What Tera taught me about the quest plans for ARR.

[Punainen]

I didn't leave Tera because of the "quest grinding" I left Tera because the monster designs just got way toooo "WEIRD" for me.

Lol, as someone who played Requiem, I didn't mind. I actually found it kind of interesting how the zones changed and they slowly went from making me feel like I was playing an anime game, to feeling like I was playing Requiem. But the quest grinding quickly overshadowed that.

[Punainen]

People need to get over "FATE" lol, it's not that big of a deal...people only feel it is because it's new to XIV. Even in GW2 people were getting bored of it quick because it eventually became the "Same ole Same ole."

FATE won't change the fact the main system they're proud of and continually emphasize is the Quest System, which is the subject of this topic.



This proves you're just being delusional. Join any MMORPG that uses quest based leveling and I guarantee the majority aren't caring for what the NPC says. So no, not talking for myself as it's pretty apparent I like stories in an RPG, hence why others who also like it are worried about SE going this route because of past MMORPG history.

Yeah, the problem lies in the fact that in order to produce that quantity of quests, quality gets the short stick. Hard to make unique, deep and interesting or amusing stories for HUNDREDS of quests, I understand....but that's exactly why it shouldn't be done.

[Felis]

In an MMORPG one portion of the game should not be solo nor solo focused. That's not what the genre is, but you are right, MMOs these days are generally solo games.

I hope we get party crafting and party gathering in ARR.

[schism]

I'm not one to blast a game and im sure all that stuff works in THAT game. This is SE, I'm pretty sure im not alone on this but I dont think we want what mmo's are doing these days because its not working out for the companies modeling after them. With all due respect I think SE could do alot better. Who knows they may surprise us and make everyone happy.

What you wrote tells you never played WoW. Let's take MoP for example each zone has a storyline and you play through the quests in each zone, there is some voice acting for the more important quests and certain npcs are always voiced like Chen Stormstout and Lili, who have a overarching story throughout all the zones.

In WoW you can level solo with quests or groups in dungeons. When you get to endgame want want to do raids you need 10 or 25 people so at endgame its definetly not a solo game.

Its how most mmos are these days, leveling solo experience with optional dungeons for mutiplayer aspect, when you get to endgame many people are required for large raid groups.

[Elexia]

Yeah, the problem lies in the fact that in order to produce that quantity of quests, quality gets the short stick. Hard to make unique, deep and interesting or amusing stories for HUNDREDS of quests, I understand....but that's exactly why it shouldn't be done.

This is why people want SE to be very careful, those who only ever played WoW or never played an MMO won't realize this. This is why those who have played many types of MMORPGs from all eras knows full well the strengths and weaknesses of a system like this.

This system has a VERY GLARING WEAKNESS: The Quantity vs Quality. It happens in even WoW, it happened in SWTOR (the dip was very noticable as you progressed) and it certainly happened in Tera. In GW2, it mixed it up so you were never fully focused on one thing, but people still got bored of it quickly.

I hope we get party crafting and party gathering in ARR.

This I wouldn't mind, you'd think Miners for example would work together and gain benefits for doing so.

[schism]

You are so right Elexia,we can only hope.

So let's take..every MMO ever for example that uses quest based leveling:

Each zone has a storyline, that you more than likely don't care for or even read.
Each NPC offers a quest line relating to the incoherent storyline. Offers Money, Exp and sometimes (usually) armor and items.
You finish those, you move onto the next area and repeat that countless times.

What you seem to be denying adamantly, is that each quest is exactly the same in a different area. Guildleves were blatant about it, Quest Chains aren't obvious because you generally get wrapped up in the constant flow of exp and money from talking to an NPC rather than pulling it from thin air basically.



In an MMORPG one portion of the game should not be solo nor solo focused. That's not what the genre is, but you are right, MMOs these days are generally solo games.

[Warlock]

You are so right Elexia,we can only hope.

lol Sup Alt account XD

[Yellow]

I have been playing Tera for the past 3 days...I'm to level 26, and so far it makes me realize that non-stop quest grinding has a way of feeling just as lifeless as regular grinding... There's no occasion to kill mobs never listed on a quest, there's no occasion to stop and look around, no reason to ever return to an old zone, there's nothing but being shuffled from one place to the next like cattle with all your leveling practically being done for you, in a never ending stream that begins to feel mind-numbingly linear. Last time I turned Tera off it was as I sat back and asked myself what the hell I was doing, and wondering was I really enjoying this, or was I just stuck in the loop? Then I had to turn it off when I realized it was just a loop and there was nothing really enjoyable about ANY of it.

I guess this could be dealt with in ARR with epic storylines, plot twists, and humorous or touching sidequests. Some truly innovative quests. Or even the occasional break in which regular grinding must be done for even just 2-3 levels before the quest loop begins again. I want to feel like I'm involved in the game's world and lore, where my level is raised by showing courage and skill...not feel like I'm rolling down an assembly line.

The one thing Tera DID seem to have going for it was small details like the stuff you would occasionally see floating by (seeds, or petals, or leaves), the fact that when you follow a river, it actually GOES somewhere that isn't an invisible wall. The bustling sound of voices and pets in the centers of towns, the epic splashes and sprays of blood as you slice into a mob, the little woodland creatures walking around just for show (some which you could kill for no real reason).

That said, Tera completely misses almost all the broadstrokes. Sure the combat system is kinda cool (though purely-action combat would never really work in ARR), but other than that, the story goes too long without giving you any INTERESTING details, every sidequest plot in each area is identical (kill X amount of mob to thin the herd, kill such and such mob to get 'special item, repeat).

Originally I had gone into the 'quest grind' topic uneducated. I liked quests, more quests sounded like more fun. But now I know that there needs to be moderation, or too much of a good thing becomes an incessant flood of whiny NPCs whose issues I quickly cease to care about.


TL;DR: SE really should be very careful about how they approach this whole 'you'll be able to quest-grind all your classes to 50' thing.

Yes! Thank you!

Someone who understands!! Quests will be leves with dialogue.

I really hope we're allowed to avoid questing as much as possible, because I know that I would prefer to not touch quests again with a 10ft pole.

Hopefully they implement story quests/side quests so people can play through the important ones to understand the story, but we can skip the boring 'go give x to y'.

Edit:

TERA was one of those games that has one great idea that was pretty awesome.. but the rest of the game sucked horribly.

[Warlock]

Yes! Thank you!

Someone who understands!! Quests will be leves with dialogue.

I really hope we're allowed to avoid questing as much as possible, because I know that I would prefer to not touch quests again with a 10ft pole.

Hopefully they implement story quests/side quests so people can play through the important ones to understand the story, but we can skip the boring 'go give x to y'.

Edit:

TERA was one of those games that has one great idea that's pretty awesome.. but the rest of the game sucks horribly.

You are in the wrong genre

[Zezlar]

You are in the wrong genre

You're on a roll today.