Quests?

[dejan]

Roja, frankly speaking I do not want to play purely quest-based MMORPG. I like sometimes going to some dangerous place (little roleplaying etc), and kicking some chimeran's ass, just for fun. But hours and hours of doing the same, and hours and hours of making essences/bars/potions is, from my perspective, very boring, and game is supposed to be FUN.

 

Honestly, many times, when I was an active player, I felt like a slave of my own MMORPG addiction, especially after hours of constant hunt/mixing. Some addicts would not admit, but from my point of view, it is not fun.

 

Lately what I found very funny and interesting, and that is what I currently do, is exploring+roleplaying.

 

I have some ideas about this and how EL might be improved, but need to sit down, gather all those thoughts together into some sane text, and post it to suggestions discussion group.

[Roja]

But hours and hours of doing the same, and hours and hours of making essences/bars/potions is, from my perspective, very boring, and game is supposed to be FUN.

 

 

I agree with you 100%. I would never play this or any other game for that..sure a little of it, because it is fun to level a bit, but I play online games* for one thing you can't get in any other type of game: people. It's mainly about the community, not game play. If you want fun gameplay then play a single player game-they are the best in terms of that.

 

 

*No, I don't play any other games other than EL..but if I did...

[freeone3000]

However, you cannot directly influence a community. What we have now is a collection of powergamers, PKers, and just a few people I actually want to play with, most of whom don't actually play.

 

Things that attract powergamers? New items, new levels, new skills.

Things that attract PKers? New monsters, new areas, new weapons and armor.

Things that attract people we want to play with? Ah, see, here's the tricky bit. Other people they want to play with, roleplaying opportunities, quests, a pre-made world to go and have fun in with friends.

 

From how the community currently stands, it seems EL needs a bit of tweaking.

[masterpiter]

Things that attract PKers? New monsters, new areas, new weapons and armor.

PKers r coming to the game coz they( we;p) want/hope for pk action.

New shiny items r nice, but they r for posers/show off, they r used by pkers only coz otherwise they would not stand a chance against other players with those shiny( expensive) weapons/armors.

 

For a PKer its always better to have more pk action than more new/shiny weapons/items ingame.

Actually, the less expensive equipment the better, coz pk becomes cheaper so u can pk whole time u play, not 1 hour of pk and 10 hours of harvesting/killing monsters for money to replace things u lost coz of pking( even if u won all ur battles).

 

Just my opinion, im more of allrounder than pure PKer but well

 

Sorry for stealing the thread

 

mp

[freeone3000]

Well, yes, but the like attracting like is obvious in all those counts...

[Roja]

From how the community currently stands, it seems EL needs a bit of tweaking.

 

That's your opinion. Others would say differently.

[kailomonkey]

I have played for... 17 months. I had completed all the quests (except the wraith quest I think) within the first 3. My point being, if the quests you are requesting had all existed 2 years ago, you probably would have them completed also, and be here requesting more.

 

What it appears is really being sought, then, is a continuation of the beta style of this game, constant influx of new quests to do. I don't know how this could be achieved, or even if the developers want it to be so. However, bugging Learner and Entropy to give access to the server or code and test quests themselves (which probably isn't in their interests as programmers) isn't going to make them devote time every month to dealing with.

 

If, however, the developers of this game did want new quests to be added every month say, the project might be to someday code a reliable way of adding new quests with ease, without the risk of bugs. I'll just highlight the point I'm making, this is more likely a move that would be made (I think) than time being spent every month (by the only two server programmers) on coding quests. I'm not suggesting it as something that needs to be done.

[Infamous]

But hours and hours of doing the same, and hours and hours of making essences/bars/potions is, from my perspective, very boring, and game is supposed to be FUN.

 

 

I agree with you 100%. I would never play this or any other game for that..sure a little of it, because it is fun to level a bit, but I play online games* for one thing you can't get in any other type of game: people. It's mainly about the community, not game play. If you want fun gameplay then play a single player game-they are the best in terms of that.

