Page 5 of 15 FirstFirst 123456789101112131415 LastLast
Results 81 to 100 of 299

Thread: Story missions

  1. #81

    another idea

    "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?)"

    I believe I misread this when I posted earlier today on this topic. I do not want to get the same type of item that will have better stats if I was higher level.

    So my idea which is not all that original. Perhaps a certain low level quest item could be obtained and later on upgraded with another quest item. But wait, what about high lv players then camping the lower lv item if they do no have it... Well I am going to follow AC's model here.

    Put Level restrictions on quest dungeons/missions/areas. Meaning if you do not fall in the level range for the particular quest you can not do it. What is bad about this is the fact that its pointless to do the upgrade quests for a particular item. (thinks of SOL on AC)

    How to get around all of it... If you do not have the original item for whatever ql lv it is perhaps a special npc may be able to supply you with a difficult way to obtain the original item...

    What this boils down to is small type quests that can lead to epic quests, specially if it is class specific items/quests/missions.

    Just an Idea and tell me what you think of it everyone.

  2. #82
    1).Do you want story-missions that are profession specific or not?

    Yes, it would be nice for my Engi to feel like and Engi and my Fixer to feel like a Fixer. It doesn't have to be anything crazy to start with but it would be nice if when my Engi found a mission he would be required to fix/repair something and my Fixer would be required to attain something through dubious means and return it.

    2).Do you want side-defined missions, or missions for everyone?

    Both would be nice but I one has to choose I would say sided is prerfered because you feel like part of the story. The more involved with the plot the better I say.

    3).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?)

    There are benifits to both ways. Leveled quest give you something to build to and scaled quest allow you to get a break from the norm even with low characters. Tough Call... In a pinch I would say leveled over scaled.

    4).Do you want many small, or fewer longer quests?

    I personally like the longer quests but in a perfect would it would be like McDonald's you could order your quest in small, medium, or large.

    5).Is it ok with you to camp spawns, like we see in other MMORPGs?

    As little camping as possible. I know there is probably no way to completely remove it but camping always seems to lead to arguments, fights, and bad feelings. However, you could stick the MOB in a 0 gas zone...let the best man talk to the MOB. (Just Kidding!!!)

    In my opinion, the quest NPC's (who aren't suppose to be killed) should not be killable. Either make them super powerful or unattackable. This way people won't be running by and blowing away the NPC you have been hunting to find thus forcing you to camp till he respawns.

    6).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?)

    Outdoor action would be a nice change of pace. Variety is the ****e of life so a both would be OK.

    On a personal note I am really excited to see this implemented.
    Last edited by Zarrot; Mar 22nd, 2002 at 20:46:46.

  3. #83
    Heres what i think, everyone knows about the average NPC citizen, you can trade with them, but not talk with them, why not make a story mission require you to find one of those charecters, its a great way to avoid camping a specific NPC., Like for Ash Andersons Quest, maybe instead of finding LindaLu, maybe you Player X has to find Hans Grifford in Clon****, and Player Z has to find Valda Stych in Milky Way. It would add an use to those usless things, and encourage more exploring in a small way.

  4. #84
    [QUOTE]Originally posted by Intra

    I agree with everyones comments regarding the new quest format so far, but I especially like this idea from Intra

    also, there could be opposing story missions.. so that there is someone from omni doing a mission which effects the outcome of your own. for instance... I get a mission that tells me to assasinate someone, an omni employee gets a mission saying they have a tip off for an assasination.. find the assasin and stop him.. that type of thing

    if there is no one doing the alternate mission then you just have to fight mobs, if there is then it brings PvP actually into the game
    This is the sort of groundbreaking addition that will keep people coming back to AO! I was thinking the same thing myself as I was reading the posts - I swear I really was . This is a great idea for a number of reasons:

    1. Although NPCs can be programmed for a variety of different reactions they cannot compare to the multitude of responses that actual players can supply. This will create a dynamic aspect to quests that will make them all the more fun.

