Answers and a well received example
If this post is long, it's because it needs to be.
Do you want story-missions that are profession specific or not?
Yes, each profession should have an epic quest or quests. There should also be missions that everyone can do.
Do you want side-defined missions, or missions for everyone?
There should be missinos that relate both to the three factions and missions that are prompted simply by living on Rubi'Ka. I think it would be proper if neutrals were able to do missions for EITHER side AND use the reward. You screwed a couple thousand people out of a reward with Alvin/Dodga. Neutrals can't use the rewards. Please fix this.
Do you want the quests to scale with your level? (So you may take the same mission at lvl 30 and at 100, only with tougher opponents?)
This is a waste of time. The value in doing a quest is DOING the quest. If you want to RE-USE certain elements for a later quest then rescale the difficulty and tailor it to a different profession so that it doesn't get done by everyone twice unless they have those two characters.
HOWEVER, as you add new content to the game through story missions you MUST NOT prevent the older characters from enjoying it. An example is Neleb's Robe. Sure my character went in at level 100 to get it when you introduced it. But you didn't prevent me from doing so (one time). This is proper.
If you want me to go back in twenty or thirty levels to re-visit my old buddies and foes in a SIMILAR yet DIFFERENT mission. That is fine. The ongoing deal with Dodga (that Neutrals are screwed out of) is kinda ok. It has a continuing theme yet each stage is slightly different. I can deal with that. And a lvl180 character is not locked out of doing it right from step 1.
Here's another problem. I'd be labeled an exploiter and evil power gamer because I would wait until I was level 200 to do all quests to make sure all my rewards were Qlvl200. Can't 'waste' the precious quests. Sorry, but that's what I'd do. Of course I would wait to get a Qlvl200 Nelebs coat if you let me take the mission at lvl 200 instead of 31. And this would piss off a lot of 'casual gamers'. I don't want you to put me in that situation again. I really like the guys on this board. Even if half of them want to string my characters up by their ....
Please have missions that offer rewards appropriate to all levels in a player's career. Please have enough stories that I won't feel like doing one over again
Do you want many small, or fewer longer quests?
I would prefer a quest that I start in January and finish in March. I would like to simultaneously complete several smaller ones in the interim.
Is it ok with you to camp spawns, like we see in other MMORPGs?
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!NO!
Is it ok with you if we interweave the normal auto-content mission system in this, so that we can generate areas for you even in these story missions? (Or do you want only outdoor action?)
Auto-content with boss mobs at the end is fine for interim steps if combined properly with outdoor elements, underwater elements, airborne elements, player interaction elements, etc. variety is the ****e of life.
I would not mind walking through a mission gate and seeing something like the newbie backyard instead of some cramped building. I know you have the technical ability to spawn identical backyards. Why not give it a shot?
Point on auto-content: I want auto-generated loot as rewards. I despise the loot system in AO. UO had it better as did Diablo II. I'm pretty much resigned to knowing what I will get as a reward for performing a quest after playing that craptastic game DAoC. I wish I didn't have to. I formally request that you take the time to create at least one item that can have some random attributes. Even if it were sunglasses that could have yellow, green, blue, or purple lenses.
If we can't have random items then at least random rewards. If I unfortunately knew I was gonna get a pair of sunglasses as the reward for a mission, could you at least roll a dice so that I get one of 10 different colors or styles even if they all have to be entered in your database ahead of time?
I can't emphasize how absolutely sick the 'recipe' type static mission system made me in DAoC. You knew where you were going before you even completed your current step. Please address this so thay MY "Search for the Squirrelous Monkey-Mute" is not 100% exactly like every other character's "Search for the Squirrelous Monkey-Mute"
Finally ... 'The Big Example'
I had this posted originally in another forum prompted by a well though out post regarding 'boss' monsters but thought that maybe if some creative players could put down ideas for quests (static missions) done right and quest rewards maybe FunCom would get the idea that the Dodga/Alvin mission idea is very bad and simply killing unique monsters on a spawn timer for great loot is wrecking the game experience for 90% of the players.
Here's my first off-the-head shot at a Static Mission that fits within the framework of AO and the context of Rubi-Ka.
Most importantly, you manage the rarity of items by the difficulty to get them. NOT by making the game UNFun to play. NOBODY has an ounce of respect for anybody who has 'The Black Shirt of Zuwadza' for example. These people are either thought of as campers, twinks, or kill-stealers. It should not be this way. Having a rare item should mean you spent some effort to obtain the item. You should be proud to display the item. Not ashamed of the anti-social behavior that is now needed to get these things.
