Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
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.
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.
Comments
- I haven't found many quests that were worth XP or reward. I spent 2 weeks doing mostly quests wanting to spend time and really explore the world and lore... what happened.: getting sent back and forth across the map at snail speed for no real reward.
- Finding quests can be terrible, and following some is even worse sometimes. Example: Burnt ends. sure it opens up lots of findable quests and that was fun! but the flow of the "story" giving vague clues and not knowing if we have missed something or not and going back and forth is annoying to say the least. Most people are just skipping this kind of content all together because really there is no real reward. There are faster means of XP and better rewards.... Perhaps give drops of materials like x1 rare or better random resource.
Gathering, processing, crafting feels about the same. We gather abundant resources that use 1 per in a craft but rarer items we need 10 of... (Sighs) Either rebalance recipes to use less of harder to find resources and more of abundant resources; or put in more copper/zinc nodes etc.
So then i decided to go the opposite direction and made a new character and just started farming monsters/dungeon. I out leveled my quest/gather/processor/crafting character in 3 days. Was fun, and rewarding. finally could afford gear and a faster mount.... So why would I do anything else?
I'll end it on a positive note... Dungeons and combat feels great!
- 3 = Could be Better/Worse
[*] How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? What’s working well, and what could be improved?
- Currently the individual quest rewards are fine. The multi-questline rewards are average.
[*] In your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
- Long-Term results! (Example: The Last Moot - In the future when we can trade with minotaurs; the minotaurs should have relevant gear to the players until the end of the game)
[*] Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
- Less than 25%
[*] Why did you choose that percentage?
- Making quests feel meaningful without an XP reward is more important
[*] What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
- NPC's that remember and respond to the character achievements
- NPC's that tell you when you can't do a quest (Example: "You were a Rebel Rouser. . . so I don't want you to be a 2nd Sword Outpost soldier"
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~ From the diaries of **DoctorCurls** ~
Many players failed at questing, but I was not going to let that stop me. I've completed over 71 achievements for NPCs around Verra.
- The Riverlands Questlines: are clearly not fully implemented the way they were shown in many previous Developer Livestreams; this makes it extremely difficult to give valuable feedback.
Example:
Many players who will find the Stone Rose will not know what to do with it or where to look to find answers. However; in the Cleric Showcase from a couple years ago. Steven showcases this questline and transforms a location by using a different monster spawner. Highwayman Hills becomes littered with undead minions that fight the minotaurs after using the Stone Rose in the basement of Highwayman Hills.
- The Commission and Adventure Board: can have Hidden Quests on it that enable other quests to be found
I really like this feature of the boards having secret information and the lore you can find in the descriptions
- The Racial Questlines: are going to be an issue I think.
Example:
I noticed I can't do a Valune questline unless I use a Valune Player Character. Hopefully there will be some way to gain the NPC trust or a way to become part of the factions required to fulfil certain questlines.
- Rewards: Should be rewarding! The current system shows very little meaningful reward because of the lack of Story Arcs .. or .. Modules
Many choices are completely meaningless and feel like a "Railroad" . I say this because there is no motivation to work towards a 2nd option in the current quests.
Example: You can choose to help or hurt the minotaurs, but the reward for helping the minotaurs will greatly outweigh the choice not to help them... So basically; what is the purpose of hurting those minotaurs if there is no benefit?
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Many games have no XP rewards and have a meaningful storyline that changes your gameplay from a certain point all the way until end-game.
Many players are upset that there are no quest markers, but I prefer this. I like the mystery of finding things.
Many players do not read the dialog. . . this causes them to have issues. . . . I also like this a lot
Many players come directly to my Discord as well as in-game player for assistance. . . . This is exactly how it should be.
** Thank you Intrepid Employees for your time **
~ DoctorCurls - Fighter of Corruption
At the beginning of your journey, quests should introduce you to mechanics and features of the game. After that they should lead you to discover and explore the world, the lore, and contribute to its expansion and evolution. It should reward you with some specific items accelerating/improving your other activities. For example: Xp scrolls multiplier for grinding and gathering, Special discounts or access to new items/materials with merchants, Access to some special areas, among others.
Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
Less than 25%
Why did you choose that percentage?
The leveling experience should come from activities making you interact with other players and help you discover and learn all features of the game. It should not be a solo experience. We need to be forced to interact with other players in all areas of the game while we learn the game and build our character. It needs to be a social experience.
What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
My interaction with other players and the exploration of the world. AoC has a great vision, that node system makes it immersive and dynamic. We feel we can influence the game world by our actions and shape it to what we want. The quest system should contribute to that and help us discover the world, the different zones, and alter/deepen/enhance our interaction with it. Opening us to more content than others that did not expérience those adventures, rewarding that knowledge we acquired or the help we provided in a meaningful way.
2 - Despite the low evaluation, I will say that I do like the intended questing i.e.. NPC checks game state, that useless neckless that you acquired in a previous quest allows you to talk to new NPC's and gives additional dialog options.
How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two?
They're garbage. I'd like to see something equal to the value of effort I put into investigating the world or killing mobs. For example, if it's a kill quest have it reward exp, if it's an investigation have it reward a new line of quests through another item game state check, if it's killing a boss have it reward an equal value item.
What’s working well, and what could be improved?
I do enjoy having markers on the map that tell you where to go, but I would like to see you complete another part of the quest before knowing where to go. Could have it come from a note from a mob or recreating a map through world materials. If you opt to not do that part, you could mark an area in which the quest objective would be located either through markers on the map or through dialog that the NPC gives.
In your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
EXP is never bad, even with repeatable quests, you could cut the exp earned for each turn in. Could also do the same for glint, giving an additional avenue to acquire cash to pump in the economy. Gear is another solid option, although you would need to take into consideration the ease at which the gear is acquired and at what level it would be obtainable as to not flood the market with it. If it's a long quest chain available only after reaching level 20 that you would start around level 10 I could see it rewarding rare or possible heroic gear and giving a variety of possible gear options, this is of course depending on the difficulty and length.
Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
~35% Questing
~30% Grinding
~15-20% Gathering
~15-20% Events
Why did you choose that percentage?
As an avid quester in other games, it makes the most sense to keep players engaged in both the world and story of Vera. To be an adventurer going about on epic quests across different lands and continents while gathering and fighting others for valuable loot/bosses then stumble across merchants in need of defense of bandits or someone who lost their way and needs to be escorted to a nearby town, maybe a scientist who needs rare materials to make an item to fight against the blight, perhaps a ranger who teaches you how to make a new caravan. There are tons of ways to break up the mindless loop of just finding a spot in open dung and killing mobs for 8+ hrs.
What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
Purpose, WHY am I doing these things, what's the point? Am I even making a difference? What's in it for me?
