Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

What Makes A Good Quest?

    • 9115 posts
    October 16, 2017 3:59 AM PDT

    What, in your opinion, makes a good questline and what do you prefer as quest rewards? #PRF #MMORPG #Communitymatters

    • 470 posts
    October 16, 2017 4:19 AM PDT

    A series of events that escalate in challenge, encourage exploration, tells a good story that expands the lore, and has a purpose (branching options are a huge plus). Some of these can be for the lone adventurer while others bring a group together for a common goal. An old school good example while not perfect, the Coldain Ring War. An old school bad example, kill rats and collect 10 tails...then turn them in one at a time.


    This post was edited by Kratuk at October 16, 2017 4:21 AM PDT
    • 30 posts
    October 16, 2017 4:20 AM PDT
    Quests that require thought and reward that thought with insight into the lore and history of the world.

    Puzzles, cryptograms, environmental clues are all great things that many quests are missing in modern games.

    Quests that encourage travel into areas you might otherwise miss are also great.

    Quests that give rewards like the epics from Everquest are great. They were always such a challenge but everyone wanted to complete them.

    The Secret World and Elder Scrolls are both pretty good at this, but its quantity over quality with them.

    Personally I prefer less quests but the quests that exist to feel unique and interesting.
    • 15 posts
    October 16, 2017 4:40 AM PDT

    Quests should be more then rewarding it should be something you remember. It could be funny at times and sad at others. I personally have Bard's Tale type of quests in mind. Bard enters the tavern and the tavern maid asks him to go kill the rats in the cellar, the tavern patrons are laughing at the bard. What could go wrong with a few rats. But what he doesnt know is that theres a Giant Fire breating Rat in the basement. He gets his ass burnt and runs up to grab a sword from the maiden :)

    I hope you see where I am getting here. These type of quests are entertaining. Instead of go kill 10 bats (get exp + gold) kinda quests.

    Material Rewards:
    Gold could be slightly more significant. Compared to looting silk web/pelts and selling them to vendor or players.
    (charisma of the player could play a role into bribing more gold)

    weapons/armor rewards should not be game breaking. unless its an EPIC WEAPON quest like in EQ. I dont know if you guys plan on going the color base loot (grey common, green mundane, blue etc etc)
    If so then at low levels we should get too strong too quick.

    I have so many ideas rushing to my head. 

    • 248 posts
    October 16, 2017 4:41 AM PDT

    As mentioned above Epic quests and the Coldain Ring quest from Everquest are my top quests. They took time and cooperation.
    For slightly smaller quests, like armor quests, it is important that you don't outlevel the reward before you are able to complete it. Nothing is more annoying.

    As for quest rewards. I think items should be the rewards, weapons, armor, crafting ingredients, money, faction (not really an item, I know). It should never be experience. Experience should be gained while questing. Fighting all the way down the dungeon to the npc who's head you need. Not gained by turning in the quest.


    -sorte.

    • 1584 posts
    October 16, 2017 4:53 AM PDT

    A good quest imho is where you have to travel the world, with a decent idea of where to go, like without saying the zones or regions name, decribe the area that fit it good enough to where when he talks to his friends or travels the world it might catch his eye and he adventures there to see if he cant find another clue.  Another thing that makes a good quest is no so many bottlenecks like EQ, i love EQ dearly, but the problme with bottleneck areas is that the community isnt like it was in 1999, instead of it being first come first serve or certain mobs, its who has a wizard to nuke this before anybody else has a chance to kill it and gets it loot.  I'm fine with some bottle necks like with Epics and such, becuase honestly there should be some, but i would prefer for those bottlenecks be with the raid mobs than with the Goblin in Sol A and Rathe Lake for the cleric that can take hm 12 hours to spawn just to be KSed in 2 seconds and nothing he could of really done to change the outcome.  Would also like this partical type of items to be NO DROP, to prevent people from farming these said items, along with you have to be part of the kill to loot the reward to prevent Extreme Farming on a mob just to make money and prevent anyone from being able to get themselves, and also would stop this Loot Rights Auction that is crazy bad in EQ, if you didn't help kill it than you cant get anything from him period, this imho opinion should effect everything when it comes to raid mobs drops, not just his quest items.  Sorry for getting off topic but i figured to throw that last bit in there, since it technically what would make the the questlines better but also covered other areas.  