 

 

*No, I don't play any other games other than EL..but if I did...

 

lol community.. look at all the outlaw threads and topics that cant stay open cause of flamefests.. and people branching just for the hell of it, lol nice community indeed.

 

ps: i never got branched so it's not like "omfg i got branched let's whine" ;o

[Torg]

lol community.. look at all the outlaw threads and topics that cant stay open cause of flamefests.. and people branching just for the hell of it, lol nice community indeed.

In any community you have friends and enemies. This is completely normal.

[kailomonkey]

RE: Changing the community.

Change has to come from ourselves.

 

RE: Level grinding.

This is the game that we play, inbetween community complexities (roleplay, contests, outlaws)

 

RE: PKers and expensive stuff.

Yeah having to get (and re-get) high level items to compete does sound kinda sucky for a pure PKer. Is the old-school pk making people resort to the old, basic equipment too?

 

RE: Getting this thread back on topic.

 

Conavar makes a good point, and a really nice addition to the game would be a step-up of the community run quests. Infact, there is already a large base of people who enjoy contests in general. Perhaps this could be harnessed to begin a String of quest contests somehow, to tie them together and attempt at giving some sort of worth-while reward for completing the quests. I know there is already reward in completing contests (for the winners) but I am thinking something more like that which everyone who completes such a quest can receive (big prizes are limited in number )...

 

In another topic (tho a different purpose) I suggested a sort of league that could give people the satisfaction of being known for completing a quest.

Someone said no-one would care for such fame, I would say some people would, especially those that regularly attend contests. Some people like the skill rank tables sure enough.

 

The very completion of a challenging quest is reward for most players, so good player-made quests would offer this challenge.

Community made contests would need to be tested by the community, to make sure they are worth including, or giving score to (see reward weighting below).

 

The number of quests you complete could go towards something else.

 

Inclusion in later conclusion-contests (as seen recently in Entropy's kill gui contests).

 

Greater inclusion in conclusion contests such as more chances (similar to that in a quiz to treasure hunt contest by Sistema). More lives, skeleton keys,

lottery entries?

* When scoring like this, longer or more difficult quests can be given reward weighting, some small difference say 1-3.

Now, the difficulty in running player-made quests comes back to man-power. The ability to run 20 quests on a 24 hour basis is... out of human/community capabilities. This could be best solved by harnessing bots to run and keep track of quests, talking to them to get the right information etc (perhaps having to be in trade with them to prove your presence). But this, again, comes back to man-power and programmers. However, atleast the use of bots in this way removes the need to access the server, which opens up the project to be developed.

 

So, this somehow ended up returning to something mentioned in my previous post on this topic. Although I wasn't suggesting it needed to be so, the mention of making an easier way of getting quests implemented and tested. Could the major bot-coders/owners work together to achieve the things above? Given community programmers, could non-profit quest bots be allowed if the project had interest and backing? Could this eventually lead to community-quest NPCs accessible to player-quest coders in some way?

 

Whatever the future holds for quests, change has to come from ourselves. Anyone that has an interest in quests need to start talking now! Yes, I guess that includes me Even I might be forced from laziness for this one.

 

 

 

*lottery entries?

A reward that everyone can enjoy.

 

 

Note on Edits

I just can't stop myself

Edited September 16, 2007 by kailomonkey

[Cycloonx]

But if you need bots for quests, then someone needs to host those. Someone needs to stock them up with rewards etc etc...

[kailomonkey]

Note that the rewards were suggested as being dealt with seperately, and would not be as straight forward as "you completed a quest, you get this item".

 

I am working on a proposal to existing bot owners now, for their support. Which would entail the minimal of code added to their bot, since the quests could go through a single (probably new) bot using other peoples bots as quest actors.

 

The central quest bot will require alot more programming, however; the details of which I am also working on. I have no experience myself in actual bot programming, but have a history and skill in programming in general, so psuedo proposals should be easily intepretable into actual code.

