There were some quests I really liked in DAoC, but for the most part I HATE quest grinding. So I started thinking why were there soem quests in DAoC that I really liked? Simple. They were all group based quests. You couldn't finish them without a group, so they weren't really much different than getting together a group and grinding. Solo play in MMORPGs is not for me. I can't think of anything more boring in an MMORPG than reading NPC dialog and doing quests one after the other solo. I can just play a good single player game if I want to do that, and my actions will change the game world.
Yea, DAOC (back in the day...) had a totally different feel from current MMOs. When I went back a few months ago to check it out, the whole modernization of the game was pretty shocking. Mobs sprinkled in every where, flashing neon signs around the thousands of quest givers, instances...
Quests are OK but thre is definitely a limit.......Let me take two games for my examples......
1. Saga of Ryzom--You star on a small island that has alot of quests...They teach how to play the game ,how to use various elements within the game......Overall a very good experience, at least for the noob.....Then you go to the mainland....There are very few quests and they are mainly faction quests with little reward for the player.......Alot of people get to the mainland expecting it to be like the first island, it isnt......You have little direction or focus and its basically up to you to figure out what to do.......Some players love this, some hate it and leave.....I was one of the ones that left.......
Now the otehr extreme.....
2.LoTRO- This is an example of where questing is overblown....The entire game is basically nothing but quest after quest after quest........Later on you are barely even rewarded at all for killing anything......but take that pie to Mrs Hobbit and you get a million XP........One day I was on the phone and so I just killed mobs in one spot.....I played for over an hour and a half.....I didnt even make 5 percent XP....My friend, on the other hand, was running fed ex quests and gained 3 levels in that same time (we were both level 35)........
Quests should be a way to pass time and get things that are handy to have......They should give some XP but not a ridiculous amount......They should teach players how to use things in the game, teach them some history/lore about the game...They should not be a free pass to max level......I saw this in three games I played (EQ2, LoTRO, WoW) and really I burned out on all 3 fairly quickly.......The game that had just a few quests (at least when I played) was Everquest, and I played it for over 5 years.......
I like questing as long as it is questing, and not the way that you actually progress through the game. WoW took questing way to far, "Look at us, we totally removed the grind, now you can just go from quest to quest until you it 50. Hooray for us." This kind of questing has become the new grind, and it is a far less imaginative grind. Before we went out and killed 100 Orcs because it was a good place to hunt with our friends, now we go out and kill 100 Orcs because some guy in town told us to.
Questing in EQ was great. First you actually had to seek out quest givers because they were not marked. And more importantly, you really didnt have to do any quest in EQ if you didnt want to and you could still play fine and advance.
Questing should be about stuff that is good to have but not required to have.
Quests that build faction are great. You arent required to have that faction but it is a benefit to you when you get it.
And i love quests that offer a item as a reward that is cool to have but again not required. I always thought the Mask of the Deciever should have been a quest in EQ. It was a really cool item to have but it really didnt give you anything that you could not live without.
I really agree with you on this. While I do not hate repetitive quests, I don't usually enjoy them as much. And I also remember the RS quests from when I was little and could hardly use a computer, and they were pretty good quests, especially for how much I think the game sucked.
I like questing as long as it is questing, and not the way that you actually progress through the game. WoW took questing way to far, "Look at us, we totally removed the grind, now you can just go from quest to quest until you it 50. Hooray for us." This kind of questing has become the new grind, and it is a far less imaginative grind. Before we went out and killed 100 Orcs because it was a good place to hunt with our friends, now we go out and kill 100 Orcs because some guy in town told us to. Questing in EQ was great. First you actually had to seek out quest givers because they were not marked. And more importantly, you really didnt have to do any quest in EQ if you didnt want to and you could still play fine and advance. Questing should be about stuff that is good to have but not required to have.
Quests that build faction are great. You arent required to have that faction but it is a benefit to you when you get it.
