quests
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The Daily Grind: What quest or questline is the most memorable?
MMO quests are old hat by now, and the vast majority of them are some slight variation on the standard kill-10-rats or FedEx mission. Some are unique, though, in terms of both their rewards and their mechanical presentation. I'm thinking of EverQuest II's betrayal quests here, which allow you to switch factions, home cities, and in some cases, even classes. What MMO quests or questline do you find the most memorable and why? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV beta phase 1 and 2 - quests
We know now that the next test phase for Final Fantasy XIV will not be until June. This is good insofar as the next test will contain a lot more stuff and bad insofar as I want to play. Those of you living vicariously through impressions articles such as this one probably have less of a struggle with this scenario. And there is still a chunk of the first two phases to be discussed, obviously. If combat is the usual "how" of MMOs, quests are the usual "what." Final Fantasy XIV started out with a handful of quests and gained several more during Naoki Yoshida's tenure, but quests still weren't the main leveling content in version 1.0. That was a function reserved for guildleves, which have taken on a new role in the beta phases just as quests are enjoying an expanded importance. But it's not as simple as that change might imply.
The Daily Grind: Do you bring MMOs into real life?
One of the aspects that I like about MMOs is the sense of accomplishment when it comes to achieving specific goals. Maybe they're my goals or maybe they're goals set by the game, but checking things off a list and knowing that I've made progress is satisfying. That's why I often look at real world chores like an MMO quest log these days, filling my to do list up before knocking them out. I'm only slightly disappointed when victory music doesn't play when I turn in a quest to my wife. Mental note: Must buy wife a kazoo. Anyway, do you ever experience moments where your passion for MMOs bleed over into your real life? Do you grind reputation with your boss at work? Have you found yourself opening up a fridge and wondering what kind of epic consumables are inside? Did you strip to your skivvies and dance on top of your mailbox until the neighbors complained? Is all of this a cry for help? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Do you still love the traditional questing model?
Lately I've been enjoying somewhat of a gaming renaissance in Lord of the Rings Online. I've been gaming in both high- and low-level areas, chewing through quest lines, and actually reading all of the story text. It struck me that in this day and age when MMOs are attempting to bring storytelling and questing to new levels, there's still something attractive and addicting about "old-fashioned" questing models. Perhaps it's the straight-forward presentation, the promise of "do this and get rewarded." Maybe it's still satisfying to vacuum up eight quests at once and check them off, one by one. And I think that great tales can still be told through such models. But enough about what I think -- what's your opinion? Do you still (or ever) love the traditional questing model? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Track your Isle of Thunder to-do list with this handy addon
Patch 5.2, much like the Mists of Pandaria expansion overall, is practically dripping with content. There is content simply oozing out of Lor'themar Theron's over-sized pointy ears. Keeping track of it all is not the most fun thing in the world, and who wants to bother with that, anyway? If you're feeling a tad overwhelmed by it all, you're not alone, and post-its are not the only answer to your problem. Over at the WoW subreddit, redditor mfontani did us disorganized messes a favor by plugging a guildmate's addon creations. User Saregon has several addons designed to help keep our pixellated lives just that little bit more tidy. Isle of Thunder Weekly Check will open a window to let you know which weekly events your character has completed, so you don't get confused across level 90s. In a similar vein, Daily Tamer Check tracks pet battle daily quest completions, so you don't have to. If you've been looking for a handy way to keep tabs on all this stuff, this may be the solution you've been seeking.
The battle is joined: Starting new and fighting through Final Fantasy XIV's relaunch
I know a lot about Final Fantasy XIV. This is surprising to no one; there's a reason Joystiq sent me to the preview event, a reason I write a weekly column about the game, and a reason I still have the Final Fantasy XIV collector's edition box sitting in my office. The net result is that I have spent a lot of time playing the game. As a result, I was more than a little nervous when sitting down to play the revamped version at the Final Fantasy XIV press event in San Francisco last week. Done incorrectly, playing the game could feel subtly wrong, like a stranger pretending to be your old friend. And even if I avoided that pitfall, the gameplay could feel inelegant or forced. I'm happy to report that none of that is the case. Make no mistake -- the game is very different from its original incarnation, but it also sports enough familiar stuff that you aren't left wandering around baffled.
