Finished With My Epic Quest in Under Three Hours!

[Chackra]

What would make the quests fun or interesting and less stupid and boring? If your going to badmouth the current way things are handled then best be able to provide an alternative. The only suggestions i saw in the quick glances i got....

Reading is fundamental; especially if you want to criticize someone for incompleteness.

I guess you'll have to take my word for it, but the main thing I did was comment on some of the more colossal things EQ has done wrong.  There have been hundreds of PnP, single-player, and MMORPG's that have quests that are "accessible" without 400,000 man scavenger hunts.  I didn't take the time to list all of the many thousands of examples of concepts that were used before, let alone layout new scenarios for you - do you have any idea why that would obviously have been a waste of time?  I understand that people are very emotionally invested in validating the time they spent on EQ's quests, so I didn't expect much effort.  All I was trying to do was make a point - that it doesn't have to be this way - but apparently even that didn't get through at all.

[Hrann]

The point is well taken Chackra.  I'm amazed anyone thinks the quests in EQ are good.  Some of them are somewhat decent, but the large majority of them are junk.  I doubt most people would be able to complete them without the spoiler sites, there are simlpy not enough clues in game.  How would you know you were at the right spot for a quest spawn, if it only shows up every 72 hours and has a 30% chance of skipping a spawn?  How about trying to find one of those ground spawns - a little brown bag that could be anywhere in the huge kunark zones.

How about you go hail a guy and he says, there goes the guy that has the item I need, go get him, and a running guy spawns.  You catch up to him, and at 30% life he surrenders and tells you of a hollow tree in another zone, which has lions guarding it.  The item is in that tree, if you can get past the lions.  When you bring the item back to the first guy, he tries to stiff you on the reward, and you can kill him and loot his body, or if your faction is good you don't have to.

See that?  Straightforward, easy to find the tree with the lions, make the mobs you fight tough enough that someone who could take them would find the item worthwhile, and you have yourself a little quest.

90% of the EQ quests are - go get these items which are on super long spawn rate mobs (with no clue as to where they are or their difficulty), bring em back, get an item that is junk compared to a bazaar item you could have gotten in half the time through plat farming.

In general, I think SOE is trying on this front, but it would be nice if they would make more progress on this.

[Tukash]

Which ones? Not being glib, besides Epic and the Qeynos badge quests, I'm really struggling trying to find decent ones suited to a mid to high level Bst that doesn't raid. Only ones I can think of are the Twilight ones, which are extremely disappointing, even on Luclin release.

Marsinger comes to mind.  Up to the 3rd quest is easily doable with a grp (I prefer the veng on the 3rd over the affect on the 4th anyways, Gem of Heroism).  Even easier now that you don't need a wizzy to get you to Hate, although make sure you have gate potion or some means to get out.

Signet Earring of Veracity is also doable, with a good reward.  The 4th in the quest is linked, the 5th may not be achievable unless you're in a guild that can take down Saru, but the 4th that certainly is and is a decent item for a none raiding bst

[Xilbeast]

ahhh eq quests, and the stupidity of them.

First point:  what part of waiting 24 hours to 7 days for a mob to spawn is supposed to be either: fun, hard, entertaining, or challenging?   Killing it or fighting it should meet those player status's, but sitting around waiting for it to pop?  Whose kidding who here?

personal favorite npc clue for a quest item: "The lost scroll contains the magical incantation I need to help you out. It was penned ages ago by the Elves. It was lost along with its protector during one of the raids on the Outpost in Firiona. I fear it may be lost for good"  Could that clue give any LESS information?  I gotta admit though, this ones a close second: 'It is a key I lost long ago when I was travelling with a companion. We were traveling in the new lands flying over some large crevices when the key dropped out of my pocket.'

Personal favorite unsolved quest:  http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=2204
I mean, nobody ever did FINISH that quest...did they?

I think our scout from TD wins the 'When will this stupid @#$# NPC spawn already?' award.

