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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.
Quests need a more solid direction.
Leonerdo
Member, Alpha Two
I feel like the quests are all over the place in terms of design right now. The devs need to decide what they're there for and make sure they serve that purpose.
Do they exist as a boost for exp/item grinding? Certainly not right now. The rewards for every quest I did was terrible (except the horse obviously). Farming appropriate level mobs gives far more exp/glint.
Do they exist to lead the player to different locations? Okay, some of them work well for that (like the griffin quest), but others overstay their welcome if that's the idea (like anything that requires you to kill mobs).
Do they exist to share/deepen the lore? Several of the quests attempt this, but most of them fall short, giving very sparse explanations/dialogue to go with them.
Do they exist to provide little puzzles/adventures the player? This is perhaps where I am most disappointed. A lot of the quests seemed to start a treasure hunt or investigation of some sort, but they instead end up in one of the previous, shallower categories.
And then some quests just lead nowhere... they don't seem to give any guidance whatsoever. Maybe I'm just a chud, but I've wasted 30 minutes (each) on a couple of these half-baked quests already.
Of course it's Alpha and I'm not expecting these quests to be fleshed out and polished yet. But moving forward, I think it would help to give the quests a clearer identity, to make it easier to understand what they're asking for and why I might choose to do them.
Perhaps they should have different markers/colors/tags to differentiate them. (I couldn't even tell which of the quests in my journal were just a commission half of the time.)
And beyond that, I just ask that as the quests are being polished, please keep in mind what that quest is designed for, and make sure it serves that purpose without distracting or misleading the player.
Do they exist as a boost for exp/item grinding? Certainly not right now. The rewards for every quest I did was terrible (except the horse obviously). Farming appropriate level mobs gives far more exp/glint.
Do they exist to lead the player to different locations? Okay, some of them work well for that (like the griffin quest), but others overstay their welcome if that's the idea (like anything that requires you to kill mobs).
Do they exist to share/deepen the lore? Several of the quests attempt this, but most of them fall short, giving very sparse explanations/dialogue to go with them.
Do they exist to provide little puzzles/adventures the player? This is perhaps where I am most disappointed. A lot of the quests seemed to start a treasure hunt or investigation of some sort, but they instead end up in one of the previous, shallower categories.
And then some quests just lead nowhere... they don't seem to give any guidance whatsoever. Maybe I'm just a chud, but I've wasted 30 minutes (each) on a couple of these half-baked quests already.
Of course it's Alpha and I'm not expecting these quests to be fleshed out and polished yet. But moving forward, I think it would help to give the quests a clearer identity, to make it easier to understand what they're asking for and why I might choose to do them.
Perhaps they should have different markers/colors/tags to differentiate them. (I couldn't even tell which of the quests in my journal were just a commission half of the time.)
And beyond that, I just ask that as the quests are being polished, please keep in mind what that quest is designed for, and make sure it serves that purpose without distracting or misleading the player.
3
Comments
I keep hearing that these are easy quests for early leveling, and they are, but only if you know the locations of the plunder ahead of time. This is the opposite of good design in my opinion. It's just a random knowledge check and a leveling boost if you're following community info resources. (I guess the community aspect has some value, but not enough to outweigh my other feelings on the matter.)
For anyone who doesn't have the info, the quest is a dud. You get no hints, so you have to wander around aimlessly to find the plunders, or rather, you just play the game normally and ignore the quest, and run across the plunder by chance? Not very compelling...
To me it feels hollow or frustrating, depending on if you have the info or not). It doesn't feel like a reward for exploration, because there's no guidance and very little flavor or lore behind any of it. Just a checklist item for power-leveling guilds. "Make sure to go to these coordinates and pick up your free XP at level 1."
Traveling for 10-20 mins to get 200exp for example is terribly unfulfilling...with my take away being "what's the point?" when I just stay in 1 spot and kill a few mobs for more rewarding outcomes...
Like make the quest a motivator to get through a "grind spot" and back while giving me a welcome bonus for success and incentivize more adventure and discovery.
Would be nice to get some minor gear/item rewards boosts too. Maybe weave some story and lore into the rewards rather than just generic consumables...This could be already planned but outside of alpha testing, So just a feedback nudge.
The early game lore dumps are to much for beginners...get me inspired to find a Node and then hit me with the gathering quests as the Node develops.
Maybe it gets better after level 5 or 10...but the first impressions during the first few levels is terrible. and needs major rework.
The first few levels should be about combat mechanics and elude to Nodes.
Not run through a few goblins then dump busy work quests with a run around town trying to talk to random NPC's about a curse with no real reason to do so.
I'm all for having a introductory pre gate sequence prior to getting dumped into the noob zone.
Make the 1st level ding a satisfying dopamine hit.
Commission boards could be used to drive a little bit of story and better gameplay loops.
I personally think kill 10x undead just shouldn't exist, it's just the lowest level of questing possible and not rewarding and you might as well skip.
For example, rather than Kill 10x Bandits you can have "Bandits have taken over area XYZ." That area is great for a certain kind of resource, but with you'll be overwhelmed and you can't gather unless it's cleared or your in a larger group due to mob density.
People who take the commission get bonus xp for clearing bandits in the area. Spawn rates are amped up and more dense while the commission is available. This is much prefered to kill 10x since it encourages people to stick around in a group for the bonuses rather than killing 10x bandits and bailing back to the commission board. Leave it open ended, as long as its in your log and available on the board you'll get bonus xp.
Eventually, after certain conditions are met, the area would be cleared and people would be free to go gather to their hearts content. Then it's time to move on to the next commission and area.
This would be perfect for an open world dungeon that's a mine. (Please implement mines)
Limit the amount of commissions players can accept, and spread them out through a region so it creates multiple areas to be hot spots for grouping at that point and time.
You could also use this as a party mechanic. Combine the commission board into a party board for those of us not in an uber guild. That way you can leave town with a group to go do commisson X for more meaninful grinding/xp.
I disagree. The XP rewards are about right imo. This project was never intended to be a "race to end game" so you can start playing the game ala WoW. That is not meant as an insult it is just how that game does things. The journey is the point in this game, that and of course PvP/node control/politics.
I don't want to play another game that allows max level in a couple hours, and I don't want a grind like old school Lineage 2 had either, and so far this seems to be a nice in between.
Having said that, this is a test and as such not everything is perfect, but its a very nice start.
i agree with you, however some of them are very vague. Also, you know a wiki will cover them all eventually anyway(if one doesnt already exist)