Rokien's new thread on Open World.

[Krausus]

What more can quests in a video game be? Kill things or craft things.

And what's the alternative to quest-based progression? Instead of having an NPC tell you to "go kill X for Y reason" you go stand in a spot and kill hundreds of X for no reason other than it's what currently doles out the best exp per hour.

I like a bit of both but most quest chain progression MMOs kill being able to progress at a decent speed by grinding, what I really hate though about quest chaining is the constant running back and forth and when MMOs make you kill the same shit for a different NPC after doing it for another (Aion does this so much and its maddening)

[NickZenith]

PS3 Limitations

[Jocko]

What more can quests in a video game be? Kill things or craft things.

And what's the alternative to quest-based progression? Instead of having an NPC tell you to "go kill X for Y reason" you go stand in a spot and kill hundreds of X for no reason other than it's what currently doles out the best exp per hour.

Hmm, I can think of a number of cool ideas for MMO quest concepts myself!

How about one where a sheep herder as lost his flock, scattered over a small area in La Noscea. To help him out, you have to go find where they are, wack them all upside the head so that they agro you, and then 'herd' (read: run your ass off) them back to their stable while they all belt on you angrily

Or perhaps another where a beggar approaches you in Uldah, claiming he lost a precious ring of his gambling against a famed consman, and he asks you to play a few rounds of *insert FF style card game such as triple triad etc* against him to win it back?

Haha, I could do these all day!

But even beyond those, it's very possible to create content that involves simply killing mobs in more creative ways than the infamous *kill x amount of y* that so many MMOs fall victim to

[Jokerz]

What more can quests in a video game be? Kill things or craft things.

And what's the alternative to quest-based progression? Instead of having an NPC tell you to "go kill X for Y reason" you go stand in a spot and kill hundreds of X for no reason other than it's what currently doles out the best exp per hour.

Honestly I prefer non quest based leveling. As I said in another thread I wouldn't mind a few quest if I was taking a break from grinding but I prefer to find a pt to exp with. Why? I mean I'm still just trying to kill things as fast as possible for the best exp per hour. I enjoy pting mainly for the social interaction. I've played quite a few mmo's some with quest based grinding and some with plain ole fashioned get a group together and beat em up. Group always wins for me since even tho you may have a lot of groups that's all business and no talking, you'll get those couple of groups that turn chatty and you eventually make friends.

[Gramul]

What more can quests in a video game be? Kill things or craft things.

And what's the alternative to quest-based progression? Instead of having an NPC tell you to "go kill X for Y reason" you go stand in a spot and kill hundreds of X for no reason other than it's what currently doles out the best exp per hour.

In XI, I could advertise hats, protect a warrior without getting his attention, and climb a dangerous mountain to deliver flowers to a grave.

If games these days are so limited that the highest amount of creativity comes to quickly and cheaply sending you off to go kill a few enemies, or go talk to the next bum in charge to get your 100 XP and shorts of to be replaced next quest, then I'm not sure we can call it 'progress'.

[Ruisu]

all the strong holds are the same

Hurr durr all isntancing is the same. Gotta reach the end and kill a boss.

all those nms are not even nms

Subjective, sorry we don't have unique NMs like the Valkrum Emperor or Leaping Liz-oh. Right. They were just reskins and buffed up enemies with different names as well. We do have unique NMs, like Courel, Chimera, Batraal, etc. Too bad you ignore those.

all dungeons going to be instaced

INSTANCING DUNGEONS IS NOT BAD. I DON'T WANT TO WAIT AROUND BECAUSE SOME OTHER LINKSHELL IS DOING CUTTER'S CRY.

content finder

Wahhh options!

heck they are going to try and make part of the open world instanced with CF

As a mode of levelling. They're also making the world very open as well. Here you go crying about options again.

[Gramul]

INSTANCING DUNGEONS IS NOT BAD. I DON'T WANT TO WAIT AROUND BECAUSE SOME OTHER LINKSHELL IS DOING CUTTER'S CRY.

Heaven forbid a Massivly Multiplayer game be Massive.

Like I've said before, I think room exists for both. Maybe make dungeons less liniar with tons of multiple routes.

[Ruisu]

Heaven forbid a Massivly Multiplayer game be Massive.

Like I've said before, I think room exists for both. Maybe make dungeons less liniar with tons of multiple routes.

I never saw anything massive about not being able to enter Dynamis/Limbus because someone else was in there.

I'm all for less linear dungeons, and abolishing the speed run crap that we currently have. I just don't see what the big deal about instancing content that has good loot is.

[Gramul]

I never saw anything massive about not being able to enter Dynamis/Limbus because someone else was in there.

I'm all for less linear dungeons, and abolishing the speed run crap that we currently have. I just don't see what the big deal about instancing content that has good loot is.

My only concern is that it may take away from overall exploration. More dungeons in a timed instance means less for me to see on my own without convincing a party of 4-8 to join along.
Maybe I'm just being paranoid, maybe I just don't like being pidgeionholed into overstructured systems where I would prefer dynamics.
I'm waiting to see what kind of world 2.0 will be.

[Lux_Rayna]

My only concern is that it may take away from overall exploration. More dungeons in a timed instance means less for me to see on my own without convincing a party of 4-8 to join along.
Maybe I'm just being paranoid, maybe I just don't like being pidgeionholed into overstructured systems where I would prefer dynamics.
I'm waiting to see what kind of world 2.0 will be.

Open world dungeons have a lot of drawbacks that everyone would be bitching about later. Have you tried to farm vortext totems in natalan with all those ppl there? And thats a huuuge stronghold. Now take a dungeon thats limited in size, has two bosses with super rare drops, and add about half the server in that dungeon at the same time trying to get those drops. That is just a fucking nightmare.

I'm all for open world, but before you get scared you should probably consider the consequences of open world too. Instances are *very* beneficial, as it gives everyone a fair shot at content without having to fight 50 other linkshells in a tiny area. OH yeah and imagine trying to go somewhere alone, you'd be lucky to hit a mob at all. Open world is one of those things that sounds lovely in the imagination, but in practice its sloppy, competitive, laggy, and not fun. It can be fun, which is why you choose which aspects of the game will be open world and which should be instanced. Strongholds being open world is a great idea, because then it really feels like a "raid". A dungeon being open world is a disaster waiting to happen.

I say be less paranoid and learn to appreciate the benefits of instanced content. 95% of the game is open world, I for one am happy with that.