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Will there by anything more that can we expect in terms of quests?

Discussion in 'Release 39 Feedback Forum' started by Lord_Darkmoon, Mar 6, 2017.

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  1. Lord_Darkmoon

    Lord_Darkmoon Avatar

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    I am playing since the very beginning and had very high hopes for this game. Even with all the MMO mechanics in place I still thought that there would be solid story-experience waiting for me. After all SotA is advertised as a story-driven game with a single-player narrative. Yet I am still waiting for this to come true.

    The only single-player-like narrative I have found was during the tutorial. For me after finishing the tutorial the whole narrative, story and quest part collapses in on itself. Most of the quests play out the same, namely talking to some NPCs, running around and reading a note. Also there is nothing happening during the quests, no one can die, no one returns to missing people etc.
    Maybe later in the game this gets a little bit more diverse but let's face it. After having to deliver so many letters or packages and after having talked to many NPCs I simply lack the motivation to play any further. I want to be excited from the beginning and not have to suffer through lackluster quests in the hopes that in the end I will find one quest that will be interesting. I had hoped that the quests would be revised, made more exciting, more diverse, that they would get some twists. But they are still playing out the same since around a year or so...
    Sorry to say it but it simply is not fun doing quests or following the story which is a shame as the lore and the overall premise of many quests are really interesting. It is the quest mechanics and how they play out which is so boring and tedious as well as demotivating. And it really hurts me to have to say this :(

    Also in terms of exploration SotA is lacking, too. Exploring a scene always seems to be about fighting enemies or gathering ressources. How about some secrets we can discover, hidden chests we can find, maybe an NPC or an animal we have to help. A small quest we can do. A cave with a secrets... Something else to do and find except for combat or gathering...

    Is this really how a story-driven game with a single-player narrative should be? So many other games do this so much better. They offer really exciting quests in which we have diverse things to do, quests that are multi-layered, build on each other, offer twists and surprises.
    And let's not start on the choices and consequences part. There are none.
    So what can we expect in terms of quests for the release? Is this what we get?
    I really hope that what Richard Garriott said will come true and that we will get some kind of phasing with which we can at least have real consequences to our actions. Yet still the quests lack so much more that I would rather recommend not advertisting SotA as a story-driven game with a single-player narrative anymore.
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
  2. Carlin the Druid Archer

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  3. majoria70

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    Darkstarr said yes when I asked if there will be a lot more as a question on the last Hangout. Finally a yes to many types of quests and an achievement system. It really made my day to get that acknowledgement that something so missing would happen. It gave me renewed hope in the game and also other things like consumables becoming necessary and useful. I don't want them to cave on that we have to make choices and that there are consequences if you don't eat or sleep or bring enough reagents as some examples, or if you don't plant your garden or water your crops enough. So I believe things like this are making it more of a game. And yes there is still much more to do regarding quests and how they occur for player experiences. ;)
     
  4. Lord_Darkmoon

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    That sounds interesting. I didn't participate at the hangout und just skimmed through the video afterwards so I must have missed this. Thanks for posting this!
     
  5. Stundorn

    Stundorn Avatar

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    I haven't discoverd North Drachvald Spur or upper Fortus yet, but what i read about is the right direction.
    The scenes could be "scenes" with some treasures in it and hidden places.
    And some dynamic events or things to do like it was in some Tabula Rasa instances (liked the prison where you rescue some prisoners).

    All scenes need little background storys and if these storys are smart enough it wont be a problem to solve them more than 1 time.

    Think of scenes where Bandits smuggle, set traps for Future traderoutes etc...
    You can clear it, but they will always come back to do their Business there...

    Small Scene Storys, Scene Backgrounds with what Roleplayers can maybe create their own storys around to create interest in doing adventures (instead of grinding and camping the spawn for hours).

    I think they can do it.
     
  6. GrayFog

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    Yup...
    If you explored one zone, you pretty much have seen all since there are no surprises, secrets, sidequests, hidden stuff etc.
    As you already said, all you can find are mobs and ressource nodes which makes exploring zones very very boring.