The Tattered Notebook: A guide to getting Erollisi Day spoils for the time-impaired
Ahh, l'amore. You can feel it in their air tonight, no? Oh wait, that was Thursday! No matter, 'tis still the season of love and loot in Norrath. Did I say loot? You bet your barbarian love notes I did! Holidays in EverQuest II may be inspired by their real-world counterparts, but their true purpose lies in supplying us with oodles of special loot. Don't believe me? Just look at the plethora of items available from quests, crafting, and collections during any given celebration. Sure, there are fun lore lines to follow as well, and that aspect certainly deserves a nod, but there is no denying the prominence of holiday paraphernalia that fills our bags, banks, and vaults. Not that I am complaining, mind you; it's precisely this loot I am after -- specifically, the housing items. As a die-hard decorating nut, I look forward to the holidays like Erollisi Day to get my hands/paws/claws on these unique items offered only during the events. Unfortunately, like many of us plagued by real life, I don't always have tons of time to devote to the festivities, and EQII's holidays are pretty elaborate affairs with a whole lot to do. So to help us both get the most treasure for our time, I've devised this speed guide to getting the holiday goods before the festival ends at 2:59 a.m EST on February 21st.
Breakfast Topic: What are your quest nightmares?
All in all, I think the World of Warcraft questing experience is easier than ever. Quests can be tracked and shown on the screen, locations are automatically marked on your map, and anything you need to kill -- or anything that drops quest items you need -- is marked clearly when you approach, with more details when you mouse over. While some of the mystery may be gone, a lot of the annoyance has gone with it. However, while the overall experience is much better, you do run in to the occasional quest that seems to be stubbornly holding out to Blizzard's new, streamlined questing philosophy. Quests that require you to kill ten beasts for a single tooth to drop (why don't they all have teeth?) or run around for an hour (or more) waiting on painfully slow respawns. Recently, while leveling through Outland, I ran into the quest Veil Lithic: Preemptive Strike, which asked me to redeem 3 arakkoa hatchlings and slay 3 arakkoa hatchlings who couldn't be redeemed. It seemed simple enough: Veil Lithic had several nests that spawned eggs. When the eggs spawned, all I had to do was click on them to free the hatchling, which would either fly off or become aggressive. Except after freeing 3 hatchlings, no more clickable eggs appeared. Not in 20 minutes, not in an hour, and not in two -- and though I did manage to collect a lot of arakkoa feathers, the whole thing seemed like a big timesink (several days later, I've still only managed to slay 2 out of 3 hatchlings). At this rate, my attention span is certain to run out before the quest does. (In fact, I'm surprised it's lasted this long.) And what about you? Have you run into any quests -- now or in the past -- that are the stuff World of Warcraft nightmares are made of?
The Daily Grind: What quest has frustrated you more than any other?
I have a relatively acrimonious relationship with most of The Secret World's investigation missions for reasons too ornate to detail here. Hell and Bach, however, deserves special mention. It's not that it's one of the game's worse examples, but that the actual mechanics behind clearing the mission are very finnicky. You have to click a series of symbols in just the right way to spell out a phrase, but the symbols are close together, it's easy to miss a click, and to top it off it won't work if you have the reference guide open as you do so. For all-time frustration, that mission ramped up pretty highly, although I enjoyed it once I cleared it. But it's not about what frustrates me, it's about what frustrates you. So what quest has frustrated you more than any other? Was it unclear in its objectives, or were its clearly stated objectives just dizzyingly hard to actually accomplish? Or was it something even more mundane, like a Final Fantasy XI quest that irritated you because you could never find the other people to do it with? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Patch 5.2 PTR: Introduction to Thunder Isle
With patch 5.2 slowly getting closer to a release on live servers, a minor quest has been added for both factions to help send players to the Isle of the Thunder King. You'll see a quest discovery on the side where you'll be summoned. Your help is needed. Warning: Spoilers for patch 5.2 content incoming! Don't hit the link if you don't want to know what happens or why the Alliance and Horde are here!
The Daily Grind: What's the most insulting quest you've ever done?
The other night, a friend of mine took to Twitter to express her displeasure over an EverQuest II mission. "I have to do something called Jenni's Stained Pants," she said, nonplussed. "This may be the most insulting quest I've ever done." While the actual mission turned out to be more benign than she'd anticipated from the title, I could relate. There have been so many quests in MMOs that aren't just beneath my stature but outright mocking my status as a hero. How many times have we had to pick up poo on the whims of a developer? Or pluck flowers for Elves? Or run extremely pointless errands because an NPC has a deadly case of fat butt and doesn't want to stop watching Honey Boo Boo? So let it out today: What's the most insulting quest you've ever done? Vent! Lance that wound! Rebuff those devs who think it's OK to make a monkey out of you! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
We don't need daily quests anymore
I think I've firmly established that I really love doing quests, and that I'm fine with daily quests as a whole. Sure, some of them may have had their moments of extreme frustration, but by and large the daily quest system in Mists of Pandaria is pretty entertaining. But while it's entertaining to me, and it's fine with some players, there are others who cannot stand the system. They hate daily quests. The sight of a blue exclamation point is a source of constant irritation. And it doesn't really matter how you wrap up that package, it's still going to be annoying content that players feel they must complete in order to be competitive. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to matter what is tied to the system, or if it offers rewards of value, like Lesser Charms or valor points. Adding the value to the daily quest system doesn't make completing the quests any more compelling, it just makes them another chore that must be completed. Which is why daily quests need to go away.
