What Tera taught me about the quest plans for ARR.

[Punainen]

I have been playing Tera for the past 3 days...I'm to level 26, and so far it makes me realize that non-stop quest grinding has a way of feeling just as lifeless as regular grinding... There's no occasion to kill mobs never listed on a quest, there's no occasion to stop and look around, no reason to ever return to an old zone, there's nothing but being shuffled from one place to the next like cattle with all your leveling practically being done for you, in a never ending stream that begins to feel mind-numbingly linear. Last time I turned Tera off it was as I sat back and asked myself what the hell I was doing, and wondering was I really enjoying this, or was I just stuck in the loop? Then I had to turn it off when I realized it was just a loop and there was nothing really enjoyable about ANY of it.

I guess this could be dealt with in ARR with epic storylines, plot twists, and humorous or touching sidequests. Some truly innovative quests. Or even the occasional break in which regular grinding must be done for even just 2-3 levels before the quest loop begins again. I want to feel like I'm involved in the game's world and lore, where my level is raised by showing courage and skill...not feel like I'm rolling down an assembly line.

The one thing Tera DID seem to have going for it was small details like the stuff you would occasionally see floating by (seeds, or petals, or leaves), the fact that when you follow a river, it actually GOES somewhere that isn't an invisible wall. The bustling sound of voices and pets in the centers of towns, the epic splashes and sprays of blood as you slice into a mob, the little woodland creatures walking around just for show (some which you could kill for no real reason).

That said, Tera completely misses almost all the broadstrokes. Sure the combat system is kinda cool (though purely-action combat would never really work in ARR), but other than that, the story goes too long without giving you any INTERESTING details, every sidequest plot in each area is identical (kill X amount of mob to thin the herd, kill such and such mob to get 'special item, repeat).

Originally I had gone into the 'quest grind' topic uneducated. I liked quests, more quests sounded like more fun. But now I know that there needs to be moderation, or too much of a good thing becomes an incessant flood of whiny NPCs whose issues I quickly cease to care about.


TL;DR: SE really should be very careful about how they approach this whole 'you'll be able to quest-grind all your classes to 50' thing.

[Loony_BoB]

I'll have to wait for FFXIV's quests with cutscenes to really be able to know for certain how enjoyable it is, but I will say that I hope that we will be forced into partying at some point if they really want to keep us playing. I love having the option of solo play, but if someone who doesn't know anyone in-game already joins and plays solo all the way through to L50 and then wonders what about this game is supposed to be enjoyable, they're doing it wrong and will probably leave anyway. Being forced into partying up is, for me, what makes MMOs great. The moment you start socialising is the moment that suddenly the MMO world becomes a great thing.

That said, questing with groups can often end up benefiting the few people who get their quests done, and I agree that being herded around like cattle from point A to point B to point C can be very annoying after a while. I adore exploration, I adore socialising, I adore being able to sit with a great group of people in one spot for a long period of time just fighting and talking about whatever together. The best times I had in FFXIV 1.x were grinding as it was where I met almost all the friends I gained through FFXIV. People doing quests are prone to leaving once their quests are done and also prone to focusing more on the quest than on the socialising. I find it better when grinding as everyone focuses on fighting initially but over time as the group 'melds', people get more and more social.

I'm sure there will still be great grinding groups in FFXIV 1.x, however I hope that they aren't few and far between due to experience being too poor. I think people should be able to enjoy open world mob grinding parties and quest grinding parties equally and with equal benefit. Yes, make quests give you more exp, but only enough to counter the time it takes to run between all the different points.

[Punainen]

I'll have to wait for FFXIV's quests with cutscenes to really be able to know for certain how enjoyable it is, but I will say that I hope that we will be forced into partying at some point if they really want to keep us playing. I love having the option of solo play, but if someone who doesn't know anyone in-game already joins and plays solo all the way through to L50 and then wonders what about this game is supposed to be enjoyable, they're doing it wrong and will probably leave anyway. Being forced into partying up is, for me, what makes MMOs great. The moment you start socialising is the moment that suddenly the MMO world becomes a great thing.

That said, questing with groups can often end up benefiting the few people who get their quests done, and I agree that being herded around like cattle from point A to point B to point C can be very annoying after a while. I adore exploration, I adore socialising, I adore being able to sit with a great group of people in one spot for a long period of time just fighting and talking about whatever together. The best times I had in FFXIV 1.x were grinding as it was where I met almost all the friends I gained through FFXIV. People doing quests are prone to leaving once their quests are done and also prone to focusing more on the quest than on the socialising. I find it better when grinding as everyone focuses on fighting initially but over time as the group 'melds', people get more and more social.

I'm sure there will still be great grinding groups in FFXIV 1.x, however I hope that they aren't few and far between due to experience being too poor. I think people should be able to enjoy open world mob grinding parties and quest grinding parties equally and with equal benefit. Yes, make quests give you more exp, but only enough to counter the time it takes to run between all the different points.

