Quests do it for me

After playing for just a few weeks, I had found myself (disappointedly) bored with the game. I was logging on once a day or so just out of obligation to visit the oracle for my daily house payment. I didn't want to grind the scenes here for the slow solo progress of my skill pool or for the slow gathering of resources. I would have the pleasure of occasionally interacting with my friendly guildmates for boss hunting or meetings, but, as I'm used to playing pretty solo throughout my rpg career, I wasn't finding enough to keep my interest on a daily basis.

The other day, I was pleasantly surprised to see in my journal that the main quest line had changed from "this quest may be too difficult for you" to stating that I should be able to do it. I was slightly skeptical, as the quest was sending me into a 4-skull area (my health is around 300, not sure what that translates to in char level terms) but I managed to survive.

What got me going, though, (other than the fact that I could actually complete it,) was the clear direction, the continuing storyline, and the 22,500+ xp I received just from turning the quest info in to the 3 npc's waiting on it.

I might be doing it wrong, but I can grind for hours and not get anywhere close to that amount of xp solo. I've also only barely approached that amount of xp gain during a few hours of hunting with guildmates. Also, I leave the grinding and hunting with a "meh" attitude about logging in the next day. The fact that this quest left me with a "this shouldn't be too difficult for you" NEXT quest is what has me logging in this morning. It's a carrot.

I don't remember having any clear directives back when I played UO, but I do remember having fun setting multiple goals for myself. I'm not sure what has changed about that here in my experience with SotA. It might have to do with the many subsequent years of questing in other games ruining my self-motivation, or it might have to do with a relative lack of dynamics (as perceived by me, at this stage of the game) in SotA.

I have heard rumors that SotA has a plethora of quests waiting to be unveiled at launch. I hope this is true. I am doubting that I am alone in my realization that regular, completable, quests are a necessity in keeping my interest.

 

A very nice assessment. Grind = boring, quests = fun (for the mostly solo rpg people like you and myself). I do also hope they have more quests lined up (though doubtful) and I hope they are interesting (again, more doubt). But there is always hope. That is the best I can do once the money is already paid.

 

The biggest problem with grind is that its less varied and less rewarded and need to be done in an insane amount, measured on hardcore powergamers to have them not quit in a week or a month.
With my attitude to gaming and my time i am willing to put into a game i can never reach the power to solo some high-level content or be competable in PvP.
And although i tried and was ready to make compromises about groups, i don't let my immersion destroyed anymore when people do round after round in a scene or switch modes to kills bosses or just repeat things for hours and completely ignore the story or atmosphere of a scene and just kill mobs over and over again for points.

I would really like some developers would create a real roleplaygame for Multiplayer or as MMO.
But 99% wouldnt like this game, because they would have complete content in some weeks or just days and then wouldn't know what to do in the environment.
The best roleplaygame would be a sandbox without any levels and progress , than people could roleplay instead of running behind numbers and competing with each other.