Breakfast Topic: What's your favorite quest mechanic?
Remember when everyone loved to hate The Oculus? Group members dropped like flies the moment some hapless noob intimated not having flown a drake before. Or jousting in the Argent Tournament -- ah, yes, another quest mechanic that united many players with the burning passion of unmitigated hatred. The thing is, some players like varied quest mechanics, even flying things and jousting at things. They like a change of pace from MMO standards such as Kill 10 Rats and the Fed Ex breadcrumb delivery (or in Blizzard's case, anything to do with poop). Me, I usually resent the intrusion. I prefer to play my character, galloping around the hills to find things and using my entire arsenal of spells to peek, tweak, and then slay everything in my path. I must admit, though, that Mists of Pandaria could be swaying me from this stoic path. While I'm adamantly not a fan of the quests that put you in the shoes of the quest giver and his saga, the general variety of quest mechanics has been ... distracting. Refreshing. Dare I go so far as to even say they're downright fun? A little variety is turning out to possibly be a good thing. (I said "a little." I still want to play my character. Harrumph.) Do you enjoy playing a variety of quest mechanics as you move through WoW's storylines, or do you prefer to stay in your character's own skin with your own spells and abilities? What are your favorite quest types? Which would you be just as happy to never encounter again?
Alternative leveling in the Isle of Quel'Danas
I'm bored of Northrend. It is beautiful and has lovely music and is full of lore and I'm bored. It's the new Outland for me and my alts. Other ways to level abound, of course, but they all have their drawbacks and are various levels of "Been there; done that." as well. So I took Tizzi, the bored goblin mage, to a place where my aged druid spent many grindful days: the Isle of Quel'Danas. We complain about dailies now, but Quel'Danas (also known as the Sunwell Isle) was the land of too many dailies for our quest log. Grind, grind, grind we ancient Burning Crusade players did, so we could be of the Shattered Sun and get some lovely loot besides. When Quel'Danas was the in-thing, everyone was max-level, so there was no XP -- just the cash, gear, and camping. Oh, so very much camping. The Isle of Quel'Danas is vacant of players now, but is otherwise unchanged. It resides in a bubble in time, much like Outland, and the NPCs are still there to give quests or be slaughtered.
Mac Game of the Week: Galaxy on Fire 2 HD brings iOS' best space adventure to the Mac
While some developers have recently gone towards a philosophy of making a bunch of smaller releases and dropping them on the App Store quickly, German developer Fishlabs has done the opposite. It's focused on one huge game, Galaxy on Fire 2, and spent the last year expanding and perfecting it. The app is on iOS, and it's just a brilliant game for the iPad, if you haven't seen it yet. Galaxy on Fire 2 HD is also available on the Mac, and Fishlabs' hard work is evident from the beginning. As you can see above, the graphics are phenomenal. What you'll get is open-world space exploration, combat and trading game, with a huge galaxy to explore, a large story to play through, and plenty of things to do, from full combat missions to simply flying around the galaxy and trading or exploring. This game's been polished and re-polished and then some. As an original title on the Mac App Store, it doesn't get much better than this. The one issue I have is in the voice acting. Some of it can be a little wooden, and because the developer is European, the accents are a little strange. But that's just a small caveat. If you haven't played this one yet, and especially if you have a big bright MacBook or a new iMac to play it on, definitely pick up Galaxy on Fire 2 HD. It's on the Mac App Store for $9.99.
The Mog Log: The story so far (and yet to come) in Final Fantasy XIV
I have several friends who don't play Final Fantasy XIV but still saw the trailer ending the first version. After all, it's been hard to miss. Almost every single person has said the same thing: "It was awesome. I have absolutely no idea what was going on with any of it, but it looked really cool." This isn't just because Final Fantasy XIV isn't in their rotations. Final Fantasy games are usually dense pieces of work, filled with references back and forth that make sense only if you know all of the players involved and have a solid understanding of the game's magical whoosits. If you've missed some steps along the way to the ending trailer, it's easy to watch and not understand what actually went down, and even if you did, there were some parts that could be really easily missed. So let's take a step back and look at the story so far. It's not the same as playing through the story for the past two years, but it should at least clarify what in the world happened.
