What Tera taught me about the quest plans for ARR.

[Zetsubou]

take warhammer for an example, the game was built to do public quests ala gw2 type with tons and tons of quests to level too. then they launched a new zone with mobs you can literally grind and no one did anything else but that. you could do quests though but i can bet you even those who want to quest didn't do it that way.

Was it done as grinding parties or solo grinding?

[schism]

Wow how lame. If thats true I sure hope the players have something to say in beta. I really dont want to get grouped up with ppl that did nothing but quest their way to 50 and asking me how to play their class because they never been in a group.

I have read around that it was stated that Grinding will still be available but won't be your better option of leveling if you want to get to the max level as fast as possible. Which kind of unfair, if you are making a method of leveling available which designed for a different demographic of players, it should be equal.



I can bet people will still try and will find camps to create for an efficient parties, even with the inefficient available.

[schism]

Casual friendly lol what a joke. Yes it is BS.

I think the whole 'casual friendly' concept is total BS.

You can make a game that caters to everyone, but using uncreative and boring content is no excuse --

Aion has HEAPS of quests. I've had friends quit because there were too many quests..

These 'casual friendly' concepts equate to pumping loads of pointless quests into games to make people think there's lots to do. Take a step back and you realise there isn't much to do at all.

More 'casuals' just means more players when the game first starts, and then more players they'll eventually lose after the game goes Free to Play.

Take a good look at Guild Wars 2. A real good look at the one of most anticipated 'casual friendly' MMORPGs.


I'm not saying quests should be removed, but don't make it the main way to level up. 'Casuals' (because anyone who labels themselves a casual is a complete moron imo) will still have their questing to do, and it's not like they're in a hurry, right?

[strallaalaa]

Was it done as grinding parties or solo grinding?

the grind was a party thing, you brought a high level tank and he would pull a bunch of elite mobs and we would all kill them. rinse and repeat all the way to 50, fact if you had friends you could do this even b4 this in other areas.(any of this from rank 1-50 if wanted) quests were solo, and public quests ...well they were always empty after a few months after launch. you might find a few people to do the good ones for a hand full of levels.

[Punainen]

I really think quest-based leveling MMO's are made to be more new player and casual friendly.

Say ARR is 5 years in, with 4 expansions and the level cap is now lvl100. With a monster grind system that pretty much penalizes the solo player like 1.0 and XI does, a new player will hopefully know someone that will power level him/her, or take forever and ever soloing monsters to catch up with other people, and in XI's case not be able to do anything alone after lvl12/13 since 'Even Matches' will kill you pretty easily. it would be hard and frusterating to get into that MMO.

However in a quest-based leveling MMO, anyone can pick it up at any time and not take forever and a day to join up with the rest of MMO players in 'end game town'. MMO's that are easy to get into and level up without a full party at all times are much easier to get into and draw in way more players than a sandbox mmo could later in the games life.

Sure, MMO is Massively Multiplayer, but it should't take at all times a light to full party to get anywhere in the game. Im certain there will still be group quests as all quest based MMO's have group quests mixed in with the solo quest lines that require 2/3/x players to safely complete.

Overall, a player doesn't have to dedicate nearly as much of their time, or have extended waiting periods, with a quest-based MMO. Thus, it will bring in the casuals, new players over its years of service, and money for SE.

ENDGAME is called ENDgame, because it is the END of the GAME. The game should be enjoyable from the start, and not need to be OVER before it's enjoyable. If the entire game is just a mad rush to the end content, what is the point in all the content before that even existing??

[Punainen]

I think the whole 'casual friendly' concept is total BS.

You can make a game that caters to everyone, but using uncreative and boring content is no excuse --

Aion has HEAPS of quests. I've had friends quit because there were too many quests..

These 'casual friendly' concepts equate to pumping loads of pointless quests into games to make people think there's lots to do. Take a step back and you realise there isn't much to do at all.

More 'casuals' just means more players when the game first starts, and then more players they'll eventually lose after the game goes Free to Play.

Take a good look at Guild Wars 2. A real good look at the one of most anticipated 'casual friendly' MMORPGs.


I'm not saying quests should be removed, but don't make it the main way to level up. 'Casuals' (because anyone who labels themselves a casual is a complete moron imo) will still have their questing to do, and it's not like they're in a hurry, right?

Thank you for calling me a complete moron. Other than that, I agree with your post. But I consider myself a casual player because the other option is 'hardcore', and I am not one of those people who will gather for 18 hours straight just so I can blow the gil earned from it on botching a doublemeld, nor will I go around researching whether STR or ATT effects a particular skill in what way, nor will I necessarily make sure to play EVERY day.
I like my games to be challenging, but also FUN and non-stressful.

[Klefth]

ENDGAME is called ENDgame, because it is the END of the GAME. The game should be enjoyable from the start, and not need to be OVER before it's enjoyable. If the entire game is just a mad rush to the end content, what is the point in all the content before that even existing??

This. A thousand times.

[Coyohma]

Don't know what you have until it's gone. Unless you can improve on repeating what is essentially the same "quest" 400 times over, you shouldn't have that as your base leveling system. Not if you're Final Fantasy and your predecessor is XI.

Give people a reason to be social for a couple hours. Let them find the most efficient mobs to EXP on -- they'll learn why certain ones aren't ideal for this, their TP moves, etc. What if a party, or two, or five have taken an area they wanted? They can find the next most efficient thing to kill (the horror, I know), and maybe remember a name or two of the lucky ones in envy or in rage. Even in this worst case scenario, at least they would feel something, evoke some emotion, instead of mindlessly soloing through content that flies in the face of being memorable.

Another obvious advantage is that when you actually do get around to quests, you can focus on quality over quantity. They won't seem watered down. You won't have to paint the same thing a hundred different shades to save time, and people will want to sit back and relax to read what's going on. Certainly moreso than if it's simply a boring stick with EXP dangling at the end.

[schism]

I sure hope the devs take a look at that because its true.

Don't you know what you have until it's gone. Unless you can improve on repeating what is essentially the same "quest" 400 times over, you shouldn't have that as your base leveling system. Not if you're Final Fantasy and your predecessor is XI.

Give people a reason to be social for a couple hours. Let them find the most efficient mobs to EXP on -- they'll learn why certain ones aren't ideal for this, their TP moves, etc. What if a party, or two, or five have taken an area they wanted? They can find the next most efficient thing to kill (the horror, I know), and maybe remember a name or two of the lucky ones in envy or in rage. Even in this worst case scenario, at least they would feel something, evoke some emotion, instead of mindlessly soloing through content that flies in the face of being memorable.

Another obvious advantage is that when you actually do get around to quests, you can focus on quality over quantity. They won't seem watered down. You won't have to paint the same thing a hundred different shades to save time, and people will want to sit back and relax to read what's going on. Certainly moreso than if it's simply a boring stick with EXP dangling at the end.

[indira]

questing just maks you follow that carrot on a stick, camp style grinding your just doing what you have to do anyways but no running all over the place.