#[On Test Server] New Quest System 2025 - General Discussion

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

candid cairn
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The development team has been working diligently on a brand new QUEST system. In the future, we hope that this system will support many new quests generally, including but not limited to the second leg of the Gemstones journey, where players will meet the Empyrean and understand more about the Goliaths. Moreover, it supports many features of traditional RPG quests such as repeatability.

For now, we need help kicking the tires on this brand new system! I have created two pilot quests to do so. The first is available via QUEST LIST and should be pursued first. The second quest is a surprise and is left as an exercise to the reader to discover.

Please report all feedback from testing on this thread: https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1400507337797800017 (you can also find more information on the system there).

Please use THIS thread for general discussion / questions.

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candid cairn
fierce parrot
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Oh heck yeah! I know what I am doing tonight

wooden gust
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this looks fantastic! i can't wait to check it out. are these intended for every level, like bounties?

candid cairn
wooden gust
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that's great, i'm just glad to hear it's not aimed exclusively at capped characters (but still useful for them, from the sound of it).

terse wagon
rotund otter
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inb4 someone is like "i've already done all this please retroactively grant me all quest rewards"

wooden gust
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initial question, as a 100 character starting the quest in icemule, i'm being sent to kill tree spirits etc. how does this work in terms of scaling? like is it intentional to be released in this fashion and have capped characters in lower-level hunting grounds? wondering how this will impact people trying to level (not necessarily negatively, just curious where the thoughts behind it are)

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my hope is there's an incentive for capped characters to help lower ones hunt in those areas on a daily basis, i think that would be cool, but worry about it interfering with their hunting instead?

candid cairn
wooden gust
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i like the idea of incentivizing higher characters to explore lower-level hunting areas, but in a way that doesn't detract from the experience of players hunting there at-level, and which also ideally benefits the at-level hunters.

what about something like this:

  1. quests can send you to any level hunting ground that is at your level +5-10, or below. that way, no level 10s being sent to Moonsedge. guessing this already exists.

  2. instead of "kill X regular monsters", a character in the assigned hunting ground has a chance to spawn quest-specific versions of them, kinda like the shiny ones: e.g., on this tree spirit quest i'm doing, instead of "tree spirit" it's "twisted tree spirit". this allows differentiation of level, and management of high-level quest monsters not attacking at-level hunters (we don't need more bandit-equivalents murdering lowbies, it's not fun for them -- quest monsters should ignore anyone -10 levels or lower, unless attacked -> then they give a warning -> then another attack provokes them).

  3. when an at-level character is in the hunting ground, and a higher quester is also in the group, there is a chance to spawn quest monsters when the at-level ones are killed. this incentivizes high characters to join with lower ones, because they finish the quest much faster (you'd have to do the math on spawn rates for this to work), and the at-level character benefits from a capped hunting partner for a bit.

i would love to see messages in ESP General like, "Highly-trained bard seeking hunting partner to help spawn sea nymphs for my quest, anyone around five trains want a hunting buddy with Tonis?"

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bottom line, i think this is a fantastic opportunity to build community and incentivize people to play together even when they're different levels, in a way that feels much smoother than bounties currently allow. perhaps there could even be a bonus for doing the quest with someone at-level or lower: kills count twice as much, or reward bonus at the end (even fame would be neat), etc.

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there's probably a more elegant way to accomplish what i suggested, that's just my immediate brainstorming!

candid cairn
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I appreciate the thoughts. I will chew on it (and I hope others comment as well)

wooden gust
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You are currently on Step 5 of this quest. You should SEARCH the Frozen Garden in the town of Icemule Trace.not finding anything in "ice garden", or "ice garden, altar", or the "frozen garden" in the abandoned farm? oh nvm i see there's a ton of frozen garden i missed. found it!

candid cairn
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@quartz grove asked what the intention is behind the new system. My personal vision is that I'd like to see it break up the monotony of hunting/gameplay. If you look at a game like Elder Scrolls, you start on a quest, or you go out to explore, and while you're out in the wilds you encounter another quest, and so on and so forth. As these experiences chain together the world feels more immersive and dynamic. Right now the closest thing we have is GM storytelling, which is awesome but there are only so many GM hours available, and I think we need something in addition to that (also GM stories could incorporate quests in order to supplement their stories).

Another parallel is bounties, but those aren't really dynamic - you always get them from the AG - and they are only a single step, and they aren't really a story.

candid cairn
wooden gust
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i like that, and how it urges people to leave the ascension hunting areas and explore other areas of the game! it's such a big, beautiful world, it's great to encourage people to explore more of it

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just finished the first quest, i really like it! i don't have much feedback other than what i posted above. it feels smooth, fun, does break up the monotony, i didn't see any glaring issues in terms of not being able to progress etc.

some of the text is a bit long, maybe it wouldn't hurt to either break it up into smaller bits with some kind of simple interaction between, or add a short RT, to encourage people to read it? 🤷‍♂️

candid cairn
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That makes sense. I'll jot that down...

