Alpha First Look: Video 5 - Quests and Combat

[Hestern_Nestern]

I don't usually like "kill x amount of creature" quests but what is different about ARR's approach seems to be, speaking only of this video, the level of heart within each ordinarily meaningless request. And like Sieg said - you are forced to read the dialogue and so you care more about what you are doing. That's important.

My soul twitched a little when the Miqo'te explained why we had to kill those slugs. <3

I obviously don't have enough information to go on but I'll say this much is true: I hope each time I am given a quest I will be made to care. So even if it is a quest type I am not ordinarily interested in, at least my soul will be there to recognize compassion. <3

...Sorry for the abysmal structure of my response. @_@

[Preypacer]

I don't usually like "kill x amount of creature" quests but what is different about ARR's approach seems to be, speaking only of this video, the level of heart within each ordinarily meaningless request. And like Sieg said - you are forced to read the dialogue and so you care more about what you are doing. That's important.

How are you forced to read the quest dialog? You don't have to read a word of it. You can tell even the person in that video isn't reading it - unless they're a speed reader (not likely).

You can choose to read it, just as you can in WoW, or LoTRO or Rift or any other MMO based on that template over the last 8 years. But by no means are you "forced" to, nor is it even necessary. Every step of the way is clearly pointed out to you. Just follow the glowing map markers and huge golden icons floating around on your screen.

ARR is doing nothing different or better than any of those. It's a copy and paste of those same quest systems... and I use the term "quest" extremely lightly.

What this video shows are nothing more than mindless busy work, making you run around doing mundane tasks for a reward. They could just as well cut out the "running around" part and just give you the reward for managing to successfully click through all the dialog screens.

[Hulan]

How are you forced to read the quest dialog? You don't have to read a word of it. You can tell even the person in that video isn't reading it - unless they're a speed reader (not likely).

You can choose to read it, just as you can in WoW, or LoTRO or Rift or any other MMO based on that template over the last 8 years. But by no means are you "forced" to, nor is it even necessary. Every step of the way is clearly pointed out to you. Just follow the glowing map markers and huge golden icons floating around on your screen.

ARR is doing nothing different or better than any of those. It's an exact carbon copy of them.

While I agree this in no way forces you to read the quest dialog, your post makes it clear you will never see the other side of the issue, or be willing to see the other side of the issue. That being that the action of the quests is only half of the whole for many people; the motivation and process are just as important to a lot of people. And while the action of this quest is, indeed, no better than WoW or it's predecessors, it shows a love and attention to detail of motivation and story that I have not seen in them.

Not to mention, it's pretty obvious this video was recorded as a demo of the combat and question systems. Of course they are going to save time by skipping through the dialog. Don't forget, whoever made this video probably has done this exact same quest 20 times testing it. I can't blame him/her if he/she doesn't take the time to read it for the 20th time.

[Hestern_Nestern]

How are you forced to read the quest dialog? You don't have to read a word of it. You can choose to read it, just as you can in WoW, or LoTRO or Rift or any other MMO based on that template over the last 8 years. But by no means are you "forced" to, nor is it even necessary. ARR is doing nothing different or better than any of those. It's an exact carbon copy of them.

Oh awesome! This is the first time I've had a mildly derisive retort directed at me on this forum! I'm excited! Okay here goes my response back! (This is me being passive-aggressive [this is me not minding that I am being passive-aggresive ((and this is me explaining myself too much))])

My idea of "force" in this instance (and this instance alone) is that you receive the dialogue after accepting the quest as opposed to prior to receiving the dialogue - the latter can be overlooked fairly easily by clicking the shiny "accept" button at the button of the tab but the former requires you to cycle through the dialogue. While yes, you don't have to read it (forgive my overuse of the italics), you are forced to interact with it (what I should have said in the first place, I agree) on some level. It is always up to the player whether or not they want to ignore dialogue given but considering you and others here on this forum (I presume) actually want to play and enjoy this game to its fullest, wouldn't it be somewhat odd for you and others here (I presume) to be skipping the dialogue?

In closing, yes, the capability is there, you are right. Your definition of the word is closer to the usual application of said word - so I understand if you felt the need to clarify this difference. I also understand that I don't always say it right the first time but now I have and that's okay.

