Curious about the new questing system.

[Preypacer]

For one, I'd like to not see a system where you're being guided through the game from quest hub to quest hub in a linear fashion. I'd like to see quests that require you to travel abroad, go to other zones, go to other cities (with teleporting, chocobos and air-ships available, it shouldn't be a big deal). I'd like to see quests where the goal is some specific objective that is not itself about killing mobs, but that would require you to either deal with mobs along the way, or otherwise find some way to avoid them (sneaking, disguise, causing a distraction, using decoys, etc).

I would like to see every little detail of a quest not spelled out and shown plainly on the map. If you're told "go to "such and such location" in "such and such zone" and locate "such and such" object. I would like for the description of the quest to be adequate for people to find such a place themselves, and then have to actually *find* the objective when they're there. Please no "arrows pointing where to go, which lead to a marker on the map of exactly where the spot is which leads to quest objects with sparkles or something like that coming off them". Please keep us in the equation and let us be part of the experience by actually requiring effort and thought to be made.

If there's one thing I can not stand about MMOs these days is how every single detail is spelled out for you to the point where it's literally nothing but connecting the dots and collecting your reward. It's about as close to a virtual skinner box as you can get. I have a brain and I'm not afraid to use it. So, please, give me the opportunity to.

As for quests that can be done in shorter time, that's where Leves come in. Sure they're mostly "kill x of y" type quests. But the system can be expanded beyond that. If you recall the "Assault" missions in XI, those were no more than 30-45 minutes to complete, and each had a variety of very interesting and diverse challenges involved. They can have a difficulty setting like they do now where you can solo them, or go up to a 5-star rating (or something similar). "Short-term content" doesn't have to be repetitive and boring.

There can also be shorter term quests that can be finished in, say, an hour or so. It doesn't have to be "multi-hour or 30 minute only". There's room for a variety in-between.

I personally enjoy longer-term content that takes more time to complete, but I also enjoy some shorter-term stuff from time to time as well. I also believe those who prefer (or perhaps require due to their lifestyles/schedules) more "bite-sized" content deserve and should fully expect something more interesting than paltry "kill and collect" tasks (I don't even consider them quests) that are all the same, save for what you're killing or collecting.

I'd also like to see very long-term, "career-long" goals to work toward. Everything doesn't have to be achieved "right now". Give people something to strive for long-term, with a series of smaller goals along the way building toward it. Let people choose a specific "end-result", thus giving them a branching series of quests or goals to choose between as they go. A personal career path, if you like.

How about quests that are "hidden"? Maybe it's an NPC in an out of the way place. Some object or relic that you find in a remote corner of the world that triggers an entirely new story arc that might be hinted at by NPCs in town, but isn't actually given out by one. Give something for those explorers among us to bite into.

There is so much that can be done with a questing system in a MMORPG. So much more than what is usually shoveled out and called "content". It could well be where a player - just looking to do some quest content - could log in, decide "eh, I did leves last night. I wanna do something else tonight", and have a number of different options open to them.

I'd love to see Yoshi-P and his content designers really dig in, get inspired, get creative and deliver up a variety of truly awesome content that players of other MMOs can look at and think, "damn... how come we can't get stuff like that in this game?". How cool would it be to see the script flipped, and people requesting to have "x" or "y" feature from FFXIV implemented in their games, instead of the other way around?

Of course, that's all my personal "hope" and it may or may not happen. But well, there ya go