Donler said:In response to: "Hot Topic - Quest Structure"... The best Quest Chain/Dynamic Event I've ever seen: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Outpost:_Jaka_Itzel
The 'Outpost: Jaka Itzel' Quest would appear from time to time to time within the GW2 Heart of Thorns expansion and is the most memorable quest I've ever played. This timed area-wide quest was visibly obvious to players and required teamwork from multiple players with an opportunity to fail at most steps (particularly the timed steps), and each area where the quest moved-to visibly appeared to change the environment or NPC interaction/mentality. I'd participate in this area-event quest chain whenever I saw it because it was really memorable and made me feel like I was making a difference helping those NPCs.
What I really want is for quests to feel like real, organic adventures. One thing that has annoyed me about the way WoW has done their questing/zones is very few, if any quests ever take you outside of the zone you obtained them in any more and each zone has it's own little storyline which is nice in itself, but it ends up making the zones feel like they exist in a bubble and the quests feel like chores instead of adventures.
I don't mind fetch and gather quests as much if there is a reason for it. I would like to see a type of adventure's guild in the game that helps new players start of like in anime.(only noob ones) 1) A farm is plagued by rats go speak to this guy at the farm 2) Glad you're here please help by collecting X amount of tails as proof of aid 3) Return to guy or guild to turn in for reward.
FF14 does this but failed in regards as to were after you turn in quest the giver ask..... want to do it again? Makes you feel like you did nothing at all.
Also to the guild I'd like to see a handful of quests like this, not all of them. I still want to find hidden random ones like in Everquest.
Then the guild can be reused for rare spontaneous events 1) Guild requesting aid please report 2) We are requesting aid at Y location at this specific time to investigate a strange sighting.
Counterfleche said:This discussion really highlights the need for PRotF to use distinct language and tracking for quests and tasks. The two really should be considered distinct. Keep the ttwo separate in any kind of quest joirnal.
I agree and I'm pretty sure we've seen pre-alpha footage and/or comment from Joppa that 'quests' and 'tasks' are considered separately. There will also be a perception and keeping category I imagine.
Like others, I'm not against fetch and kill quests 9as long as that's not all there are). They add a little 'meaning' to the fetching and killing players do in MMOs anyway and make some sense of the slaughter hehe.
If a town is surrounded by bears and wolves and players are out there killing them it totally makes sense that the locals will appreciate the help, and the meat and furs too. Just don't make characters go back and forth because the NPC will only reward you if you fetch 5 meat *or* 5 furs at a time and only if you asked them in advance.
Now whether there should be diminishing returns or limits to the number you can do, is another matter...
disposalist said:I agree and I'm pretty sure we've seen pre-alpha footage and/or comment from Joppa that 'quests' and 'tasks' are considered separately. There will also be a perception and keeping category I imagine.
Like others, I'm not against fetch and kill quests 9as long as that's not all there are). They add a little 'meaning' to the fetching and killing players do in MMOs anyway and make some sense of the slaughter hehe.
As I understand it VR defines 3 levels of what could be called quests in most MMOs. Tasks, Quests and Storylines. An important point about tasks, which many find the least interesting, is that they will tend to have the primary purpose of gaining faction rather than earning a few coppers or XP. We haven't been given a lot of hard info yet on faction, but it's good to remember that VR is aiming for it to be fairly complex. For instance, when you first get to a small village, the only quests you may be offered could be 'boring' fetch quests. After doing a few (and gaining some faction) you might then find that another local NPC will now offer you a start to a much more interesting quest that he made no mention of the first time you talked to him.
Quests (as VR defines them) are somewhere in the middle. I believe they will mostly come from NPCs and be more about the adventure & loot rather than about Lore (or XP).
Storylines mostly will come from Perception and are primarily about Lore, though Joppa has made it clear that learning Lore and raising Perception skills will have long-term, tangible rewards in adventuring and itemization.
I'd assume that Storylines will wind up in your Keeper's journal and both Quests & Tasks will wind up in your quest journal, but I could be wrong.