Discuss Creative Ways to Implement Quests
I think adding more of the following quest would be an engaging way to introduce lore into the game:*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmqcQo06eA4
It would be nice to see a quest that, for example, starts you off being hired by a merchant from Ul'dah to escort him to one of the outlying hamlets. On the way there, you protect the client from footpads, raiders, and whatever sort of thieves that ambush your caravan. All the while, the client NPC will talk to you, exposing what dangers traveling in the desert may present, all in timely spoken, eloquent dialog. Just before you arrive at your destination, a named boss npc will challenge and attack you. After finally achieving victory and arriving at your destination, your client is impressed by your skill as an adventurer and "refers" you to his friends, unlocking more difficult and challenging quests for you to take on.*
The quests could even chain together. Let's say that after you help your first client get to the hamlet, you are now tasked to assist another individual with the delivery of rations to the nearest Aetheryte camp. On the way, you might find an injured member of a certain faction, and help him fend off what's attacking him. The new quest will naturally involve new dialog and offer different NPCs to fight, but more importantly puts the player through a more personal encounter with a character from the game and hopefully learn more of their backgrounds such as the factions with which they're aligned and the day-to-day endeavors of regular Eorzeans.
I think expanding upon such a simple design from a low level main scenario quest (see video link) can prove to be a much colorful and interesting way to bring life and lore into FFXIV. Currently, the quests are beautifully written though extremely mundane in presentation and execution. Essentially, they are walls of text that demand you to go from point a to b, kill x, then make your way back to a. And that really concerns me, considering they have other methods to work with. I am sure there are individuals in the community who are infinitely more creative than I, and I'm curious to know the kind of structure and design they'd like to see quests take form. So what are your thoughts?