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WoW Archivist: 5 years of daily quests
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Just like Officers' Quarters, another WoW staple has recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. Daily quests were added to the game a little over five years ago, on May 22, 2007, in patch 2.1. One of Blizzard's big selling points for Mists seems to be its huge amount of daily quest content. Dailies are undoubtedly going to be a big deal at level 90. Blizzard has even lifted the daily quest cap that has stood at 25 for several years, so players will be free to do whatever dailies they like across the entire history of the game. Dailies seem like such an obvious and critical element of WoW, but they weren't part of the vanilla game. In this week's Archivist, we'll explore how daily quests began, how they have changed over the years, and how Blizzard is trying to recreate the glory days of daily quests in Mists. WTH is this blue exclamation point? Has a single piece of designed punctuation ever been as famous as WoW's chubby yellow exclamation point? It even has its own merchandise. Believe it or not, the exclamation point was one of Blizzard's biggest innovations when they created the game. No longer did you have to chat with every single NPC in town to figure out which one of them needed a favor -- a staple of RPG games for decades. Now you could tell at a glance which NPCs were willing to pay for a bit of random mercenary work. I remember how odd that first blue exclamation point looked. They had been yellow, after all, for two and a half years. Changing its color seemed like sacrilege. After accepting the quest, it had the word "(Daily)" next to it in my log -- it felt like both a promise and a warning. Daily quests were an exciting new element, but they were not without their critics.
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!
Wings Over Atreia: Twelve activities for Daevas under max level
You know me: I'm the lollygagger. In no rush to zoom through games, I tend to wander about just taking a gander at things. I peek into all the nooks and crannies and am easily sidetracked by all the shinies. In the journey vs. destination debate, I am a proud pompom-waving, card-carrying member of "the journey is half the fun" crowd. It's a wonder I progress at all! But progress I do, and in Aion I had been max level for quite some time. Emphasis on "had." Then 3.0 rolled around. It's actually odd being lower-level again, unable to participate in everything because of level restrictions. Sorry MJ, no dungeon for j00! It's my fault really, since I could level but have been distracted with housing, mentoring, etc. Then I got to thinking about just how many things there are to do even without being max level. Whoa! Sometimes people have the (in my humble opinion, erroneous) idea that Aion doesn't really start until max level, that everything you do before reaching that exalted pinnacle isn't playing. Don't be absurd! The game doesn't start at level 60; it starts at level 1. Remember the part about enjoying the journey? Why worry about reaching some magical number! Just play. After all, experience happens -- before you know it, you will level up. Previously, Wings Over Atreia discussed some things to do once you reach endgame. Here, in no particular order, are 12 ways to take your eyes off your experience bar and just play with reckless abandon before maxing out.
Expanding Endgame Choices: How Mists of Pandaria changes everything
In the past year, even before Mists of Pandaria went into beta, we've been seeing an expansion of options for players in World of Warcraft that have broadened our idea of endgame content. Endgame content can be described at its most basic as stuff we do when we're at max level, and patch 4.3 added not only the Raid Finder (which is absolutely endgame content) but also transmogrification (which is content for everyone). It revitalizes older content that was once endgame; it gives players from the level 17 twink to the 70 running BC raids to the new level 85 something to do that in no way actually amplifies a character's power in any way. It breaks with the mold of what we think endgame content is supposed to do. Mists is bringing more of this. From the Pet Battle system, to a mass of hundreds of new daily quests and a removal of the limit on daily quests, to specifics such as being able to level up your own farm and improved Raid Finder support for each new tier of raiding, what we're seeing is an emphasis on broad content -- things people who play for six to 10 hours a day can do but which are also accessible in smaller bites for people with far more limited play time. You can hit up the buffet, do some Pet Battles, run some dungeons, or work on a reputation, or you can pick one aspect of the game and work on it. Do you really want to develop your fishing? Are you completely disinterested in anything but PvP? You can go as deep or as wide as you wish. As someone who has no interest in Pet Battles, fishing, or having my own farm, I think this is fantastic.
