're welcome to call me names im often found lounging about in EvE online.
Use this code for 21days trial in eve online https://secure.eveonline.com/trial/?invc=d385aff2-794a-44a4-96f1-3967ccf6d720&action=buddy
I think i prefer Game Master event type "quest"
Though it are event and not technically quest but it carry basic elements of quest. (someone give request > finish it > take reward)
It ready fun when thousands of player try they best to finish GM's request lol.
If go by list of OP then i chose
- Repeatable quests killing X mobs type : enjoy party/group time while repeat quests , typical mobs grind with break time.
I'd like that too but it requires a massive amount of content and a relatively small world to do. In Skyrim, I'd start at city and just walk west, for example, and explore everything along the way until I either got to another city or I ran into the edge of the map. Then I'd do it again and again. I would rarely walk for more than 2-3 minutes before I'd find something to do and I don't mean random encounters, I mean actual content programmed into the world. MMOs don't work that way, unfortunately, they usually have very limited content and very large worlds. The number of locations in Skyrim is probably more than most MMOs have in their entire existence, with all expansions.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
A few quests stand out in my loooooong MMO history:
SWG--the Correlian Corvette, one of the few instanced parts of the game, and some of the only content. It was hard as hell. Took us many tries to get it right. It was timed, so you had to get everything just right.
DDO--the Giant thingy--I forget it's name, dammit. {I'll try to come back and edit and add here which quest I was thinking of.} Stormhold (?) was one I think...and the other...: the one with all the rooms where you fought in different dimensions. Excellent quests. I'm sure you're thinking they must not be that memorable if I can't recall the names, but the names of them isn't relevant to the fondness I feel for them all these years later.
More General Puzzle Quests--any quest that somehow incorporates puzzles. DDO has many puzzles you must complete, more so than any other game I can think of.
Those are all instanced, btw, which is weird truthfully. I've never been a big advocate of instancing--hell, I complained about it a lot when I played. But none-the-less, those are the ones that stick out many years later.
DCB
Tier zero: create the gameplay first. The fundemental test of a quest mechanic is: "would I play this if it wasn't part of a quest but rather was just something in the world I could do?"
Your first tier of questing is simply "play the game for a while". There are going to be two versions of a tier 1 quest: directed and undirected. The directed version is when the player is asked to kill ten rats (eg: the traditional NPC task). The undirected version is when something happens when someone kills ten rats (eg: an elite rat spanws). These are both variations of the same idea.
The second tier of questing is how these tier one tasks are chained together. A traditional story arc is just a series of tier one directed quests chained together with a few paragraphs of explanation. You can also have the undirected, scripted version where killing rats triggers elite rats to spawn and killing elite rats triggers paragon rats to spawn and eventually killing paragons triggers the boss rat to spawn. These are the same idea, the only difference is how the player discovers the quest exists and how they track it. In general though, tier two quests are about treating the quests as the objects spawning and being played.
My prefered way to do second tier quests is to not think in terms of story at all, but to think in terms of zooming out from the world and seeing the different camps as different mobs spawning and interacting with each other. A village could be seen as a single mob fighting a rats nest mob. The NPC offering the "kill 10 rats" quest is just the way the village swings at the rats nest or attempts to block a swing by the rat's nest. Different tasks can heal the village, buff the village, debuff the rats nest, etc. But given enough time, one or the other prevails and breadscrumbs can lead players in the direction of other nearby hotspots. This is essentially what the typical themepark zone is doing ... it just does it in a very rigid prescripted way with very low replay value.
So in short: make fun stuff to do, chain it together in way that makes each small task a move of a larger game/simulation.Rune Scape exemplifies my ideal of questing. If there is one thing I feel that game does better then any other, it is quests. I will try to explain why so as not to simply wave my hand and say 'because this game'.
