SE, you managed to take the umph outta quests.

[Mkilbride]

Seriously. In FFXI, completing a quest was quite an achievement, bar some of the rare(Like less than 3, fetch quests in that game)

In FFXIV, I get a quest...walk 1 minute to the station nearby, talk to a guy "QUEST COMPLETE! TAKE YOUR REWARD!"

My epic quest...was to talk to some guy, not even a minute away sometimes...and bam...Quest complete. I get paid 286 Gil, some item, and 4000XP to talk to someone. Then they give me another quest.

The music was nice at first, now it just feels annoying. You managed really well in FFXI to make Quests feel meaningful. They usually unlocked things besides money or rewards, jobs or locations, secret items, ect...stuff that was more useful, stuff that money couldn't buy.

I don't think I've ever played another MMORPG where I could talk to a guy, get a quest, then talk to someone almost standing next to him, and get "Quest complete!"

I miss the meaningful quests you used to have in your games.

[Dreyda]

This is not Final Fantasy XI. From what you've said here, that is apparently the only MMO that you have played, because since 2004, nearly all of them have been like this.

[Gramul]

This is not Final Fantasy XI. From what you've said here, that is apparently the only MMO that you have played, because since 2004, nearly all of them have been like this.

And that's a little sad.

This isn't for the better. Quests have turned form performing feats of duty, bravery and cleverness into dull checklists. They've removed the organic element and put in its stead a systematic set of skinner boxes.
All the romance and lore is stripped away, leaving us with obvious and boring goal posts. It's like the character of the quests themselves where cut out to make the whole experience quicker and easier.
There's no engagement. It's become a chore.

Back then, you had to actually read your quest. Find out the locations, enemies, artifacts, tools and goals by taking it from word of mouth. There where actual dangers in your way, and you could choose to cleverly sneak by or join up with a friend. Everything's just feels so mechanical and cold now.

[Monzcarro]

In FFXI, completing a quest was quite an achievement,

LOL

[Gramul]

Black hearted mockery.

They certainly took more effort, had more variety and relied on your ability to actually read and think on a basic level in order to complete.

Felt more like adventures than lists of chores. To me at least.

[Tetriana]

I don't think I've ever played another MMORPG where I could talk to a guy, get a quest, then talk to someone almost standing next to him, and get "Quest complete!"

So, what you're really saying is that you haven't played an mmo that has been released in the past 8-9 years?

I'm going to let you in on a little secret... this isn't FFXI! *gasp*

I know it's hard to grasp at first, but once you get your head around the fact that it isn't 2002 and mmo's have evolved since then (for the better imo!) then you'll be fine. If you still don't like it you can always return to playing FFXI. ^_^

[Monzcarro]

They certainly took more effort, had more variety and relied on your ability to actually read and think on a basic level in order to complete.

Felt more like adventures than lists of chores. To me at least.

Yes, the ability to read ffxiclopedia to find out wtf you're actually supposed to do and the effort required to think "well why didn't they just say that?".

TRIGGER WARNING - 'Black hearted mockery':

"Oh but I didn't look it up, I totes figured it out all by myself!"

Egads, yet more mockery! Turn back!:

Hehe, OK. Cookie in the mail.

Where in FFXIV they give you a quest for each step, FFXI would just give you some flavor text and a have at it. You still had to talk to random npcs, kill certain mobs for plabum, and travel arbitary distances just for the sake of it. Besides the quest text, I daresay the only real difference between then and now is that there's a lot more of them.

[Shori]

While the 'talk to x and gesture to y' quests are painfully dull, no ones forcing you to do them. For me I just take their free items and exp and get on my merry way. There are plenty of somewhat harder quests and ones which require planning.

[Thane]

I like how you gloss over the fact that 95% of quests in FFXI gave you nothing worth wasting your time over. "Thanks for taking 2 hours to do this quest, seriously, pat yourself on the back. Oh yeah, here's 200 gil and a Potion."

Yeah, there were definitely some quests worth doing (mainly any that awarded scrolls), but the majority of side quests were not.

[Gramul]

boop

Dude. No.
I don't even care if you could find out the answer elsewhere. There's guides for every single game ever, mmo or not.
Having the game brightly point out everything isn't making it better, it's making it less interesting. It's stripping it down to the skeleton. There's no meat. I like meat. I like having my mechanics hidden in exploring and adventuring through the actual world instead of handed to me on a plate.

And traveling arbitrary distances? Everywhere had a purpose, everyone had a reason for what they wanted. The journey was part of the experience. Part of the adventure.

Oh, and don't take the "Black hearted mockery." mockery thing too seriously. I just really hate the "LOL" response.