Daily quest cap to be removed, "100's of daily quests at level 90" [Updated]
Lead content designer Cory Stockton took to the official forms today to let us all know some important news regarding daily quests in Mists: the current plan is for there to be no more cap. Initially the cap was at 10 daily quests, then 25. Now, however, it appears to be going away entirely. Why? Because according to Stockton, there are "100's of daily quests at level 90." The full blue post is as follows: Mumper Current plan is to remove the daily quest cap completely for ship. Just like what you see in the beta now. We literally have 100's of daily quests at level 90 and we want to make sure that players can pick and choose what they want to do. source Update 4:20 p.m. EDT: Yes, that really is 100's of new quests at level 90... @CM_Zarhym @AdamHolisky Correct.Keep in mind that the reason for so many is to have good randomization. - Cory Stockton (@mumper) May 24, 2012 It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
What makes a "good" reputation grind?
Reputation is one of those double-edged swords in World of Warcraft. Speaking as someone who played classic WoW, I find it sometimes odd to see the amount of focus put on gaining reputation with various factions. This is largely because I remember the days when grinding out reputation really didn't get you anything at all in the long run. It wasn't until later in the game that Blizzard introduced the concept of gaining reputation with other races for mounts, and the only way to get that reputation was to turn in ridiculous amounts of cloth. Factions like the Hydraxian Waterlords, the Zandalar, and the Argent Dawn all had their reputations firmly locked hand-in-hand with raiding. But reputations like the Shen'dralar, the Bloodsail ... they had no real purpose at all. When The Burning Crusade was introduced, the idea of factions was reworked. Suddenly you really wanted to gain reputation, because doing so meant you could unlock heroic dungeons or get neat incentives like armor, pets, and tabards. Reputation design has changed drastically since then. Where once you got a tabard as a reward, now you slap one on and grind dungeons to earn reputation as quickly as you can. Different factions have different rewards, and rewards like shoulder and helm enchants are absolutely required if you want to perform optimally. So ... what was the best of the best?
Is it time to kill daily quests?
You know me, always looking to kill stuff. Hear me out, though: I'm not saying we should kill repeatable questing here. Repeatable questing, first given to us in World of Warcraft with the inclusion of the Skyguard and Ogri'la questing hubs, was later expanded upon with the Isle of Quel'Danas as part of the Sunwell patch and has been with us ever since. Throughout Wrath of the Lich King and into Cataclysm, we've seen new daily quest hubs come and go. (Cataclysm currently has both Tol Barad and the Molten Front as hubs, plus other dailies for reputation factions such as the Therazane ones.) I'm not specifically arguing against the concept of having questing hubs that offer repeatable quests for a reoccurring reward. I'm asking why must they be daily?
Breakfast Topic: Do you still run daily quests?
Listen, this Fox Van Allen fellow is a pretty busy guy. Lots of stuff on the burner. Lots of balls being juggled at once. There's no time for a lot of tedium. And yet, despite the fact that he's so preoccupied with other, more relevant content, Fox Van Allen can't help but find himself doing the Orgrimmar cooking daily. Every. Single. Day. I don't know what it is about them. I certainly don't need the tokens to buy recipes, and my character hardly needs the pittance of gold that completion rewards her. But every day, I still head out on my trusty steed, picking Prickly Pears, grabbing Muddy Crawfish, and murdering thieves. It's just part of my routine, and I feel weirdly incomplete if the server resets before I can get them done. What about you? Do you run your cooking dailies every day? Do you still make your way to Baradin Hold or Firelands to grind out a reward? Do your characters head to Dalaran or maybe even Shattrath to do their good deed of the day? Let us know.
Voyage Century Online introduces new Crete instance
Voyage Century has been around for four years now, and the dev team is always searching for new ways to freshen up the free-to-play nautical title. To that end, the latest game update includes the isle of Crete, which IGG calls a "primary instance." Accessing Crete requires players to be sea battle level 15 and class level 15. Once these requirements are met, it's a matter of navigating to the Straight and preparing for three waves of pirate forces. The baddies include Gibraltar pirate flagships and North Sea pirate flagships, both of which will challenge high-level players as well as lower-level types who want to advance quickly by doing the daily quest and defeating the three bosses. There's a fair bit of incentive to run the instance due to its loot drops as well, and enterprising captains have a chance to snag buckshot cannon and dartling cannon drops, not to mention rare gold and high-grade forging materials. [Source: IGG press release]
Sunday Morning Funnies: Sweeps
Sunday Morning Funnies is your weekly list of WoW-related web comics. We're back for another week of chuckles and intrigue and cliffhangers! A special thanks to reader Moeru, who found the archives of the Equinox comics using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. I hope this helps you, Michael! But seriously, if any of you haven't read through these archives, they're worth it! Now, for the trivia questions: What's going on in the picture above? Who is wearing a monocle? Name a typical video game move (bonus points if it is a WoW move) that works like PPPP.