Firstly, while many NPC's will have you go and fetch items...When it comes to the quests it's never really that simple. There is always a complication. Something, that will have you running around, delving into dungeons, getting information from other NPC's (of course for a price), doing research, solving (sometimes dauntingly complex) puzzles, repairing broken things, creating new tools for very specific tasks. And, in general getting a lot more then you bargained for. Most the quests try hard to seem like something simple on the surface. But, you have nagging feeling with each one that it is a can-o-worms your about to take a sledge hammer to...and it usually is.
Secondly, the rewards are diverse. It's not just flat experience or opening up more quest lines. You unlock entire hidden areas, mini games, and resources that improve your ability to progress in the game. Not to mention all the interesting and useful items that come out of it, which you usually get to keep after the quest.
Then, there is the lore of it all. Not only does each quest tell you a good story (and in fact have you be a part of creating a good story). But, in the end it all ties together in ways you would have never thought of.
lastly, they will always leave you hanging. You can follow a series of quests from start to finish and in the end you will feel like you accomplished a lot and changed the face of things. But, there will still always be some lingering question. Some mystery, that you never were able to get at the heart of. Something the NPC's are just as confused about as you are....More adventures to come.
Even though in recent years I have slowed down a lot on playing Rune Scape (I have been playing it for 12 years after all). And, often I only log in to take care of daily/weekly/monthly up keeps and the like. I race back to the game every time they release a new quest I have the reqs for. And when ever I am sick of team based PvP in WoT, or exploration in EVE. I pick up Rune Scape for a quest. And, at least where making a good quest is concerned. I feel a lot of MMO's could take a page from Rune Scapes play book and be much better off for having done so.
What is my quest?
I seek the Holy Grail...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpx6XnankZ8
I enjoy quests that help me define my character. I enjoy quests where character development is the reward instead of some new shiny.
WoW used to have quests like this. Hunters used to learn how to tame their pets through a quest, Druids used to learn their animal forms through quests, Necromancers used to learn how to summon their demons through quests. There were other similar quests, but those come to mind quickly
Also, as mentioned earlier, EverQuest Epic Item quests were long, drawn out affairs. They were truly "quests" in the basic sense of the word.
Most "quests" are "chores", as in do some work the NPC does not feel like doing. This could stop if quests were not so level-geared.
I think quests should give rewards that are not XP related. A player could very well get XP (or skill increases) while doing the quest, but getting XP for doing a quest is kind of silly, in my eyes.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
I recently started a new EQ1 Character with my friends. Right now I am working on my Ranger Epic. It is kinda nice that characters are overpowered now so I can do most of the stuff that required minimum a good group up to a raid to get.
But I am digging that you have to do all this crazy stuff all over the world to get these cool weapons. Not so cool that if it weren't for Allakhazam I would have no clue what to do.
Quests need to have identifiable goals. They also need to have some level of danger though. I mean if everyone could just go out and pick up the greatest items in the game, why is it special.
I definitely want my new MMOs to have equipment variety though. I hate that most games, everyone is using exactly the same equipment. There is no variety, no desire to actively hunt down cool or rare items, and no reason to search beyond the marketplace to find what you need. That is one thing that EQ1 definitely got right.
That awesome sword only comes from doing a crazy quest that involved literally days of hunting, killing, and camping to get. Or it comes off of a boss mob that is seriously hard to kill and is only around once a week.
It makes getting it that much more satisfying. I want my gaming to feel like I accomplished something, not just playing through a prewritten single player themepark game.
I think the biggest problem with quests in MMOs is that they are only there to progress you through the game. Developers (or decision makers) think that having a longer game--more quests--is a good thing.
The problem in my opinion lies here; the quests are used as filler, you are helping generic NPCs in each hub with whatever they need done. The quests more often than not lack character. I skimmed through some of the other replies and seen that some others share similar opinions with me.
Single player RPGs like Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, and even older games such as Baldur's Gate give the quest givers more personality. To me there is no reason to help someone unless I feel they deserve the help, and MMOs do not present their NPCs in a way that supports this.