Signing off!

~H.N.~

[Delsus]

How are you forced to read the quest dialog? You don't have to read a word of it. You can tell even the person in that video isn't reading it - unless they're a speed reader (not likely).

You can choose to read it, just as you can in WoW, or LoTRO or Rift or any other MMO based on that template over the last 8 years. But by no means are you "forced" to, nor is it even necessary. Every step of the way is clearly pointed out to you. Just follow the glowing map markers and huge golden icons floating around on your screen.

ARR is doing nothing different or better than any of those. It's a copy and paste of those same quest systems... and I use the term "quest" extremely lightly.

What this video shows are nothing more than mindless busy work, making you run around doing mundane tasks for a reward. They could just as well cut out the "running around" part and just give you the reward for managing to successfully click through all the dialog screens.

Here's an idea for a quest, go to x place, jump 20 times run back to the npc, jump over them then get the reward, as people have said they are progression quests, or not supposed to be hard, or would you prefer running around for hours to find the one mob you have to kill for some exp?

As has been said the only other option for these progression quests, or quests designed for leveling, is the FFXI way, "go to Ronfaure and find the ???" "which ???" "THE ???" "Theres about 20 ???s in Ronfaure... Which one?" "Ugh guess your too dumb for this quest remain a lvl 1 noob for your whole life"

Progression quests should not require checking the FFXIV wiki pages all the time, however quests like job quests, any level cap quests should be harder, and they can easily make those ones not tell you exactly what to do.

[Mortechai]

How are you forced to read the quest dialog? You don't have to read a word of it. You can tell even the person in that video isn't reading it - unless they're a speed reader (not likely).

You can choose to read it, just as you can in WoW, or LoTRO or Rift or any other MMO based on that template over the last 8 years. But by no means are you "forced" to, nor is it even necessary. Every step of the way is clearly pointed out to you. Just follow the glowing map markers and huge golden icons floating around on your screen.

ARR is doing nothing different or better than any of those. It's a copy and paste of those same quest systems... and I use the term "quest" extremely lightly.

What this video shows are nothing more than mindless busy work, making you run around doing mundane tasks for a reward. They could just as well cut out the "running around" part and just give you the reward for managing to successfully click through all the dialog screens.

Did it ever occur to you that maybe they were skipping through it ON PURPOSE? Developers sometimes do that when they're showcasing something and have limited time in which to do so. Get over it. I'am 99.999999% positive that this is not an actual player going through this content, thus to make the observation that "Oh hey, even they're skipping through the dialogue lolololol" makes you look rather lobotomised.

[Zezlar]

I don't usually like "kill x amount of creature" quests but what is different about ARR's approach seems to be, speaking only of this video, the level of heart within each ordinarily meaningless request. And like Sieg said - you are forced to read the dialogue and so you care more about what you are doing. That's important.

My soul twitched a little when the Miqo'te explained why we had to kill those slugs. <3

I obviously don't have enough information to go on but I'll say this much is true: I hope each time I am given a quest I will be made to care. So even if it is a quest type I am not ordinarily interested in, at least my soul will be there to recognize compassion. <3

...Sorry for the abysmal structure of my response. @_@

Don't get your hopes up.

[Hestern_Nestern]

Don't get your hopes up.

There is no shame in hope. Hope is a wonderfully human concept and I like to hope every day, from innocent hopes born of laziness to more serious hopes born of concern, I shall not cease in my hoping.

I can't "get my hopes up" because I don't harbor such a concept in my being. I hope long, I hope full, I hope even when one is (said to be) silly to have done so, and in the end, even if that hope brings no good reward, I will know that it was not my error - it was not my error to hope - and thus, there is no shame to do so. Disappointment must happen, but that doesn't mean hope should leave me when it does.

Thank you for providing me this opportunity to wax poetic.

Look at me, being silly again. Oh well.

[Yukagama]

Alpha is very beautiful and very very enjoyble ^_^

[IloveYouPumpkin]

I mean, I like the game. It looks pretty and I think I'll enjoy it. But the hand-holding preypacer is talking about.. I also find incredibly irritating. It's something that plagues a lot of MMO's in recent years.