Yes, exactly. Nothing but quests--even if they're party quests--leaves no time for socializing. It's all "hold on I'm reading the story or watching this cutscene" or "lets just get it done" and then "thanks, seeya". Where as the grind is JUST devoid of a tangible goal enough to make people TALK to eachother.

Again, to compare it to Tera, I joined a group for a few party quests, and the ONLY time we spoke to eachother was during downtime when our mob was claimed, and there was no time for getting to know eachother at all. And as soon as the list of quests was over, everyone split up. It's hardly worth calling it an MMO if there's no actual socializing going on.

[VitoScaletta]

I hope the action is more like 1.0, or XI even. I hate TERA tbh, for many reasons. Don't get me wrong I'm still playing it only to pass the time, and cause its F2P right now, but its boring as all hell. I spent all day grinding 52>53 only to be greeted with the same amount of grind that would only get me halfway to 54 this time. I wouldn't care if grouping wasn't as mind numbing as solo'ing, only with more death. Not to mention the global chat is worse than any Yahoo chat room, its a cess pool for ignorance, the community isn't doing itself any favors. At least I still remember Natalan and how much i enjoyed training everything and putting a little finesse into combos in order to aoe everything.

tl;dr TERA sux.

[Punainen]

I hope the action is more like 1.0, or XI even. I hate TERA tbh, for many reasons. Don't get me wrong I'm still playing it only to pass the time, and cause its F2P right now, but its boring as all hell. I spent all day grinding 52>53 only to be greeted with the same amount of grind that would only get me halfway to 54 this time. I wouldn't care if grouping wasn't as mind numbing as solo'ing, only with more death. Not to mention the global chat is worse than any Yahoo chat room, its a cess pool for ignorance, the community isn't doing itself any favors. At least I still remember Natalan and how much i enjoyed training everything and putting a little finesse into combos in order to aoe everything.

tl;dr TERA sux.

Haha, yeah. It didn't take me long before I filtered the global chat out of my chat log. And that's my point, the quest grinding is the EXACT same quests with a thin new coat of paint, and the only real change is that you just level up slower and slower the further you go. There's no such thing as getting any passerby to stop and talk to you or give you any pointers, they're all busy with their own never-ending list of quests.

[Azzi]

I cannot agree more with the OP. I've played a couple of different mmos since FFXIV 1.0 and they all seem focused on this questing to level. Which to begin with is quite fun, but after the 100+ quest it gets very repetitive and boring. To a point where I just skip the dialog, 'it's this quest again' just different zone and harder mobs. Also, in a couple of these games I've got to level 30ish without hardly needing to interact with a single player. It just seems like a single player game where other people can log in and play at the same time. Yes you can group up with people, but what's the point if you can do it all solo.

I'm all for multiple ways of levelling and all being equally rewarding. That way, whatever you enjoy there's a viable levelling path for you. And you can mix it up to keep the game interesting. Not forcing the linear boring levelling path most mmos force upon you.

[Loony_BoB]

For what it's worth, I won't mind questing being faster if it's restricted to unrepeatable quests so that you can only get one class to L50 using such quest experience. I'd be happy with a quick road to L50 on one class and then a slower (but still reasonable) road to L50 on the rest of the classes. Basically, I hope levequests aren't faster than grinding when you're in a large party. Questing - and levequesting - should definitely be faster when you're going solo, no matter what, though!

[Punainen]

I cannot agree more with the OP. I've played a couple of different mmos since FFXIV 1.0 and they all seem focused on this questing to level. Which to begin with is quite fun, but after the 100+ quest it gets very repetitive and boring. To a point where I just skip the dialog, 'it's this quest again' just different zone and harder mobs. Also, in a couple of these games I've got to level 30ish without hardly needing to interact with a single player. It just seems like a single player game where other people can log in and play at the same time. Yes you can group up with people, but what's the point if you can do it all solo.

I'm all for multiple ways of levelling and all being equally rewarding. That way, whatever you enjoy there's a viable levelling path for you. And you can mix it up to keep the game interesting. Not forcing the linear boring levelling path most mmos force upon you.

Yeah, I'd love for there to be zillions of quests......for loot, gil, materials, just the humorous story involved... Not as THE way to level up. I could gladly grind on mobs if say, every new level unlocked a dozen new quests for me to do. Then you would sort of have the best of both worlds, eh?

[Seirra_Lanzce]

the dying breed is strong within us lol

[strallaalaa]

seriously nothing beats running threw a zone to a empty camp and just smashing it up for hours with the same group. this whole leveling and questing or leveling and dungeons at same time thing is just crap to me and always will be. it's cool that people want a way to solo and progress but it's not gonna be a mmo i play for long.