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Questing thoughts

The questing system can make or break an MMO for me personally. I found that Guild Wars 2 had an extremely interesting take on that, letting you explore the world moving from one place to the other, rarely talking to NPCs and taking in the beauty of the scenery. Now, given that AoC uses the Unreal Engine, the world will probably look magnificent, and I couldn't help but think that it would benefit from something along those lines. It makes for a more memorable world and encourages player exploration and consequently, immersion. Those are my thoughts at least.

P.S I recently joined the forums and I didn't find a discussion concerning quests. Maybe i'm just bad at looking, but I'd like to hear some opinions from you guys about this.
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Comments

  • In the recent live streams they have mentioned that they do not want to make it repetitive and they want quests to have meaning.
    Also they do not want to write whole stories that the majority doesn't even read.

    They haven't said exactly how they want to give it form, but at least these things they have said.
  • From what I have seen so far on launch day there will be exactly no NPCs the world will be a wilderness. Players will go out and start exploring, fighting each other and monsters. looking for and gathering resourses etc.

    The areas you do these activities in will be measured by the game and nodes will develop, as these nodes develop, NPCs will start existing and new quests will open up as civilisation grows. I very much doubt there will be quest markers over NPC's heads it will be up to you to seek out these quests.

    I for one am extreamly excited by the whole idea. Hope it sounds good to you too.
  • To be quite honest "hearts" in GW2 were the thing that drove me away from game. The tasks were so boring!
    I believe thay can make it more interesting in AoC :P.
  • Agreed. I played GW2 for a long while lots of diferent stories to complete etc. But like you just following one heart to the next got old very quickly.

    I'm hoping AoC will make a true sandbox where you only do what you want to do. I get the impression this is what they want to deliver.
  • Thank you for clearing up this stuff for me. It sounds amazing to be honest. I have faith in the developers after watching some videos and reading stuff on the forums. They seem to know what they are doing.
  • <blockquote><div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title"><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/questing-thoughts/#post-26961">PJ_Rydecker wrote:</a></div>From what I have seen so far on launch day there will be exactly no NPCs the world will be a wilderness. Players will go out and start exploring, fighting each other and monsters. looking for and gathering resourses etc.

    The areas you do these activities in will be measured by the game and nodes will develop, as these nodes develop, NPCs will start existing and new quests will open up as civilisation grows. I very much doubt there will be quest markers over NPC’s heads it will be up to you to seek out these quests.

    I for one am extreamly excited by the whole idea. Hope it sounds good to you too.

    </blockquote>

    I wouldn't be surprised if they add some quest givers at the start. Maybe some "Holy crap a million wolves are attacking us, want to help with the effort?" or "We need wood, noooow!". But what do I know, lol. No quests at all would be interesting
  • Speaking of quests....I hope there will be a Quest Journal that helps you keep track of where you are in a quest, and keeps track of the info you have received so far.
  • @T-Elf I'm with you, I would like a place where I can just look up any questing info I may have already gathered. I also hope we have some options on what pops up on our screens, so I dont have to always be reminded about quest. lol
  • My personal opinion is that the quest should be harder for the amount of exp you can get from it, and the ones which you're more likely to die from if not careful. like say three quests I suggest here.
    quest 1. kill 100 level 5 monsters-100exp.-easy quest, allows a low level to get a leg up and try the other quests.
    quest 2.-find and destroy lvl 50 boss-100,000 exp- obviously a much harder quest, which lower level players would have a fairly tough time. also, having to locate the boss means it isn't just a drill. you have to go out and explore.
    3. create (high-level material)*100-100,000exp- it takes the material crafted from quest 1 to craft this material, and it also allows people who are not duelers to use the quest chains effectively.
    Well, this is how I'd apply it. probably full of flaws, I know.
  • <blockquote><div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title"><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/questing-thoughts/#post-27180">Irobot wrote:</a></div>My personal opinion is that the quest should be harder for the amount of exp you can get from it, and the ones which you’re more likely to die from if not careful. like say three quests I suggest here.
    quest 1. kill 100 level 5 monsters-100exp.-easy quest, allows a low level to get a leg up and try the other quests.
    quest 2.-find and destroy lvl 50 boss-100,000 exp- obviously a much harder quest, which lower level players would have a fairly tough time. also, having to locate the boss means it isn’t just a drill. you have to go out and explore.
    3. create (high-level material)*100-100,000exp- it takes the material crafted from quest 1 to craft this material, and it also allows people who are not duelers to use the quest chains effectively.
    Well, this is how I’d apply it. probably full of flaws, I know.