     

    As for Rewards i say t honestly all depends, if it is something easily repeatable, maybe just some low end gear that might be an upgrade with some exp, if it really long and such than make it give out something that is pretty bad*** will be with you for quite some time and hard to give up on.

    • 15 posts
    October 16, 2017 4:59 AM PDT

    Asya said:

    Quests should be more then rewarding it should be something you remember. It could be funny at times and sad at others. I personally have Bard's Tale type of quests in mind. Bard enters the tavern and the tavern maid asks him to go kill the rats in the cellar, the tavern patrons are laughing at the bard. What could go wrong with a few rats. But what he doesnt know is that theres a Giant Fire breating Rat in the basement. He gets his ass burnt and runs up to grab a sword from the maiden :)

    I hope you see where I am getting here. These type of quests are entertaining. Instead of go kill 10 bats (get exp + gold) kinda quests.

    Material Rewards:
    Gold could be slightly more significant. Compared to looting silk web/pelts and selling them to vendor or players.
    (charisma of the player could play a role into bribing more gold)

    weapons/armor rewards should not be game breaking. unless its an EPIC WEAPON quest like in EQ. I dont know if you guys plan on going the color base loot (grey common, green mundane, blue etc etc)
    If so then at low levels we should get too strong too quick.

    I have so many ideas rushing to my head. 



    Just wanted to add something:

    One thing I hate the most in games nowadays is that you outlevel way too quickly the gear, for instance in SWToR you looked really bad ass at lvl10 then at 11-12-13 you start getting different pieces of gear and you start looking like a clown because the looks you like from the previous tier is no longer there.

    I would love if there was a way to TRANSMOG just like in Diablo3 the gear to what you like the most, they (Blizzard) understood this issue.

    • 1584 posts
    October 16, 2017 5:05 AM PDT

    Asya said:

    Asya said:

    Quests should be more then rewarding it should be something you remember. It could be funny at times and sad at others. I personally have Bard's Tale type of quests in mind. Bard enters the tavern and the tavern maid asks him to go kill the rats in the cellar, the tavern patrons are laughing at the bard. What could go wrong with a few rats. But what he doesnt know is that theres a Giant Fire breating Rat in the basement. He gets his ass burnt and runs up to grab a sword from the maiden :)

    I hope you see where I am getting here. These type of quests are entertaining. Instead of go kill 10 bats (get exp + gold) kinda quests.

    Material Rewards:
    Gold could be slightly more significant. Compared to looting silk web/pelts and selling them to vendor or players.
    (charisma of the player could play a role into bribing more gold)

    weapons/armor rewards should not be game breaking. unless its an EPIC WEAPON quest like in EQ. I dont know if you guys plan on going the color base loot (grey common, green mundane, blue etc etc)
    If so then at low levels we should get too strong too quick.

    I have so many ideas rushing to my head. 



    Just wanted to add something:

    One thing I hate the most in games nowadays is that you outlevel way too quickly the gear, for instance in SWToR you looked really bad ass at lvl10 then at 11-12-13 you start getting different pieces of gear and you start looking like a clown because the looks you like from the previous tier is no longer there.

    I would love if there was a way to TRANSMOG just like in Diablo3 the gear to what you like the most, they (Blizzard) understood this issue.

    Has nothing to do with the Thread, and to counter that idea i dont want transmog becuase it make too manny people look alike and all times, just make the gear look good in general and who cares bout the rest.

    • 3237 posts
    October 16, 2017 5:05 AM PDT

    A good questline is one that requires you to think about the next step.  While "engaged" with a quest I want there to be a sense of mystery.  I like quests that require you to solve a problem that the quest-giver shouldn't be able to solve themself.  If it's killing 10 rats outside the barn, bleh.  I like it better when the NPC poses a problem and doesen't necessarily know how to solve it.  So and so went missing ... such and such stopped working ... the local critters all seem to be vampiric and nobody knows why!