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Added to #1400507337797800017 message

earnest rose
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Lol at ||halfling sized katana||

rotund otter
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I think the idea is great. I understand the comments about trying to promote cross-level help but, i feel like that might not be worth the squeeze. Like a weaker character getting help from an older i think is generally better. They come in, they save the day, usually the younger still contributes somehow. If it's the other way around you're just like i need a warm body to spawn a thing it feels less collaborative and more a chore. I'm for trying something like that though to see how it plays out here. May just end up with a lot of people breaking out random parked alts to spawn things, level 16 empath bot it's your time to shine. (but that is to be expected).

I'm guessing that would be more the "one off" quests, like clearly i don't think a level 100 character should be able to do a daily for a level 20, repeatable type stuff i think should definitely just be level appropriate.

As far as for younger hunting grounds i'd say most of them are just... pretty empty already, lol. But i think if it's just the one offs even if it's a problem with overcrowding / spawning it would be temporary i don't think it would be like systemic issue. I mean i wouldn't want to be hunting tree spirits or whatever on release day lol

earnest rose
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Only feed back is when quest 2 popped up for me, I thought it was the natural progression of quest 1. Found out it wasn't after completeing 2. Everything was pretty smooth.

candid cairn
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I was thinking about maybe having the dynamically offered quests be something more like a (recurring?) message that you have an offer for a new quest, rather than the big blurb.

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Captured in #1400507337797800017 message

candid cairn
earnest rose
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I liked that. If you 130 out of the rift, you do have to leave the room and come back to trigger it

brave dawn
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Also I just want to point out that it’s fun to read about something interesting other than DR cat memes today!

proper girder
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Can I ask how many quests there are available to test? I completed 2.

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One suggestion. I did leave behind a quest item because I assumed it was automatically put in my inventory. Maybe the quest item should be placed At Feet like Gemstones so we don't accidently leave them behind.

earnest rose
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Two pilot quests according to the announcement.

fierce parrot
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Ok, just really looking into this. I am guessing longterm hope is dailies, weeklies, and leveled single time quests?

violet seal
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I take the pessimist view today (only on the sharing bit).. while the ideal is people offering to help quests, the reality will be duffield running all the alts through hamster heist...Ie id prefer if quests couldn't be trivialized with capped help

proper girder
brave dawn
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Some sort of periodically repeatable quests make sense. I’d also love to see a “fresh” new quest added every so often, since the goal is to break up the standard monotony of just hunting and chaining bounties

earnest rose
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Yeah a number you can choose from and a cap on how many you can do a week if needed.

stoic leaf
fierce parrot
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Very curious on rewards. Would love to see some of the level quests done once reward something neat and attuned to character, like a choice of armor or weapon

earnest rose
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Yeah I had no questions of what I should be doing based on the information provided by the quest info and the dialog. (other than figuring out the rift/scatter movements)

proper girder
brave dawn
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Some other random thoughts about quests:

  1. We have a huge game world, and one way to really take advantage of this fact is to use the quest system to send characters all over the place. And not just back and forth over the Dragonspine, but perhaps to various locales/buildings/landmarks that usually get ignored or have been forgotten

  2. Quests could be a great way to add a change of pace to typical play. If all quests are available immediately, players will run through them immediately for the rewards and just go back to their normal routines. As such, it might make sense to create some quests linked to certain character achievements - eg, after slaying 10,000 Moonsedge critters, or hitting Xmm Ascension experience, or whatever. Or even time gate them - each step becomes available 1 month after the last. Or tie certain quests to character level. Lots of different ways to tackle this I think.

old marsh
candid cairn
candid cairn
rotund otter
# candid cairn I'm curious - how did you feel about things triggering on entering the room, rat...

i also liked this btw. if you had to make a change like i.e. people like it less i'd say at least keep a reminder text like "the decrepit dude in the corner looks like who you might be looking for" then a uniform verb to trigger like just "ask x about quest" and it's always that, or like quest approach x or something to avoid the guess the verb annoyance (unless obviously it's intended to be a puzzle)

fierce parrot
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Nyxus, you taking suggestions for any kinds of rewards? Also is thier any kind of breakdown of possible future quests so one might theorize appropriate styled reward suggestions based on the quest level/area etc?

candid cairn
limber dew
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I am a little dubious about the idea of repeatable "daily" style quests -- we're kind of recapitulating the bounty system when we go there. The quests would have to give rewards meaningfully distinct from silver/xp. Maybe take the third gemstone drop and put it in a variable monthly quest haha.