N/A - I enjoy being able to avoid quests that don't 'hook' me as a player/Roleplayer, so I generally do that.
For clarity this is a strong positive for me as of now, but this question is about quest quality/rewards.
How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? What’s working well, and what could be improved?
Biasedly, 'mostly bad' but I haven't kept track of them organically (encountering them ingame). I know that I don't often see the point.
The issue I have with direct quest rewards in Sandbox-esque games is that they're such a backwards (imo) way of implementing things. If the rewards are good, they're incentivized too much. If they're bad, they're in the way, and if your world is big and dynamic and cool, I am going to miss 80% of them almost by default, requiring either a pile of quests with similar rewards, or a type of scaling/tuning for quests that feels almost impossible to do well.
If I must take one of those two, I'll take the 'similar rewards' one.
Brief Comparisons:
FF11 has quests mainly for fun and some important spells, as well as building up your reputation/Fame.
BDO quests are on a 'Golden Path' most of the time, reward Knowledge otherwise, or are gamed so heavily due to the way they give exp that they're obnoxious to me.
Throne and Liberty quests are split up well, give 'progession money' and 'Enhancing Stones' but in a way that is vastly superior to the BDO implementation.
Neverwinter quests are full, self-contained Story beats.
Onigiri quests were mostly excuses to repeat dungeons (I liked this, not sure most would)
Fairyland quests were convergent, fun, but it's literally a game about Fairytales, so the rewards were pretty irrelevant. I think they were good, I just don't remember them.
TERA, GW2, etc are WoW-clone adjacent enough (or similar to BDO enough) that they're not memorable for this, to me
In your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
No such thing, because players have such a wide variety of concept of what quest rewards 'should' be. If I had to say something I'd say 'put Social/Religious Org rep as the midpoint between all questing and all rewards'. Not only does this achieve most of the streamlining that less invested players tend to want, it helps with immersion and dynamism.
But you'll always get those people who just want the loot and are min-maxing every aspect of the experience. For those who actually enjoy questing, I can't imagine a situation where helping out a Social Org and getting the option to 'cash in your favor' with that Social Org could ever be inferior to random questing for semi-random rewards except for really huge quest chains, and those should probably still have this tie-in, along with their 'big cool rewards at the end'.
Every other aspect of rewarding players for questing in a Free Trade, One Currency, ductile economy MMORPG is just dragging your Devs through hell, imo.
Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
Exactly 50%.
Why did you choose that percentage?
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/51818/can-we-handle-quest-exp-differently
I would prefer a world in which a player is incentivized to visit a Node, not just to 'run all the quests there for exp and loot', but also to learn a bit about the area.
I don't like games that let people level too much without actually learning the combat systems, or games that let players get Quest Exp easily after overleveling the challenge too much. I don't like games where you 'have to quest to keep up' nor where those who choose to just grind can just ignore quests.
The entire ecosystem of questing, to me, is frustrating in MMORPGs because they turn into metagaming and the idea in that thread is the one I have available for solving my very specific, biased problem.
I also would like if this exp type, if it were a thing, could be applied as a 'counter against XP Debt' pre-emptively at Max Level because I really hate the feeling of 'enjoying a grind, reaching max, and then wasting a giant pile of Quest Exp because I feel like questing now but I am at max'.
Brief Comparisons:
FF11 quests do not give exp, I'd say 99.9% of the exp in that game is grinding. I'm fine with this but know that few others are.
BDO quest exp depends on your skill as a player in how to manipulate the Quest Exp system. Any BDO leveling guide, particularly the outdated ones that still focus on levels 55-61, will explain all the nuances of this.
Throne and Liberty questing is integrated enough that I would not be able to cleanly answer how much of my exp was Quests vs Grinding, but based on the flows of the 'casuals' in my guild, it's probably 50%, and up to 60% now as the game fleshes out more story (and ofc I sit at level cap 'wasting' all that Quest exp)
Neverwinter Quests give exp in what I consider an obnoxious way, but that game is just a hub/lobby for adventures.
Onigiri quests were rewarding but sparse in a specific way, you'd nearly never 'go back' to do them in an area, but it also isn't an open world game.
Fairyland Quest exp was probably 40%, I assume this because I know I didn't 'grind' very much in that game despite enjoying that, and I liked questing, but you can't dodge encounters in an isometric turn based Fairytale game, obviously, so any travel to any quest location was 'automatically' grinding.
TERA, GW2, etc are WoW-clone adjacent enough (or similar to BDO enough) that they're not memorable for this, to me, except for a very slight feeling that I was positive toward the Quests (not the Questing) in TERA, but I literally don't remember if they were just mandatory afk-game tier or not, just that they were good in themselves sometimes.
What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
Covered above, I hope.
Ashes is otherwise too far from what I'd enjoy if I answer this question in the context of questing.
Immersiveness for me is about ecology, RP opportunties, the ability to ignore or engage with things, and enough dynamism to reduce repetition or to put repeatable things into different contexts. Quests are not often RP-frames for me because they don't often allow my group to synchronize well enough, are too static, and often require repetition for each player even when the quest is supposed to feel similar to a TTRPG oneshot adventure.
I understand that many games need this to appeal to players, but I prefer that the 'TTRPG oneshot adventure' immersion type be left up to the world, not Quests, unless its something like 'Artifact Armor' or 'Top Social Org Directive'. The sort of thing where it's not even of importance to everyone in a group that goes to it, and therefore doesn't require a bunch of repetitions.
Don’t feel limited to the thought-starters above. Feel free to drop whatever feedback you have regarding your experiences with quests below
I would prefer that questing is lighter at the beginning of the game, with more of it built up around PoIs and their various quirks, if the team has the talent to make those feel good, but I'm also really picky about this, and afaik most of my preferences are high-difficulty when implemented alongside the common expectation from the bulk of MMORPG players, particularly PvP MMORPG players.
Just please do something about the capacity for quests to be easily locked-down by 'griefers', or at least 'force' them to put in similar effort, especially for quests deeper into quest chains.
- The quest from with you get your first greens by collecting parcels is a bit too easy for that reward. But it goes into the right direction.
- I think questing should work like in WoW where you can reach max level just by that and get some basic equipment. Thats good for the casuals and feels rewarding every time. If one is going for better gear- do bosses and grind so that you can craft it yourself.
- It is important that quests don't get boring. Take BG3 as example. Each quests contributes to storypathes and pulls you deeper into the world. Guide us through the POIs, talk to NPCs and hear their stories, riddles, jumping puzzles through ruins, find lost items on the top of a mountain or in the deepest caves, let us share in the fate of the inhabitants and their experiences with corruption, find books and mysterious signs of the old world that guide us...the world and the lore are great, so don't hide it behind a blind grind.
