Questing makes me feel that there is a reason for what I am doing - I am not just killing things to benefit myself but for the sake of some cause. Even if it is a very *small* cause like helping a farmer get the cows milked and pigs slopped in exchange for a night's lodging or a meal.
Questing makes me feel that life is not the monotonous drudgery of killing mobs in endless quantities for days or weeks on end.
Quests are not the problem with many MMOs today. The problem is super-fast leveling caused by excessive quest rewards *and* excessive experience rewards per kill. The problem is quests that force you into the great hero or villain role. The problem is quests that lead you down a golden path from birth to maximum level.
Quests in Pantheon will not fall into these errors (we hope) and will be a great force for good not for evil . May the quest be with us.
Engaged.
I love having a defined goal and a path (not literal) to follow in order to achieve it. Quests are an excellent way to not only immerse me in lore but to point me toward areas I might not have explored on my own. And then run back to the quest hub. And then explore the area again. And then run back to the quest hub. And then...
But seriously, well-designed quests I think are the prime feature of MMOs and RPGs.
enriched
1. faction hits, good and bad
2. learning about the quest giver, a group of people or an area
3. learning about my class, race, region
4. learning about the world, the way it works, hopefully the powers in play (leaders, deities, etc.)
5. moving toward the next level, more depth, more knowledge and hopefully more understanding
Chanus said:Manouk said:Involved!
(caveat: a quest is not kill 10 pigs, never was. The killing of pigs may be involved but its not the sole purpose.)
Says you I need to get this deli tray for 100 people done today.
Sounds like getting the deli tray done by a deadline IS the quest, and killing 10 pigs is mearly a means to that end. ;-)
And I agree with what many others here have said:
They can be great for immersion, and learning the backstories and lore.
Great incentive to visit a location I might otherwise miss.
Great to add purpose rather than roaming around killing whatever is in my path.
I just hope they don't over reward quests making it pointless to do anything that isn't somehow quest related. (Looking at you WOW)
Kilsin said:In One Word - Describe how questing makes you feel? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
You have to differentiate questing from tasking.
Questing is doing an actual quest. Something you could make a cinematic from. Something like almost anything from the first few expansions in EQ, The HK 51 quest in SWTOR, the Heritage quests from EQ2, even vanilla WoW had a few.
Tasking is what you do in most MMORPGs to level up where you go to a hub and grab all the tasks the folks there need you to do.
In a word, questing makes me think of something involved, something meaningful that you probably won't finish in one session.
In a word, tasking makes me think of mindless grinding or leveling.
Kilsin said:In One Word - Describe how questing makes you feel? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
The answer wholly depends upon the type of "quest". I use quotes here because how it is defined differs dramatically from one game to another. WoW and RIFT* 'quests' are just tasks, as are nearly all the EQ2** 'quests'. Merriam-Webster defines it as "a long or arduous search for something; a chivalrous enterprise in medieval romance usually involving an adventurous journey." The EQ1 Coldain Prayer Shawl quest and the 10th Coldain Ring are perfect examples of this definition.
So, if VR's 'quests' are the WoW/RIFT type then my one word is: Disinterested.
If VR's 'quests' fit the definition by Merriam-Webster then my one word is: Captivated.
*In RIFT, there was a 'quest' given out by a farmer who was whining about some creatures who was wreaking havoc on the local farmers and would reward us grealty for quashing these beasts. The mobs he wanted killed were, literally, standing across the path in front of his porch. I killed them all without having to move from that very spot. Whoppie-#*&@(%-doo. The very next quest from that same idiot farmer had me kill 10 more of them, but these were behind his house. @#%@% that farmer and the idiot developer who created that #@#pile.
**EQ2 just loved to send you back to the exact same place 5 and 6 times to get yet one more thing you could have gotten the first time through but because the 'quests' were only offered once you completed the previous step you couldn't do that. Quite a few of these you could, just by looking around the area of the quest giver, all the mobs you knew you'd be killing for the next 5 levels. Not across the zone, or in another zone..literally within the default game vew distance. #%&@*%. I'd better not see that #%&#% in Pantheon.
Treasure Hunt!
(sorry, that was 2 words)
