Wings Over Atreia: Drowning in dailies

Two weeks ago, in the midst of supplying Daevas below max level a list of things to do (which I am so glad many of you found helpful!), I mentioned daily quests. Since then, you've been asked about your opinions on repeatable quests, including daily ones; even the Massively staff members chimed in with their thoughts. Love 'em or leave 'em, daily quests are a pretty abundant in Aion.

Abundant -- that's almost an understatement. I was not kidding when I said we're drowning in dailies; there are just so many dailies sprinkled throughout Atreia now that it's crazy! Heck, I almost went insane just trying to hit them all up these past couple of weeks. No one can accuse Aion's system of being a minuscule afterthought with all of the various quests and rewards available for all levels. But with so many other things to do besides daily quests, you might find it easy to miss out on them even if you really want to do them. We can't have that!

So here is a quick(ish) reference guide to all of the types of daily quests... assuming the devs don't sneak more in on me that I haven't even found!

Daily quests! Whether random tasks that appear each day or static assignments from an NPC, they are usually relatively short gigs that will net some spiffy rewards. One of the greatest things about them is that they are optional; they aren't required for progression. Players can also do as many or as few as they want, depending on their time and inclination. That said, trying to complete all available daily quests can start to feel like a full-time job in-game. The good news for those folks is that some of them have a maximum number of times you can complete them, so there is an end in sight. Some dailies are also level-based, so moving up in levels will not net more dailies, just move you to a different tier.

Here is the breakdown of the available daily quests:

Organizations

The organizations are what most Daevas think when they think about dailies. These organizations are the ones Daevas can join at specific levels to receive pop-up quests daily. If a quest seems too difficult or can't be completed, you can delete it and get a new one the next day. However, if you forget to delete the quest, you will not receive any new ones until it is completed or removed from your journal. And any day on which a daily quest is turned in, you cannot receive another.

Previously, Wings Over Atreia covered the daily quests for the organizations of Alabaster Order/Field Wardens (level 30+), Radiant Ops/Blood Crusade (40+), and Fortuneers/Charlirunerk's Daemons (50+), so to avoid drowning you with too many words, let me just tell you to read up on all the hints here.

With the release of Aion: Ascension and the level-cap increase, new organizations were added for the 55+ crowd in Sarpan and Tiamaranta. Since Elyos and Asmodians are all chummy-chummy in Sarpan, this next level for daily quests is actually the same organization, Dark Cloudy merchants, instead of separate ones for each race. To start in on these daily quests, either race can talk to Chicorunerk located in Sarpan in the Lamina Bazaar. As with the previous organizations, to join this one you must leave the others. These quests come in daily, daily/group, and daily/alliance forms and reward tokens just like the previous organizations. In Tiamaranta the daily quests return to the PvP variety and award AP, medals, or even a contribution bundle.

Mentoring

Becoming a mentor is about more than just matching levels to hang out with friends or help level lower compatriots faster; both high- and low-level members of the mentor organization have daily quests available to them that net rewards. The Orichalcum tokens earned from completing these dailies are turned in for eternal-grade gear (weapons, helms, weapons, shields, jewelry), pets, wings, titles, consumables, a charm to increase loot drops, and now with housing, a souvenir statue! The one trick with mentor daily quests is that you absolutely have to have someone's help to complete them, either a mentor or a mentee. And you have to join the organization! For a full run-through of the the mentoring system, check out Massively's mentoring guide.

Coins

Coin quests have been around for as long as I can remember now. They are basically a way to ensure that you will get a spiffy piece of gear even if your luck with loot drops is as bad as mine! RNG plays no role; here, when you put in the time, you get the reward. There are coins available for every level range after 16 (iron, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and mithril), and the quests can be done indefinitely. NCsoft offers a very concise and detailed guide to coin quests including where to start, what gear is obtainable, and exactly how many coins are needed.

The coin quests used to be unlimited but were changed to once per day. While this was actually annoying and significantly slowed down the rate at which some people got gear, it was beneficial to those who go at a slower pace since the area is no longer overly camped. Daevas who level fast might actually skip coin quests at the lower levels now, but those who take their time will find it a worthwhile way to obtain good gear and get experience at the same time.

Dredgions

The quests in the various Dredgions -- Baranth, Chantra, and Terath -- can actually be completed more than once a day; in fact, it's more like they are thrice-daily quests! In each case, there are a number of quests that can be completed during each Dredgion run (1-3 p.m., 9-11 p.m., or 1-3 a.m EDT) that net medals and AP each time. The quests are only optional, but if you are going to run Dredgion, it's crazy to not take advantage of extra rewards for tasks that come along in the course of the run.