- Beside those quests there are tons of node quests already in, so that mix should be fine. I guess thats why i'd say 40% from regular quests, 30% from grinding quests and 30% from group/boss quests.
- I see a problem with the crafting low tier mats. If you get greens and some blues from quests, what would we need white/green mats for beside leveling the professions and node donations? But this could also open the market for people who have the gear to improve those mats even further + i read the idea several times of having an option to implement that to professions to handle mats like glint. So combining f.e. 10 white to a green, 20 green to a blue, 50 blue to a yellow and so on. This could also help with storage management.
2/5
How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? What’s working well, and what could be improved?
My experience from 1-10 was actually pleasant because the EXP was meaningful and several of the quests gave useful gear like some starter pieces and gathering bags with some OK glint. After 10, for me at least (i may have missed many quests) it fell off a cliff in terms of rewards (EXP was terrible and no useful gear/resources) save for 1 quest chain i did which rewarded the caster neck. First and foremost, EXP needs to be significantly increased at 10+ to make quests worth doing at all and gear rewards can be rare (saved for longer chains like the caster neck quest and to a lesser extent dungeon/boss quest rewards), but a common reward should be resources and even crafted materials along with the occasional cosmetic and minor permanent stat buffs - and glint/gold of course.
Overall I thought most of the quests I encountered were interesting enough and immersive. There needs to be more story-telling mechanics for the more involved quests (mini cut scenes, NPCs doing things or emoting). I think what is severely lacking currently in alpha are quests that teach you about a region in the game (ie several quests that take you to several places throughout Carphin - not everywhere, but general areas) and help immerse you in whatever is going on in said area.
So basically, more story quests that connect you to the world and its inhabitants that actually give meaningful EXP.
In your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
I think having gear rewards should be on the rarer side, as it shouldn't be a primary gear source; The main rewards should be resources/recipes/glint with unique items/trinkets (like miscellaneous RP items and rare crafted pieces/mats) while always giving relevant exp for your level.
Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
Less than 25%
25–49%
50–74%
75% or more
50-74%
Why did you choose that percentage?
Following some sort of MSQ along with a region (Riverlands for example) main quest + side quests/commissions should account for AT LEAST 50% of your leveling to 50. Events/gathering/artisan should be around 25% and 25% should be grinding (killing mobs without a quest). We should have some sort of narrative focus constantly nudging us in one or more directions in the world throughout our leveling experience. It gives us a general sense of purpose and helps us become connected to the world and story unfolding around us. I want the lore of Carphin to slowly unfold around me piece by piece as I explore it guided by some quests and have its secrets revealed to me as i explore off the guided path.
What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
I think what connects most players to a game world is it's story & characters. Despite all its faults, one of the biggest reasons WOW has stayed around for so long IMO is its extremely rich lore and characters. Right now AOC feels like a beautiful world devoid of soul. I want to learn about the different PC & NPC races/factions in Vera and their distinct cultures & attitudes.
More events & types of events are always welcome.
As far as rewards go I think for ashes all rewards should be crafting materials. I dont think any items should drop in ashes other than common and recipes. These crafters need purpose.
Leveling in general might be to fast. I would l9ve to see a balance where you struggle to pve same level mobs with basic gear. It should be a life and death situation when runing around in garbage.
Hard-core mode for those of us who love punishment.
Please get rid of rations and auto healing. 😀.
On a scale of 1–5, how would you rate the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? (1 = Very poor, 5 = Excellent)
How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? What’s working well, and what could be improved?
Rating wise I would go with a solid 2. Why? as being completely aware that questing is still far behind into works and having basic rewards only to match, I would say it's in an almost ok state though the exp/glint are low especially for levels above 10. The current quests feel more like a chore that does not really add to the experience and immersion. That being said, what I would love to see is more interactive quests as far as the node progression goes and it(the node) being slightly less material hungry than it currently is, more "clearing the surrounding area for further node expansion" while having separate tasks that will progress some professions by literally crafting the node it's self instead of it being a purely automated process providing the players with a reasonable excuse as to why their materials are being drained and giving them exp towards professions and maybe some "monetary" rewards (always talking about node currency or glint or information that might seem irrelevant but may have connections to other quests).
In your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
Well, as was already mentioned in the above segment separation of quests into different categories FE: Node progression, Character Progression, Adventure, Unique, Hidden. Further explanation:
Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
Less than 25%
25–49%
50–74%
75% or more
Why did you choose that percentage?
About 30% as I gave my opinions about quests and questlines above i would say that for the general leveling that would be a satisfactory amount of exp (per level) to be coming from quests. That being said the % should be a LOT higher for the levels 0-10 with more quests pointing to what needs to be done as a more concrete tutorial of the game systems while levels 10-20 should be a tutorial for Node systems
above that the rest of quests/questlines should be more actual progression and special gear oriented while kept to a minimum so the economy and crafting flourish properly.
What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
You people are already doing a more than decent job to keep the immersion than many games have done before.
as for the dynamic well, imho if you manage to pull off unique and hidden questlines that change or disappear after a while, me and any sane (or not) person would rate that 20 out of 10.
Kuddos!
3 (Average)
2. How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? What’s working well, and what could be improved?
The quest rewards in Alpha Two feel decent, especially for early progression, but they currently lack the depth and variety needed to stay compelling long-term. Rewards are present, but they’re often not balanced with the time or effort required. They could be improved by:
- Adding meaningful item variety (e.g., rare materials, utility gear, cosmetic incentives), but not gear itself.
- Scaling rewards to effort and challenge!
- Tying rewards into the broader economy (e.g., quests that impact node development or market supply)
3. In your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
- Be economically meaningful: Rewards should integrate into the local and global economy (e.g., raw materials influencing crafting or trade).
- Vary based on region/node stage: Quests in a developing node should reward differently than those in a bigger node.
- Encourage group and solo participation: Balance needs to exist so solo players don’t feel excluded, but group play should feel rewarding.
- Avoid strict power creep: Focus on utility, rarity, or market relevance, rather than raw power alone.
- Support long-term goals: Rewards should tie into housing, reputation, crafting progression, or social status.
I would say, it also depends on the time and effort required to complete that quest. The more engaging, the better rewards.
I personally liked how the MMORPG Metin2 handled it. It took ages to level up, it was around the same leveling experience as in Ashes as of now. But the thing that I liked most about Metin2 was the curve how they handled questing, exploring and farming.
In Metin2 the quests led you to a "new" region, they introduced you to the new NPCs and their problems. Their quests showed you the Monsters and you needed to kill a few. It was simple, but after that you got a quest with much stronger monsters. You couldnt kill them, so you needed to stop questing for a while and get stronger.
