Quest flow design...some concerns

by Peach | 12/07/2010 19:02:16

Peach

Overall I'm pretty enamored with the new zones and quests but I did have a few notes and concerns about the current design:

  • Being unable to access new starting zones. When I do recruit new people to play the game, or when starting on a new server it is pretty standard for me to hike over to where the new player is starting. While this is understandably difficult for a level 6 to do, I believe it shouldn't be impossible (especially for my level 80). With the new goblin starting area erupting and disappearing from access forever, my friends would have to level to at least 12 before I could even get to them. This takes absolutely forever when they are brand new to the game because they are still learning how to navigate the questing system etc.


  • The linear questing system frowns upon skipping green quests. I really appreciate the enhanced storytelling you get from the very linear questing system, however it makes me very hesitant to drop quests when I start to outlevel them. This problem is compounded by the presence of rested xp and heirlooms. I find myself leveling much faster than the quest flow intended and very hesitant to try to jump into a new zone, not knowing where to start. I have not really been doing dungeons, but I assume if you can get half or a whole level in one at low levels it throws off the process even more.


  • Too many minor quest hubs lead to a lack of stopping places. In the old style of questing you would get most of your quests from a town, so you could go out and do a few quests and when you returned there would be an inn, a vendor and a fp. Now you frequently get a fp and probably a vendor, but inns seem very hard to find. A perfect example of this is Desolace where you can quest for 30+ minutes without making it to an inn. On alts I often level in small spurts while waiting for something to happen, so I like to be able to log off in an inn right after I turn in my quest.


  • An abundance of vehicle quests cuts down on grindy xp. In thinking strictly of xp per hour vehicle quests are generally your worst nightmare, even though they may be fun. Right now they give the same xp as a "kill x" or "gather x" quest, but you don't actually get xp for killing anything while in the vehicle. So essentially you're not getting as much xp for 2-3 minutes and sometimes these vehicle quests are strung together so you might not be actually killing things for 10-15 minutes. I dread these quests especially if they are relatively difficult vehicles or don't kill things faster than my character could. A couple of examples of these quest chains are the reprogramming of the shredders in the beginning of Azshara and the air jousting in Mount Hyjal. I think this could be solved by simply bumping up vehicle quest xp a bit.


  • There are two continents, but there is no real incentive to visit both while leveling. There is certainly an advantage to cutting down travel time while leveling, but I used to really like going from durotar to the barrens and surrounding zones then maybe some Thousand needles before heading off to Stranglethorn Vale. I also rarely missed an opportunity to do Arathi Highlands, the Badlands and the two Plaguelands. But now there is no real need to go over to the other continent (and while I haven't tried to do a full EK run yet, I assume it is similar there).
  • by Valnoth | 14/07/2010 03:01:10

    Valnoth


    Q u o t e:
    Think it would be pretty easy to just allow the quest to "open" up once you reach the minimum
    level to start questing in a zone. Believe would be just a simple arguement added where you could
    have variables to open the questline i.e. If player is level 30 then Quest Y opens up OR If player is level 29 and has completed X quest. Maybe keep the overall arching storyline, because that makes you feel
    more immersed in what is taking place.


    You are not locked in to doing any zone. You can jump around as you please and there will be quest breadcrumbs leading to every zone from capital cities/appropriate locations. Some of these already exist (see: Stranglethorn breadcrumbs).

    Lead World Designer

    by Valnoth | 14/07/2010 20:23:55

    Valnoth


    Q u o t e:
    Every so often I'd have my worgen make a trek back to the city, to see if I could get a breadcrumb to a 'different' zone that was off the beaten path. I like the implementation of Hero's Call: quests (from Elwynn > Westfall > Redridge > Duskwood > STV) and would love to see that continued.

    Valnoth stated that there are breadcrumbs to all places in the cities, but I didn't find them. Admittedly I just checked Stormwind, but since that should be the new Alliance 'expansion hub' (can't find the reference to this but I know this was stated as being the new central place for Cataclysm city content) shouldn't they be easily available?

    Having to intuit schlepping to the Slaughtered Lamb, or to the Cathedral, and so on, seems like a bad design that doesn't forgive people who don't know exactly where to go or have looked it up on WoWhead.

    My suggestion for fixing this: City Harbingers still wander around. They've only really been useful for a couple of higher level (55-60) type quests, sending you to specific people or places. How about adding level appropriate Hero Calls to these harbingers?

    Example: My worgen mage goes to Stormwind at level 15. He encounters a Harbinger who offers him:

  • Hero's Call: Redridge Mountains
    Hero's Call: Darkshore
    Hero's Call: Loch Modan


  • Example 2: My worgen mage returns after doing STV, and is sent to Dustwallow. But, the player doesn't like Dustwallow very much. He can choose to wander the world for breadcrumbs, or can go back to the city. At level 35, the harbinger offers:

  • Hero's Call: Dustwallow Marsh
    Hero's Call: Feralas
    Hero's Call: Western Plaguelands


  • The *only* problem I can see with this is that some people, mainly newer players, may feel like if the quest is offered, they have to complete all three breadcrumbs, and then get confused as to where to level. To solve this, I suggest include it as a new player tip. Just like when a character first picks up a quest, the first time they pick up a Hero's Call quest, a tiny tooltip explains what it is.

    "You've been called to a new area of Azeroth! Hero's Call quests will direct you to areas that will let you continue questing at higher levels. There are several zones that will let you quest at higher levels. If you want to choose a different one, other Hero's Call quests are offered at the cities."

    It's a bit wordy, and might need some work. But that's my idea.


    I very specifically stated that there 'will be' breadcrumbs to all of the zones from major cities. They aren't all in yet. These are exactly what the Hero's Call/Warchief's Command quests were made for. They will be level banded breadcrumbs pasted in all major cities on a special billboard we've had made solely for this purpose.


    Lead World Designer

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