so I had an idea few weeks back and was curious to hear some opinions from players and dev's on it. trying to make quests less linear and feel more alive and thought what if there were multiple starting points for a quest and which one you chose could effect the story/reward. so let me give an example and appologies for it being an escort quest but it makes things easy to follow.
so Imagine a traveling merchant caravan that roams between thronefast and another city on a set schedule. if you aproach the caravan while it's sationary in one of two cities you can start the quest there and guard their journey to the next destination. this is a prety standard quest route n could give basic rewards, some gold and maybe something from the merchants inventory like potions or beer or whatever he transports.
secondary quest route could be joining the caravan mid journey. say no players talked with the merchant at his last stop so him and his npc party are making the journey alone. the players could join mid journey for a slightly different reward.
or slightly hidden quest entry point could be if the player stumbles into the caravan fighting off bandits and assists before joining the quest. rewards could varry depending on members of the caravan surviving. reward could be same as standard route plus a bonus. maybe a standard weapon if all npc's live but maybe a cheaky little named weapon if a specific member of the caravan doesn't live through the ecounter.
I see some pros and also some possible cons depending on how its implemented. For example, if its a quest that can only be completed one time, then the difference in reward should not be significant, and certainly should not entail any type of significant or essential item as a reward. Otherwise people who chose to play the game without constantly checking websites for the absolute best, most efficient way to complete everything would potentially miss out on important rewards that effect end-game play.
Now, repeateable quests? This could actually be very cool. You could even tie it in to different quests. Take your example, the caravan escort. Perhaps if you talk to the merchant at their original point you get hired for the job, you beat back some bandits, get them safely to their journey, and you get paid. But what if you happened upon them while they are in the middle of being attacked by the bandits? You jump in, save the caravan, and as a reward they give you an item instead of coin, since you had no original contract. And maybe that item could be part of a seprate quest you found later.
But again, imagine if you can only do the quest once. You did the caravan quest when you first came upon it, not even knowing about a quest you wouldn't find for another 5 levels. That's a problem.
Its an interesting idea, but one which would have to be done with caution.