Why are there moral choices in WoW?
Most quests in WoW are fairly straightforward in intent. Go kill a bunch of birds and gather meat. Go kill the pesky vermin that are messing with our crops. Go get that book from that guy in the next town over. But then there is the occasional quest that takes us outside the usual gather, kill and fetch arena of standard questing -- the ones that asks our characters to make a choice. Do we kill the harpy matron, or do we let her go? How do we persuade Tyrus Blackhorn to help us? Are we really so gung-ho about interrogation that we'll gleefully do so to get information out of the Scarlet Onslaught? Or if we're asked to torture someone in the name of the Kirin Tor? Do we really want to let Thalen Songweaver go ... or would we rather leave him rot in Theramore's prison? These types of quests don't pop up terribly often, which prompts the question; just what are these moral choices for, exactly?
The Repopulation goes in-depth on PvE mechanics
If you're a sandbox fan and The Repopulation has been pinging your radar, you'll be pleased to hear that the dev team at Above and Beyond Technologies has penned a lengthy articles detailing the features of the game's PvE mechanics. Previously, we've seen similar news for the game's housing, grouping, trade skills, engagements, and more. As a true sandbox, The Repopulation allows you to have several options. Missions are explained as similar to traditional MMO quests, but they're not necessary to the game. In fact, these missions are tailor-made for your character based on your skill level, faction, previously completed missions, personality traits, and more. The article also gives us extensive details on engagements, generated epic missions, rewards, exploration, branching dialogue options, and way more than you'd expect to hear on a game this early in development. Check out the full novel article for more information.
Some Assembly Required: Citadel of Sorcery interview reveals a dynamic world
When word filtered to us that a new virtual world was in the works with unique features, I said what any other sandbox-loving player would: Yeah ri... er, I mean, "Show me what you've got." And that's exactly what the folks making Citadel of Sorcery did! And they didn't just tease me with a couple of phrases and leave me dangling; they offered a deluge of information about the upcoming game. In fact, they sent me enough to complete five different articles. That's more Some Assembly Requireds than you can shake a stick at. Not only did I get to learn many facts about Citadel of Sorcery, but in sitting down and talking with Philip Blood, Director of Game Design at MMO Magic, Inc., I also got to experience first-hand the passion that the developers have for their game. Philip graciously answered a barrage of questions (perhaps part of the reason the interview grew so long!) and helped paint CoS as a game that might satisfy the longing of players who yearn for a vibrant, living world where their choices make a difference. Unlike traditional games, CoS promises a vast world where each player will experience the game in very different ways. In all, the game sounds innovative and exciting. But don't just take my word on it; check out the details for yourself in this in-depth interview.
People live in Pandaria; or, our house in the middle of the sea
"And that night, her mom said that the two of them and the now-dead guy were the only 3 people who ever lived in Las Vegas. Everybody else just arrived, ate their complimentary shrimp cocktails, and left." Blizzard's focus is, as they've repeatedly professed, "to create the most epic gaming experiences ever." But for all the world-ending threats we've encountered in the last few WoW expansions, Azeroth just isn't that big. The entire Eastern Kingdoms are about the size of the island of Manhattan. We're made to believe that hundreds of thousands to millions of people of various races inhabit the planet, but examining the amount of residential space in each zone shows us room for far, far fewer. Now, yes, the Azeroth we see could simply be an abstraction of some other, larger, "real" Azeroth that doesn't tangibly exist. But this one is the one we get, and it seems sillier and sillier each time when you ponder things like where exactly King Wrynn managed to find a hundred thousand troops to send to Northrend, or where night elves have lived for the past ten thousand years. The same goes for Azeroth's endless supply of doomsday villains and the cultists they inevitably find to do their bidding. They had to come from somewhere. And they definitely don't live in Stormwind. But the problem isn't even really where they live. It's how they live. It's where they come from. Outland presented a unique opportunity to show us the how and why of the many strange alien races on an entirely new planet, but we learned more about how they died than how they lived -- the fate of most non-player races in World of Warcraft. Their homelands were a theme park, a casino, and we run through pulling levers, grabbing drinks, buying t-shirts. Nobody lived there. Pandaria, though? People live there. The continent feels more like a brand new planet than even Outland ever did.