I do think this system would have huge promise for doing things like signposting players to areas they may not have tried. Like "Go to the Rift and hunt" is a great starting point for thinking about that, because players need to be signposted to go to the Rift or they won't realize it's there. But that would be more in the realm of one-time quests as you progress through the game; characters that are already capped probably wouldn't get much out of those, nor should they.

candid cairn
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Dailies/Weeklies/Monthlies is still pretty fuzzy in my mind. I feel like the Snow Cone caper would be a one time quest (maybe periodically reset?), and Into the Rift would be repeatable, but offered dynamically, like maybe you have a chance of getting it if you haven't already for the week when you kill something big?

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They're both set as Daily right now but that's mostly just for test purposes

wooden gust
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ooh, i like the idea of quests appearing randomly according to some trigger (though preferably not like "kill the wyrm" or something that's difficult/complex to do), and then having more significant rewards than bounties, so that it feels like a surprise gift when one drops. however, i'd beware of the incentive there to try to farm the trigger, given how many have had a strong negative reaction to feeling somewhat forced into farming gemstones. (sorry, edited instead of second message because of slow mode)

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i would also love to see quests that integrate with some of the underappreciated systems in the game: spirit beasts, for example; food/drink/eating -- "go buy 20 things at helga's and bring them to icemule for a party for Landing folks visiting here so they feel at home" or whatever, fishing, e.g. "challenge another player in a spirit beast competition," "catch a fish yourself and feed it to the peglegged cat in solhaven", so on

violet seal
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quest4dust????

fierce parrot
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Quest Ideas:

Town History - explore the town, meet the NPCs available when speaking to the town guard or something -- Reward some fluff item of historical reference to the town. Collect all the town rewards and turn them in and get an ASC point or title for World Traveller

Hunting Zones - kill a monster in the zone and trigger a quest exploring the area and various landmarks/history of the creature. Maybe learn various tips about combating them, or some silly tidbit of lore. Reward flat exp. Can be cycled so you never know when an area might be active to grant the quest, can only do 1 or 2 area's each week.

Society - Each society gets a little quest for joining rather the current puzzles. Invite by Master can start the quest or you can visit the usual npc to start it. Reward joining the society. Basically replacing the current joining by expanding it to teach more about the society before you join.

Level Based Achievements - Certain levels you gain access to a one time quest which spans a few levels and explores the various hunting options available, maybe include something which goes into detail around the newest profession mechanic. Early rewards might include a choice of new gear from a list, or containers with max l/d that are attuned to the character. Later levels might reward ASC points.

Seasonal Holiday Quests - mini one time per event quests which explore the grounds and visit the npcs, learn about the holiday or culture. Reward a small fluff item designed around the holiday.

Reward Idea's:
Always a fan of exp, whether multipliers or flat rewards
Fluff nostalgia items
Orbs(<---I really love exp)
Quest Points which can be saved up and exchanged for various things.

Exchange Idea's:
Low end:
Customized verbs from a preset list of options
1 use alteration book
various small simucoin items

Mid Tier:
Mid level simucoin items
3 use alteration book
QC vetted customized verb(make your own)

High end:
Player Services
Orbs
x/day items
not really sure here

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Exchange for the inevitable repitition of running quests

Most of the above is spit balling off the top of my head. The exchange was 100% brand new in my mind when I was typing, so probably way off on the scale

violet seal
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quests for vibrant lock/key rewards -- Id avoid any sort of point system, to not be another AG, over tangible goods

fierce parrot
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I was mostly thinking for over time rewards that dwarf the adv guild because it takes a year due to timed lock outs on what you can run to save the points. Something like High End would be in the realm of 500 pts, and you can only earn like 1-2 per day on average over the year.

rotund otter
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the vibrant lock/key will be the quest. bring the decrepit gatekeeper 100 vibrant locks and 100 vibrant keys for 1/2/3 instant/field/fame

wooden gust
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what about a quest to slay a particularly tough monster/monster pack that may take 2-3 characters (or one really decked-out one) and that drops special loot, like a guaranteed feeder drop for the quester? like shiny zombies, but with more meaningful reward. 20 HW cannibals, a giant mutated zombie, whatever. like invasion-level monsters?

another idea: a repeatable quest that gets harder every week, forcing you to continually improve if you want to progress, like the monster gains +2 levels per week you repeat it

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idea for a repeatable, optional daily quest that would fit into the game... credit to @cedar wagon for sparking this idea through an unrelated idea of his... what if it sort of encouraged RP by promoting engagement with the slice-of-life aspects of the game? go to a tavern in town, order food and drink, have a conversation with an NPC or another player or something like that, hang out for a few minutes (nothing too obtrusive), something in that line? then you get a small RPA as a reward, something that would be greater than hunting for the same amount of time

violet seal
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quests eventually give you a key to a dungeon/hideout, only accessible by key (dont sell them), going in gives you some level appropriate guaranteed drop.. like a 2x/3x/4x whatever with a flare or enhancive quality -- something great for the level but wouldnt be game breaking... oh clear out the kobold den and the blacksmith will make you anything you want in imflass...like reim but you could actually choose useful drops lol