    I also enjoy working on longer questlines.  The AQ quests from FFXI were some of my favorites.  You could obtain a full set of class-specific armor that was pretty nice stat-wise but the quest was very difficult.  You couldn't solo any of it.  Certain parts of the quest line would be extremely dangerous even if you had a full group and some outside help.  That's what I want to see again.  Paladins having a quest where they need to visit a tomb buried deep beneath an Undead Necropolis.  Getting there should be a real pain in the ass ... players should be "terrified" of having to go down there.  It isn't a zone that is just being farmed non-stop from beginning to end.  The entire area is dangerous and you would be lucky to make it out alive.  That's what I remember from my FF quest.  It took me over a week to finally find the right people that could help me finish it, and even then, we barely pulled through.  I banded together with another paladin (and the friends he had helping him) to see if we could work it out together.

    I liked the heritage quests from EQ2.  They were some really thought out quests that gave a nice reward and some status.  The rewards were on point ... nothing super over-powered ... maybe a trinket (manastone) or a weapon, piece of armor ... very rarely was one considered BiS but those that preserved value were my favorites.  "Situational" items ... could be the answer for Pantheon.  I would love to work on a quest for a piece of situational gear or even a situational spell.  I want a world with a fair amount of these quests so that when you explore a new area, you know it will be quite a bit of time before you "master" it and never have a reason to come back.

    There are a bunch of different factors that make quests awesome.  Avoid mundane tasks ... I have no issue with "Kill X amount of these" but spread that mobs out a bit and make it so finding them is somewhat of an adventure.  Make it so the mobs are challenging and require a group.  I think the majority of quests should require the assistance of other players.  The rewards should be memorable ... I don't want a new quest every 10 levels for a full set of gear.  Maybe 1 or 2 sets from 1-50.  An entry level set around 20 would be okay and then another set you can start working on from 40-50.  I also like puzzles and quests that can be failed ... something like an escort mission where you have to protect a caravan or merchant.  I think it would be nice to see a limited set of quests that scales your reward based on performance.  For example on an escort quest ... your reward might be better if the person you are protecting never gets hit a single time.  Quests that basically have "bonus objectives."


    This post was edited by oneADseven at October 16, 2017 5:27 AM PDT
    • 3237 posts
    October 16, 2017 5:08 AM PDT

    Asya said:

    Asya said:

    Quests should be more then rewarding it should be something you remember. It could be funny at times and sad at others. I personally have Bard's Tale type of quests in mind. Bard enters the tavern and the tavern maid asks him to go kill the rats in the cellar, the tavern patrons are laughing at the bard. What could go wrong with a few rats. But what he doesnt know is that theres a Giant Fire breating Rat in the basement. He gets his ass burnt and runs up to grab a sword from the maiden :)

    I hope you see where I am getting here. These type of quests are entertaining. Instead of go kill 10 bats (get exp + gold) kinda quests.

    Material Rewards:
    Gold could be slightly more significant. Compared to looting silk web/pelts and selling them to vendor or players.
    (charisma of the player could play a role into bribing more gold)

    weapons/armor rewards should not be game breaking. unless its an EPIC WEAPON quest like in EQ. I dont know if you guys plan on going the color base loot (grey common, green mundane, blue etc etc)
    If so then at low levels we should get too strong too quick.

    I have so many ideas rushing to my head. 



    Just wanted to add something:

    One thing I hate the most in games nowadays is that you outlevel way too quickly the gear, for instance in SWToR you looked really bad ass at lvl10 then at 11-12-13 you start getting different pieces of gear and you start looking like a clown because the looks you like from the previous tier is no longer there.

    I would love if there was a way to TRANSMOG just like in Diablo3 the gear to what you like the most, they (Blizzard) understood this issue.

    I believe we will have a system similar to transmog in Pantheon.  The key takeaway is that gear will have to be earned.  I am a fan of such systems ... it actually helps with characters looking unique and adds "cosmetic value" to certain pieces in the world.

