GreyElf Report post Posted August 25, 2012 If I understand the previous 4 pages, this debate is between giving hints that lead to quests (encourages player exploration) or no hints at all in-game (which, some say, leads to heavy use of cheat sites). Zaer and Infamous (I think) would like EL players to not use the cheat sites because this reduces the game to plain old grinding away for experience and gc which is boring. Radu would like EL to have more players; so would Zaer and Infamous. I hope I got this correct... I started playing this game the way I would play Myst. Clicking on everything and everyone with the basic walk/arrow tool to see what would happen. I love this kind of exploration, especially with a new game. I had no problem finding the Newbie Tutorial and started working on that. The problem is that EL has 6 tools (walk/arrow, look at/eye, use/pointer finger, use with/fist, trade/two-hands and attack/sword). I would like a hint such as "try clicking this using the eye tool". Or "You may need a hammer." Or when hovering over an object of interest it could flash indicating I try different tools. Even now after playing for several months, I could never hope to find many of EL's secrets with simple exploration of a map using the basic walk tool. It is pointless... so I don't even try anymore. It's down to grind, grind, grind. So I ended up using Choris and EL-wiki. Quickly whipped through almost all the quests. Spoiled the game for myself. Grind, grind, grind.... EXAMPLE: There is a secret short-cut to get to the gypsum on Arius. I would have never ever found this secret if a guildie had not shown it to me. It involves a particular tool. The permutations for figuring this out are endless. I would have enjoyed using the 'eye' tool for example to 'explore' the Arius map and then ... hey ... I get a message telling me to try using a particular tool to get something good. Just a hint would be exciting. Ah ha...a mystery to unravel. As for hints above NPCs heads, I do not agree. Instead reduce the endless chatter. I love to read, but I know I'm a minority in my love of reading anything and everything. Keep the back story chatter separate from the quest dialogue. The player still has to seek out and interact with every NPC, but after doing this, the quest stuff should be clearly separate from back story stuff. SUMMARY. yes to in game hints that there is a possible secret or quest or something in this object when hovering over it - encourages exploration. NO to indicating that a particular NPC has a quest - we need to talk to all of the NPCs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
saxum Report post Posted August 27, 2012 Issue is in order to find a new quest WITHOUT guide or channel 6 you either have to stumble upon it especially if you have spoken to most NPCs before or hear about it from someone else. Channel 6 is inappropriate place due to the nonsense that you often need to wade through. There are no other common NPCs you would normally interact with to give you hints. It would be nice to have some wandering NPCs - heralds, news criers, etc. Boards of notices to provide clues and false trails. Bartenders and waitresses to whisper rumors for an extra tip. Guides partly exist BECAUSE the quests are so mechanical and occasionally because the rewards is not worth the effort or items sacrificed. It is possible to write quests so that all do not do them the same way making guides just that - guides not solutions. I have written it for games before and sometimes solution for one will not work for another player for good reason (i.e. That NPC hates gnomes so he will not give you info but his barmaid hates his attitude and will tell you). And sometimes quests will need to be changed so a guide 3 years old which is out there by player who no longer plays is a lot less useful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