Medals

In Balaurea, there are daily quests to obtain the platinum medals needed for purchasing 50+ Abyss gear. These are only accessible in the forts, so your faction must own the fort both to acquire the quest and again to turn it in. They also have a maximum limit of 40, so at least these daily quests aren't infinite; Daevas can actually look forward to scratching these dailies off their lists. Completing all of them from all four fortresses (yes, that includes needing to won the ones in the enemy's territory) can help you rake in 160 plat medals! Definitely a tasty reward, but it will take a while to get there when you factor in fort ownership in both regions.

The premise of these is pretty simple: There are two quests per fort, and the mobs you have to kill to collect the items are right outside the fort. Of course, for two of the forts, that means you have to survive farming these mobs in enemy territory. The good news is as of 3.0, the drops are now group-wide instead of single pick-ups, meaning you can go as a group and not take six times as long to finish and be safer at the same time -- double bonus! A guide to all of the platinum quests, including the fort dailies, is available for both the Asmodians and the Elyos.

Crucible

Don't forget that another addition to the daily quest circuit came with the PvP arenas. At the cost of just 15 minutes a day, Daevas can earn tokens toward PvP gear. These quests can be completed only during the specific times the arenas are open, but as long as the tickets to enter are retrieved daily, the actual arena fight can be done anytime within seven days, making them unlike any other quests. This daily quest is also a bit more forgiving: You don't have to lose out if you don't have enough time on one specific day during the arena hours.

Silentera Canyon

Silentera Canyon has daily quests as well. One difference with these quests is that instead of being rewarded with tokens to save for an eventual reward, Daevas are instantly rewarded with a medal chest that can contain one random abyss relics or medal. The quest is obtained daily from either Lania (Elyos) or Vergelan (Asmodian), both posted at the entrance to Silentera for their respective race. The objective is to kill seven equally strong enemies in the canyon (i.e., comparable rank). This one tends to be more difficult to complete on a daily basis when the canyon is devoid of enemies to kill.

I have to say that the Asmo version of the quest has one of the more amusing names I have seen in game: Snuff the Sunsuckers.

Crafting

If all this talk of hunting and fighting and slaughter doesn't quite appeal to you, never fear! Crafters also have their own organization to join and receive daily quests from ever since 3.0 rolled around. As with the mentoring organization, Daevas can belong to the crafting one on top of adventuring one. To join and begin receiving daily quests, Daevas must be master of their craft and speak to either Erno outside the eastern door of the crafting hall in Sanctum to join the Wrights if Dawn or to Asharu right outside the door of Temple of Artisans in Pandaemonium to join Shapers of Dusk.

To turn in your Wrights or Shapers tokens, visit the organization merchants in the capital city or in the crafting area of the housing zone. As rewards, you can get housing items, bundles of crafting materials, recipes, and the once-rare novelty weapons like the carrot dagger and shell shield along with new offerings similar to these.

Weeklies

Weekly quests actually began their lives as dailies, but because of difficulty, they morphed into weekly ones pre-3.0. These are available for levels 40 to 49 at Primum Landing and Teminon Landing and for levels 50 to 55 in the respective organizational bases in Inggison and Gelkmoros. In Balaurea, weekly quests for both organizations can be obtained without signing up for each particular group. At level 56, however, although you can continue the organizations' dailies, you cannot do the weeklies. (Finding out I leveled past these weekly quests when I hit 56 was extremely sad!) The 55+ crowd has its weekly quests available in Sarpan and Tiamaranta,

What's the big deal about weeklies? More stuff! For the 50 to 55 bracket alone, if you did all of the daily and weekly quests (including the PvP), you'd receive at least 22 tokens per week or even more depending on the daily quests you received.

Whew! Now you can truly see how dailies can be either a few moments respite from the rest of your adventures or make up the sum of your adventures! Keep an eye on Wings Over Atreia in the coming weeks for a more in-depth look at where to delve into some of these dailies as well as some tips and hints for making the most out of your daily quest runs.

Soaring through the Aionosphere, MJ Guthrie touches down weekly to bring you Wings Over Atreia. Featuring tips, guides, and general snippets of life in Aion, the column is better than Tutty-on-a-stick, ackackackackackack! Have a suggestion to share? No need to bribe a Shugo -- just send mail to mj@massively.com.