Biggest cash drain quest award goes to Aid Grimel, but only if you haven't done any trade skilling before starting it.

just keep repeating after me, 'its only a game', 'its only a game', 'its only a game'.....

[Scalewulf]

lol

For those that say they don't like quests or time sinks, I've got two words...

...PoP progression.  I suppose it's one word and an acronym, but I digress.  

To say that LDoN is a huge timesink...
...I don't get it.  

Everytime I've weighed it out, to get a comparable upgrade in LDoN to a PoP upgrade it comes out to being a similar timesink (when you factor in saving up DKP, being outbid by other players, etc, etc).  

And what makes LDoN better than upgrading through raids (IMO) is the fact that you get decent exp while doing it.  Also the chance for augs to drop, etc...

All LDoN needs is as much thought and design put into it as what is being put into Raid content.  As well as comparable loot to EP's and up (at the high end price scope from the merchants).

ever-QUEST - To hate quests is to hate the very concept of the game.  

:wink:

[Gnarloth]

/brainstorm on

I think one thing that should be looked at with quests is making the XP that you get as a reward viable. Make quests rewarding - if the loot isn't great, at least give the player an appropriate XP award for the time invested in completing the quest.

Every roleplaying game I've played (both PC and P&P) gives huge rewards for completing quests, with smaller xp bonuses for the mobs you kill on the way. That's one of the first differences I saw in EQ. The game is called EverQuest, but questing isn't rewarded (or the reward doesn't nearly begin justify the difficulty of the quest). Now I know there are a few exceptions to this (for example - Scorpion pincer quest in FoB is great for XP..... until you hit lev 5).

How about quests that are designed purely to give XP (or AAXP)?
In order to stop a player doing quests multiple times, make each XP giving quest give the player a flag. If you're flagged for that quest, you can't start/complete it again.

These quests could be solo or group based, and need not be combat orientated. Get players involved in politics and power struggles between factions. In fact your faction could/should be a trigger for certain events (ie once you are trusted by a group, they ask you for help).

This would then pave the way for rolling class/race specific quests, political quests or events based on your characters quest flags. Imagine being in a town/city where everyone calls you "Saviour" or "Messiah" (or "Very Naughty Boy") because you have a particular flag gained by stopping a great evil there. Merchants give you discounts, new quests open up and any factions you slighted in completing the quest vow vengence. Imagine the assasin spawning when you least expect it... and you thought  that zone was safe!

You get the idea. Possibilities are endless.

I wouldn't think something like this would be too hard to implement because a flagging system is already in place. Just needs a bit of creativity!

/brainstorm off

[Kylaz]

[quote="Gnarloth]
How about quests that are designed purely to give XP (or AAXP)?
In order to stop a player doing quests multiple times, make each XP giving quest give the player a flag. If you're flagged for that quest, you can't start/complete it again.

These quests could be solo or group based, and need not be combat orientated. Get players involved in politics and power struggles between factions. In fact your faction could/should be a trigger for certain events (ie once you are trusted by a group, they ask you for help).
[/quote]

Very good idea, Gnarloth. I do not believe you need to add any special flagging for quests, as it will require more work for dev.

What would you prefer ?

Killing the mobs over and over for 1% xp every 30 seconds or

do a quest (that will at least require some zoning) that would give 10% xp (talking AA xp at 60+ here) every 5 minutes ?

At the moment we don't have any choice for doing quests, and , I agree XP reward for quest is way too low.

As many quests in EQ atm are the "bring me these drops" king, I Suggest that:
Any quest requiring a common drop/mob should be at least 5% XP per item. Any quest requiring a uncommon drop/mob  should be at least 10% XP per item.
Any quest requiring a rare drop/mob  should be at least 25% XP per item.
Any quest requiring a very rare drop/mob  should be at least 50% XP per item.

What would be wrong with gaining an AA at turn in after having spent 10 hours farming a rare item?


Of course, players will exploit any issue - that's to be expected. But the only way to prevent new exploits would be to freeze the game as it is now. Q&A and Beta testing are the usual solutions to detect most of those.