Yes, totally. I am excited about how this plays out in The Perception System. For the Monk (or any class) it would be cool to explore POI's, or meditate in a particular area at a specific time, to get a rare perception ping, that leads you on a quest. Or kill/combat a specific beast so many times, that the monk class can observe the natural tactics of the beast, mimic those tactics to learn a new a animal form that offers new types of attack techniques.
There should be uncommon (many) class quests as well as Epic ones. For instance, it would be nice to See a shaman, or a Monk, who has a unique skill learned from an uncommon quest, unlocked buy horizontal leveling via the Perception system
Absolutely, there should be a variety of class quests at all levels of play. Quests would be a great way to explain the class identity starting out. They should be a source of unique items during leveling and of course (hopefully) multiple epic quests for wearpons, armor, spells. Also, as Caine mentions above, it would be great to see them tie into the perception system as welll.
Yes, and I also think this is a nice way to stumble-upon or organically discover friends and the need for grouping at early levels depending on a simple facet of class quest design.
What I mean is: have a portion or an item needed by each class found in a certain outside area or dungeon. Doesn't have to be in the same place, one class item could be near a stream and another could be in the rocks, some could be in fish's mouths (so everyone has to fish for a bit maybe to help the warrior, any one can catch the right fish but the war has to fillet it kind of thing) etc. Quest designers could have only some classes pieces in certain areas/dungeons, but not all classes. What this will do is create a situation where an individual, acting soley for their own self-interest (as is our nature), will head to a cetain area and stumble upon other classes in that area and if the area is just a tad too hard realize they need others, so the conversation will naturally occur for one to ask the other "can you help me?" Acting in self interest, the other may reply- "sorry I am working on a quest and an item I need is in here" to which the one will reply - "I am too!" and the mutual achievement of both goals should be obvious.
Hopefully this will engender comeraderie early on and a sense of exploration since the monk piece clue is "in a sandy shell" and there are some white con crabs on the shore there that appear to be single pullable, but the summoner piece clue is "ectoplasm dust" and there are some Dark blue con Spectres in that tower on that small island but they are close together and may get adds when pulled although one or two roam a little. So maybe we can see if your piece is in those crabs? and then maybe we can swim out to the spectres and try to get my dust?
-"my swimming sucks" - " you're a monk!, besides, its not far" and as they are looking around they may see someone flailing in the water, and realize its an Ogre dire Lord. "Hey! loser, what are you doing there~!" - "what did you say?" - " he doesn't know Human, *In Ogre* What are you doing?" - "Looking for an alligator tooth I need it for a quest" - "*in Ogre*They're alligators in there?!" - "what are you saying to him?"- "Yes, lots, Light blue Cons but its trouble keeping ahead of the spawns" - "well, We need sand crabs and Spectres, we're Summoner and Monk- want to help?" - "Sand crabs?! they're deadly, no thanks" - "Yes but we think with all of us we can do it, besides the monk needs a quest piece from them, too, and we can help you with alligators, with all of us we can clear alligators faster, I think" - "ok, worth a try, you dont mind grouping with evils? there's a exp penalty" - "*in Ogre* the monk may, on principle but I think he'll be cool if we get his piece, I couldn't care less, I'm doing important research"
that kind of thing.
YES YES YES - there is nothing to debate!
I'd like to see these as both an option for each class as a starter city questline (1 per class) and also a world based quest for higher level chars (1 per class) at launch.
Yes!
I love it when there's just enough quests to pull you to new places, while still leaving most of your time not questing.
Making a quest class specific allows it to feel more directly flavorful and absorb you into your class story.
The monk headband quests, and necromancer skull quests in EQ Kunark were excellent examples of this. They never got so crazy that they were all you did, but they did still make you explore the nearby areas and find interesting stuff, before getting back to your grind. They are probably the only reason I had to go into the Swamp of No hope beyond travel.
Having your own class specific quest to work on at early levels especially made sense because you could still somewhat comfortably solo/duo at those levels.
I like epic quests too of course. By making them class specific it makes more sense when you get some amazing item for your class from them.
Of course making the epic quests so hard you need friends who are willing to help you with it is useful to Pantheon's goal of a team based game. One thing I liked about the EQ cleric epic quest was that many of the enemies you had to fight for it had amazing drops that anyone could use, helping the friends you bring along feel like they are getting something out of it.
Pantheon could take that one step further and actually promote natural class synergies with their class specific quests. For example, the summoner epic quest and the enchanter epic quest could both include the same target who is easier to beat if your group has an enchanter charming a summoner's behemoth.
All of this being said, most quests IMO should be for everyone or at least groups of classes, especially while leveling up. This further helps people to work together while they quest, which can be fun.