And i love quests that offer a item as a reward that is cool to have but again not required. I always thought the Mask of the Deciever should have been a quest in EQ. It was a really cool item to have but it really didnt give you anything that you could not live without.
I dont see WoW questing style as a new grind. Its a supplement to the old grind. Now, you can do mob-grind or quest-grind. Oh and how can i forget instance-grind? So, 3 different types of grinds is better then 1 or 2 types of grind. This way If i get bored of mob-grind, i switch to isntance grind and then wheni get bored with that too - quest grind. And maybe thats why I keep going back to WoW, it bores me less then the rest of MMOs.
Comments
I see things like, escort, delivery, go kill x#, are missions/tasks, not quests.
I think stuff like that should be player DRIVEN. Like the contracts in EVE.
Yea, DAOC (back in the day...) had a totally different feel from current MMOs. When I went back a few months ago to check it out, the whole modernization of the game was pretty shocking. Mobs sprinkled in every where, flashing neon signs around the thousands of quest givers, instances...
Quests are OK but thre is definitely a limit.......Let me take two games for my examples......
1. Saga of Ryzom--You star on a small island that has alot of quests...They teach how to play the game ,how to use various elements within the game......Overall a very good experience, at least for the noob.....Then you go to the mainland....There are very few quests and they are mainly faction quests with little reward for the player.......Alot of people get to the mainland expecting it to be like the first island, it isnt......You have little direction or focus and its basically up to you to figure out what to do.......Some players love this, some hate it and leave.....I was one of the ones that left.......
Now the otehr extreme.....
2.LoTRO- This is an example of where questing is overblown....The entire game is basically nothing but quest after quest after quest........Later on you are barely even rewarded at all for killing anything......but take that pie to Mrs Hobbit and you get a million XP........One day I was on the phone and so I just killed mobs in one spot.....I played for over an hour and a half.....I didnt even make 5 percent XP....My friend, on the other hand, was running fed ex quests and gained 3 levels in that same time (we were both level 35)........
Quests should be a way to pass time and get things that are handy to have......They should give some XP but not a ridiculous amount......They should teach players how to use things in the game, teach them some history/lore about the game...They should not be a free pass to max level......I saw this in three games I played (EQ2, LoTRO, WoW) and really I burned out on all 3 fairly quickly.......The game that had just a few quests (at least when I played) was Everquest, and I played it for over 5 years.......
I like questing as long as it is questing, and not the way that you actually progress through the game. WoW took questing way to far, "Look at us, we totally removed the grind, now you can just go from quest to quest until you it 50. Hooray for us." This kind of questing has become the new grind, and it is a far less imaginative grind. Before we went out and killed 100 Orcs because it was a good place to hunt with our friends, now we go out and kill 100 Orcs because some guy in town told us to.
Questing in EQ was great. First you actually had to seek out quest givers because they were not marked. And more importantly, you really didnt have to do any quest in EQ if you didnt want to and you could still play fine and advance.
Questing should be about stuff that is good to have but not required to have.
Quests that build faction are great. You arent required to have that faction but it is a benefit to you when you get it.
And i love quests that offer a item as a reward that is cool to have but again not required. I always thought the Mask of the Deciever should have been a quest in EQ. It was a really cool item to have but it really didnt give you anything that you could not live without.
I really agree with you on this. While I do not hate repetitive quests, I don't usually enjoy them as much. And I also remember the RS quests from when I was little and could hardly use a computer, and they were pretty good quests, especially for how much I think the game sucked.
I dont see WoW questing style as a new grind. Its a supplement to the old grind. Now, you can do mob-grind or quest-grind. Oh and how can i forget instance-grind? So, 3 different types of grinds is better then 1 or 2 types of grind. This way If i get bored of mob-grind, i switch to isntance grind and then wheni get bored with that too - quest grind. And maybe thats why I keep going back to WoW, it bores me less then the rest of MMOs.
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.