    • 9115 posts
    October 16, 2017 5:14 AM PDT

    Some solid replies, good to see such creativity :)

    • 52 posts
    October 16, 2017 5:22 AM PDT

    Good quests are fun, interesting, and offer a return worth the effort.  Not all quests need to be epic in scope.  Something as simple as helping a village with a recurring problem can be fun.  However, if the bulk of the quests in a game are helping a village then they become stale.  So perhaps unique should be included in the list.

    The epic weapon quests in EQ were an example of a bad quest.  I say this because the reward was basically required to be competitive which made the quest mandatory.  Quests should be something that players want to do, not something they feel they have to do in order to progress.  Additionally the amount of resources, time and players, required to complete the epic weapon quests placed a significant burden on guilds and took away from participating in the rest of the game.  It also made turn over of personnel extremely painful because new players had to be alloted time to get their epics, and then those new players could move on to a more competitive guild once the guild requirements were satisified.  This created "feeder" guilds who wanted to progress but couldn't because they were used as a stepping stone to complete epics and keys before players left.

    An example of a good quest would be the "shining star of light" from EQ.  It was doable by one or two people, required multiple tasks to be accomplished, used a large part of the game world, and provided a unique reward.  Sadly, the reward was remarkbly underpowered because it was a proc instead of a clickable effect, but the quest itself was fun.

    I hope the quests in Pantheon follow the example of the Shining Star of Light.  A unqiue plotline, requires travel over several zones/areas, can be accomplished with one or two people, has an useful reward that can be used for a long time.  

    I would say most quest rewards should be some kind of clickable effect, unique visual item, or an item that can be upgraded through future quests.  This helps cut down on mudflation and ensures that quest rewards are used by the character past the next item upgrade.

    Suites of armor that match and have a combined effect are ideal for quest chains. Especially if there are future quests which help upgrade that armor.  This means playing the game for each enounter and the fun instead of stressing the next armor upgrade.  There is still room for powerful items to be used instead of the suit piece but the character and the suit grow together.  There could even be multiple suit options that provide a different focus and keep people engaged in questing.

    • 1281 posts
    October 16, 2017 5:25 AM PDT

    Having to go somewhere I've never gone before or hunt a mob I've never thought of hunting before.

    • 23 posts
    October 16, 2017 5:31 AM PDT

    Continuity of story from one quest portion to the next, culminating in a lore reveal or other uncovering. Sort of like an arching mini-series. 

    Learning about the mysteries of the game's lore and underlying richness of it's world was one of the most appealing aspects of the EQ1 epic quest series. Some of those quests really gave life to the otherwise unassuming NPCs scattered around the world. 

    I'd love to see Pantheon really make it's lore shine through engaging, mysterious quests that encourage the player to both explore and engage in the lore-world, and not just in a combat sense. Quest reward items that are very specific and have traits or characteristics that tie directly into the lore of the quest itself are wonderful. A good example of this might be something like the burning rapier quest in EQ1.  

    • 3237 posts
    October 16, 2017 5:39 AM PDT

    I also like the idea of "race specific" or "class specific" quests.  It would be really cool if some of the "passive" bonuses for our races could be enhanced through a special racial quest of some sort.  Maybe the +5 cold acclimation can become +10 cold acclimation for dwarves who complete their racial timeline.  I would also love to see some sort of "treasure map" series.  Quests that you don't necessarily get from an NPC ... but rather a map that dropped from a mob or you found somewhere in a chest.

    I liked the BBC (Bone Bladed Claymore) from EQ2 and the special version (Electrified Bone Bladed Claymore) that you could only unlock by completing other, related quests in the zone.  Access quests ... secret entrance or back door quests.  Faction quests.  I also like having "options" for quests.  Maybe certain NPC's offer multiple quests but you can only choose one rather than everybody getting the same quest and choosing a different reward.  While in a group, I like my session to be built around maximizing progress for everybody in the group.  It becomes very linear when everybody is working on the same thing.

