Share your quest ideas or what you would want to see in the game as far as questing goes!

I want to see what sort of cool quests everyone could come up with. It can be a general explanation or super detailed walkthrough, do whatever you feel like but I figured it would be fun for people to share their ideas or what they would want to see in AoC. It could also be some good reference for developers!

I for one want a new take on escort quests. Too often they are just irritating due to awful AI just sort of meandering along or the cliche "too injured or tired to move quickly". I am hoping for some dynamics where the escorts can be fully capable of fighting alongside of you as you attempt to fight your way out of situations alongside the objective and maybe even have several NPCs that can be saved. With different options along the escape that can lead to some dying while others can result in everyone living and getting out, perhaps resulting in a better reward or a positive outcome for the node.

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Kneczhevo

I believe your quest idea is already being implemented with caravans. The concept is to have nodes requesting supplies (attrition, atrophy, repairs, etc) and players either escorting or intercepting those caravans. So, your dream has come true.

Acarith

I didn't necessarily think of one quest but a system. Maybe it's just the way I envision running my guild, but it could be made into an in game process.
The idea is you give guild leads the ability to contract NPCs to assign quests for the guild. There kinda like guild vendors except instead of generating gold they generate materials, items, and importantly player support for the guilds activities.
The people who complete the quests receive a guild master assigned amount of gold from the guild and/or guild points. Points for the perspective guild that the guild masters can be inventive with.
Large full guilds may use the points for membership. Other's may use it for raffling items, dueling contest entry fees, guild fees, promotions, trade for items, and anything else a guild lead can think of to keep players interested.
Mayors kinda have this power by default as every other quest in the node goes towards the node, but they could be given node NPC's that allows them to customize quests and give out items, town points and a default amount of gold. (wouldn't want to inflate)
This system give the potential to make the guild quests, or I should call them bounties, probably the best quests in the game for everything outside leveling. I don't envision them giving experience. This encourages socialization and guild engagement by even the lone player.

The guild lead can assign X amount of bounty quests that give the same reward. Once the X amount of quests have been completed by players, it removes the quest from the NPC and removes the "bonus" rewards (The gold or items from the guild bank) from player logs. Players still with the bounty can still turn it in for guild points. The guild leads can add guild point multipliers for those that didn't get the "bonus" reward.

What most of these quests do and look like will probably be retrieval quests. The guild lead can search for and punch in the name of item(s) they want. Then assign the gold rewards, item(s) rewards from out of the guild bank, guild point reward(s), and "finish it out" multipliers. Lastly they assign how many times they want to assign this quest based up to what their guild bank can afford. Once the quest is assigned these items become locked and can't be moved unless the quest is cancelled or the guilds hosting node is destroyed.

Another type of quest outside of item retrieval is participation. They say one thing that will exist is people hiring mercenary guilds, this system allows guilds a secure way to hire mercenary individuals. Say a guild creates a caravan, what's to stop a private deal from going sour. Or Individual players in the guild from making a mistake whether to attack or defend. The guild hire quest system will automatically assign the role of an attacker or defender depending on what the guild wants. It'll mark a way point, can group the individuals, and guarantee rewards/ participation. The same system can work for raiding/defending node parties.

Lastly just something that I thought of doing with some members of my guild, scouting quests. They say the map is covered in the fog of war. Say a guild leader wanted to test someone. Scout a potentially rival metropolis. They could send a party of new warriors out to a map waypoint. When they get back and complete the quest the route that they traveled is unlocked and updated for every officer in the guild.

How these quest NPCs are contracted depends on the type of node.

In a military there will be events where guilds can send there players to a "head hunter" game mode. The contracts are tokens players can pick up and collect in an arena. Go for the players with a contract to get one. Those with contracts at the end of the game keep them for the week. You have to be there at the start of this game mode. Say you have three announced games 10 mins each spread across 3 hours, vying for different NPCs.

In trade nodes you simply bid for each contract.

Divine nodes you can let the GMs pick. Or do the participation system.

