“Totally not an !” or Quest Markers must go

I never was one of the confirmed 'yes sayers'. I never was among the people who countered each criticism with 'wait, don't you know this game is still in pre-alpha mode'. Therefore I'm very familiar with this side

 

I know.
Just used you to poke the "common suspects" ;-)

 

actually, that is the exact current topic of this thread.

 

No the real topic of this post is: i want to force my gameplay on others.
Which is, btw., the main topic of most post in this forum since a couple of month.

 

Yes, the echo chamber sting or argumentation.
So far everybody that brought it up failed to proof it.
But i am willing to see with what you can come up beside a selfcreated picture.
A nice one, i will give you that

 

If you think that being upset because the devs have gone back on yet another major promise and feature of this game means those who are upset just want to force their gameplay on others, then crack on.

I used to be concerned about a couple of our community members. You know, the ones who defend pretty much every decision no matter what or who it affects? The ones who point the finger at the community when things go wrong (which makes perfect sense)?

But, then I got over it.

 

You are right this is the topic of many posts here. For example "do PvP in quest areas or move away into the underground ghetto". Or how about incentives to play in open online mode so that less players have a reason to play in single player in this Selective Multiplayer game? One of my favourites is "you have to look at my ugly house even if you don't want to!" Or what about "we can't have visible consequences to our actions as others want to do the quests, too and we don't want to see our expensive houses burning"!

But back on topic: If we now get questmarkers will we get an automap, too?

 

Yes i got over a lot of things as well.
But complaining about a quality of life feature that is 100% optional to every player is just too much for me.

But if it is so important to you, then crack on.

 

That's the whole point to it.

 

Be happy that i am still posting at all.
Arguing without an opposite opinion would put you into the most infamous echo chamber.
Any we wouldn't want that, would we?

 

Perhaps you should take a step back and think about the issue differently. Why, do you think, are people upset even though the feature is optional? Is it really that they just want to complain about every design decision? Or is there some actual, valid reason?

I'll give you a hint.

 

Yes. I am known for white knighting 100% correct dear sir.

Funny.
I could recommend the same to you if i take a look at this topic.

 

Why such an immersive-breaking and cheap way to mark quest-givers? Why can't they wave, whistle, call or walk towards to player to initiate a conversation? Why do they need to glow? I don't get it...

 

Instead of quest markers on NPCs have some hint that you is not finished with all quests in the scene yet.

 

Delete all NPCs that are not merchants, trainers or involved in a questline.

Why have any filler NPCs?

If filler NPCs are needed to make a town "look busy" then just give them a generic name like citizen and guard.

If they have a unique name = relevant in some way. Seems better than glowing.

If they don't have a unique name they are just "atmosphere" NPCs.

 

I like the idea of blue glowing quest NPC's, and those who dislike: toggle it off!
It's your immersion thing, and not my problem.
My problem is that there are unfinished quests or fragments and I stopped questing, because sometimes I wasn't able to figure out if the quest was unfinished or buggy or if I was overseeing something.
It was so confusing to me, I looked outside the game for solutions, but wiki for example gives sometimes dated information, and so I'm waiting until the devs will say, that the quests are working.
For me it will maybe helpful to know which NPC is important for me, or that I can better understand the journal,
think of the players who have not perfect english skills, or are tired of searching somebody like Mr. Cugel at Adoris
More options are better for the game, so everybody can decide how they would like to play.
If I prefer the blue NPC's it won't hurt anybody, nobody would notice it, I'm very happy to have more options for all players.

 

I'd like to see this paired with a town bulletin board where NPC's "post" their quests with a description on where to find them to start the quest.

Example: "I need the help of a brave adventurer to eliminate a wolf problem in Vauben Pass so I can make my delivery on time. Please come see me in the Rusty Anchor- Joe Questgiver"

Once you complete a quest you should be able to "hide" it on your view on the board.

 

We could also click on the quest on the bulletin board and be instantly teleported to the quest-NPC Just joking

But a bulletin board like in The Witcher 3 would be interesting for some quests.

 

Please hear me my wonderful friends, and citizens of New Britannia!

First, please keep in mind that we are experimenting with solutions that we believe will help make the game better for me, you and all!

Second, I still stand by the principles I have earlier and often stated, that most RPG's have become far too brain dead by standardizing all quests into a spreadsheet format, and arrows on the map and "!" overhead mean that no one actually reads or cares what any NPC's have to say, as it really literally is usually irrelevant.

That being said, even for me, who knows the plot VERY well, our conversation and tasks in journal was proving too hard, even for us internally, so we are exploring aids to help get people over the hump of either not trying the plot (because they cannot find it) or not being able to remember what they are supposed to do next.)

I agree "The Blue Glow" is NOT an elegant solution, its neither fictional nor subtle. We are now exploring a special animation where people who are seeking your help will explicitly wave "AT YOU" to basically say "Hey, you! I have something for YOU!" Turns out, that's not easy, because we don't want them to wave at EVERYONE all the same time, but rather just to YOU, when they have something just for you. That requires some special client side only overrides on the "fidget behaviors" so that it does not blow their other work, such as pathfinding around or planting crops or whatever else their life calls for.

We will be making this new periodic "Hey come see me!" emote the default mode, if it works as I hope.

Oddly, NPC's had something similar already, but it was too infrequent and broadcast to all at the same time, so it failed to appear that the individual NPC was looking for YOU individually. The Blue Glow was a test to see if we actually had the data to know and tag people at the start or in the middle of the quest streams. As a test, it mostly worked. Some threads did not show, some NPC's did not have the data we need, but it proved we can make a workable system from where we are.

FEAR NOT! I AM ALL OVER THIS PERSONALLY!

We will find an elegant solution to help your memory without insulting your intelligence or desire to explore!

- Richard "Lord British" Garriott