I'm not saying that each quest should be as big as the 'main story'. I'm also not saying all of a studio's money should be spent on professional voice acting. I think, however, that this is a job that should be handled by a team, dedicated to writing in depth content that makes sense in the game world, and shows differences in opinion, personal struggle, poverty, mistakes, as well as the daily lives of the inhabitants. Maybe then I would feel less like I am doing chores for robots, and more like I am helping (or harming >:]) the world, one quest at a time.
agree - i've always enjoyed class specific quests or tradeskill specific quests
EQ2 fan sites
This is the kind of thing I like too. Though character development doesn't have to be a reward _instead_ of something new and shiny. Like take a quest "build your first brick frame and make 24 bricks". As a reward, you get a shiny new crafting recipe that uses bricks to build a small storage chest! Though ideally there will also be some text from a NPC or 'narrator' about how you are becoming more pro at masonry every few brick-related quests. And it doesn't have to be just your character's class or profession or race or faction rank getting developed, it can also be the mysteries behind why things in the game world are the way they are, or it can be the unique culture of an NPC town in the game, or even the philosophy of an enemy faction (like a villain speech). _Something_ should be getting characterized, whether it is the player's avatar or part of the game world that the avatar lives in. And this characterization shouldn't be just a rehash of a fantasy setting or stereotype that has already been done to death. It's not interesting to learn things that aren't a little bit surprising and challenging to take into one's mind.
I enjoyed the Origonal Everquest quests.
These were not there to take you from one quest hub to the next as there were none. They were not there to give you en EXP boost as you didnt really get an exp reward for questing. The quest was there to teach you a bit about the lore of the land. They were there to make you get involved and travel to different areaas of the worl of Norrath.
I remember doing my Ivy quests for my Ranger and they had me travelling from Butcheblock to Permafrost. They had me fighting everything from a spider to Meldrath the Malignant. It was fun, challenging and rewarding. There were various runes that dropped from random mobs all over the land. This made you hunt in these areas rather than go and assasinate a mob for a particular drop and leave. While you were in that area hunting you would probably discover more interesting mobs and drops.
It wasnt about fast progression or to hand hold you to the next area, or even to level your character. it was simply a tool to play the game.
It's no secret that WoW likes to give nods to pop culture, and normally I'm ambivalent about that, but one of my favorite quests was the Zelda questline, which started with http://www.wowwiki.com/Quest:It's_a_Secret_to_Everybody ...removed in Cata, sadly, but way back when I first did it my warrior carried that sword until I absolutely had no choice but to replace it.
My other favorite quest is the Pamela Redpath questline in Eastern Plaguelands. It felt grounded in the history of the setting. Obligatory video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dTxcHulFBI
So the answer to the question is: quests should serve a purpose that advances the story or helps you to explore the world as your character. They should be immersive. They should not be kill 10 of this or collect 20 of that. Those types of quests really are just thinly disguising grinding (what really is the difference between a quest to kill 10 boars and killing 10 boars for the experience?)
Yes, the class-specific flavor quests have dried up. It's a shame, because I remember quests for druid forms, totems, the Paladin and Warlock mounts.
I think ultimately older games viewed questing as an integral part of the experience. The journey was important. Now, questing is just a necessary evil to get you to endgame, which is what the developers are concerned with. With dungeon finding tools questing is really just a way to get you to 15 and then people queue their way to 90. It's really pretty sad to me.
Also, I frame my answer with WoW because that's the only MMO I really play with any regularity.
This is my fav quest in a MMO:
Larry's Ruined Garden(circa Asheron's Call 1):
"Possibly we humans can exist without actually having to fight. But many of us have chosen to fight. For what reason? To protect something? Protect what? Ourselves? The future? If we kill people to protect ourselves and this future, then what sort of future is it, and what will we have become? There is no future for those who have died. And what of those who did the killing? Is happiness to be found in a future that is grasped with blood stained hands? Is that the truth?"