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Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
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Quest Target Respawn Indicator
Ludullu
Member, Alpha Two
I've seen a lot of people mention "games wasting their time" as one of the main complaints against certain systems in Ashes. I do disagree with quite a few applications of that phrase to quite a few mechanics in the game, but I do think that one particular mechanic is the perfect example of where the game IS wasting your time, while imo it definitely shouldn't.
That mechanic is "quest mobs that do not have an instant respawn". How often were any of you trying to do a quest, came to the location indicated in the quest log, tried looking for the mob that was supposed to drop the quest item, saw no such mob around the location, waited for a few minutes and then just left frustrated? Cause I know I've done that several times, quite often thinking "could this be just bugged?" Some quest descriptions just telling you to get the item, w/o mentioning that the item needs to drop from a mob with a respawn, also did not help the situation at all.
So what I'm suggesting is a system that would give you a timer on the quest mob's respawn. This would only apply to quest mobs that don't have any other loot. It couuuuld apply to general mobs that also drop quest items, but imo in that case it should just be a "this mob spawns here" indicator rather than a full-on timer. Mostly because those mobs should respawn frequently enough for the player to see them as soon as they arrive to the location (even if it's being farmed by other players).
You could call this ability "Essence Flow Sense", tie it to the introductory questline and have it as a utility ability on every player. Alternatively this could just be a passive or, hell, even just a function of the questing system itself. Put the timer right in the quest description, so that the player could plan their gameplay accordingly.
Imo this would have 0 negative effect on the gameplay flow and, if anything, would make that flow much better, because now people would know when they should come back to a spawn location or whether the mob is just about to spawn and they can wait a bit for it.
This would still keep the competition for any quest mobs available, if that's what Intrepid wants (though I doubt that the casual questers would want that), while still making player experience much smoother.
P.S. this thread was also inspired by Chrono Odyssey, because they have an ability that helps you explore your surroundings way easier and helps you clear quests better (the first Chronometer ability).
That mechanic is "quest mobs that do not have an instant respawn". How often were any of you trying to do a quest, came to the location indicated in the quest log, tried looking for the mob that was supposed to drop the quest item, saw no such mob around the location, waited for a few minutes and then just left frustrated? Cause I know I've done that several times, quite often thinking "could this be just bugged?" Some quest descriptions just telling you to get the item, w/o mentioning that the item needs to drop from a mob with a respawn, also did not help the situation at all.
So what I'm suggesting is a system that would give you a timer on the quest mob's respawn. This would only apply to quest mobs that don't have any other loot. It couuuuld apply to general mobs that also drop quest items, but imo in that case it should just be a "this mob spawns here" indicator rather than a full-on timer. Mostly because those mobs should respawn frequently enough for the player to see them as soon as they arrive to the location (even if it's being farmed by other players).
You could call this ability "Essence Flow Sense", tie it to the introductory questline and have it as a utility ability on every player. Alternatively this could just be a passive or, hell, even just a function of the questing system itself. Put the timer right in the quest description, so that the player could plan their gameplay accordingly.
Imo this would have 0 negative effect on the gameplay flow and, if anything, would make that flow much better, because now people would know when they should come back to a spawn location or whether the mob is just about to spawn and they can wait a bit for it.
This would still keep the competition for any quest mobs available, if that's what Intrepid wants (though I doubt that the casual questers would want that), while still making player experience much smoother.
P.S. this thread was also inspired by Chrono Odyssey, because they have an ability that helps you explore your surroundings way easier and helps you clear quests better (the first Chronometer ability).
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Comments
I think Intrepid's philosophy leans toward a more organic and immersive world, where information isn't always handed to you directly through UI systems, but instead encourages exploration, observation, and even player interaction. Adding a respawn timer might help QoL, but it could also reduce immersion and open the door to more "theme park MMO" expectations. Remember l2?
What exactly am I supposed to remember about it, in this particular context?
Well... a timer would still be a bit strange in a party setting. Each member could just accept the same quest one by one, and if you had 20 people, you could end up grinding the quest 20 times in a row. Kinda crazy, right?
What I'd do is tying the quest to server time and party size, like this:
In my system, the quest would respawn based server time, regardless of when the previous run was completed, even if it was just seconds ago. So, for example, that 120-minute respawn time for a 40-person quest wouldn't actually feel like a long wait, since we're assuming the quest itself would take nearly 120 minutes to complete anyway. If the quest isn't completed within the time limit, it would either fail or the next respawn would be skipped until the following scheduled time so people could finish the quest and have reduced rewards..
Reduced rewards for the parties who can't complete the quest within the time window! LOL
Other quests would simply fail if you can't complete within the time limit and all quests should fail if you can't complete under the next two time limits.
You arrive at the quest location at 2:08 PM, with the next spawn scheduled for 2:15 PM. However, since no one was running the quest, all the mobs and the boss are already present and ready for any party to begin. The quest has a 15 minutes window, so you can start at 2:08 and continue past 2:15, as the full 15 minutes haven’t elapsed yet. At 2:30, the rewards are halved, and at 2:45, the quest will automatically fail and reset. If the quest resets with the player inside then the player will possibly get lynched since all mobs will spawn lol
At least this way, you'd know exactly when the quest will be available again. If you're in the right area at the right time, your only real concern is whether another party shows up. Other than that, the system would be way more predictable and fair overall.
Devs just need to beat the drum and lead players toward accomplishments, plain and simple. That way, no one's stuck whining about wasted time exploring aimlessly or camping spawns. You get what I’m saying? If players are running into the kinds of frustrations mentioned in all these threads, the blame falls squarely on the devs. It's their responsibility, and theirs alone.
Quest mobs are also a pain point. Kill this dog at night only. Kill crows near the circle on the map, but be content there is only two that spawn here with a 5 min timer and you need ten. Forget there is a field of crows 1 min away that won't count to the quest.
The quest window is also a pain to use. Sometimes you click on the quest and it shows the location, other times it dose Nada.
Rewards are not scaled, some quest make me ask after, why did I bother to do that?
Balance quest mobs by having them respawn more often but give more exp on the quest hand in.
As for lessened rewards, I'd agree that some quests should definitely have timers on them to create a sense of immergency, but I dunno about all quests having that.
Yeah, if the quest doesn't tell you which mob you gotta kill, a faint glow would be nice.
Definitely hope the circle bs is just placeholder, cause, yeah, it's dumb as hell. No real reason to have it other than the ephemeral "soft friction", where people fight over quest mobs.
These ones are most likely placeholders and temporary implementations, so I definitely think they'll get better/changed with time.
Why is it so important that they spawn by any means other than Pop Item?
I know I'm sometimes too much of an abstractor but, is there much difference between 'needing to find where a mob spawns' and 'needing to find the spot where you can trade/activate the item to spawn it'?
Especially in a game like Ashes where other people can kill the mob before you get there just to prevent your success? Pop Item based mobs are almost the automatic answer to this so I feel like I'm missing something.
I also do like the quests where a normal mob is still required for some quest, which is why I mentioned those in the OP as well.
So, yeah, it'd be 'nice' but Popped Mobs just solves the whole thing more cleanly and it just isn't time to implement them yet probably.