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if you really wanna get wild, have quests like these count towards town citizenship

scarlet salmon
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I'm short on time but just want to say that as fun as quests are, I don't really like daily quests, b/c they become like a job and you feel like you need to complete the quest every day on top of whatever else you want to do with your limited time. So I hope the final design takes that into considersation. Cool idea for GS though! 🙂

humble surge
worthy plume
frosty wasp
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Why QUEST instead of MISSION? Also, why are you guys doing all the cool stuff as soon as I go out of town!? 🤣

jovial badger
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I like the idea of quests that progress storylines. Im assuming this system allows a GM to tweak some stuff on the fly fairly easy.

Quest Progression
1st month players partake in investigation quests and encounter hostile forces. Initial background information discovered. This gives folks something to discuss and follow up on.

2nd month the threat or need is revealed and players work towards this. It could be supplies, killing, defending, etc. imagine a quest where we know about kiramon surging in teras, illistim, and logoth and players need to defend choke points.

Month 3 is the conclusion.

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Not sure if the system could be used to support something like ff14 fates system. Mini invasions on timers.

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Hunting zones having a mini invasion question a few times a day would be fantastic. Not quite as brutal as the wyrm or Sybil but like packs of roaming wargs brutal.

fierce parrot
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Like a faction leader who is a grizzled, leading a group of 2-8 others depending on how many are in your group(so you can't overpower them strictly with numbers)

jovial badger
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The wyrm and sybil fights have definitely been a net positive in terms of community coming together to tackle the content. I see a mini invasion quest that lasts for like 30 minutes, like a suped up warcamp spawn rate could be something fun to continue that theme

fierce parrot
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Non-accesible location history quests:

Some places are not accesible, going to stick with Turamzzyrian Empire here but most cultures have similar locales, which are major points in the backstory. Having a quest to explore the history/lore of the place you grew up could be cool. Might require a couple new npcs who might come from those locales, and have a few stories or local legends which you have to run errands to hear.

Example Bourth:
New npc from Bourth wanders solhaven, find npc to start quest, run a few errands and hear tales from home

fierce parrot
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Test Server seems to be experiencing some issues today?

candid cairn
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Yep. Just pinged someone. Thank you

muted forge
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Is there a specific place you want bugs/typos to be sent?

candid cairn
muted forge
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There's a spacing discrepancy with the messaging for:

[The Great Snow Cone Caper] Foe vanquished! You have XXX kills of this foe remaining!

And the Voln release messaging:

You hear a sound...

These two messages are crammed together, rather than when you complete the quest and proceed to the next step which is divided up by a few line breaks.

The form with more line breaks makes for more obvious messaging and better readability.

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In the introductory blurb for the quest Into the Rift given by the grizzled adventurer there's a typo in the 5th sentence of the second paragraph:

...trapped between life and death.I beg you...

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During Step 5 the Quest Info command yields:

...You should SEARCH the Frozen Garden in the town of Icemule Trace.

The word 'in' implies it's inside the town of Icemule when the Frozen Garden is outside of the gates.

I would suggest stating that it is in the Icemule Trace environs and maybe more specifically western environs, or mention of thyrils to give players better direction.

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Step 5 of the Great Snow Cone Caper has that the character has been searching for hours, and subsequently falls asleep:

Hours pass as you investigate beneath benches, behind frozen fountains...

It's a great scene and feels fun, but it also feels like a bit of a work-around on why the character is exhausted. Maybe pricking a finger on some weird herb that knocks you out or messaging such as, 'feels like an eternity' so it's at least more subjective time passing rather than literal time passing.

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Not sure if this is too nitpicky but, the messaging in Step 5 of the Great Snow Caper has the character sit on the bench and fall asleep, but the resulting 'posture' of the character is fully prone.

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Same line break problem with Step 6 giant rat killing:

[The Great Snow Cone Caper] No limerick-spouting... The giant rat collapses...

as opposed to:

`[The Great Snow Cone Caper] No limerick-spouting...

The giant rat collapses...`

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If you ring into a room with the appropriate NPC to trigger a quest-blurb the blurb goes untriggered.

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Into the Rift Step 1 intro blurb has the last paragraph enclosed in quotation marks, but is written as it were an action/observation:

"The adventurer gives you a... only the echo of his sorrow."

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Step 2 in Into the Rift has the same line break situation as Step 5 of GSCC

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Step 3 also

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fun quests - highlight: the dream sequence - great imagery 🙂

I really look forward to these being brought live. Spices things up and brings people places they wouldn't normally go- creates opportunity for RP - win win win.

candid cairn