Scientific is a resource dump to donate the most and the best of skill craft products. Sieges would have points, armor would have points, hybrid beasts would have points, ect. Which ever guild gets a to a certain number of points first can buy a contract. That way the NPC doesn't cost more than it rewards the guild. The 'donations' go to the nodes warehouse for the mayor to distribute, through quests, stores, or however, at their discretion.

Another thing these special NPCs act as is stores to spend guild points and town points for items listed by guilds or mayors.

Guild points and node points are not universal, but perspective to nodes and guilds. If a node is reset town points for that node are reset.

One potential thing is to make it so guilds can unlock more of this system as their player base grows. But it could be interesting for one rich guy in a trade node to hire an army to burn a metropolis because he got tired of his neighbors.

Things to iron out how to ensure participation in guild promoted activities, maybe add a kill, objective, or damage counter. But what if it's an uncontested caravan do you reward based on continued proximity? What if they stand by and watch? Maybe have a quest creation option that makes it so the quest givers or representing officers confirms their participation. Maybe add a success fail option, doesn't matter how much they did as long as it gets done.

Either way I think this idea will flesh out the game and be worth a look.

Friso

I would love to see a separate quest system besides the get 10 kills here and there. I want a story line and quest system like RuneScape has. Where if you finish a quest not only is the reward nice, but the content it self is a reward too. And you can choose a quest from the list that you like or you really want the benefits that come with it.

Xenotor

I really enjoy Large scale fight quests. Were dozens of AI fight alongside you in a large battle.
So you push forward towards the quest boss.
It could be an assault of a ruin that only appears after a node reaches level 3.
The cultist there is preparing an army to assault the city.
You as well as a dozen guards go and assault the Lair.
The cultist constantly spawn creatures in waves every X Seconds that come from the last room so you have to push forward before your AI friends all die.

Should be instansted
Could be limited to 8 players with the number of monsters per wave depending on the number of players in the instance.

This could off course be used in open world dungeons were entire hordes of monsters come per wave and exit the dungeon towards the next city.
So you have to defend the city and then push back all the way to kill the reason for the monster spawn.

The reason for the spawning can however not be completly eradicated and respawns every now and then.

An event like this should off course only occur during prime time.

Khronus

Call me old fashioned but I enjoy a quest chain that involves slaying x number of beasts until it ends up sending you to slay boss style beasts that shouldn't be solo'd. My issue with these chains is they end up being too easy and I am always able to solo the "group" parts. sometimes, mindless killing is all I need in a game haha.

As for new/unique ideas, I would like to see quests that send us into the underrealm and explain the backstory of the forgotten. It's interesting to me that this will be a playable race. IMO this is a huge miss by IS to be able to develop some quality lore about Verra and what happened to these people after the apocalypse. A non corrupted race of people left behind after an apocalypse.....seems like a great setup for some potential end game villains or hero's that could have guided us through the land or story.

Dolyem

@KHRONUS Doesnt mean they still cant do all of that

Kneczhevo

Your gunna hate me. But the most memorable quest for me was the Ahn'qiraj opening, in WoW. And this is coming from an EQ vet, where the quests were, by far, more detailed.

I enjoyed the Ahn'qiraj quest chain because I knew the server had to participate, and it would open content. Besides, the race to open it first had a since of urgency.

Sure, it was a grind, and all the spawn camping. But, there were various quests involved and so many doing them, it wasn't that dull. I looked forward to my daily grind to open that gate. Good times.

Edit: Best part... I didn't have to travel all over the globe.

Dolyem

@Kneczhevo No hate here man, its good to hear everyones favorites.

Ravudha

I used to make treasure hunts for corporate team building and people's birthdays, so I like the idea of hidden quests that only some players come across or notice in some obscure text, leading on an expedition around the world, looking into lost lore, and resulting in very unique, top-tier, rewards.

Dolyem

@Ravudha I dig that one, another thing like that I love is random out of the way objects or places that you can find to learn some hidden lore and what not that can lead to quests.