    </blockquote>

    The first thing is, if I get a quest "kill 100 lvl x monsters" the first thing I'll do is quit and never come back :P.
    But I get your idea.


    To be quite honest I love dungeons way more than traditional quests.
    I also love puzzles and mini-games. Puzzles should be everywhere!
    Traditional puzzles, jumping puzzles, riddles, walking your friend through a jumping puzzles when only you can see the tiles he's jumping on and he cannot see them etc.
    It's all so much fun! I hope they do include lot's of these around the world.
    Was there anything mentioned about it?
  • If I get the quest "go and kill 100 monsters" I'll just quit, but I get your idea.

    To be quite honest I love dungeons way more than traditional quests.
    I also love puzzles and mini-games. They should be everywhere! :D
    Traditional puzzles, jumping puzzles, riddles, walking your friend through a jumping puzzles when only you can see the tiles he's jumping on and he cannot see them etc.
    It's all so much fun! I hope they do include lot's of these around the world. The easy ones and the hard ones.
    Was there anything mentioned about it?
  • I would personally prefer a side quests that are not connected and chained (besides perhaps a main story line which would be).

    This would give player a more liberal exploration possibility without giving him a feel that he is obligated to go to zone A the B then A then C then B again, because quests require him so.

    More liberal exploration and progression just feels somehow better (again for me personally, I realize not all may think so).
  • Well this game is Backed by a Ton of LORE!! unfortunately hasn't been revealed yet, but I assume 75% of quests are about the lore!!

    now @ironbot 100 mobs Ugh the grind :D lol

    I like quests to a Degree Quest that make you go to Point A - B Back to A then C are like ugh!! I played WOW for 11 years I mainly just Dungeon my way to top lvl personally because questing was meh!

    Theses are just my thoughts!! to be honest I think XP will really come from interactions with the caravan and Professions!

    Info down below! ( Want to dive into the community join the Discord)
  • I hope there are crafting and gathering quests like in FFXIV ARR. In that game every 5 levels you would get a quest to either gather something or craft it depending on what you were leveling. It would be a great way to introduce you to a new skill and then have you use it after your trainer explained it to you.

    I just posted this in another thread, but it should go here too.

    I can’t remember what they called it, but I would love to see the dynamic questing system EQNEXT was going to use before they dropped it before closing down.
  • ironbot? it's I,robot (but no comma allowed, so irobot) :0
    there reason I chose like 100 mobs is because you'll gain levels in the grind and also in quest. in higher level it's going to be a drag, so no one will bother the newbies there, there won't be anyone massacring the mob leaving nothing for newbies.
  • i'd like to see quests being meaningful and not another kill 10 wolfs quest

    The Secret World has in my opinion the best quests, ranging from simple killing missions to sabotages where you have to remain unseen disarm traps and be careful not to explode, to investigation where you have to use your brain not your brawn
  • <blockquote><div class="d4p-bbp-quote-title"><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/questing-thoughts/#post-27498">Enrif wrote:</a></div>i’d like to see quests being meaningful and not another kill 10 wolfs quest

    The Secret World has in my opinion the best quests, ranging from simple killing missions to sabotages where you have to remain unseen disarm traps and be careful not to explode, to investigation where you have to use your brain not your brawn

    </blockquote>
    Yeah, Secret World had missions that had you think waaaayyy outside the box, until that one day you realize there is no box, there never was. That hit me in Egypt while I was learning ancient Hebrew and trying to apply it to Arabic.
  • @irobot my bad xD lol
    Yeah that may be true lvling as you kill, but that will be still a huge grind I mean a 100! lol and we haven't even discussed the hp of the mobs your killing

    End game quests are always a pain.... but its end game so yeah! Also they mention they don't want the whole daily's thing repeating the same quests Which is Awesome!

    @Enrif that sounds interesting I like puzzles to a certain extent :D
  • I like well crafted exploration quests and such. A good dungeon makes you think basically. Other than that I can handle the grindy ones I just hope their few and far between... I'd prefer if they made a good list of dungeons and if they have to "move" like cave in's or something the new dungeons open up in a way and have more interesting traps, fights and layouts. It'd also technically be a candidate for procedural stuff if they manage instancing right. Even if their static though as long as their well crafted or have randomized elements inside they'll be good to me.
  • Questing in my opinion would be more like for example"

    You kill a mob it drops something like a bit of fur or whatever and that fur has a tooltip saying something like

    "Scrap of fur" - This is looks like it can be combined with other items from other creatures to create another item which then can
    be deployed in an area around the current node which will contribute to the nodes progress?