    2. It will add some "juice" to the conflict! Although there are certainly players on both sides who participate and role-play the conflict, there are many more players who exist on Rubi-ka as if there was no conflict at all. Imagine the excitement of a level 10 newbie who gets a quest to recover an item and is met with resistance from an actual player from the other side. That is a mission worth telling your friends about.

    3. It will add to story line which is receiving a lot of complaints lately. Players have to contribute to the storyline for it to become a tangible part of the game. GM run events, while interesting, can only go so far. When players are actually shaping the story through the success of quests against the opposing side the story begins to take on a life of its own.

    4. This is also a great way to include neutrals in the storyline. Imagine quests where players need to convince neutrals to participate so that they can be completed! "Find a neutral Agent to assasinate so and so in Omni Tek/Clan controlled territory. By participating in quests such as this clan and omni alike would have reason to focus on Neutrals and try to convince them to join their side of the conflict. Neutrals would then have an actual reason to switch sides ( if they choose) because they have become a part of the conflict


    My 2 cents and my first post so don't flame me pls!

  5. #85
    Lot's of people seem to want the profession/side specific missions. While this does indeed sound like a nice idea, you have to bear in mind that the developers will have to do 12 times the work for 'one' mission. So while it might be nice to have these missions, you have to also ask if you'd rather have 2 missions available to you, or 24 missions available to you (and everyone else).

    Perhaps a mix of mission types would be the best option...

  6. #86
    I finished Dodga's quest before the reward was even finished, and even then it was fun! I don't know about Alvin or anyone in Camelot, but I definately think there should be more story missions. They should be outside, for the most part (an indoor mission to retrieve an item is OK, but there should be more there). AO has a wonderfully vast story world, with many beautiful parts to it (Wine looks awesome), and I think there needs to be something to get us players out there to see it all.

    Camping is no fun...see all the previous replies, and look around the boards. No one really likes camping for more than about 10 mins, if at all. If the NPC's absolutely must vanish after talking to someone, only have them leave for a few minutes, 5 or 10 would be great.

    Profession specific quests would be nice here and there, but they don't all need to be that way. Have one or two for each profession, and have those quests yeild something that really helps members of that profession. For example, the Shoulder Pads for the Su****ious (Yeah, I'm a clanner) can be worn by pretty much anyone, so that type of quest should be for anyone. An example of a nice profession specific mission would be to have a Bureaucrat fight/mez his way to an NPC, get a form from them, fight/mez to another NPC for another form, rinse and repeat until the Crat has all the forms required to request some item (much like the process to get the Crat Suit, only with more NPC's and more forms). Or have Agents assassinate someone. Or have Fixers obtain some illegal item and deliver it to an NPC. You get the idea. If it's a profession specific quest, it should have something to do with that profession's specific abilities.
    Karanah
    Filing reports, requesting supplies, delegating tasks, and shooting anyone who didn't read this morning's memo.

    Karrynn
    Beating people to death for a better tomorrow.

    Karann
    Binding wounds, healing the sick, and providing shotgun courtesy service with a smile

  7. #87
    I agree with the comments of others, especially NO CAMPING. I cannot begin to say how frustrating it is to arrive at an npc only to find several others players have been there for HOURS. I would also like to see the npc's in the game 24/7. It's extremely frustrating to be on the other side of Rubi Ka when the npc you want spawns and you know that he/she will be gone by the time you get there. Why would anyone want a quest giver who only appears ever 2 or 8 hours. That encourages camping and results in a desire to leave AO entirely because it is to much like other mmorpg's.

  8. #88
    Profession specific missions would be nice if there were ways for specific professions to finish the same mission. Such as: sneak through it (agents), hack your way in (fixers), forge paperwork (crats), explore a hidden entrance (adv's), create a device that allows you entrance (eng's), bribe your way in (traders), break the door down (enf's, and soldiers), blow up the door (NT's), give the guards nightmarish fears of creatures crawling all over them (MP's), some sort of acrobatic tightrope walking (MA's)....