So exploring, and farming became important. In that region were different areas where different gear could drop after some grinding. Leveling up did not make you much stronger, but gear did. After grinding and killing hundreds of orcs, you finally got that super rare weapon. That weapon was level 30. That weapon without upgrading was better than a common level 35 weapon and with upgrades (by crafting) still better than a level 40 weapon. So you invested time and effort into finding upgrade materials and skip level 35 or even level 40 weapons.
But with that weapon you could finally kill these stronger monsters and after a while you got introduced into a new region, and the cycle (just for a better weapon) repeats. I want every level I am to feel meaningful and quests be there only for guidance.
If quests give too much experience, then there is simply no point of grinding crafting materials or gear because until you can make the weapon actually good, there is already a better common weapon, which is better than the crafted weapon you just made with all the time and effort you spent.
4. Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
Max. 40%, ideally 30% and min. 20%.
5. Why did you choose that percentage?
Questing should serve as the main storytelling and guidance system, especially in a world as dynamic as Ashes. However, Ashes is designed around player-driven content, so it’s important that grinding, gathering, events, and PvP have meaningful leveling value. Around 30% respects the narrative while still encouraging exploration, crafting, and PvX interaction.
6. What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
Feeling connected comes from a combination of:
- Responsive world systems: Seeing the world change based on node progression or player decisions
- Consequences and agency: Letting my actions impact the world (positively or negatively)
- Rich lore that unfolds naturally through discovery and interaction—not just quest text
- Dynamic events and environmental storytelling: Weather, seasons, local festivals, and regional threats that make the world feel alive
Ashes could become more immersive by:
- Making NPCs feel less static and more reactive to node changes
- Including more regional identity and storylines
- Ensuring seasonal cycles and environmental storytelling influence gameplay and exploration in meaningful ways
I also hope to create more drama around the world the quests change/become uncompleteable until nodes get levelled/deleveled because NPCs may or may not be in that region anymore depending on other nodes on the map. NPCs should change location with the living breathing world that is meant to be the node system,
Maybe you are doing a quest to kill an alpha wolf and you need to talk to cheesesteakjimmy first because he will give you the location of the alphas den. However due to the town over hitting T2 node first Jimmy decided to skip town and go there to buy goods from the town so now instead of him so now to get the alpha wolf quest you need to do X task first changing the quest adding new parts and so on.
This way questing becomes apart of the living breathing world/node system rather than just being static.
3
What’s working well :
Samias hope quest line with badges
what could be improved :
more quest like this where player can choose his reward
Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
i think that Q is irrelevant because i will measure xp by time : so 1 houre spending on activities :
grind = gathering < quests = commissions ( hunt, gather, craft ) ! < Events
What helps you feel connected to a game world :
Open world , trading , party , raid , questing areas , events
What could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
Caravans taxy style for more people or instead of caravan just make real carriage drived by player with speed of medium mount like 150? From node to node for money , glint , resources ?
more options for trading : auction style , browsing detailed
more emotions
party/raid slacking check like dmg/mana/heal count
Quests for parties / grinds / dungeons
More events for gather
PS.
With that being said, I believe that Ashes should take the directions that Guild Wars did and have a Story Quest every 5 levels. This gives players the opportunity to really enjoy their experience exploring the world. This would also make players more excited to see the next chapter of the story. Part of the reason I love cliff hangers (from a writers standpoint). It entices the audience to think and have theories about what is to come.
Moreover, Ashes of Creation quests should reward players with a fair amount of XP along side a pieces of armor/weapons. Some cool ideas would be cosmetic items, and on the rare occasion, mounts or pets. These rewards would entice players who normally don’t care about questing or the story to have a reason to play through at least the main story line.
To answer one of the questions plainly, it would be best if the games quests were about 40% of the games progression. This is due to the suggestion I made in the second paragraph. With 40% it’s still important enough that players will do it, but also still gives players the freedom and time to progress in the other many game features.
- Currently, the existence of bugged, unfinished questlines, and quests that's can't be completed ruins the questing experience in a very specific way to how quests work in AoC - since the quests are often vague and require the player to search around or figure something out from the lore/quest dialogue, it's easy to get stuck on quests because you're unsure if you're missing something or if the quest is broken and can't be completed. For example; i spent a lot of time trying to figure out the quest "The Eyes of Seafury" before coming to the conclusion that one part of the quest is bugged and can't be completed - time i could've spent doing other things!
- Doing some questlines can lock you out of doing other questlines (example: Samia's Hope questline locks you out of doing the 2nd Sword questlines), but there are no indicators in the game that it happens. I kept going back to 2nd Swords Outpost at different levels or after completing different quests hoping that the 2nd Swords NPC would finally give me the quest, but his dialogue was always the same and I had to find out from external sources that the reason I can't pick up the quest is because I finished the Samia's Hope questline. This can lead to frustration and lack of interest in going back to NPCs whose quests I couldn't pick up, even though this should be part of the questing loop and does work in some cases (like being able to talk to some NPCs after picking up the Court of Cloaks Coin).
- Overall, I found the questing experience to be fun. There was some variety (which I hope and expect to increase) when it comes to quest conditions, like NPCs that only spawn during night-time (would love to see similar conditions related to season, weather, or even resources gathered in the area - like a mob that only spawns after you've cut a number of X Trees in the area).
- I love the vagueness in quest dialogues and requirements, and would like to see more things like that. I liked the idea of scribes translating different documents to advance certain quests, and would love to see a questing system based around that. I like quests that ask me to find something hidden in an area because it encourages exploration.
- Finding questgivers isn't easy and requires lots of exploration, which I like. But I would like to be able to save questgiver locations. Would love to have the ability to make maps with markers on them and use them or sell them to other players for things like that.
- I would like to see questlines that take me across multiple zones to encourage me to visit and explore zones other than the Riverlands (I know it will happen in the future, but a couple of quests in the current Alpha to incentivize visiting the desert and the tropics would be cool - just make them solo-friendly, not requiring me to kill mobs that I'm too weak to kill solo).
- I think the EXP and quest rewards in 2.5 are great. But I do prefer quests with more exciting rewards, like unique pieces of gear or consumable items. I think quest rewards should always be inferior to drops and crafted items, but should be good enough to be usable until you get a drop/crafted upgrade for that slot. I would love to see some item bonuses that only come from questing - like items that give +% adventuring exp - or more profession-related items as quest rewards (like the satchels you get from some quests). I think exclusive questlines where you can only do questline X OR questline Y, but not both, should reward decent items, as it would add some choice variety for players (do I want to do this questline for item X which is a decent temporary upgrade for me, or do I want to do the other questline and get item Y to sell on the market?).