Hellhamma

There is nothing worse than playing a game on launch and struggling to complete a quest because it is overcrowded. So quests similar to vantage points in GW2 would be cool. They're challenging, fun, allow the player to soak in the cool environments the devs create, and you don't have to wait for anyone lol

Dolyem

@Hellhamma I actually enjoyed GW2 early on in the games life. It was cool how random events popped up and you could just wander in and start helping other players. The vantage points and jump puzzles were cool too

Inixia

Ok my hastily thought up quest idea centers around a Nikua racial quest and takes the form of a journey and establishes cultural immersion and a connection to the sea
-The cold open is of an older master navigator telling a story of some of the long held mythology of the sea and how the Nikua use their wits and knowledge of the stars and wind to cross. He is telling this to coming of age characters (yours included) set to embark on their first sea voyage to one of the Outward Islands.
-You end the ceremony and receive trade offerings and an ocean blessing you must carry with you across the sea to one of the farflung Nikua tribes on this island. It is early in the day and you must prepare and board your outrigger-like sailing vessel and launch off with some fanfare from the village.
-Your minimap becomes locked during the voyage and you quickly lose sight of the island and the other canoes. You must find your way across the sea by following a white bird or the wind, and you see stuff like whales breaking as you go.
-Day quickly turns to night and now you must navigate by the stars (the correct direction star glows brighter than the others to give you a directional hint). You have a moment shortly after dusk where you see a lot of bioluminescent water creatures/spirits rise up near the surface of the water. Its beautiful.
-As night passes though the ocean waves are getting choppier and rougher. And you see a huge seastorm like a black wall in the distance, with thunder and howling winds.
-You fight your way into the hurricane like storm as small angry wind spirits attack your ship, the vessel is damaged but you manage to keep it afloat, and barely get through to the calm eye of the storm when you see a giant (but oddly majestic) looking wind serpent. You sense its anger as it lashes about and churns the water.
-You fight the wind creature in the center and while its power mostly surpasses your own you manage to subdue it just enough so that you can offer it the ocean blessing - you hold the bowl up and you see the flower petals swirl up into the sky. This pleases/calms the storm avatar and the winds abate and it takes on a lighter peaceful tone.
-As the clouds fade away you see it is approaching dawn, the first rays of light are coming up as you set sight on your destination at last - the outward island where a faction of friendly neighboring tribe can welcome you in.

Dolyem

PvX quest idea, Monster hunts where a monster that is high difficulty but able to be soloed with enough skill. Only one person can get credit for the kill, and everyone on the same quest can kill each other without gaining corruption. No groups. It would be high risk high reward, fighting a very difficult monster while also fighting other players for the kill. The location for the monster wouldn't be provided. Making searching for it part of the game, while also making running into competing players in the process.

Hoozierpopz

Entire map treasure hunt for the "Mythic Stone" The stone would grant any Legendary weapon a 3% to 4% stat increase. It would be imbued with an extremely high amount of Essence. How to obtain it would be fighting a dragon in a hidden area(could be a lower level dungeon hidden area) after collecting certain items through the treasure hunt in order to open up the secret area. The dragon would not only be on a kill timer but also yield a chance of dropping said stone. If you fail to kill the dragon it takes the stone with it flying off to another unknown location thus having you start the treasure hunt all over. The treasure hunt may take be time gated and take you a minimum of a month to complete so only a small few will ever have their Legendary weapon imbued with the powerful Essence of the Mythic Stone and it's God like characteristics.

Blackhearted

Friso wrote: »

I would love to see a separate quest system besides the get 10 kills here and there. I want a story line and quest system like RuneScape has. Where if you finish a quest not only is the reward nice, but the content it self is a reward too. And you can choose a quest from the list that you like or you really want the benefits that come with it.

This!
In every other game Ive played the quests have been meaningless skip spam. In osrs the quests have meaning by introducing new things in the world while offering qol changes. Some quests having decent requirements and bosses that require strategy is an excellent mechanic. In osrs some scripts even made me laugh.
Theres also a big difference to other games as the quests in osrs will eventually run out so they dont feel grindy.

tautau

I GM a game table set in mythical ancient Ireland and write quests for the participants. They seem to delight in the ones that are quirky, require thought to solve puzzles, and bring both humor as well as surprises to the players. Many online players won't like having to think, so such quests would need to be optional, not core quests.