    I like the idea of navigating a dungeon or area to accomplish as much as possible, as efficiently as possible.  Player A needs an update over there ... player B needs something around the bend ... let's see if we can kill a few birds with one stone type of deal.  Make it so that navigating the world isn't necessarily a part of the actual quest, but skilled/knowledgable players can use their experience/awareness to their advantage.  I want to see a return to there being a value in having a strong group leader or a group that is willing to help each other rather than everybody working on something together because they all need the same update.  The most important factor of all is challenge.  Challenge players to the point where they will probably die unless they are really prepared.  Make it so people fail and realize they should come back in a level or 2 or after they upgrade their gear ... or when they have a better group composition for the job.

    One thing I really loved from EQOA was their epic weapon quests.  Each class could choose from 2 different weapons.  A warrior could take a 2h Axe or dual wield swords.  It really helped with character differentiation.  Maybe for summoners/necros they can get a "master pet" but they have choices.  One necro might choose the arch lich (caster) while the other takes the abomination (tank)  --  I am sure both classes will have a variety of pets to fulfill all roles but it would be nice if characters could specialize to some degree.


    This post was edited by oneADseven at October 16, 2017 5:55 AM PDT
    • 557 posts
    October 16, 2017 5:52 AM PDT

    If we're using EQ as a baseline, one thing I'd like to see are more quests with significant negative faction hits.   If you need to kill a humanoid for the quest, his aunts/uncles/cousins and his dog should hate you for a long long time.  Nor should there be any silly quests like turning in sandwiches to a guard to redeem yourself for committing such a heinous act.  "I'm sorry I killed your father, have a popsicle and we can be friends."   So I guess what I want to see are more consequences and that risk/reward also has a cost/benefit element.  I should think twice before taking on every task where someone promises me a magic ring if I will serve them.  Related to this, toss in a few quests where you take some pretty heavy faction hits along the way but repair them on completion.  Let there be a penalty for failure to complete.

    I know that inventory management is part of a good MMO, but for a quest that might take months to complete, I'd rather not have two bags filled with quest sub-components.  Have a few consolidation points in the quest line where six items can become one, even if the consolidated item is not equipable (ie a modest sword as a sub-reward along the way to your epic sword of wootness).

    Certainly, the best quests are, as Kratuk mentions, infused with lore and make you feel like you're doing something, if not heroic, then at least contributing to some sort of storyline.  

    Don't have quests that involve slow static ground spawns where you're going to have 5 players sitting on a spot waiting for it to appear.   If something is only going to appear every 20 hours, then make it harder to find, move it around and give it placeholders so it takes considerable effort to locate - rather than hours to stare at the same green patch of grass.   

    For quest mobs (or even mobs that just drop a decent item that players are going to want to camp) make them spawn in different locations with placeholders.  It's a lot more fun to work to find a mob than it is to set your six hour timer, sit beside a lake and wait for the barbarian to pop so you can steal his fishbone earring.   (ie think Pyzjn rather than Hadden)    Rather than making mobs/items rare by setting long respawn timers, let us work for it.   Eliminate AFK camping.

    I like quests that have some sort of later reference or follow-up.  So, you've got your epic wand now.  That shouldn't be your career end goal.  Let the new item contribute to the perception system so that maybe a wizard in the great library sees my gear and offers me a task.  

    I love travel and collection style quests where you start the quest and leave it on the back burner while you head out on other adventures.  Every once in awhile I'd like the perception system to notice that I'm part way through one of those quests and give me a clue that there's a component nearby that I should keep my eye out for.

    I think the bulk of quests should be multi-part.  Anything where I do something for 15 minutes then go get a reward might as well be "kill 20 rats".  

    I also agree that you should not receive experience for completing the quest itself.  The reward is the quest item, the faction that it might yield along the way and the pile of fun you had doing it.

    • 3 posts
    October 16, 2017 6:02 AM PDT

    I like the idea of "normal" quests and "progression quests". A normal quest is your typical task that rewards experience or loot, but may also unlock a 'progression' quest. A progression quest follows an arc through your characters level range, with intermediate rewards that gradually progress to an ultimate reward. 

    Progression quests could also be triggered by loot drops, or location spawns (like finding a book in a dungeon). 

    The biggest thing with quests is to try to eliminate their static nature (ie. walkthroughs online). This could be by randomizing the types of items & locations for the quest, differing quests by race/class, and preventing the 'repeatability' of quests (i.e. can only do them once).