- In terms of leveling exp %, think the current questing exp is good up to around level 15, then it starts feeling too small and there aren't enough quests to make it feel like a viable leveling path.
The reward should be how much you enjoy the quest. For example, when playing D&D I am not doing quests for loot or experience. I'm doing it for the fun of it, the adventure if you will. 🙂 A fun-driven system. Haha.
"Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?"
You shouldn't force activities on players. If someone wants to only quest or only gather or only event, then why penalize them?
The percentage should be whatever activities the player decides they want to do, right? 😉
"What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?"
Actually making a difference in the world, and doing unique one time only things.
-"Hey I killed these monsters."
-"Big deal, they'll just respawn again AND in the same spot."
🫤
-"I chopped down a hundred trees."
-"Yet this area is still a forest."
😂
-"I saved this land from the Shaman's curse."
-"I did that months ago. So did like 1000 other people."
😖
2. I would describe the current quest rewards as very boring and not rewarding enough. Not enough xp, no gear to be found.
3. In my opinion, there needs to be more xp given for starters. As for gear, it does't hurt to allow some items to be given via quests. I think it's lame to ONLY rely on crafting or "dungeons" for loot drops.
4. Rought 50% of your xp should come from questing while the rest comes from a combo of the xp gained from mob kills and a smaller amount from profession leveling.
5. What makes me feel connected to a game world is feeling like I'm "on a mission". I want the quests in Ashes of Creation to give "epic adventure Dungeons and Dragons" vibes. What I mean by that is I want about 50% of the quests in Ashes to take me on a fun but challenging sequence of events driven by tasks that make me feel like an adventurer trying to make their way through a dangerous world. Tell me a story of why I'm headed to a cave deep in a zone to acquire a rare quest herb only to be prompted with another step in the quest once I arrive that he cave is infested with killer mobs I need to kill prior to reaching the herb. Upon getting the herb, notify me that I'm being hunted by a small group of mercenaries who were also hired to procure the item. And reward me handsomely with gold and xp for spending my time and risking my neck achieving this epic mission.
How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? What’s working well, and what could be improved? (There is only one quest reward I have deliberately gone out of my way for, and that was a quest in Lionhold for another bag like the beginner bag. Everything else is either dropped from mobs, can be bought off a vendor, is glint, or a tiny amount of exp. I enjoyed the ones that you needed to actually read the quest in order to complete or accomplish the optional additions, but I'm not sure if that actually increases the quality of the rewards.)
In your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
(Rewards that undermine the economy are bad - giving all the starter gear and a horse for example completely undermines the novice stages of crafting and turns that entire stage into a money dump. This feels horrible! Now, if the rewards given were some mats, an item that increased the rarity of a mat you have, a critical component for mats, cosmetic applications for current gear (which I understand will be for a later date!) better experience gains, node currency with there being better options for using that currency (that does not undermine crafting!!!). Something good would be a location for a stash of good mats or a trap that let to a mob that dropped good quality hide, etc.)
Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
(If you are an adventurer, I would say about 25% from questing. 25% from mobs, 25% from gathering your choice of mats. And the remaining 25% split between these depending on what the player found most engaging. A PvP player would get most of their exp from mobs (mindless folk, haha, play the game a little!) and a crafter would get 25% from gathering, 50% from crafting, and 25% from mobs and quests.
The amounts will obviously vary because people are able to choose what sounds fun, but I know I would quest more of the quest rewards were more helpful. I love reading them and going on an adventure with the quest lines. Just don't give out the finished goods! That might work alright at higher levels where no one wants basic gear, but at the lower levels you just need the basic stuff to get to the higher levels, no need for trade at all if it is simply given out.)
What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
(The questing is honestly what helps me feel connected to the world of Ashes of Creation. Through it I learn about the lore and local people. I assume I will be able to learn about the dynamic world state through it in the future as well. I would love quests that lead me to points of interest that have unique mobs or mats, and I would absolutely LOVE quests that players can make to assist with mat gathering. (This person wants a rare mat from this rare mob, I'll take that quest for the cash reward, the material reward, or the gear reward they offer! Because it comes from a player, having a gear reward that they crafted would not undermine the economy.)
1
How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? What’s working well, and what could be improved?
I've played thousands of hours in A2 and have only found a handful of quests that seem even worthwhile.
The necklace carphin quest has been the best one yet. Seems like the only decent quest line in the game.
Other than that I only know a handful of quests good for leveling quickly at early levels. Even those are dime a dozen.
I'd like to see more quests around popular POI such as carphin, oakenbane, steel bloom, ect that have quest chains and are good for leveling. They should be used to incentivize groups to go and kill different boss mobs and farm for certain items in different spots.
In your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
- Rewarding decent XP depending on levels the quest is for
- Rewarding decent (not neccessarily the best) items for completing key quest chains
- Having quest chains unlock certain storages, ability to wear certain gear, ability to craft certain items
Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
Less than 25%
25–49%
50–74%
75% or more
~50-74%
Why did you choose that percentage?
I think it'd be a good experience to have half (or more) the leveling experience be for grinding quests to grind mobs and kill bosses in certain zones to get rewarded gear, matts, and xp and the other portion to come from other mob grinds. Currently all of the leveling experience is grinding mobs in POIs. It'd be nice if that was the same but there were quest lines to send you to different places in the POIs to grind different mobs, collect different items, and kill different bosses
What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
Have the quest chains tell a story about different characters that appear throughout the world. Have those characters be later tied to grander raids/dungeons. Players should witness character development in certain characters as they progress through quests and eventually into raids.
2 - Some quest rewards are items I don't know what they are used for. I understand we need to find what they need to be used for, but in a system where the quest can be broken or the character we need to talk to isn't there having these items that have no value is a major downside.
How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? What’s working well, and what could be improved?
With the low drop chances of certain materials or items would be cool to have a quest revolving around that boss and upon completion be that item. For the easy commissioning quests glint is fine, but for the storytelling quests we should be getting items or recipes to craft at the very least.
In your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
Allow for equal opportunity for all. In a PvX game having quests hidden behind mobs that are farmed constantly is going to tank the economy. It's fine to do it since it will allow for your PvP fight, but allow for a second route that may lead to a different reward or new lore. This second route isn't roadblocked and allows for every player to complete it.
Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
Less than 25%
25–49%
50–74%
75% or more
35-45% for main story or questing at that level
20-30% for side quests
10-20% for commissions
Why did you choose that percentage?
The main story quests should feel like you are accomplishing what you are meant to do in this world. At level 20 if my quest is to clear out a dungeon to get 1% for my xp when I can get more xp from just grinding the dungeon doesn't feel like a great accomplishment.
The side quests are meant to boast you. These can range from side content to doing events/gathering/grinding scenarios. These are meant to be helpful but not game breaking.
