Is there a main quest to follow for a while?

Shinto

I'm a little lost. I feel like I was following a main quest but it very quickly dropped off. Besides that, I picked up the quests from the quest board to do and some quests from NPCs in town. I was wondering if there was a main quest that goes on for a while, or how most players are progressing through testing the game? I'd rather not just grind and I'm interested in getting to the part where I can explore more about nodes and community building.

nanfoodle

There is a main line quest that was in A1 that took you all over the map and get you allot of exp. It's not in A2, we testing other things.

Flashfirez23

I think a “main quest” system is coming in phase 2 of the alpha.

Azherae

Having thought about it for a while, I think the issue here is that Ashes isn't the type of game that 'should' have a main quest, it should moreso have breadcrumbs leading outward from Gateways to Nodes that are tilted toward different player types.

But this requires a lot of time to get right, and it'd be somewhat difficult to get the true reactions of players before things were pretty stable in terms of everything else. I hope they're working on something, but I don't really want that 'something' to be a 'main quest'.

Black Desert Online handled this in a way that suited it, but they constantly changed and tweaked that, even changing the starting zone at some point because their demographic was more of the 'straight into the action' type than the 'idyllic village life' type.

FF11 had three different start areas, with the story converging on one point by level 25, but with an attempt to appeal to different player types with those three different start areas.

Throne and Liberty's main storyline is the standard 'move to next area and be introduced to a few more NPCs and concepts', which aren't really interconnected, which is really good for that 'lack of urgency' feeling that gives players freedom to explore or just 'drop off the rail line', but at least if you explore in advance you aren't losing out on anything.

Ashes can't really be any of those three things, so they have to come up with their own feeling, but they can probably lean on the idea that people who are seriously going to play this game, have some interest in Nodes, and work on guiding people randomly across the world to various nodes that are near Gateways. The current test is kinda wonky in that way because Lionhold isn't really 'a node' so maybe they're testing 'if it works when the nodes are all more or less equidistant from the gateway.

Basically, we might never get a 'main quest' because it doesn't suit the game style as much, and definitely not the Alpha. The Gateways->Nodes structure is 'set', so you need to get to a Node unless you really like Lionhold for whatever reason. The 'multiple starting areas' only happens after you've done that, and I'm not sure they would want us to converge again. The 'move to next area' isn't a real thing either because 'next area' happens through effort or just exploration near some PoI and those have their own Story Arcs (part of the effort).

The 'main quest' is your own interests and preferences. Their task is moreso to anchor you to the world and then point you at the place where you can fulfill your interests and preferences, and that's not really Phase I Alpha work.

Aszkalon

Shinto wrote: »

I'm a little lost.

This is the Understatement of the Video Game Century regarding Games in the Alpha State.



I get that "Nodes" are kinda the Main Character in the Game - but honestly right now there is nothing and i truly mean "NOTHING" that easily and overseeable leads You into what Nodes are and why You should join one.


In for Example Lionhold should be an Introduction of Sorts, like :

" Hey Traveller. Our Settler Vanguards have moved into the Wilderness around this ancient Capital City of Aela. One to the East. One to North East. One to the North North-West - one to the West and one to the South-West.

Maybe You want to check out it you can help the Settlers build a Settlement and City there in the coming Future. "


or something like that.

Plus then a right away a Preface-Introduction of what awaits when People become Citizens of a Node.

What exactly mean Taxes ? And how does one involve themselves with them ?
What are Elections ? Where exactly is an election NPC to be found and when will Elections be held ?

What are Crafting Stations in these Nodes and which Node has which Stations ? Or do all Nodes have all Stations right from the Beginning or later on ?

What exactly does it make for a Difference to process raw Stone and Wood into crafted Products ?? Can we use them to build up our Nodes faster ? To fill the "Empty Slots" of Land in the Stage Three or upwards staged Nodes ?

And and and and.



Right now the lack of Oversight hits harder than Firebrand when i am just a Character below LvL 10.

McShave

I mostly agree with the sentiment of OP. I am mostly a solo player right now with a couple of hours to play on the weekends, and I have no idea where to go and what to do. I figured out that the profession quest is mandatory in order to get your mount, but there was no indication of that. Now i wonder if any of the other quests are mandatory too? I have read that questing is mostly just jank and that you should just farm your way through the levels in the current phase of the alpha, and that matches my experience in the game.

I know they are not testing this right now, and I will wait for a later phase, but I really hope they clean up the questing experience. I'm not looking for a MSQ like other theme park MMOs, but they need to notify the player which quests give substantial rewards and which are general "things-to-do" quests.

Veeshan

atm no

Shinto

I'm fine if there is no main quest during the alpha phase, but it would be nice to have some sort of guidance regarding what things I can help test out with and how, or directions for where to explore. I've already submitted a number of bugs and am happy to be a part of the testing process to improve the game. But I guess what I'm saying is I wish they would "help me help them." I entirely agree with Aszkalon's post, which provides good examples of what would be helpful to players.