 

Any issues I cannot solve myself in a short time I will open up to suggestion while publishing the proposals, probably on the bots or programming section.

 

I am beginning to conclude that this might actually be easier to make happen than I originally thought. The key to it's success though would be how community developers get to interact with, build on and maintain the system.

 

I know for sure that I, and suspect that others, would contribute alot at first but not want permanent responsibility. Maybe some would, but it would be best if the continuation of the quest-writing process could be sustained by the community without the need for any particularly dedicated and constant contributors. People come and go, interests wax and wane.

 

 

RE: nicky on level too high or not challenging enough

I think the sort of quests we are talking about are mostly for walk-about and roleplay. None of those ingame so far offer much of a challenge, bar walking through alittle PK or producing a small item. The challenge is unrelated to game level and more towards deductive abilities, which I guess people do vary in also.

Edited September 16, 2007 by kailomonkey

[nicky]

From how the community currently stands, it seems EL needs a bit of tweaking.

 

That's your opinion. Others would say differently.

 

EL's always being tweaked, and there's always folks who complain, and always folks who enjoy the changes. Just because quests are a priority doesn't mean that the "EL Community" shares that. My personal preference would be to see some improvements to the quest system too, but I'm sure not many people share that opinion, and I won't go creating a thread saying "change it or i'll leave!".

 

Now that I see the features that the programmers have been working on, i'd much rather have the astrology system than a better quest system, I'd rather have engineering, and the new engineering weapons, and saving stones, and the awesome new invasion system that includes dragons, and all kinds of stuff that adds so much more to the game then a few more quests.

 

Even if more quests were implemented, some folks would complain because either the quests require a level too high, or are not challenging enough at thier level.

 

There's only so much time in the day, and the latest features were time well spent for a majority of the players.

[Guest Mojar]

I am pretty new at EL, much newer than most of you but I have seen my share of MMOs. I wanted to suggest/ask; how hard would it be to have a quest submission process that is sort of like the invasion submission process. Basically a forum post that tells how to code a quest and some tips on what to include. Then players who want to write/code quests (or code pre-written quests) can do so and submit them for testing and approval. If this is possible it would allow that majority of the coding to be done players and then tested/debugged/implemented by those few who have server access. It would be like farming the hard work of coding out without risking server tampering.

 

Like I said though I am fairly new and not sure if this is possible but if it is I think is would be a good way of getting community members involved and getting some new quests completed.

[Acelon]

With your idea, there is a problem.

 

The reason we don't have just any programmer doing so with quests... is due to the fact that bad bugs can happen. Some of which were mentioned, like being able to get infinite of the prize (which was a problem for one of the quests that was programmed by a non-server dev). Having regular people submit them is even worse, because majority of them won't have any experience, and dont realize something as small as a ` can change the code entirely, and cause it not to work.

 

Not to mention that we look for quality quests, most people that have submitted quests to join the team have done a half-assed job, and there were very few out of the many I recieved I would actually add ingame.

[Guest Mojar]

Well I was thinking if it could work then the bulk of the coding could be done by volunteers and touched up by the devs. But i understand the reason against it. Is there a lot of quality quest waiting to be coded or a lot of quests (not particularly quality ones) waiting to be reviewed? Could this system possible work with the coding workload being outsourced to people that have shown there coding competence by writing client code, that way you know they can code and you could have them code and just not have server access? This way you have someone who knows what their doing and still have the ability to check it over before adding it to the game.

[Acelon]

As I said.. we tried that, and there were unexpected bugs. Plus, the server devs would need to review it.. which would take MUCH more time than then coding it themselves.

 

Also, we do have quality quests waiting to be coded, as well as many in the works that are on hold until the coding process starts up.

[Roja]

Ok, I'm locking this so you won't waste your time discussing things.

 

We know we need more quests in the game. We are not stupid. They will happen in time.

 

Topic closed.