Commissions are meant to be repeatable. At level 20 if I want to do only commissions it should take doing a couple hundred of them to level up. Obviously lower levels it should be in the couple 10s or 20s.
What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
Hard to feel connected when NPCs still have quests above their head after completion. Once the questing is smoothed out in the sense the reward feels worth the effort I would have a better feeling about them. Currently I do the small level ones to get from 1-5 within the hour then ignore them cause they are not worth it or broken.
Honestly, a 1. I haven't played any mmos with quest systems worse.
The rewards are for the most part really bad. I think providing more recipes or even crafting materials would help in this department. I know the game's gear is supposed to be primarily crafted, and that's fine, but then to me that means the questing system needs to better support that. like sweat of your brow is a good quest, and it rewards you with a random recipe.
Though I would ideally like there to be a choice as rewards so players can get recipes they could potentially use. I haven't addressed this yet but having chain quests that give you say a full set of armor's recipes would be amazing especially in early game. Similar to how that gear token quest for starter players gives you tokens, it would be ideal such quests existed for gear set recipes and weapon recipes.
I think there should be at least two different categories of quests:
That being said, the exp quests I think you should be able to lvl through quests if you wanted to because there are a lot of players who will play a game with an engaging quest line and it would be great to make the questing experience well enough that it's attractive to this group of people as well. In short, 75% or more. Keep in mind, if the rewards are exp and crafting recipes/mats focused, players will still need to grind to get mats they need from mobs and gather for their materials. Otherwise it will become difficult to continue on with the quests once you get to a lvl that your gear doesn't support you in combat as much anymore.
As mentioned above about making quests feel more engaging and a means to leveling up. The best quest system I've seen is the Elder Scroll Online system. Blade & Soul Neo had a good system too. ESO is the only game I actually LOVED doing quests, they were engaging, well structured grouping areas the quests are picked up, and where they needed to be done in. The markers both quest givers (and the quest types) and where the quests areas covered were well done and clear, I didn't have to spend so much time going online looking up where to do a given quest. And lastly, in ESO I felt the quests, most of them anyway, were a core part of the gaming experience. I LOVE a good story, but I much prefer playing an amazing story than reading one in a book or watching one on tv.
I realize that the quests and questing system is still in Alpha and needs work, but I do hope we see a major overhaul of the current system to make them more engaging and valuable to players. May it be through the rewards received to support other systems like crafting and gaining experience, or through amazing story lines and over all flow of the quests including how they impact the world around you.
One other thing I'd like to express and I hope this is received well, is to allow quests to shape your reputation in the world. not just faction reputations, but rather player decisions with the quests impacting how people see the player (and what quests are then available). Think D&D and ESO.
I would love ashes to be a game where I can reroll a new character and take a totally different route and accessing different parts of the game. Hell one of my favorite parts of ESO was doing the quest lines and behavior (thieving and murdering) to get access to secret areas and associated factions like the Dark Brotherhood. I think it would be an incredible addition to the game especially for RP folks.
2.5
I honestly think there was a huge step in the right direction. There are a couple quests with quite good rewards, but overall they are still way too low.
While I do think that questing should be a little less rewarding than straight up grinding - I don't think the difference should be that high.
Imo quests in Ashes should give you an alternative road of getting exp, gear and money instead of just grinding. Throughout all levels.
I fair balance in my eyes would be something like the absolute minimum amount of time you could do a quest in (with walking and killing mobs and everything) like a GM that knows every exact spot, that should give you the same value as if you spent that time grinding. Because then the value would at all times stay at least slightly below the grind value.
How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? What’s working well, and what could be improved?
There are some quests with rewards atm that I think are quite good. The two material bags you can get for example. Also some of the gear quests, like the starter one where you can choose 3 green gear pieces. The New Aela surplus questline is also not too bad, but overall most quests are really not worth the time you need to spend on them.
So I think just balancing things with the time the Quests take you would really improve this here. Again it shouldn't be more rewarding than grinding, but rn it's not good.
I do like that there are quests that give more exp, some with more glint and some with gear instead. I prefer it this way over always getting much of everything.
One thing is terrible imho though. The fact that with the surplus questlines you can accidently go for a questline with way way worse rewards is just not good, this has to be changed so it's somewhat the same. Doesn't have to be the exact same rewards, but for example getting more exp in New Aela vs getting more gear for the Joeva one would work, atm this is not balanced at all.
In your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
Basically what I've written above, it's mostly about time spent in the game. Spending a lot of time on something without getting something in the end never feels good. Whether that's irl, in dungeons, grinding or questing.
Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
Honestly - I don't think there should be a percentage. I don't think you should be forced to do quests or events or grind or gather at all. You should be able to choose between all the possible paths that Ashes of Creation offers and should get a somewhat equal amount of valuables in return for your time. Whether that's gear or exp or money. I also think you should be able to gain more exp and level by doing only stuff like driving caravans or gather stuff. Although this would need to be balanced well.
Stuff like afk fishing etc should of course not work for that, but if somebody solely wants to focus on gathering and crafting in this world, I feel like they should be able to do that. Maybe level a little slower than other methods, but still level, and maybe get more glint or gear instead as they're making stuff.
What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
Honestly, just talking about quests I think you're absolutely on the right track there. I personally usually never like questing, as it feels super repetitive and tedious. But during P2.5 I've spent most of my time testing the questing with many different characters as well to cover all the questlines.
And I gotta say that I didn't get bored at all.
I really like the balance of some quests requiring you to do a little bit of riddling, some require you to kill monsters and so forth.
There's a good amount of variety with interesting stories and stuff to explore.
I like how the quests let you explore the world and the places in Verra giving you more insights into the lore while also not being completely forced to be into lore at all. (In most games I'm a person that's not into the lore)
I wish there were more quests where you would have to do exploring in a sense that you go places with nice visuals giving you even more of the "exploration" feeling.
And while I really do enjoy the quests where you have to do some thinking on, there's some stuff that I would like to point out in regards to those quests:
- Quests that require reading and thinking have to have the right markers, some of those have wrong markers and such which really is making things difficult
- Quests that require reading and thinking should be readable again. Most of those quests have information in the NPC dialogue that you can only read once when picking up or progressing in the quest, this is not really good QoL imo. If it's not in the questlog description, you should at least be able to go back to the NPC and talk with them again.
- Some quests are missing markers while others wouldn't need them. There are a lot of quests that have markers where I think you wouldn't need them as it would be a perfect quest to explore and read into, while others are not having any markers or indicators where it would be really needed as the description by far doesn't give the info you need
Last but not least - additional quest feedback:
- some quests are too hard to find. In terms of where to pick them up. I'm not saying it should be easy, but some follow up quests for example I only found by accident, as there was to clue at all.