Mythos readying daily quests for June release
What's better than a smorgasbord of quests in your favorite MMORPG? A smorgasbord of daily quests, of course, and Frogster is gearing up to give Mythos players a smattering of dailies designed to further their enjoyment of the free-to-play hack-and-slash title. The quests will be available to players at level 15 or higher, and the devs are shooting for a June release window. Gamers can claim their dailies via a quest blackboard located in all of Uld's quest hubs, and the tasks will scale to both a player's level and his group size. Completing all of the quests on a particular day will unlock bonuses like 60 minutes worth of double experience and significantly increased currency payouts. Follow the glowing trail to the official Mythos website for more info.
Patch 4.2 Firelands and daily quests preview up now
If you've been waiting for Patch 4.2 preview videos, Blizzard has you covered. Yes, the official site has video trailers previewing not only the Firelands raid, but also what we're going to be doing for our daily quests to restore the former glory of Mount Hyjal after the eruption of the fire elementals and their lord Ragnaros onto its slopes. So far, I see a whole lot of magma- and fire-based things to kill, some chaotic-looking mechanics, and Fandral "I am so on fire" Staghelm seems to make an appearance near the end with fire scorpion and firecat forms. After the break, you can watch the Daily Quest preview movie. It shows a bit of the natural world reclaimed but in general is mostly some kicking vistas. Looks like 4.2 is going to be a rather incendiary one for Cataclysm.
Breakfast Topic: How consistently do you run your dailies?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Daily quests -- love 'em or hate 'em, they've become a staple of WoW's endgame design since their introduction in The Burning Crusade. Some players do all 25 dailies every day, using them as a reliable source of in-game income. Others blast through as many dailies as they need to gain the reputation or rewards they want, then consider their work done; they rejoice in never having to do those quests again. Still others take it slow, doing dailies casually as filler content when they have nothing better to do. Despite my exhortation to WoW Insider readers to do their dailies, I must confess that I don't always follow my own advice. At the beginning of Cataclysm, I was excited and determined to get all my reps to exalted as quickly as possible, but over time, I got lazy and started to slack off. I only do the Uldum dailies if I happen to be transmuting Volatile Air or digging up Tol'Vir artifacts, and I tend to put off the Tol Barad Peninsula dailies, rationalizing that "they'll be there all day" and I can always squeeze them in. I still try to do Wildhammer every day, but I'm so sick of those quests that it's hard to stay motivated. Sometimes, to make sure I get my dailies done, I log off in Tol Barad or Thundermar and force myself to do the quests first thing the next day. I find that if I leave my dailies until the end of the evening, they just don't happen. How do you approach daily quests? Do you stick with them until there's nothing left to gain? Do you see them as easy gold? If you're a slacker like me, how do you motivate yourself to buckle down and do some daily quests?
Addon Spotlight: Daily Grind
Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. This week: grind, baby, grind. Dailies, dailies, dailies. Dailies are the perpetual new WoW hotness at this juncture -- but really, dailies have been in since The Burning Crusade, introduced in full force during one of the greatest content patches with the Black Temple and then kicked up a notch during the Isle of Quel'danas. We've never really seen a decline in popularity of dailies, as they have been a mainstay in the game for over four years of content. Today's addon for spotlighting purposes is a nice little tool that not only stays out of your way but adds a little functionality to your daily grind. Coincidentally, the addon is called Daily Grind. Are you looking for an addon to manage some of the clicking and dialogue for all things blue exclamation mark? Read on.
Patch 4.1 PTR: Wintersaber mount grind goes daily
For a long time now, the Wintersaber Trainer grind (for the Reins of the Winterspring Frostsaber) has been one of the last holdouts of the old world's long, slogging reputation grinds, featuring repeatable quests that give relatively small chunks of reputation and require slogging all over a zone. Admittedly, the grind is a lot easier these days thanks to tweaked drop rates, slightly higher reputation gains, and old world flight, but it still stands as a symbol of a different time. In patch 4.1, this will stand no longer. The Wowhead blog is reporting the Wintersaber grind is being turned into a series of daily quests that put you in charge of the care and feeding of a Winterspring Cub on the PTR. After 20 days worth of dailies which earn you Winterspring Cub Whiskers, you'll be able to turn in the They Grow Up So Fast quest for your very own set of reins. In addition, you can buy a Winterspring Cub permapet from a vendor in Everlook. It's Bind on Equip and sold by a neutral vendor, so even Horde and Bloodsail Admirals can get thier hands on it.
