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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
My concerns on Quests
I am very interested in what the Devs plan on doing with quests, i understand there's only so much you can do to make them exciting, just hoping they will put a little more effort into the game besides asking me to *Kill 25 boars* turn in quest. *Kill 15 alpha boars* turn in quest. Since this game is running unreal engine 4 it will no doubt look amazing, but most games that have stunning visuals make that their main selling point and forget what keeps us coming back is the game play.
When the game first launches its going to take weeks / months for people to reach max level and start really getting into the end game stuff like Dungeons / Raids which is also something i would like to see how they plan to deal with but ill save that for another post.
My main point is the first 40hours+ we are all going to be doing a crazy amount of quests to reach that max level as fast as possible, I really want to see this game succeed but if the first 40hours of game play everyone is forced to do the same shitty quests we have all done before, the unreal engine hype will fade and people will start realizing its like every other MMO just with extra pretty visuals.
Maybe i am asking to much here but this game really truly looks like its trying to break the mold for standard MMORPG's and i would hate for them to get so caught up in their new systems like Nodes & Faction-less worlds they forget the basics.
When the game first launches its going to take weeks / months for people to reach max level and start really getting into the end game stuff like Dungeons / Raids which is also something i would like to see how they plan to deal with but ill save that for another post.
My main point is the first 40hours+ we are all going to be doing a crazy amount of quests to reach that max level as fast as possible, I really want to see this game succeed but if the first 40hours of game play everyone is forced to do the same shitty quests we have all done before, the unreal engine hype will fade and people will start realizing its like every other MMO just with extra pretty visuals.
Maybe i am asking to much here but this game really truly looks like its trying to break the mold for standard MMORPG's and i would hate for them to get so caught up in their new systems like Nodes & Faction-less worlds they forget the basics.
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Comments
What then?
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nodes will not go from Metropolis to nothing within one siege.
If a node loses the siege it will lose one level, sa a metroplois (lv6) will become a city (lv5) and will have a cooldown before beeing able to be attacked again. So if some guild is determined to fully raze a node it will probably take between a week or up to a month assuming they win every single siege.
When the game first launches its going to take weeks / months for people to reach max level and start really getting into the end game stuff like Dungeons / Raids which is also something i would like to see how they plan to deal with but ill save that for another post.
My main point is the first 40hours+ we are all going to be doing a crazy amount of quests to reach that max level as fast as possible, I really want to see this game succeed but if the first 40hours of game play everyone is forced to do the same shitty quests we have all done before, the unreal engine hype will fade and people will start realizing its like every other MMO just with extra pretty visuals.
Maybe i am asking to much here but this game really truly looks like its trying to break the mold for standard MMORPG’s and i would hate for them to get so caught up in their new systems like Nodes & Faction-less worlds they forget the basics.
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I see where you are coming from, but at the same time you have to remember that not every quest can be amazing. Let's say you have 2000 quests on launch, you will of course have to put in some generic kill quests. The trick is to blend these generic quests in with the more exciting quests. That way you do the generic kill quests at the same time as the more interesting quests, and hand them in at the same time.
The other thing you have to consider is that although Questing and killing mobs will probably still be the primary method of leveling up, it is not the only method. You can level up through exploration and crafting too, which will help break up the monotony of the quests.
for example the tank class. when it uses a shield it will need to learn to block attacks. you will get a quest where an npc will attack you and you need to block. maybe even directional blocking like in for honor where you can block up, left and right. in the first stage you will get visual signals wich side to block and in the second stage you will need to block without signals. and after completing that without being hit you get the ability.
this was just a quick example.
bottom line is that i like to see quests wich have purpose and are not just for the grind. and learning abilities can be such quests
I won't do fetch quests or kill x amount of x quests. I would prefer to <strong>group </strong>and explore open world passageways throughout the terrain and explore dungeons with friends.
some time ago when I was putting together a concept for an MMORPG for fun (heavily inspired by asian webnovels and webtoons), I wrote down notes on quests... <strong>I'm copying it here <em>as is</em>, mind you some of it completely doesn't matter, because I envisioned the game to have no leveling system, skill based combat (including friendly fire), with a "realistic" crafting system (and immersive hunting with wildlife simulation) and real-ish economy (well, at least on NPC side), etc</strong>. I don't know how such things may be adressed in AoC in the future, I haven't heard much of stuff like that - most was about the world and economy.