    Of course all my examples above are simply for entering a mission but they all accomplish the same goal in a way that the person playing would feel took advantage of their unique abilities as (inster profession here)... so you get the idea.

    I DO NOT like the idea of introducing one quest at a time and ... only fixers can do it... or only MP's... that just makes people jealous and we all know that jealousy brings the nerf screams and there goes everything...

    Again, on side defined missions I think this is a good idea as long as both sides get a quest of equal fun, length and rewards at the same time. Preferably even a clan quest where the omni counterpart is someone trying to do the opposite thing. This would be great for a team static mission where you have to take over an outpost in a PvP zone. Guards could spawn in the base based on the highest average level of players that were in the actual base itself. (then again.. storm could sit their like 30 level 180+ people in the base and no one could complete it .. so maybe another variation of this).

    Quests should most definitely scale to your level, I did the alvin mission when I was level 35ish roughly and I was unhappy to hear that level 130 people could complete it several times in a day because they could kill the higher level robot mobs and always get a piece. So I think that it should take just as long to do a static mission with as much danger for someone level 145 as it should for someone level 26... of course.. the rewards would also have to scale and perhaps a minimum level for some quests but within reason.

    I think there should be a variety of legnths of quests of course, starting with adding much longer quests so that you have more time to add smaller ones while we're still all working on the longer quests. Shorter quests could be something that you could do on a saturday. and longer quests could be something you could do in a month interspersed with your leveling and such.

    as I'm sure everyone agrees CAMPING is BAD. I hate it more than anything. I prefer getting disconnected to camping 4 hours for a spawn. There's simply not enough to do while you're waiting around to even make 15 minutes of camping at all fun.

    As for auto-content, I think this is a good idea as well, although I'd like to see maybe outdoor auto-content (a la backyard training grounds). Perhaps some of those rocky coves in greater omni forest could become minizones that still had an outdoor feel to them and maybe even contained buildings that you could explore but were still unique to your quest only (to avoid them filling up and becoming lagged).

  9. #89

    Thumbs up

    First of all I am a total newbie, highest character a level 10 enforcer so my outlook will be a little vague. Second of all when I bought this game I thought all of this would have been done already, I was a bit dissapointed when it turned out not to be so.

    Do you want story-missions that are profession specific or not?
    Yes , isn't that why there IS professions?

    Do you want side-defined missions, or missions for everyone?
    Both, including the nuetrals!

    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?)
    Yes, but perhaps limit the number of times the same character can take a specific quest. (I don't even know if thats possible sotake it for what it's worth)

    Do you want many small, or fewer longer quests?
    Both would be good, some times I have quite a bit of time to play others not so long. But if you have longer quests think of a way to let us keep track of were we are in the quest, I saw one suggestion for auto-notes, this sounds like a good idea)


    Is it ok with you to camp spawns, like we see in other MMORPGs?
    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?)
    Both would be good

  10. #90

    Do you want story-missions that are profession specific or not?
    Yes, I think this would be incredibly cool if done right. But this only becomes cool if you actually do play to the strengths of the class. Sneaky classes should do sneaky type things. Remain undetected and deliver this shipment in enemy territory at all costs. Docs can get sent to help keep this important person alive with the new prototype Treatment Kit. Crats could get sent on a diplomatic mission to sooth tensions in border areas. The possibilities are endless. One thing though. For us fighting classes...Yes I like to fight, but that is all I ever do. I'd like some variety in my MA missions. Perhaps explore the spiritual side of the MA. But please don't send me off to a temple somewhere to meditate (camp) for 6 hours while I wait for the spirit of a long dead master to enlighten me. Just assume that I already medititated, since camping sucks.


    Do you want side-defined missions, or missions for everyone?
    Yes, but only if you guys can retain some balance between the sides as far as rewards are concerned.