     

    Best rewards:

    . Unique looking items 

    . Good items for the level range

    . Good XP

    . Exploration/Discovery

    • 1584 posts
    October 16, 2017 6:41 AM PDT

    Celandor said:

    If we're using EQ as a baseline, one thing I'd like to see are more quests with significant negative faction hits.   If you need to kill a humanoid for the quest, his aunts/uncles/cousins and his dog should hate you for a long long time.  Nor should there be any silly quests like turning in sandwiches to a guard to redeem yourself for committing such a heinous act.  "I'm sorry I killed your father, have a popsicle and we can be friends."   So I guess what I want to see are more consequences and that risk/reward also has a cost/benefit element.  I should think twice before taking on every task where someone promises me a magic ring if I will serve them.  Related to this, toss in a few quests where you take some pretty heavy faction hits along the way but repair them on completion.  Let there be a penalty for failure to complete.

    I know that inventory management is part of a good MMO, but for a quest that might take months to complete, I'd rather not have two bags filled with quest sub-components.  Have a few consolidation points in the quest line where six items can become one, even if the consolidated item is not equipable (ie a modest sword as a sub-reward along the way to your epic sword of wootness).

    Certainly, the best quests are, as Kratuk mentions, infused with lore and make you feel like you're doing something, if not heroic, then at least contributing to some sort of storyline.  

    Don't have quests that involve slow static ground spawns where you're going to have 5 players sitting on a spot waiting for it to appear.   If something is only going to appear every 20 hours, then make it harder to find, move it around and give it placeholders so it takes considerable effort to locate - rather than hours to stare at the same green patch of grass.   

    For quest mobs (or even mobs that just drop a decent item that players are going to want to camp) make them spawn in different locations with placeholders.  It's a lot more fun to work to find a mob than it is to set your six hour timer, sit beside a lake and wait for the barbarian to pop so you can steal his fishbone earring.   (ie think Pyzjn rather than Hadden)    Rather than making mobs/items rare by setting long respawn timers, let us work for it.   Eliminate AFK camping.

    I like quests that have some sort of later reference or follow-up.  So, you've got your epic wand now.  That shouldn't be your career end goal.  Let the new item contribute to the perception system so that maybe a wizard in the great library sees my gear and offers me a task.  

    I love travel and collection style quests where you start the quest and leave it on the back burner while you head out on other adventures.  Every once in awhile I'd like the perception system to notice that I'm part way through one of those quests and give me a clue that there's a component nearby that I should keep my eye out for.

    I think the bulk of quests should be multi-part.  Anything where I do something for 15 minutes then go get a reward might as well be "kill 20 rats".  

    I also agree that you should not receive experience for completing the quest itself.  The reward is the quest item, the faction that it might yield along the way and the pile of fun you had doing it.

    I agree with basically everything you said, cept for the ground respawns i'm fine with it having more than one spawn location but i would love for the respawn timer to be significally less like 15 minutes or so, i hate being in a spot where there are camping the same thing and someone else gets it and you have to wait another 2 hours to get it, that is so frustrating and non nesscary thats it only makes me give up on the quest sometimes entirely, it was one of the biggest reasons i never made it to VP becuase of certain areas that had either a ground spawn, or some other item that always prevented me from achieveing my goal, and thats not fair, especially when the big thing that stopped me was a ground spawn, meaning it wasn't a skill thing, wasnt a time thing, wasnt nothing other than clicking on a spot in the ground before another player and more than likely to lose more times than not becuase there are a ton of people trying to do the same thing your doing, so i say with this make the items that are ground spawns spawn faster so the bottleneck isn't a complete cluster**** and simply pointless.


    This post was edited by Cealtric at October 16, 2017 6:43 AM PDT
    • 110 posts
    October 16, 2017 6:43 AM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    What, in your opinion, makes a good questline and what do you prefer as quest rewards? #PRF #MMORPG #Communitymatters

    In my opinion a good questline comes from multiple aspects.  Does the quest offer something to me that is relevent to me now for example.  What I mean by this of course is does the quest impact any stat changes due to items received from the quest, is there experience and coin involved.  A well rounded questline will implement all of these at the relevent stages of your travels in the game. 