For example, while doing a quest to take supplies to a castle and investigate thefts there, they received an 'add-on' quest to take orphans to an orphanage on the way. Each orphan had a personality and skills which players had to make use of and the orphans later became NPCs who could help the players on later quests IF players established a friendship after succeeding in solving this quest.

On the way to the orphanage, they came to a bridge with a crudely written sign "STOP. Pay T oll". The writer left out one letter....as you guessed it is the letter 'r'. Pay Troll. And the Troll demands one of the orphan children as the toll, the most charming of the little ones. The troll cannot be defeated in battle - it laughs off the players' attempts to fight - and must be outwitted and the players must make decisions (decision tree found through interactions with area NPCs) to successfully cross...perhaps by gathering ingredients to put the troll to sleep when you give it a bowl of rabbit stew (players gotta find and kill and skin the rabbit and gather carrots and 'taters after obtaining the stew recipe from the village tavern). Perhaps the decision tree shifts to prevent repetitive play and solution sharing.

Yes, this exceeds the complexity that is common in game quests and some players won't like that. Other players might find it delightful and immersive.

Patsold

hm good question , i like this in games :

1. kill quest ( Side quests for solo lvling, Not repeatable )
2. Hunting quest , hunting 1 boss mob for like 5 player, if more players come the boss mob gain more resistant ( grp lvling, material reward, quwest dont need a npc , you get a head, tail or someting that you can deliver to an NPC , that gives you specialy pve rewards)
3. Story quest ( items rewards , very good exp , not repeatable)
4. Unique Quests for diffrent nodes ( Items, exp , Bluprint, Skin rewards , not repeatable, special reward if you get all 4 unique quwests)
5. Job Quwests ( Hunting , Ore , Wood , Especialy a Trade balance that give you the option to get money for a good price from a npc to balance to marketplace if they have to mutch from lowlvl materials )
6. War Quests ( specialy a Npc Skirmich PvP, like a weekle event , attacking a outpost from lvl 3 nodes for pvp interessted players whitout a guild , give some special pvp skins,pvp items rewards, pvp sets, no consequences for nodes if you won / loose just a fun event/quwest)
7. Bounty hunter quests against players ( bounty hunter skins,pvp set´s , low exp , Special materials )
8. Fishing quwests , Gearter quwests , Gold quwests ( get repeatable quests for earning gold , like deliver 10 fishes of xx or 5 head´s from a xx and you get x gold)

I dont like repeatable quwests. it forces you to log in every time , and you NEED to do that for playing effectiv. if the quwests are unique , and you can play it only one time , it gives you a special feeling. you do what you want ,and that rewards you in a diffrent way ( pvp , pve , Job / gearder )

Dygz

I'm a pacifist, carebear... so I tend to prefer quests that fit my class/archetype that don't involve combat.
I actually enjoy the combat in Valheim and KOA: Reckoning - in both, sneaking behind targets and backstabbing or slitting throats truly make me feel like a Rogue.

In Valheim, although I enjoy the combat, I often wish that I could use Diplomacy on the humanoid mobs.
In KOA: Reckoning, I enjoy the combat, but I also enjoy the challenges of quests that require me to pickpocket or steal without killing anyone.
In WoW, I've liked the very few quests where my Druid can heal animals or forests. Need more of those.

In Ashes, I'd like to encounter quests that direct us to heal Corrupted areas without combat.
Clerics and Rangers should have plenty of quests to heal people and/or animals.
Mages and Summoners should have plenty of quests that involve enchanting/disenchanting and/or summoning that don't involve combat.
Rogues should have scouting, lockpicking and trap disarming quests that will fail if other people are killed.
I don't know much about Bards in Ashes, but I would hope Bards have plenty of quests that utilize their Bard abilities without requiring combat.

akabear

I would love to see some quest elements that cannot be passed without pair or team work to accomplish to , such as climbing a cliff, opening a door, reaching a plaeau etc somewhat similar to how Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons did.

Not everwhere, just a few places to slow the passage, create choke points, create difference class needs, teamwork and to make some places unique as not everyone will be able to access.

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