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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.
Questing - we need to talk about distance
Scherwin
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Been the first playthrough of most of the quests that i have done since i got alpha access.
Its not that the quest are uninteresting or bugged (some are)
But something has to change about the location quest are done in, Its a big meme on our discord how far you have to travel when you just wanna do 1 quest.
You get send from 1 side of the world to the other and back again just to talk to 2 persons and then the 3rd guy you talk to send you across the world to kill 5 bandits and you have to return to that guy again.
And its not 1 quest. its litterly half the quest that is designed this way, its not fun and its especially frustrating if you spend 30 min or a hour doing a quest line and the NPC is not there or bugged
(obviously that happens since its alpha)
I don't think you need to reinvent the wheel here. make localized quest and once you are done with the quest line you get sent to another area to do quest.
Yea you can have "world wide" quest but let that be very rare so you can do all the quest on the way and dont have to feel like you are being forced across the world and back to the same area.
I cant be alone with this frustration. especially when you wanna enforce "No fast travel" and the world is gonna be 10-20 times the size of the alpha 1 island. Then we cant have same issues in the real game.
Its not that the quest are uninteresting or bugged (some are)
But something has to change about the location quest are done in, Its a big meme on our discord how far you have to travel when you just wanna do 1 quest.
You get send from 1 side of the world to the other and back again just to talk to 2 persons and then the 3rd guy you talk to send you across the world to kill 5 bandits and you have to return to that guy again.
And its not 1 quest. its litterly half the quest that is designed this way, its not fun and its especially frustrating if you spend 30 min or a hour doing a quest line and the NPC is not there or bugged
(obviously that happens since its alpha)I don't think you need to reinvent the wheel here. make localized quest and once you are done with the quest line you get sent to another area to do quest.
Yea you can have "world wide" quest but let that be very rare so you can do all the quest on the way and dont have to feel like you are being forced across the world and back to the same area.
I cant be alone with this frustration. especially when you wanna enforce "No fast travel" and the world is gonna be 10-20 times the size of the alpha 1 island. Then we cant have same issues in the real game.
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Comments
I see nothing wrong with quests which include a lot of travel time, even if they are not 'epic' quests. Why? Well, what is the rush? Why should everything be done fast? Chill, man, enjoy the journey. Take your time.
It's one thing when a quest giver says, go over here to this location halfway across the world, and once there you get a bunch of quests to do locally. It's an entirelly different story, like you said, when every checkpoint of a quest chain has you traversing the whole map.
I understand this isn't a content alpha, but it still needs to be addressed.
*screams internally about only having a couple of hours of free time each day*
Maybe a good middle ground would be to add more objectives and /or quests along the way so we don't feel like we're running to all the corners of the world for every quest.
I assume we had just a base set of quests in for this weekend, and that how those interact will change as they add more systems.
I dont find it enjoyable to run for an hour between 2 points for 400 xp, especially when i die and gain exp debt. Makes the whole quest feel pointless.
But rather than just being snarky, let me attempt to be helpful...Port over to Na'ala (if I spelled it correctly). You will see several tents near where you arrive. Go to the last one on the right, the one with four or five NPCs in it. There is a line of several quests you can do there, and some of them you never have to leave the tent. One of them requires you to go outside the tent, but only a few steps in each direction. The give you a LOT more than 400 xp, several thousand I think.
There are a number of other very good quest streams in the other tents, though they do require you to do quite a bit of going to different spots.
Quests that send you around the world should feel meaningful, rewarding, or challenging. The Yolga questline was rewarding to me even though you had to visit each of the starting node zones (Would have been cooler if she was harder to kill and maybe stuck to one zone, but I liked the elusive build up anyway). Quick kill quests shouldn't be the means to explore the world unless they are chained with a few other quests leading into the area.
In fact, imo, it made the world feel smaller. Like it was just one big zone instead of diversely unique portions of something greater. Good storylines are why I remember quest zones. Things can be visually beautiful beyond belief(which this game has!), but they're nothing without the story that makes them that way. (ie Crystalsong Forest, Winterspring)
The Mallet of Zul'Farrak questline in WoW is one that sticks with me as a good quest, even though it is damn near the opposite side of Azeroth. Difficult(yet simple), engaging, and rewarding.