    In my opinion a reward has to match the amount of "work or time" it takes to actually complete the questline.  To make questlines meaningful and memorable would fall into this catagory as well for me.  For example if a questline leads up to an item for your class that would be very beneficial in a group setting or a raid setting this would be worth the effort. A quest that involves others also fits this mold for me, because now I get to share the stories we made along the way doing this questline. 

     

    • 3852 posts
    October 16, 2017 7:45 AM PDT

    In a quest-driven game with hundreds or even thousands of quests I would have a very different answer but if Pantheon will have a somewhat different focus, as I understand, I will simply say this. 

    Choices.

    Ideally there will be a choice of responses to the questgiver, and there will be consequences to which one you choose. So four different characters can get up to that quest and have different paths and results, for example. Perhaps one choice will increase faction with one group but reduce faction with another. Where the reduced faction takes opportunities away so it isn't always "better" to choose faction one. Perhaps there will be an overall ranking of a character as good or evil or something in the middle, with quest choices as well as other actions moving the bar. With "evil" characters able to do some things "good" characters cannot or vice versa. Much like factions, actually, but more global. A metafaction one could call it. Or perhaps just different things to do without any broader ramifications just for a bit of variety.

    Thus, a guard at an outpost says the orcs are a real threat and can I kill 10 of them and bring her their toenails as proof. But a chief at a nearby orc encampment says the outposters are stealing their territories and wiping out their meat animals and I will be rewarded if I kill 10 guards and bring her their fingernails as proof. I can do either but not both. And either choice leads to a questline that I will never see (until the next character) if I make the other choice. 

    Choices.

    • 40 posts
    October 16, 2017 7:47 AM PDT

    I think there are quests, and there are tasks.  Tasks are mundane (kill 10 wolves) and while it's okay if they are present, they should wield very limited rewards.  I also think those should be repeatable (not always necessarily as a daily) but should be dependant on what is spawned at the moment.  If an area has rats, wolves and goblins spawning, and there are almost no rats up, how are they a threat ? The task should be asking to kill goblins instead if they are greater in numbers (instead of having a random assignment that makes no sense because the monsters are not up, forcing you to kill the other mobs to get respawns...).

    As for the type of quests, I think EQ2 got it right.  The game was far from perfect, but the diversity of quest types was good.  Heritage quests, regular quests, access quests, armor quests, epic quests, lore quests...and one of my favorite, the book quests.  Yes.  The book quests.  The quests themselves were very basic (usually kill 10 of something, read next page, kill 10 more), but they made you go to all kinds of places you would never go to otherwise, and kill mobs you would never kill.  They made you actually experience the content.  Did you know the level 20ish bats in Nek Forest can drop a Fabled Shield ? Only way I found out was to kill them for a quest like that...my paladin wore that shield for a lonnnnnnnng time. And in the end you would get the book to put in your house, as well as getting to read the Lore...

    As for rewards...they also should be varied.  Gear, sure.  Not a fan of getting a big chunk of XP on quest turn in.  Faction, reputation, all good stuff.  Money, of course.  I'm a big fan of quests opening up other questlines.  Someone mentioned buffing up racials through quests and I love the idea as well.  Maybe killing some form of magical mob for a quest grants temporary magical vision that allows you to see the entrance to a dungeon that is usually not accessible otherwise. 

     

    • 232 posts
    October 16, 2017 8:24 AM PDT

    Sorte said:

    As for quest rewards. I think items should be the rewards, weapons, armor, crafting ingredients, money, faction (not really an item, I know). It should never be experience. Experience should be gained while questing. Fighting all the way down the dungeon to the npc who's head you need. Not gained by turning in the quest.

    -sorte.

     

    This is spot on.  Lots of good replies here on what kind of quests would be fun, but as far as the quest reward mechanics, I could not agree more with Sorte on this.  The purpose of questing should be for the material reward (the Coldain Ring, the uber sword of awesome, etc), the lore, or for the cause.  I am also OK with zone or dungeon access as a quest reward, as long as they're not too frequent or oppressive.