    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?)
    Yes, but then the reward has to scale as well. Doing a QL 100 mission for an item that has QL 30 stats is not cool at all. If the reward doesn't scale, then I would rather kill a mission full of greys since the Risk vs Reward is then balanced. Killing QL 100 mobs for a QL 30 item is out of whack.


    Do you want many small, or fewer longer quests?
    We need both. Small quests are fun and give instant gratification, so that is always welcome. One word of warning on "longer"quests. Please do not resort to cheap tactics to artificially inflate the length of a quest by forcing players to camp rare spawns. This is just frustrating. If the quest is deemed to be "longer" then please, for the love of god, add more content.


    Is it ok with you to camp spawns, like we see in other MMORPGs?
    NO!!! Nobody has EVER liked this practice and it is NOT okay. If you need to stop/limit people from farming items, just use a quest timer like AC or make an item nodrop. See my other ideas in this post about making quests longer.


    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?)
    Yes, I personally like indoor missions, but I also like the atmosphere outdoors. I think most missions should be indoors for one reason at least for now. KSers. If I just spent hours getting to the end of the missions only to be KSed by some fool I would be royally pissed.

    A couple random thoughts here. I think the person that initiated the quest should get the reward in all cases. I really think that the whole team should actually, (they put in as much effort as I did afterall) but I don't know how you guys are going to approach that. In any case, the person who took the mission, and only that person should be allowed to loot whatever it is they need at the end. This should supercede any looting rules that the party has. This would eliminate any problems with other members looting nodrop items, etc. I suppose you could get around that whole problem by having the items pop into inventory like tokens do.

    Camping is bad, very bad. Everyone hates it and knows that it is just a side effect of lazy designers. If you need a way to make a mission longer, then make it longer by having more things for us to do. 30k years in the future, when death isn't even permanent, sitting in one spot for 4 hours waiting for someone to show up is a real immersion breaker. EQ suffers from serious camping syndrome. From what I understand, the Alvin/Dogda quests are serious camps, as are the ends of the static dungeons. Please do not go down this road. Rethink what is is tha makes you feel that you need to extend the time needed to accomplish the objective. Then find a better way to accomplish that. Camping is bad. It's bad for everyone involved.

    Edit: Cleanup
    Last edited by Painsmaiden; Mar 22nd, 2002 at 21:32:06.

  11. #91

    Thumbs up

    *

    Do you want story-missions that are profession specific or not?
    *

    Do you want side-defined missions, or missions for everyone?
    *

    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?)
    YES

    Do you want many small, or fewer longer quests?
    * Many small, some large ones

    Is it ok with you to camp spawns, like we see in other MMORPGs?
    * No, I detest camping

    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?) Both please

  12. #92

    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?
    Last edited by Bionitrous; Mar 22nd, 2002 at 23:20:30.

  13. #93
    Originally posted by senatorjesse

    As for auto-content, I think this is a good idea as well, although I'd like to see maybe outdoor auto-content (a la backyard training grounds). Perhaps some of those rocky coves in greater omni forest could become minizones that still had an outdoor feel to them and maybe even contained buildings that you could explore but were still unique to your quest only (to avoid them filling up and becoming lagged).
    That's a really good idea. Prevents lag and KSers, but keeps that oudoor atmosphere that I love so much.I second that idea =)

  14. #94
    I like a majority of the responses so far.

    For Short or long missions, I would have to fall into the shorter mission catagory. I have not seen a definition on what short means. If I can complete te mission in 2 - 3 hours that would be great. Anything longer than that I would like the ability to be able to continue the mission over multiple days.

    My time online is limited per day but I love solving problems and searching for clues. Some of the larger mission may need to be completed with in a specified tiem due to story implications but others should be considered as background pieces without a definate time requirement or at least confined to let's say a week just so there are not a lot of unfinished missions that the systems are having to keep track of.

  15. #95

    Thumbs up

    Another great article, thanks Funcom!