As an example, assume there were some new item that went in an NCU deck slot that increased the duration of NanoFormulas by 50%. Pretty handy, huh? How to add this item to the game? They could simply put it on a MOB with a 24hr respawn time. This is frigging garbage design that a half-assed pre-schooler would think of.
Instead, they could be intelligent and allow access to the item to anyone who is willing to spend some time PLAYING (and hopefully enjoying) the game.
Here's how you get it:
1. Talk to NPC Computer Merchant at ICC headquarters in Andromeda. He mentions an certain 'associate' who has told him of rumors of a shipment of prototype computer hardware. He asks if you would go talk to him in person. You get a mission icon. He does NOT despawn after talking to you. Why should he?
2. The person he is referring to can be any one of 15 different NPC's in various location. He'll tell you to speak to a specific person out of this group. Tons of people will not be camping the same exact 2nd quest NPC.
3. Your first task is to go search out his buddy in one of 5 or 6 locations. Perhaps he says 'G'mod in the area of The Longest Road is who you need to find. This spreads out the player base a bit and helps foster the (re)discovery of areas like Freedom, Bliss, Hope, etc. Depending on the quest difficulty level, the trip to get there can be difficult and you may need an escort to get there. Maybe G'mod it's a Nanofreek in Avalon or The Longest Road.
3. You manage to safely and successfully locate the person and talk to him about 'unauthorized' 'shipment' of 'computer' 'hardware'. He asks who sent you and you give the name of that guy in Andromeda.
4. He acknowledges that he's got some receptacles called 'Prototype NCU Components' but he can't manage to break them open to find out what's inside. He offers to sell you one on an 'as-is' basis. You agree and pay a hefty fee. This means you have to have spent some time earning money (or just as reasonably have some rich friends to help you). Y ou now have a sealed receptacle and don't know what is inside. This NPC does NOT despawn after giving you the item. Why should he?
5. The receptacle requires an amount of Breaking and Entering between 250-550 depending on what's inside. You need to have or find a player with the appropriate skills to break it open. This fosters interaction between players.
6. Once opened you are revealed maybe one of 2 or 3 different items of various quality levels. You happen to get a 'Uncharged Bio-enhanced NCU-Bloodstream Interface' of qlvl 108. This is the item we'll focus on for this discussion. There might be two or so other items that may appear. The info for the item says:
[quote]"When combined with 'enriched' blood plasma of the appropriate quality this item can greatly improve the interface between a players NCU and his own biological systems. The duration of nanoformulas run in the NCU will be increased. Unfortunately as it is still in prototype stage, removing the item from your NCU will destroy it.'[\quote]
This triggers the next step.
7. You now need to find someone who can make you the appropriate quality blood plasma. This means killing monsters of the appropriate level and interacting with other players. You will notice that when you kill some monsters now (as long as you have the 'mission' icon) you will get 'enriched' monster parts as loot instead of just plain old parts. These can be refined into 'enriched blood plasma' with appropriate Pharma Tech skill.
8. You combine the appropriate number of 'enriched blood plasma' units with the item and it becomes a NODROP 'Readied Bio-enhanced NCU-Bloodstream Interface' of qlvl 108. This item goes in Deck Slot 5 or 6.
9. As noted before, if you remove the item from your NCU it is destroyed and you will have to do the quest again.
Tell me how this is EASY? Tell me it would not be FUN? If you want to add steps 10-50 then fine. Include the Engineers, Traders, other NPC's, whatever you want to make it take on average 18 hours to complete. If it takes 18 in-game hours to complete, isn't this preferable to sitting on your ass at some 'camp-spot' from the time you wake up in the morning until the wee hours of the next day?
If every player in the entire game wants to complete this quest and get the item, I'm happy for them. It'll be a bunch more happy players than we have now.
What we have now are players who are all smug because they sat on their retarded asses for 18 hours waiting for Kudzawa or Nugget and now have a shirt that adds 22 to their pet skills or sunglasses they can 'rent' to other players for half a million credits. Or they joined a guild full of lvl 130+ players who camped Kudzawa with them at lvl 60 to 'get' the shirt for them to the exclusion of the two buddies from Spokane who now have to wait ANOTHER 18 hours only to be excluded by this same guild who are 'getting' another shirt for the next lvl67 metaphysicist who just joined the guild.
Rather than the current abhorent exclusionary systems we have now, unique items should foster PLAYING the game and interacting with other players. The playing field is open to EVERYONE who is willing to spend the playtime working towards the conclusion of this quest. It allows a fair amount of twinking to keep guilds happy but doesn't flood the game with the special item.
Anybody else want to help FunCom's creative department by helping show them how Static Missions SHOULD be done. How to even the playing field without making the rare items a give away?