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● It makes no sense for a beggar to give you a rare weapon for helping him, right?
● It makes no sense for a starving guy you feed to give you money for helping him, right?
● It makes no sense to receive XP for quests since we scrapped the concept of leveling, right?
Let’s see what’s left:
1. FEELS. Signature of poor NPCs, their quests should be entertaining to do, and not limit themselves with “gimme food”, “gimme gold”, “hunt 10 rats for me”, but offer an exciting questline that is fulfilling to do, sometimes bearing rewards even before actually finishing quest, seemingly unrelated. Like “accidentally” having to fight a miniboss during the quest or some other trigger situation.
2. SKILLS. It’s okay that the most “well known” skills can be trained with specialized trainers, or bought as tomes for gold. But what about hiding dozens of those more “exotic”, rarer skills all around the world, for the people to find by chance and be excited about it? Imagine that instead of those meagre 2 gold coins you will learn how to create and use a bear trap?
3. SKILL XP. You just finished an errand for a guard captain? Here’s your lesson in using a shield. Sweet XP you’d otherwise take 20 battles to amass is yours for doing something for the guy.
4. RARE ITEMS. Not talking about gear here. Protect a spice merchant peddling between two towns and get some spices you can use for better cooking recipes. Do a favor to a carpenter and he’ll give you a 10% off voucher for making you a house or a 50% off voucher for a piece of furniture specific to him. Kill some pests for a farmer and be rewarded with seeds, so you can start farming yourself. Protect a florist from a thief in a dark alley and he’ll give you seed or rare flowers for your house. INFINITE POSSIBILITIES.
5. EVENTS. Help townspeople with the harvest and enjoy the festival. Catch a thief, hand him over to the authorities and have fun watching public execution. Help a naive idealist kill orc chieftain, barely escape and then fight off the horde of orcs attacking your village in retaliation.
6. NPCs. Help a girl get away from (read “just kill him”) her abusive **** father, then let her stay at your house. Or hire her as maid. Or adopt her. Or marry her. Help a merchant in trouble with loan sharks, then recruit him to settle in your newly formed village. (aye, the mechanics would probably be troublesome, but that’s not MY problem lol)
7. RECIPES. Crafting is based on experimentation. But once in a while, when you help a crafter NPC, you can get a written recipe that is guaranteed to work. Help a fletcher and he may give you recipe for a composite bow. Help a carpenter and he may give you a recipe for a piece of furniture. Help a cook and he’ll give you a recipe for his signature meal.
8. GOLD. Then again, not all NPCs are poor, and you may find yourself doing something for people who can afford to properly pay you for your services. Like rich merchants (if a merchant asks you to bring him 10 bear hides, you’ll probably expect him to pay you in gold, not teaching you skill or something), town mayors, your goddamn king, etc. Typically Bounty-type quests (kill X of Y, bring X of Y, assassinate the leader of camp X,..), and quests created by players for other players.
See? It’s not as bad as it looked, even without rewarding with gear. You’ll get a lot less gold for actually questing, because only a minimal fraction of NPCs will give you any gold. That should also help lessen the inflation and force even the lazy players to occasionally go scavenge some resources or hunt some local fauna for their pocket money.
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Yeah, the problem with my concept was that it was, all things considered, a simulation of fantasy world. Something you could turn on whenever and have some fun with other people, not be obligated to spend a few nights a week raiding the same bosses over and over for the off chance that something might drop for you. In here, gear would be the crafter's domain, things like bosses would only drop rarer materials or a unique (read one-in-a-realm, not OP, just different enough perhaps) item from humanoid foes.
On the off chance anyone would be interested in reading through my (now abandoned, no time to play anything seriously as a working peon) concept, here it is: <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/nlc5wlouohpm9cf/Dreamgameconcept.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">pdf on dropbox</a> (41 pages, ye be warned... tho with rather big font)
Badleprechaun