Kilsin said:Community Debate - Class-based questlines for spells/weapons/gear, are you a fan? Please explain your answer below #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
Absolutely I'm in favor of class based quests especially if they are introduced into the very early levels as these can be a good method to introduce a player to the primary function as well as the more subtle flavors of the class. By putting the player up against content that needs the spells, abilities and gear of the class to complete the request makes a more confident player. The class armor quest in early EQ1 were wonderful. A side benefit was that when you saw another player of your class sporting that full set of gear it made you want to get it too. And in a game where loot is a driving factor, that free advertising helps keeps players, well, playing.
Yes, Class based story/ questlines will make them distinct from each other. I know it would increase the amount of work required for the quest designers, but it should be seen as necessary. Making a universal story questline would be quite lazy and I'd be disappointed.
Yes. So-called epic quest lines in EQ and EQ2 enhanced the experience.
In Pantheon where *everything* may require a group after a while, perhaps class epics will require raids - who knows?
Forgive me for going slightly off-topic but don't overlook that there were also crafting epics. Let us have those as well as adventure class epics and let them require help from other crafts.
Very much so, even with a select few race/class-specific pieces of gear thrown in, though perhaps with some overlap between races.
In Norrath, it always seemed odd how ordinary and iconic weapons alike automatically adjusted in the size to the wielder, unlike armor. It would have added more identity to each race if, say, an ogre one-hander could only be swung by a dwarf using two hands. Another item might only fit as a wristband on an ogre and as a waistband on a halfling. So at least two opposing races would be after the same reward for different slots, with the quest leading them to the same zone(s). Even if the item difference only existed between PCs and NPCs, it would still add a bit of flavor. Ex.: A dangling earring worn by a giant, the lore of which indicates that it was once the chain mace of a now long-dead attacker.
The class based questlines are fantastic. They are unique and help people build up and identify with their class. The only downside to quests like this are when lvl 50s go back to do a lvl 10 quest. Feel free to throw in a max level shortcut if the quest goes from 10-50.
Collect every teleportation location.
Collect every spell or ability, especially those locked behind quests.
Collect every variation of a spell or ability, where all the choices are focused into one ability.
Do a quest to lock in choices about your class, where you want to force people to have differences. (Just how mastery points should be)
Do a quest for items specific to your class, have one item progress through multiple quests to be viable at multiple levels.
Definitely! Not much arguments against it, plenty for it! Class flavour, plot, less generic skills from shops/gained on specific level - more achiebed through world explortion/"overall expirience", same class "bonds" - usually party is build to cover all strenghts and weaknesses - rarely more than 2 persons of the same class - some class based quests can help with that.
I'm a big fan for many of the reasons already posted.
I also have a hope that in the category of 'class based' quests, there will be at least a FEW that require a group of six of that one class to complete. That in itself would make for a much more challenging puzzle to solve.
Major fan of this.
Questing for spell upgrades? Yes please.
Having to do a series of tasks for really good weapon? Don't mind if I do.
Getting a huge gear upgrade from a boot I found fishing in a super secret spot? Well that might be a little weird, but I'll tell everyone a wild tale of an epic adventure that led to the discovery which will make everything fine.
Absolutely love class-based questlines because they enhance class identity, which helps enhance character identity. I'd like to see them at different points during leveling, but especially an epic class questline at max level, perhaps with an epic class-specific weapon (or a choice of them!) as a reward. Other rewards could include class-specific armor and abilities. I think class quests ought to be truly epic in scope, with many different parts taking the player all across the world.
Yes and no.
As it is fun having something specifically designed for your class, it also has its drawbacks. Even if you will be able to solo it, you could prefer to play with other people and doing stuff that is mostly helpful to one member of the group, lets be honest, will mostly occur with friends.
So, if you NEED other people to do your class specifics, it can get frustrating very fast finding people willing to help you.
I never have seen this before, but perhaps helping people out doing their class quests, epics and such, should be rewarding in some way for the helper(s) (besides the gratitude of the player ;-))
I just had to grin, thinking about a game, where people constantly ask in chat, if someone needs their help, as they are eager for the reward this gets them. ;-)
But for this to work, you would need to be able to track, if someone helps another player to do a specific task. This seems to me the most complicated part of such a system. After tackling that, you could put in any system that appeals. For example a system where you get points for helping (depending on the task and/or the time it took), which you can use to buy specific traits (which should fittingly be helpful to your group or other players in general).
But again, as I assume I would love such a system as it could encourage people to help out others, my mind cringes when I think about how to tackle such a system AND to avoid exploitation of any kind.