- warnings when starting a decision quest. Like with the surplus questlines, there should be some way of knowing you lock yourself out of other questlines, right now there is no indicator whatsoever
- more quests please. Especially those that can be randomly found in the open world, I love those! Exploring and then finding a spot to take on a quest feels great!
- keep up the direction! I really like where this is going!
I think this is probably the most important one , the others can all be tweaked as you go but this is pretty fundamental.
For me a huge part of my enjoyment and what makes me look forward to getting into the world and day dreaming about my build or excited to conquer something with friends is just knowing that I have options when I log on to choose how I want to spend my time.
I’m not saying the rest of the risk components need to be compromised or the grinding needs to be lessened I 100% enjoyed mass farming otters for 4 hours with my friends one night. I’m just saying there has to be choice. For me it would be really disheartening to think about every time I want to get on I have to be at the will of other people in a group or I can hardly move through the world. Or accomplish anything. I definitely enjoy getting together with my core people and grinding and bullshiting for hours . I definitely enjoy showing up for my guild to help defend our home. I definitely enjoy following my raid around and defeating world bosses and looting dungeons.
But also
Sometimes I want to just immerse myself in the world with my headphones on with no ones else’s voices and constant chatter in my ear. I don’t wanna have to follow a group around and sight see like I’m a tourist . I want to be able to explore on my own terms and kick back relax and get lost is some interesting micro narrative helping the people of the world.
I don’t think questing needs to have to the best rewards ever , personally , and I’m by no means suggesting this I’m just saying …I’d be content if questing was full of unique transmogs and lore and that was it really. ( obviously xp as well I’m sure there are plenty of people who want to be able to have the choice to level at least partly through this too) but I think they need to be plentiful and chaining and narratively inspired (not fetch , kill count etc) and found all over the world and do not require a group.
The quests need to be there for the times that i need a choice to not be so involved all the time and that i can still be in Verra and not some other game world that i would prefer not to be in.
IMO ESO has the best Questing in modern MMOs and that’s not saying much lol I’m not saying look to ESO for anything else but they’ve nailed the questing vibe check. Fully voiced helps too I’m sure. Or like stumbling upon GW2s “hidden” open world dungeons. (Not really the same thing but still so good) most mmo quests are fetchy, kill count, delivery, grind only, big SIGH experiences and I full heartedly believe Ashes deserves better than that.
Something like ESO/GW2 a quest can take through the deep dark corners of the world and meeting people you’ll probably never even see again. And that’s great. I dont want main characters, I dont want a 50000 hr main story, I don’t want mass easy xp or max level to come easily or any quicker at all. I dont want anything else about Ashes to be less.. I just want to have to the CHOICE to get lost by myself and wrapped up in something more interesting than the good ol grind sometimes.
I think that Verra deserves a world full of life beyond just its players and I think it would be a shame not to have immersive, interesting little stories to tell throughout.
On the scale of 1-5 I would say its a 2 or 3 as currently all you get is a small amount of glint with pretty bad xp but I know all that can be tuned at a later date. However what I will say is the questing does not have to make lvling as fast as group grinding but it should be better than it is currently.
The Questing rewards right now are ok especially if your wanting to focus on all gear being crafted. However would be nice to get something maybe some rare resources if gear is not an option. If you are going the route of providing gear as rewards then you would need to redesign the gearing system to add much more gear. The only thing that really matters is some currency along with enough xp to make questing worth the time investment. With games like WoW the gear is pretty much just turned into enchanting mats or quick gold at the vender along with transmog. The main point of questing is to guarantee xp for a task and also a great chance to interact with quest givers.
The best part about questing is how cool the quest giver is and most can be average but you need a cool unique one here and there and that is how epic stories start and it will also get people immersed in the world. You can use them to push the narrative and invest in the world. Currently when I play I normally avoid all the NPC's and just pretty much bum rush the first quests to lvl 5 then I rarely even go town town after that except to empty my bags. Group grinding is ok as long as it's not forced but the way the game is right now its quite boring going from grinding spot to grinding spot.
Personally I really enjoy questing systems and 75% or more is good with me for leveling up. I chose this percentage because it's how I learn the story and tie myself into the world. The epic adventure starts small and then builds up to where I am a hero by the end. If you only grind solo or group grind your not tied to the world at all. No one knows you in the game NPC wise and that means what's the point of me logging in I am of no use to anyone. Yes, interacting with IRL people can do this but you still need a great questing system because it just makes the game better and the more options for game play the better. However I may like to grind in a big group make memories a couple days a week but there are times where I just wanna immerse myself and do objectives and quests in the game. I like how there are open instances and bosses but the thing really missing in this game is a quest system. Yes we can pick up board quests but we don't even have to go back to town we click a button and boom you got your reward which is not realistic. The whole point of the questing is to make you feel like your helping real characters in the game and eventually the unique and epic ones become cultural and icons in the world.
Another thing about questing is we need to know whose a quest giver and who is not the Icons currently are not good on how to identify this. Maybe the person needs to be highlighted or the icons need to be bigger and more noticeable. When questing I don't want to have to guess on who I need to turn it into. Also a mini map marker helps or a big map with it marked on it think of the addon "Questie" from wow. Also when I am on the quest trying to figure out who the named mob is is not easy to figure out and sometimes I go to find them will kill the whole camp and be there 20+ minutes with no respawn. Also on the pick up type quests where I am trying to find things on the group the items need to be highlighted or something because its so hard to see what or where they are. Also this might be bugged to maybe their clipped into the graphics in the ground. However currently questing is irrelevant because its not even close to efficient which is why I stopped helping test the game because I don't want to group grind or solo grind for 40+ hours. But the bones of the game is great I think if you add a quest system on top of the boards that will guide you to different places through out the world and make you do objective this game would be much better to play for longer periods. The thing of a great MMORPG like WoW or Final Fantasy 14 is that they all how options and most of them are viable to level up to max level with some slower than others but still possible.
Thank you,
''Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?''
50-74% With tweaking based from player's feedback
''Why did you choose that percentage?''
It keeps a nice balance between group content and solo leveling.
''What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?''
First of all, how the quest is presented.
For example, take quest givers in Soulsborne games. They are usually presented in some somber mood with a few lines that are pretty much explain what you need to do, with a bit of lore and acted out flawlessly.
There is no dialogue, just maybe 3-4 sentences from NPCs and that's enough to hype you up. Study that those games when it comes to dialogues. It could save your money with minimal voice acting.
Second, environment they are set in. Paint a picture with your quest location and NPC that is giving it.
-Wounded knight that left a trail of blood in snow, giving you a quest with his dying breath.
-Maiden with white dress in poppy field that is actually a wraith
...and so on.