    or simply used for crafting reagent for a leather worker of some sort. Or sold to the Troll in a swamp haha the troll then grants exp and gives a quest after you discovering the hidden quest. Instead of just obtaining a quest completing it and then moving on. i dunno
  • i played a few different mmos recently from gw2 with its heart-system to bdo which is pure grinding.
    so i just hope ashes of creation has some kind of unique questing too, even if its just a small part.
    the last thing i want is another "kill 10 mobs" or "gather 5 from this" quests.
    so i have very minor expactations and just be surprised when the devs show us their system
  • Well part of those go kill 5 of x and such are often tied to resource gathering which is a crucial part of the game.
    And explaining the purpose of the materials gathered from that thing would normally be explained by info (aka quest text)

    So I dont think you can escape them, but you do need to make them a meaningful quest.
    Even if its only a one off tutorial/training dialog.
    Its the training/tuition quests that you have to do over....and over....and over....that are bad.
    They convey nothing meaningful that you dont already know.
  • I've always hated doing quests .-. my partner laughs at me because they are so fundamental to an mmo. Although I love lore I hate the tedious task of doing quests. It can be repetitive and boring. I just want to grab my gathering tools and get out there and explore and do quest chains if I find them interesting and when I want too. If I need to do quests ofc I do them but I do not enjoy them what so ever ^^
    Let me just run around free and gather for my guild and community :D
  • I think they can still use the go kill some monsters quest if it is done right. For instance normally you and 50 other people go to the tanner and are told to kill 20 swamp rats for their hides. That just doesn't make sense because if hes asking you for 20 why does he need 1000 of them. If instead though he stated he needs a 1000 swamp rat hides and you join a group hunt where you are rewarded based on how many of the 1000 you bring back it makes a lot more sense. Then when the quest is completed the tanner maybe doesn't have the quest again for say a week in game because he has what he needs for a while.

    Something like this would be extra nice if his response changed at the end of the quest based on how many of the 1000 you brought in. For instance if you bring in 30 he could be like, "Looks like you've been busy. I appreciate the help." but say you bring back 300, " You sure must have a grudge against these varmints, what happened did they kill your folks or something?"
  • I like that idea of the group quest mechanic for collections. Seeing as questing is going to be dynamic from what I gather and it's a mostly social style mmo. With that kinda set up I do see grinders being an issue for newbies trying to learn though.
  • Here's something Steven has said about the quests:
    "We’re going to be breaking up what is traditionally called ‘questing’ into three different categories: Narratives, Events, and Tasks. We want to avoid going down the path of trying to force narrative into gameplay where it doesn’t really fit (ie: filler stuff that doesn’t really relate to what’s happening in the world), so what you find in the Narratives category is where you’ll find most of what you might call traditional quests. Because we’re jettisoning filler, we’ll have the resources to craft a really excellent story, with gameplay that reflects the scope of that story. Events are where you’ll find your public quests, though these will be scaled to fit local, regional, and global needs. They’ll also have consequences locally, regionally, and globally, for good (if they’re taken care of successfully) or for ill (if a fail condition is reached). Tasks are hyper-local to individual Nodes, and will be centered around developing the Node that they belong to. If you want to go kill five wolves, this is where you’d do it. You can kill five wolves on your own, and that will count toward Node progression, but if a Task is offered to kill five wolves, then both the Node and your character will get bonus XP when that task is completed. Tasks will be numerous and varied, and will reflect the different gameplay styles that players can engage in within Ashes – there will be crafting, exploration, combat, and gathering oriented tasks (among many others)."

    <a href="http://www.mmogames.com/gamearticles/interview-ashes-of-creation-wants-bring-virtual-world-life/" target="_blank">My source</a>
  • So after posting here yesterday my brain got going and I had to make a video on it. Here are my thoughts

    <a href="https://youtu.be/hfnxrhap3NM">Grind quest make no sense!</a>
  • That's a strange, round about way to complain about MMORPGs having static content rather than dynamic content.
  • The only quests that I hate are the ones that have you travel to the other side of the world to talk to someone and then return. That is very boring for me.
  • Love this post. Personally, I'm a little weird. I actually love quests that ask you to kill 100 monsters - it is repetitive but I genuinely think it's enjoyable and rewarding when you finish - providing mass mobbing is possible. Otherwise, it's terrible. I played Revelation for a while and it was just this constant mush of unimportant storyline. I played Blade and Soul too, and that was the same, but slightly more interesting.

    Hopefully, AoC manages to, as VelvetBacon said, divide their quests into the categories well, creating a solid enjoyable experience for different players.

    But please, for the love of god, Intrepid, allow mass mobbing. Nothing I can't stand more than only being able to have 5 monsters after you at any given time. (Not relevant to questing, but still)
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