    That's the main reason why i haven't visited most of the new zones the past 4 or 5 releases.
    I just know i won't find anything new/interesting there but more mobs and more ressources (well and now some artifacts from mobs).

    SotA needs quite a lot more quests, like hundreds...
    Daily Quests, if done right could be also fun.

    To me, there is no reason to visit 95% of the zones out there.
    All are the same, they just look different.
    Currently, most zones are just... meaningless...


    The tutorial, the beginning in Soltown, Ardoris etc. was quite a lot of fun.
    But once you got through that part of the game, the rest, all other zones became just dull, for me atleast...
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
  7. GrayFog

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    Content wise there are still several things that are missing:
    - obviously quests, main story, things that just matter, tons of it
    - fishing content, it's still just basic
    - agriculture content/skills
    - lockpicking, chaos tree and quite a lot of other skills that need an overhaul & more combos
    - more mob variations, tons of it
    - true boss mob tactics that are more than just tank & spank, all bosses currently are super easy...
    - some serious respawn system for boss mobs, currently they just don't feel epic and special since you can farm hundreds of boss mobs with your guild in just 1 day...
    - rare named spawns of just any kind (not just in PVP zones)
    - better, more interesting loottables on mobs, crates and chests (with that i don't mean just Artifacts)
    - PVE crowd control, currently there is zero crowd control needed... basically every fight is just dps aoe everything down.... fights, expecially in dungeons lack tactics. All mobs in general are just easy and if you have seen one dungeon, you have seen all...
    - economy serverwide and local economy in general needs some serious work, maybe even add finally an auction house so things get rolling, nobody ever will visit thousands and thousands of vendors... or atleast add region wide auction houses, the town public vendors are crap and useless, nobody ever will visit 20 diff towns just to look at theese public npc vendors... Economy in this game is non existant, heavy work is needed there. If not with an Auction House then atleast something else, it was just a random example.
    - better mob AI, better pathing system for mobs, some pathing is really ugly and bad, the Obsi Troll in The Rise is a good example, there are still tons of bugs in the AI and pathing
    - roaming encounters, make em meaningful/interesting
    - background/story and/or just any form of purpose for quite a lot of zones (quests, stuff you only can find in this zone etc.)
    - much more & better multiplayer/group content (not just high end dungeons)
    - bigger zones & mines, expecially for multiplayer
    - serious rework on the network code, server/client behaviour, if a player with a crappy computer is the Master of the Zone you are doomed, no matter how awesome your connection & PC is
    At some point it may be worth it to think about a cluster of quite a few dedicated servers, i know this is quite cost intensive but they could add an premium membership to compensate for this a bit...
    - Premium Membership with an monthly payment plan, with bonuses to the player the longer the premium membership is active (obviously the rewards shouldn't be too much pay to win)
    - community goals, huge serverwide events where everyone on the server can contribute to, to accomplish finish the event.
    - in general an event system where things here and there randomly happen would be interesting, combined with quests maybe.
    - Epic Singleplayer (offline) experience, i doubt this is gonna happening, but since it was promised in the KS....
    - and tons more...

    Which basically means, better officially release SotA sometime in 2018 instead of 2017...
    This game is far from ready for beta or even release. In it's current state it would get tons and tons of bad feedback.
    Port said they are at the last 20% in the project.
    It's more like 50%... 40% at best...

    And i just opened my own thread because this game, SotA really means something to me, even in it's current state.
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
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  8. Lum the Mad

    Lum the Mad Developer Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    Short answer: yes.

    Long answer:
    - Some form of working instancing/phasing so that effects of quest progression on the world can be seen
    - Many more short, easy "combatant" quests that send you to dungeons to introduce you to content appropriate for your skill level / help minimize (ideally eliminate) grinding)
    - Longer, more involved quests with more "verbs" (aka ways that you can interact with the game/world other than just go here to point A, talk to NPC B, kill NPC C, take them thing D)

    Why haven't we done this yet:
    - time
    - budget
    - manpower

    Are we happy with the current state: no.
     
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  9. GrayFog

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    You can't eliminate grinding, i know of no serious MMO where you don't have to grind at some point.
    But minimizing it would be great.
     
