I like the "Well people will just find the info anyways" as a reason for a quest compass.
Not having a quest compass actually increases social interaction in a game between players discussing shit amongst themselves while in game.
True some people will opt to just google shit but why bother when you can just talk to others in game. Even then googling for every quest would be a chore so they become more drawn into the player interactions in game (or heaven forbid using that thing between your ears to read and ponder what is being written or voice acted).
Quest compass is a lazy way of doing things.. it's like a contrived plot device in a movie. Games can't be bothered to present a story that can be followed without a step by step breakdown.
My experience 99 - 01 in EQ:
Lots of helpful people who worked together in game to solve quests.
My experience 2002 and on:
/ooc Anyone know where to go for 'x' quest?
/ooc Allakhazam.com
I remember guilds who said things like, 'don't expect us to hold your hand, you are required to do your own research on quests' - this was not uncommon.
I personally became very tired of my printed out maps, quests and constantly leaving the game. I felt like I was doing office work. I felt immersed in allakhazam - not in Norrath.
To me it seems very organic to have maps in game - I mean, isn't it a little unrealistic that you have the Sword of Neverending Badness but you didn't happen to remember to pack your Rand McNally?
And likewise, I spend a lot of time out doors. In real life I know which way north south east and west is, why would my fantastical superhuman who can defeat magical dragons be able to recognize that the sun sets in the west?
I agree totally that the pointing arrow is a little much.
Personally however, I don't want to return to some old system I used to know. I want to see something new. If there would be a system which encouraged social interaction but ALSO discouraged internet research - I would be all for it.
Just playing devil's advocate, if the old systems were perfect, EQ2 and WoW wouldn't exist. So let's grab what was great from old systems, but not import their problems.
I like the "Well people will just find the info anyways" as a reason for a quest compass.
Not having a quest compass actually increases social interaction in a game between players discussing shit amongst themselves while in game.
True some people will opt to just google shit but why bother when you can just talk to others in game. Even then googling for every quest would be a chore so they become more drawn into the player interactions in game (or heaven forbid using that thing between your ears to read and ponder what is being written or voice acted).
Quest compass is a lazy way of doing things.. it's like a contrived plot device in a movie. Games can't be bothered to present a story that can be followed without a step by step breakdown.
My experience 99 - 01 in EQ:
Lots of helpful people who worked together in game to solve quests.
My experience 2002 and on:
/ooc Anyone know where to go for 'x' quest?
/ooc Allakhazam.com
I remember guilds who said things like, 'don't expect us to hold your hand, you are required to do your own research on quests' - this was not uncommon.
I personally became very tired of my printed out maps, quests and constantly leaving the game. I felt like I was doing office work. I felt immersed in allakhazam - not in Norrath.
To me it seems very organic to have maps in game - I mean, isn't it a little unrealistic that you have the Sword of Neverending Badness but you didn't happen to remember to pack your Rand McNally?
And likewise, I spend a lot of time out doors. In real life I know which way north south east and west is, why would my fantastical superhuman who can defeat magical dragons be able to recognize that the sun sets in the west?
I agree totally that the pointing arrow is a little much.
Personally however, I don't want to return to some old system I used to know. I want to see something new. If there would be a system which encouraged social interaction but ALSO discouraged internet research - I would be all for it.
Just playing devil's advocate, if the old systems were perfect, EQ2 and WoW wouldn't exist. So let's grab what was great from old systems, but not import their problems.
A nice system i think would be a sort of living updating map. Think minecrafts dynamic maps, and the more you learned about the world, the more it was updated. So when you did get a quest and they gave you information in the quest, sometimes they might know exactly where they want you to go, othertimes they may only know of the areas name but not how to get there, but you could have visited that place already or been told of it from another npc.
I think that would be an amazing replacement and alot of people would enjoy such a feature. As your knowledge of the world increases, you can merely peruse your map in game to look up just about where any monster is or location is, this will of course take alot of time to get complete information, but it would add another layer to the game that would be awesome.
if i remember correctly anarchy online didnt have that feature before atleast.its been ages since ive played it and it doesnt have bazzilon quests,but some for nano crystals etc:)
As someone above mentioned before i would recommend FFXI. There's no !'s above poeple's heads, no markers telling you where to go, you have to read the information provided to you or heaven forbid, interact with other players in order to figure stuff out. Sometimes you wont even know your on a quest as! You Even have to buy the Maps for most areas and if you don't, you'll find your map doesn't really help you much at all...
Another Suggestion would be Lineage 2 - which does have markers which can be easily turned off, but past that your on your own pretty much.
Not many newer MMO's allow you to turn off the quest tracker, and many of those that do implement further tool-tips and help once you have it disabled. Also, I enjoy knowing others are on the same playing field as me. Simply having an option to turn something off when others have it on wouldn't be enough.
I'd recommend going old-school. EQ1, as some others have suggested. Maybe some DAoC or AC1. If you can get over the graphics gap at this point, that is.
Comments
probably very few. While the game loses you as a customer, they make many others who want the feature happy.
"The need of the many outweigh the need of the few, or the one".
My experience 99 - 01 in EQ:
Lots of helpful people who worked together in game to solve quests.
My experience 2002 and on:
/ooc Anyone know where to go for 'x' quest?
/ooc Allakhazam.com
I remember guilds who said things like, 'don't expect us to hold your hand, you are required to do your own research on quests' - this was not uncommon.
I personally became very tired of my printed out maps, quests and constantly leaving the game. I felt like I was doing office work. I felt immersed in allakhazam - not in Norrath.
To me it seems very organic to have maps in game - I mean, isn't it a little unrealistic that you have the Sword of Neverending Badness but you didn't happen to remember to pack your Rand McNally?
And likewise, I spend a lot of time out doors. In real life I know which way north south east and west is, why would my fantastical superhuman who can defeat magical dragons be able to recognize that the sun sets in the west?
I agree totally that the pointing arrow is a little much.
Personally however, I don't want to return to some old system I used to know. I want to see something new. If there would be a system which encouraged social interaction but ALSO discouraged internet research - I would be all for it.
Just playing devil's advocate, if the old systems were perfect, EQ2 and WoW wouldn't exist. So let's grab what was great from old systems, but not import their problems.
A nice system i think would be a sort of living updating map. Think minecrafts dynamic maps, and the more you learned about the world, the more it was updated. So when you did get a quest and they gave you information in the quest, sometimes they might know exactly where they want you to go, othertimes they may only know of the areas name but not how to get there, but you could have visited that place already or been told of it from another npc.
I think that would be an amazing replacement and alot of people would enjoy such a feature. As your knowledge of the world increases, you can merely peruse your map in game to look up just about where any monster is or location is, this will of course take alot of time to get complete information, but it would add another layer to the game that would be awesome.
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
As someone above mentioned before i would recommend FFXI. There's no !'s above poeple's heads, no markers telling you where to go, you have to read the information provided to you or heaven forbid, interact with other players in order to figure stuff out. Sometimes you wont even know your on a quest as! You Even have to buy the Maps for most areas and if you don't, you'll find your map doesn't really help you much at all...
Another Suggestion would be Lineage 2 - which does have markers which can be easily turned off, but past that your on your own pretty much.
Not many newer MMO's allow you to turn off the quest tracker, and many of those that do implement further tool-tips and help once you have it disabled. Also, I enjoy knowing others are on the same playing field as me. Simply having an option to turn something off when others have it on wouldn't be enough.
I'd recommend going old-school. EQ1, as some others have suggested. Maybe some DAoC or AC1. If you can get over the graphics gap at this point, that is.