Make sure environment you are making is visually interesting enough that the area is not boring to grind in or do quests.
Third, Make some of your chain quest lead to something- A dungeon, group content, a satisfying/dissatisfying (tragic, cathartic, humorous, dark etc.) conclusion.
Blend in solo chain quest with group content at the end of the said quest. Maybe first two quest in chain are solo and 3rd one is a group quest.
Q: On a scale of 1–5, how would you rate the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? (1 = Very poor, 5 = Excellent)
A: 2/5 there are not enough rewards for what we currently have to go through to complete them. not all quests should be easy but going through all the processes for what available right now makes the reward at the end very lack luster for most of them.
Q: How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? What’s working well, and what could be improved?
A: They seem like mostly fillers at this point in time from what i have experienced. whats working well is the path, as in obtaining knowledge and figuring out what to do next. it is rather hard to immerse yourself into a fantasy setting for a quest like obtaining a legendary quest just from a simple rock cairn is pretty wild to me(not to mention that specific quest but its a mess in and of it self). as to what could be improved id say immersion first off, rewards next( make them a little more meaningful if possible for higher end quests) but most importantly if we are doing a Quest, allow us to play in a way where we wont have to worry about being ganked by a bunch of angry kids in a group just because theyre having a bad day because thats not fun for literally anybody
Q: in your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
A: Ill just stick with the bulletin board quests in towns for this one. they arent rewarding enough, and then just seem like more of a chore than an engaging experience. and no normal person plays games to do chores. to help the towns, at say lvl3 or so we shouldnt have to repeat the same quests 20 times just to get enough resources to help the town per capita and pay our storage bill. worrying about if ill make enough glint at the end of the week to still have access to my own resources that i had to fight hundreds of other players just to obtain is not engaging in a positive way at all.
Q: Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
A: I feel like a small portion maybe 25-30% of leveling should come from quests if that according to the setting of how ashes is laid out, me personally im used to questing accumulating about 60% or more of leveling but ashes is an entire different style than most MMOs i have played
Q: What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
A: What helps me connect to a game world is good meaningful stories and great atmosphere and feeling accomplishment for things you do in the game. Ashes as it stands right now, unless youre in say an RP guild, has absolutely no immersion at all. you spend all your time grinding for minuscule gains and opportunities to participate in events only to know that its most likely going to get stolen by zergs of angry kids. you can not accomplish anything significant in Ashes by your self and that is a HUGE break in immersion. im not a game developer so i dont know how to fix it. but if at all possible, cut scenes for some larger quests may be a cool idea to help get the player truly immersed in what they are doing
There is little interest questing in alpha two now. No impact on the character (reputation or else) and the rewards aren't that good since the player has to go into the wild to grind/kill tones of mobs to level up. Quests/commissions gives so few XP that I'm not sure it's even profitable to run to the commission board and back to grinding spot instead of just staying around killing mobs (on a XP side of the rewards). The item side of the reward is just profitable for players who didn't get the luck of dropping anything while gridding. The money/currency reward is about ok... even if still don't understand the purpose "in game" of the glints. Glint is used here as a currency... like money, and since a currency refers to any form of money that is used as a medium of exchange for goods and services why do we have two currencies here : glints and money (gold, silver, copper...)??
In my opinion, quests should reflect the player's commitment to the faction they are in and/or the NPC they are doing the quest for. Obtaining an experience gain symbolizing their increased knowledge, a reputation gain from the locality showing how well known they are becoming, and a reward in the form of money and/or an item related to the task completed.
25–49% should come from questing compared to other activities
I think that close to 50% of XP should come from quests and the other half should come from what the player did to succeed in doing them. The credit from gathering and crafting should go directly to gathering and crafting.
I’ll feel more connecting to the world if I have to act for that world by doing quests and else, and if the quests I’m doing are meaningful (killing 10 wolves is only useful if there are way too many wolves around that kills every other species in the forest ; especially if we need to have deers or rabbits around for some recipes).
- Early levels a 3, later levels 2
How would you describe the current quest rewards in Alpha Two? What’s working well, and what could be improved?
- They seem uneven...some quests have a lot of hoops to jump through but the reward at the end might be "meh." The rewards also do not seem to take into account the user's class. Can't wait to see the actual quest system in A3, the current placeholder is a source of frustration
In your opinion, what makes for engaging and fair quest rewards in a game like Ashes of Creation that features an economy-driven PvX system?
- There need to be drops in the game and decent quest rewards. However, the BEST equipment should almost always be player crafted. The one exception to this would be a quest reward for an epic quest, these rewards should also be among the best obtainable. Also, drops/rewards in the game should be mostly (around 80%-90%) "bind on acquire" so they can't be sold or given to an alt. Some proportion of crafted gear should also be BOA to keep the economy moving.
Roughly what percentage of your leveling experience do you feel should come from questing compared to other activities (e.g., grinding, gathering, events)?
- This depends on how good the quests are. If your writers are really creative then I would love a large proportion (>50%) of exp come from quests. If they aren't engaging or are grindy, then less than that. Also, quests should lead players to level-appropriate content, dungeons, resource/monster areas and so on.
What helps you feel connected to a game world, and what could Ashes of Creation do to feel more immersive and dynamic?
- Of course having an epic story backdrop where the player feels they play an active role. All MMOs say they do this but very few pull it off. LotRO did a decent job with this concept.
I really hope AoC is the first MMO to utilize AI to create player-specific, instanced quests. Imagine a player being offered a unique quest line that is not available to anyone else (except perhaps the player's party), where the player has no idea what is coming, and is never repeated exactly the same again. This sort of dynamically generated unique content would really help make the world seem "alive."
There should also be lower reward game loops that involve less emergence/systems layered into the experience, to provide agency to players who like to play in more specific ways. These should obviously require more playtime from those specific systems (like 100% questing for a questing only game loop/progression path), but these wouldn't be as effective at maxing out progression within all the systems obviously, which would push players more towards the more emergent play loops.
So to answer the question, the exact percentage should depend on the play-loop context, rather than a "one size fits all" percentage.
As far as making questing as immersive and dynamic as possible, i've posted a lot about that already in other related discussions that can touch the questing systems, so no need for me to repeat anything.
For ease of reference:
- commissions preview feedback (mar 2024)
- lore character dev discussion (mar 2023)
- storytelling with archetypes (aug 2024)
- treasure hunts livestream feedback (jan 2025)
- music dev discussion (dec 2024)
I didn't just focus solely only on those specific topics in my posts but moreso on how I think they can spill over and affect other aspects of the game such as questing, so if you read those posts of mine you will have a good understanding of what I think makes for more immersive and dynamic questing based on how it interacts with those various systems.