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  10. Carlin the Druid Archer

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    So is the 'long answer' likely to be in before launch?

    I feel it is critical to have this type of functionality in before launch to make it a decent RPG, not just an MMO.
     
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  11. Stundorn

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    Take time and my money :D
     
  12. Stundorn

    Stundorn Avatar

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    Signed every point on the list
     
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  13. Leinad Laurelwreath

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    Very excited about those news @Lum the Mad !!
    I'll just repost here something i wrote in Dev+ a while ago, is that
    mean something like what i said then?

    • Place objects in certain places. (e.g. I place an amulet on a pedestal and a secret door opens). Dropping will be implemented but maybe just in Offline mode. Without implementing the item dropping this can be done too by opening a modal window while clicking on the pedestal (just as when we give an item to a NPC).
    • Play certain emote in certain places (e.g. I applaud before a gate and it opens)
    • Play certain music in certain places (e.g. Playing a certain sheet music or manual sequence before a gate and it opens)
    • Craft a special item to finish a quest by combining various quest items (e.g. I can craft the sword certain NPC needs by combining an existing blade with the magical gem he lost in battle X. I also need to look for a recipe to do this)
    • Find information in books to solve a quest : i'm pretty sure this is will be in, it's a text based quest

    I think you should share some posts on what exactly are you planning for the quests, it's a "killer feature" for many of us!


    (Disclaimer> Yes, my favorite MMO is The Secret World :cool:)
     
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  14. Sir Cabirus

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    Sorry, but all these points you mentioned are kind of MMO stuff. No offence, but it seems single player Ultima players and UO players are very different people ;) Here are much Ultima 4 -7 veterans - I am one of these folks. What we want are quests in the style of these games. And this is, what was promised during the Kickstarter campaign.

    Shroud of the Avatar is the “spiritual successor” to Richard’s previous work in the FRP genre. Our primary objectives are to tell a story even more compelling than Ultimas IV-VII, create a virtual world more interactive than Ultima VII, develop deep rich multi-player capabilities beyond combat akin to Ultima Online, and offer a bold new approach to integrate them with “Selective Multi-Player”.

    • Shroud of the Avatar is infused with rich storylines, deeply integrated into game play, developed by Best Selling Author Tracy Hickman and RPG legend Richard Garriott.
    • Players will adventure in an interactive world where their choices have consequences, ethical paradoxes give them pause, and they play a vital part in weaving their own story into the immersive world and lore surrounding them.
    These are my points of interest and the emphasis is placed on the storyline - not on placing objects in certain places or crafting a special item and so on. Maybe the next suggestion are daily quests. These quests are also MMO stuff and I don't like them because they are never story related.
     
  15. Leinad Laurelwreath

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    No offence taken! Ultima single player hardcore fan and casual UO player here, but i really don't get your point.

    I can remember many quests in classic Ultimas where quests were exactly this kind of things: looking for clues in books, placing items in altars and well, crafting, music and emotes are just a modern maybe MMO thing, yeah but pretty cool for quest building imho.

    What exactly do you mean as single-player classic Ultima style quests? Example?
     
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  16. Sir Cabirus

    Sir Cabirus Avatar

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    I mean story driven quests. To follow a good told story. Did you ever play Ultima 7? If this is the case you should know what I mean ;)
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
  17. Leinad Laurelwreath

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    Yeah, story driven quests, i get you. ;) However, i think what Lum and i were referring to quest mechanics, you need these to build those story driven quests and so far we don't even have the mechanics required to do it!
     
  18. Sir Cabirus

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    Unfortunately this is what we story driven quest lovers hear since years :( BTW, the 'quests' you mentioned in your posting above are not really quests, they are just actions ;)
     
  19. Steevodeevo

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    Lum's comments were both reassuring and concerning. Concerning because there is no indication that the quest mechanics Port' acknowledge are missing from the game will ever be implemented. What we got was agreement that they're missing, that they're unhappy about it, and a few words on why they arent there.
     
  20. Rada Torment

    Rada Torment Community Ambassador (ES)

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    Thank you for being totally honest with us about the current state of this particular content.

    I'm sure we will see great improvements this year.
     
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