Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
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.
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.
Quest and Tasks
QUESTS CANNOT BE LINEAR
Why? Because within 1 week of the games' release quest guides on websites will be made, thus ruining the "no-handholding" preferance of AoC.
Who cares/Does it matter?
When you find out that you don't have to rack your brain to understand a quest pattern or dialouge, you will take it because your precious time in the game feels like its being wasted to you. This means that these quests will be ZIPPED right through and viewed as a nuisance instead of apart of the experience.
QUESTS SHOULD HAVE TASKS
Meaning that while an NPC should give out the initial quest (Find ancient book in a cave) to everyone, NPC's should give class or skill specific tasks to make the quests more meaningful to the player. If someone completed a task I gave them, wouldn't I be more happy and reward them more v.s a person who didn't? So, that's how it should be. These tasks are based on your class, so a mage would be responsible for lighting up a room or clearing an obstacle, a tank could need to kill a certain amount of specific enemies that the NPC requested and bring them back for the NPC... (etc, the tasks don't have to be based around killing. It could be as simple as, 'find the small green stream within the dungeon and fill these 3 vials' or a funny task 'run around the boss monster 5 times')
You should be able to choose from 2-3 tasks or could choose to decline them all together and suffer no penalty, but if you accept one and don't accomplish it, it's on you.
DIALOUGE IS IMPORTANT
So, you're level 25 and your doing a quest for Lidia, the Sheildmaiden. She tells you that you need to slay "Niudla", a fearsome dragon. During the text, if you don't skip, she mentions a weakness that the dragon has, or she says a small sentence that gives you a hint for treasure "by the way, the dragon likes to bury shiny stuff.."
Useless quest lore? NO! A hint that the developers put there so that you and the party can have a fun time searching for the hidden stash of shinies. Also, NPC's could ask for you to bring them things WITHOUT giving you a marker and would say, "did you bring it?" when you come in turn in the initial quest but would refrain from telling you what it was so that you feel bad for skipping dialouge.
"WHAT DID I JUST SAY?"
A test of whether the player is "listening" or not could be sometimes (not frequently, as that would be a bit bothersome)given by the NPC. Something along the lines of the NPC saying, "What do you think?" or "Thank you sir, please retrieve the... uh... oh, darn it what was it again?" and the player would have to respond correctly or wisely. The incentive for listening could be extra rewards.
Needless to say, all of these examples should be randomized to prevent an easy "breeze-through" game. Remember that appealing to the noob is nonsense as this will NOT be the first MMO or procedurally based game someone has played. No one needs to be babied excessively, so lets not make it 10 year old friendly. Give us a MMO that feels real and the game will last.
Why? Because within 1 week of the games' release quest guides on websites will be made, thus ruining the "no-handholding" preferance of AoC.
Who cares/Does it matter?
When you find out that you don't have to rack your brain to understand a quest pattern or dialouge, you will take it because your precious time in the game feels like its being wasted to you. This means that these quests will be ZIPPED right through and viewed as a nuisance instead of apart of the experience.
QUESTS SHOULD HAVE TASKS
Meaning that while an NPC should give out the initial quest (Find ancient book in a cave) to everyone, NPC's should give class or skill specific tasks to make the quests more meaningful to the player. If someone completed a task I gave them, wouldn't I be more happy and reward them more v.s a person who didn't? So, that's how it should be. These tasks are based on your class, so a mage would be responsible for lighting up a room or clearing an obstacle, a tank could need to kill a certain amount of specific enemies that the NPC requested and bring them back for the NPC... (etc, the tasks don't have to be based around killing. It could be as simple as, 'find the small green stream within the dungeon and fill these 3 vials' or a funny task 'run around the boss monster 5 times')
You should be able to choose from 2-3 tasks or could choose to decline them all together and suffer no penalty, but if you accept one and don't accomplish it, it's on you.
DIALOUGE IS IMPORTANT
So, you're level 25 and your doing a quest for Lidia, the Sheildmaiden. She tells you that you need to slay "Niudla", a fearsome dragon. During the text, if you don't skip, she mentions a weakness that the dragon has, or she says a small sentence that gives you a hint for treasure "by the way, the dragon likes to bury shiny stuff.."
Useless quest lore? NO! A hint that the developers put there so that you and the party can have a fun time searching for the hidden stash of shinies. Also, NPC's could ask for you to bring them things WITHOUT giving you a marker and would say, "did you bring it?" when you come in turn in the initial quest but would refrain from telling you what it was so that you feel bad for skipping dialouge.
"WHAT DID I JUST SAY?"
A test of whether the player is "listening" or not could be sometimes (not frequently, as that would be a bit bothersome)given by the NPC. Something along the lines of the NPC saying, "What do you think?" or "Thank you sir, please retrieve the... uh... oh, darn it what was it again?" and the player would have to respond correctly or wisely. The incentive for listening could be extra rewards.
Needless to say, all of these examples should be randomized to prevent an easy "breeze-through" game. Remember that appealing to the noob is nonsense as this will NOT be the first MMO or procedurally based game someone has played. No one needs to be babied excessively, so lets not make it 10 year old friendly. Give us a MMO that feels real and the game will last.
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