I am hopeful that these quests will be expanded upon and eventually designed in such a way that the time you have to put into them results in a reward that is worth it.
Totally agree. Modern and modernized MMOs have trvialized travel in games to the point people moan about having to invest time into MMOs they all want everything right now. I remember spending a month or 2 in an MMO not travelling trying to get a group to complete a quest and nope I didnt complain and it is an awesome nostalgic memory I have of that game.
Yup I feel like fast travel should be at most be a map/area completion bonus otherwise you never explore the area to see what the world has to offer.
Running from one node to another may not yeild many quests or several depending on that nodes level and location.
I also think it will be hard for them to make quests that send players from node to node like theme parks do. I would very much like to see them implement as little of it as possible. Make players explore the world.
Take charge of your own experience in game.
If a quest sends you accross the map hang on to it till later.
A friend of mine tried WoW a while back. Got a quest pepetory for the Faire. The faire was coming a week later but he got hung up on the idea that it HAD to be finished right now. No matter what I told him his mind could not get around the idea I have this quest I HAVE to do it NOW.
My quest logs usually have quests I haven't completed for some time. Till I get there or I delete them.
Have to agree take every quest u can and doing them on the go. its not a game that will have a main story lined questline to follow. and traveling distances will be a major thing in the game thats wy there is no intention for fast travel.
most mmo rpg did follow the rule that it has a ton of quests and a major cmpain to follow. but ashes will not follow that system it will be freed from those repeating chains. and more to the player action since its also inted that player will start quests so it goes more into the direction of a sandbox.
that npc's dont have a icon on them is intened to be. so that player have to look and talk to npcs to maybe get a quest and after takeing it and compleating it the quest may disapear so no other can do it.
it give the system more idiviuality
and btw. the alpha map has only about a area of 20% of the real map so expect that some distances may be even longer than they are atm.
Having an adventure and traveling long distances is a great experience, but I only want to do that 3 or 4 times per play session (6 hours for arguments sake).
The big tent is currently bugged and when fixed each of those quests will require you to take the quest item to several different locations and scan the area to get the coordinates. As of now you can simply guess the coordinates and get the quests done. I see your point and agree completely that there shouldn't be a rush to do the quests but IMO there is a fine line between too many "go all the way over there" quests and quests that have a purpose for sending you somewhere. If it's to add to my exploration of the map, I am all for it but if I am going to an area that has no value to the lore/story/my brain cells.....I'd rather not it be in the game.
I like the cave quest, I like any kill quests, send me to an area and show me the new nodes, have me go find some named npcs and help protect them from the area they are in, send me to do some recon on the mobs in the area, the apparition quest is totally fine and also intriguing, send me into the dungeons to kill named mobs or bosses or to find some random lost item. It just felt like most of the quests were busy work to keep people in the game and "doing things". All bugs aside of course.
i would like it even if the map aint visible to the player and that by traveling you slowly reveal the map itself. shure its the same map for everyone and u can take a look in browsers but that way you have a additional purpos to do long travel quests. may even be attached to accsess some dungoens that a certain area needs be unlocked on the map in order to recive a entrance pass or so
I totally agree. Also if you don't have much time to play get all quests there are in a given area, look at the map where you have to go for each of these and make a route. After you finished all quests you can return, so you don't have to go back and forth for every quest.
Elso I had some trouble with the simplistic UI (and I know its alpha and it will change a lot) I kinda liked it. I don't like the UIs where you get a ton of messages when you log in or all the NPCs with different labels above their head. Even if its helpfull I find it disturbes the ambience. Just green names is perfect for me
Sure some people want to jump right in and be a champion, but catering to instant gratification just reduces game quality. It's early alpha, so there are only a skeletal set of quests to test systems; knocking the couple that span the continent seems premature.
Still, as a tester... I agree that some additional quests near the start area(s) would smooth over some of these concerns, as well as to push a few early levels faster. Faster early levels in alpha means those of us who have limited play time can check out some ability tree options.