SE stop doing the "norm"

[ShivenCasull]

My main point being that the quests themselves should feel like quests from a decent story, not a grinding excuse. Let me deliver an artifact. Let me investigate some ruins. Let me infiltrate a duke's citadel for secret plans. Let me convince a damsel to wed her betrothed and accidentally have her fall for me inciting the scorn of her lover.

I want these quests, too. However from a developer stand point, how do you keep people logged on?

In real life all of those things would take a significant amount of time to complete, in an MMO a relatively skilled player might be able to accomplish them in a few hours. I would be okay with a 24/48hr quest. (Not 24 hours of gameplay, 24 hours of time for the quest to be possible to complete) For instance, say you're going to sneak into the citadel - but you have to wait for your GC to muster a diversionary force so you CAN sneak in.

When you complete said quest, BAM 75% of a level or what have you.

Some people might complain, but I would not mind a prep timer for epic quests to keep the boring repetition down.

Edit: A secondary effect of these kinds of quest would be - free time to craft or HEY make a party and fight some monsters.