Wings Over Atreia: Never put off until tomorrow a daily for today!
Chances are, if you have spent any time in Atreia since the release of Aion's 1.9 patch, you have been participating in daily quests. If, however, you have been living under the same rock as I have (it's plenty roomy here, really), then you either don't know what I am talking about, put it off, or just never put much thought into it, period. Personally, I kept thinking, "I'll get to it in a bit," but never actually got to it. After all, there is quite a bit to do already in Aion, and my days were pretty full. I admit that I didn't even really know why I should put my time into them. After some cajoling from a shocked legionmate who insisted I was sorely missing out, I finally cracked down and got started. Boy, have I been missing out! The daily quest is a new(er) system that rewards players for completing a task with special tokens along with XP. These tokens are then exchanged for special items, including titles, gear, AP items, godstones, and even special pets. In many cases, these quests can be completed in just a few minutes each day. Sure, it takes some time to save up for the rewards, but it wasn't nearly as arduous as I had initially thought. If you haven't started on daily quests, want a few hints on maximizing your token earning potential, or just want to laugh at me for taking so long to jump on the bandwagon, jump past the cut and see why daily quests are well worth the time and effort. Trust me, you want to get started today!
Lost Pages of Taborea: Improvements on MMO standards
After having a couple of conversations on the topic over the last month, I decided to make a list of more reasons I am so attracted to Runes of Magic. Runewaker may not have created the next evolutionary step in MMOs, but it did do some new and innovative things. It created what I consider to be the first hybrid traditional free-to-play MMO. RoM predominantly uses western game mechanics and a quest-driven leveling system with a cash shop. As far as actual gameplay is concerned, RoM features many standards -- very nice improvements on those standards. In this article, I list six refinements that I think add to the increasing uniqueness of an MMO that constantly shows it's more than a generic clone. Jump past the break to see if you agree with me or share your favorite MMO standards that you think RoM improves upon.
WoW Rookie: A primer on Cataclysm reputations
There are eight new reputation factions in Cataclysm. Six of those reputations are available to the Alliance or Horde, respectively. Each of those factions offers different items or gear to adventurers who work their way through the reputations. Many offer epic gear to players who have achieved exalted reputation. You can pick up well over 1,000 reputation by wearing each faction's tabard into a level 85 dungeon; heroic dungeons grant a little more, of course. Some factions have daily quests that will help you fly through the ranks even faster. But the tough part can be deciding which reputations to work on first. Let's take a tour of those factions and see what kind of epics or notable gear is offered by each. If you see something that's especially appropriate to your class or role, that's probably a good hint that you should start there.
Cataclysm Daily Quests, Part 5: Uldum, Twilight Highlands and daily priorities
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Welcome to part 5 of the epic guide to Cataclysm daily quests! Previously, we discussed profession dailies, Therazane dailies, Tol Barad permanent dailies, and Tol Barad dailies received by the faction in control of Tol Barad. Today, we'll wrap up the last few dailies in Uldum and Twilight Highlands and then discuss getting the most out of your Cataclysm daily limit. Uldum dailies There are only two dailies in Uldum, one infinitely preferable to the other. The first is a short, sweet, entertaining quest called Thieving Little Pluckers. It's fast, fun to do, located near the center of Uldum where you port in, and awards 150 reputation with Ramkahen, otherwise known as the guys who'll sell you a camel when you hit exalted. The other, Fire From the Sky, is the daily version of the quest by the same name that is part of the Harrison Jones quest line. This was hands down the most broken, miserable quest I had to do on my way to 85. It involves using a cannon vehicle to shoot slow-moving bombs at tiny, moving soldiers on a large map. Initially, all players shared the available mobs; grouped players' kills did not count for other group members; and worst, you couldn't see any bombs except your own. The group you'd been oh so carefully targeting would blow up seconds before your bomb hit, leading to massive nerd rage. Luckily, this has been hotfixed. Mobs are still shared, but group kills count for everyone, and all players' bomb targets are visible on the map. I still advise skipping it as soon as you get the associated achievement.
Cataclysm Daily Quests, Part 3: Tol Barad Peninsula
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Welcome back to the Cataclysm daily quests series! Previously, we looked at daily quest basics and profession dailies and the daily quests in Deepholm. Today, we'll examine the world PvP hub of Cataclysm, Tol Barad, and the first half of its wealth of daily quests.