    This post was edited by Dekaden at October 16, 2017 8:25 AM PDT
    • 151 posts
    October 16, 2017 8:27 AM PDT

    A quest that makes you want to actually read the dialogue.

    So many games out there have either boring quests that the story is meaning less or mechanics that encourage you to speed through them. Things like indicators on a map to tell you where to go. How many times have you just ran to the glowing circle to kill things until you got an update and then turned in not ever really knowing or caring why?

    The only game that ever got the average everyday run of the mill quests right in my opinion was SWTOR. The fact that each class had a unique story line that went from level 1 to max (at launch) and that every quest you got let you decide how to reply to the quest giver potentially changing you faction and or reward was great. I skipped through some of the quest s for sure, but not many and never one from the storyline series. Maybe it was because they were told in that cinematic view that made them come to life, maybe it was the deep story that you felt a part of. Whatever it was they were a blast.

    Don't get me wrong, SWTOR had alot of issues, it was on rails, and those unique story lines for each class? Yea once they started putting out expansions they got merged into one storyline for all. Was just too hard to produce that high quality stuff for each class I guess. But one thing the game did right on launch was to produce a great story through questing. I hated shutting it down each night and couldn't wait to get back to it the next day.

    I would like to see a great many quests that are restriced in some way either by class or race. I don't want experience rewards, items, faction, cash, even skills, spells, or abilities are good but they should not be a way to advance your level.

    And hopefully some crazy creative stuff noone has ever seen. Quests are one part of the game that I think you can let loose with creativity.

    • 39 posts
    October 16, 2017 8:28 AM PDT

    I always thought to myself it would be good to inject some diversity into the quest line, not always but where possible, creating a slight variation to the quest and potentially creating some elements of uniqueness.

    Fully aware it would need some structure consideration, but could possibly be used and reference to other quests, providing they were in line with the story.

     

    For example: someone discovers a quest line with the perception system called “A friend’s helping hand”

     

    "The NPC asks you to seek out his friend Sorlas last seen at the docks of Ru’lun’s port.

    However, he may say to another person seek out his friend Casana she was last seen in the woods of the Broken Maw."

     

    (A number of variations that perhaps are apparent to the level and difficulty of the quest)

     

    You then seek out Sorlas and he tells you that he has not seen his sister laugh and if you find him a griffin feather so he can tickle his sister.

    However, Sorlas may tell another person that he is hungry and has been craving for a particular apple that only grows from the trees of Vae Wood.

     

    If a quest is made up of several steps and within each step several possible dialogs the combination could help to offer a nonlinear feel.

    It’s never going to guarantee 100% uniqueness, but perhaps worth considering.

     

    It's so easy for people to search quests and what they need to do on the internet these days, lets make it a little harder!


    This post was edited by Maddoguk at October 16, 2017 8:32 AM PDT
    • 2138 posts
    October 16, 2017 8:43 AM PDT

    Drama and Storyline. Both of these either seperate or together make a good quest.

    I agree with most of the posts here, including OneADSeven regarding the EQ heritage quests that I call "hokey" quests

    I like hokey quests because they can be small confidence boosters and in the OP's example of the bard in the "Kill10 rats in the basement" but one rat is a fire breathing rat- I can see the reward tied into EQ2 heritage style quests

    - what if the reward for that was a tin whistle the bard could use to charm all rats for short duration? or heard groups of rats in an AE area to another area (like the pied piper childrens story) Not a game changer for sure, but a handy little item.

    Likewise if someone who was not a bard did the same quest- they may get a small rats foot necklace that made them non-aggro to rats.

     

    But for serious quests like Coldain Ring (did anyone RP it and fill in the ranks when the  NPC dwarves re-grouped? I did- standing, surrounded by the NPC's in their ranks- filling in the bare spots where their comerades died)

    I also agree with choices leading to a different end. Fallout New Vegas is a good example of a very fine grey line of moral decisions made and the results thereof- the more obscure the better. Anything that leads me down a path where I know exactly the point where the next desicion I take I will either ruin the faction or turn me from dark to light is something I like.