Curse

sakura75 · Oct 14, 2006, 09:27 PM // 21:27

Most of the RPG game I play have quest that goes like this:
I> Do A and get reward B
II> Go to C and do D then return and get ward E
III> Kill F and get reward
etc.

As far I know there is no single game that has interactive or semi-interactive quests. What do I mean with (semi)-interactive quests?
Very simple. The quests are not given by NPC, but by real players ingame. For example, if you want to get a run to Droknar, you can spam looking for a runner to Droknar, but instead of doing this, you can start a quest and a runner can accept the quest to get the reward.

How to implement this idea?
a) Add a NPC (Quest giver) to the outpost and start a quest. In case of the Droknar run, you can talk to him and start a quest called "Droknar run: take you to Droknar"
b) You decide the reward (lets say 2k in case of the Droknar run; and you pay 2k to the NPC-quest giver upfront)
c) A runner can talk to NPC-Quest giver too and look what quest are available. He then he choses the Droknar Run, but he will only get the reward when he arrives with you safely in Droknar.

What happens when you started the quest but you are offline?
In this case the solution is simple: the quest giver only diplays quests of players that are online and the runner can PM you.

Why adding (semi-)interactive quests?
a: In case of the Droknar's run, this might be an option of solving the scammer problem. Furthermore, if the player who started the quest leaves the party during doing the quest, the quest is removed from the NPC and he lost his payment to the NPC. in case of the Droknar run: if you ragequit during the run, you lose 2k and the quest is removed from the NPC. You can of course start a new one again, but need to pay 2k again.
b: (semi-)interactive quests can be more versatile than the quest given by NPC at the moment. It is not becoming a grind doing interactive quests.
c: Like this publication http://www.nzgamer.com/hub-pc-previews-340 suggests, GW is become a solo MMO. Adding (semi-)interactive quest is a kind of solution to get players together and playing together instead of play with NPC, PUGs or some dumb Heroes.
Even though bad players exist. It is still more enjoyable playing with real players than playing with NPC. On the other hand, I am convinced that players who started an interactive quest are motivated players since they pay for the reward.

Me And The Henchies · Oct 14, 2006, 10:13 PM // 22:13

Didn't A-Net try and make the droknar run undoable? Although its still able to be done I do not see why A-Net would try and promote drok runs with a "Droknar Run" quest. What if you pay for the quest and your sitting there waiting for a runner to accept it, it would take just as long if not longer than spamming for a runner...

sakura75 · Oct 15, 2006, 12:15 PM // 12:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Me And The Henchies

Didn't A-Net try and make the droknar run undoable? Although its still able to be done I do not see why A-Net would try and promote drok runs with a "Droknar Run" quest. What if you pay for the quest and your sitting there waiting for a runner to accept it, it would take just as long if not longer than spamming for a runner...

The Drokrun was just an example

mushi · Oct 15, 2006, 01:33 PM // 13:33

One problem i can see is what happens if that player errors out, he just lost x amount. What should happen is

1. People talk to NPC
2. Person pays the NPC the amount
3. NPC stops the person from withdrawing all the money from their storage. So they must have the amount their willing to pay the runner
4. Runner runs
5. Runner teleports back to NPC to get quest reward

Ridiculed · Oct 15, 2006, 01:40 PM // 13:40

One thing I see could go wrong with this:

*Ridiculed runs up to quest-giver NPC and clicks them*
*Quest window opens*
*16 out of 20 quests read:*
Quest name: WTS 20/20 LONGSWORD +20% ENCHANTING MAX DMG REQ8 PM
Quest name: WTS 20/20 STAFF +30 HEALTH MAX DMG REQ 13 PM
Quest name: UR AL GAY LOL
Quest name: UR MUM LOL
Quest name: HEY TOM
Quest name: HEY ROD LOL HOW U DOIN
Quest name: IM DOIN GOOD LOL U?
Quest name: GAYLOL.
Quest name: LOL.
Quest name: ALURBAZELMAO

I like the concept of it, though I doubt ArenaNet would carry this out

Aera · Oct 15, 2006, 01:50 PM // 13:50

I really, really like the idea. I was just wondering like, how do you set up certain quests? Is there going to be premade things you can select like:

What to do?

