Any chance of those? And I'm refering to from-early-to-late-game quest chains representing fulfillment of entire race goals, dreams and will and not just a "beginning" area missions. Perhaps it could be linked with stranghtening race-specific skills/passives. Extra incentive to play as many races as we can (even if we don't necessarily like them), instead of sticking with the one we love.
One would assume that each of the racial starting areas would have quests that are specific to that race. It just makes sense. I do not expect, however, that there will be alot of them. VR has stated time and time again that quests are going to be overused so while we might see a quest for an early level class weapon or article of clothing, we should not expect early quests for full sets of armor.
That said, I really did like the EQ1 class armor quests and would hope we see something akin to that in Pantheon.
I hope there will be a lot of racial quests. Do I expect this - not really.
1. What I consider lore or backstory quests. I would love for quests to flesh out how the race came to be there and its history on Terminus. Not quests for xp or coin but quests to provide a richer background. Easily skippable by those that don't care or by those repeating the same race and uninterested in seeing the lore twice.
Ideally this type of quests could have FFXIV type cutscenes or LOTRO type session play where you actually experience what happened in the past.
2. More standard quests that reflect the lore and backstory. Assuming that the game is more heavily quest oriented at low level as new players learn the ropes - might as well use these to show how rich the stories are. Instead of a farmer saying that wolves are killing her sheep - go kill 10 of them. Maybe a discussion of how terrible the early days were with just a few hundred people in a foreign and strange environment. One of the great dangers to both people and their animals was the wolves. So to commemerate their survival during the Dark Times they go out and hunt wolves. To share our culture, go kill 10.
I think racial "Epic" quests would be great along-side class "Epic" quests. Something that you could work through your entire progression to max level and obtain ever increasing bonuses/items/etc. as you move through the quest. Make the experience unique to that race and have the overall feeling of being one of them. Incorporate their beliefs, mannerisms, locale, lore, legends, myths, etc.. So, by the end of it, you feel you have a thorough understanding of the race, who they are, where they come from, and what their ultimate goals are!
Maybe, completing the epic quest on a character, would unlock a secret lore, or racial skill for the account, encouraging people to branch out and play through all the races' "Epic" quests. Doesn't have to be an enourmously benefical skill, maybe like a passive that lets you regen 1/hp, or you do 2 more damage with h2h, or you have 1 extra skill in 1hb ... something that isn't going to be a game changer.. even if you collect them all, but shows that you have been through the trials and tribulations and have a better understand and feeling for certain things.
Don't forget that the Perception system is going to take into consideration lots of different things about your character. Your Race, your Class, your Factions and even your Alignment. So I would not be surprised if there will be Quests or Lore stories that might be specific to a Race. There may also be quests that have different story arcs for different Races. So either they start out seperately depending on your race but then eventually merge into the same eventual quest, or perhaps they start out at the same place but then the story arc diverts along the way depending on your Race.
I'm sure that all races will have their own backstories, motivations and goals driving them. I'm also sure that each race will have unique racial traits associated with them in some fashion. As for how quests will play out beyond the starting zones are anyone guess, but I am sure that from a lore perspective all things will tie in nicely with each other. You can't have a well-defined lore driven world if the lore is disconnected and patchy.