Farm -Huge list of greens / materials
Run to - List of towns
Do quest -List of questgiver's active quests
Do mission - List of missions

Then you set your reward.

Now, someone takes the quest, but what if he just keeps it in his questlist so no-one else can take it? Add a time limit or something?

Zui · Oct 15, 2006, 01:52 PM // 13:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ridiculed

One thing I see could go wrong with this:

*Ridiculed runs up to quest-giver NPC and clicks them*
*Quest window opens*
*16 out of 20 quests read:*
Quest name: WTS 20/20 LONGSWORD +20% ENCHANTING MAX DMG REQ8 PM
Quest name: WTS 20/20 STAFF +30 HEALTH MAX DMG REQ 13 PM
Quest name: UR AL GAY LOL
Quest name: UR MUM LOL
Quest name: HEY TOM
Quest name: HEY ROD LOL HOW U DOIN
Quest name: IM DOIN GOOD LOL U?
Quest name: GAYLOL.
Quest name: LOL.
Quest name: ALURBAZELMAO

I like the concept of it, though I doubt ArenaNet would carry this out

Yeah...

Ima_Poundyou · Oct 15, 2006, 06:14 PM // 18:14

Eh.. I kinda have a problem with this, but it's probably just because of my personal beliefs. I'm one of those people who are against anything that will let players get other people to do stuff for them. I never liked running, or people "Doing mission for 500g." I want to enjoy the game, I personally believe that people should have to do it themselves. But that's not really the issue here.

In the running case, I think it's personally set up too easily for the person being ran to scam the runner. Where does the runner accept the reward for the quest? I assume it would be another "Quest Giver" NPC in the town they were running to. The person would have to be in the party in order to prove that he did get there, correct? All the person being run has to do is accidentally (or purposely) hit the "Leave Party" button, and the runner can't do anything about it. While it may tone down the people leaving during the quest, the runner has to be really quick to get to the reward person before the one being ran leaves. It would also be just as easy for someone to spam "lfr" in the chat.

As far as farming goes, how would you be able to get a reward for that? You get a reward after you trade something to someone, or after you get it, or what? And wouldn't it just be easier for the person to buy the item off of someone who already has it, rather than to wait for someone to farm it? I think this would just end up as a fancy "WTB/WTS" system that would get spammed to death.

Doing quests and doing missions are flawed in themselves. If the quest reward is like 500g, then you can just charge that much to have it done. The person does the quest, they get your 500g.. then you get the reward for that quest and get your 500g back. Doing missions like that is just a way get around finding a real group and get your free 2000-4000exp. and 1-3 skill points, all for measly gold.

I dunno, I guess what I'm saying is it just seems like an overly fabricated way of doing what is already being done. There's no need to call it a "quest" and have an NPC for it, just let the people do it themselves, if they really want to ruin their game experience by being ran halfway across the map and have everything done for them.

Sereng Amaranth · Oct 15, 2006, 06:18 PM // 18:18

This sounds similar to a service request NPC. I think it could also solve part of the market problems. You could post a request for a certain sword at a certain price and put the gold in escrow. Someone with the sword could talk to the NPC and deposit the exact sword to get the gold.

Service Ideas:

Getting a Black Widow Spider.
Droknar Run (although it is easier to get full armor if you own Factions).

Well that's all I can think of right now.

But the err7 issue should not void the service. The quest taker should get maybe 10% of the reward if the quest giver disconnects.

I like the idea of player-created quests. In R.O.S.E. online, me and some friends did this for new people. I was a Dealer, the profession that crafted armor and weapons. We would craft items and give them to new people if they brought us certain crafting items that were easily obtained by low level players. They would get a nice weapon and we would get more stuff to make higho-end items.