    I've not had the pleasure to go on one of these story mission yet, but I have heard some fellow clanners talking about them. I hope to change that real soon

    From article:
    Do you want story-missions that are profession specific or not?
    I think a mixture of both is better. That way it would give people good reason to create new characters on Rubi Ka. Having a mixture would also stop the trend of everyone looking exactly the same because item X is found to be the best for melee combat or something.


    Do you want side-defined missions, or missions for everyone?
    Again, I think both would be a good idea. I can't see Omni citizens being too happy about having to sneak into a mission in Omni controlled areas

    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?)
    Certainly a good idea. This would them improve the content for high level players also, in as much as, when you add a new story mission it doesn't alienate players at level X because they are too high.

    I do think however you should have minimum levels for certain story mission, could be useful to have another incentive to level up.

    Do you want many small, or fewer longer quests?
    A balance. I'd like to be able to just play AO for just a few hours if I choose on my own. At the moment even single missions are taking 3-4 hours at this level, hint hint.

    Long quests that can also be taken sound cool also. I just hope they don't reset like missions if you are not in them for an hour or so

    Is it ok with you to camp spawns, like we see in other MMORPGs?
    Absolutely definately not!!

    It makes my blood boil - people camp locations in AO. High level players camping dungeons or spawn locations for unique items, to sell them at silly prices. The lack of camping was one of AOs greatest points, please make it so again.

    I think these NPCs should become unresponsive/invisible to people that have completed the missions a few times.

    Camping is the reason why I have not yet been to these dungeons around Rubi Ka. I would love to, but fear for the camping

    Your dyna-camp idea sounds nice, you know, increasing the number of spawning mob as the number of players increases.

    ** PLEASE reduce the need for camping **

    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?)
    Keep talking, it sound better and better! Yes, this sounds excellent. There definately needs to be a way to get these new story missions into the hands on the ordinary player and not just high level people or huge clans.

    I do not want to have to camp to complete one of these story missions. Can you not spawn unquie NPCs for eah persons (within reason of course) mission?

    I'm sorry to say, but the increase in the need for camping is going to turn me away from AO, no doubt about it.

    I'm looking forward to these already

    PS - In the follow up article (you are going to do one right?) make sure to mention that spawn camping has had NO votes for, so you are going to do your best to remove/avoid it!
    Last edited by edict; Mar 22nd, 2002 at 22:25:55.
    edict
    Clan Archdeacon

    "Nothing worth while is ever easy"

  16. #96
    Do you want story-missions that are profession specific or not?

    Yes, both prof specific and non specific quests would be good. Please do non specific first, to get more overall content out faster.

    Do you want side-defined missions, or missions for everyone?

    Yes, plese have Omni only and clan only missions. I think it would be a fine thing if neutrals were able to do missions for EITHER side.

    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?)

    Scaling is absolutely necessary, I don't want to have to start an alt because you finally got the content added to the game.

    Is it ok with you to camp spawns, like we see in other MMORPGs?

    DOES ANYONE FROM FUNCOM EVER SEE ANYTHING EVER WRITTEN ON THESE (apparently useless) BOARDS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
    No, spawn camping is entirely unaccecptable. Dodga is considered one of the most boring things in the whole game. Shades of lucrubation are so stupidly rare that they're selling for over $100 on ebay. WITH A ****** ******* EIGHTEEN HOUR SPAWN!!!!!

    Sigh.

    The only camped item that isn't hated and despised it neleb's robe. A powerful item in a semi-difficult to hard (dependant on lvl) dungeon that people will politely help out and wait thier turn for. The only item that isn't a source of ridicule when new players ask about it. The only item that teams will actually go "Ya, sure, lets go get some of those" without the need to schedule a 10 hour kill/camp session.

    Now, if anyone ever got feedback from these boards, they'd know, without a doubt, that almost the entire vocal player community despises everquest-like camping. Hates it vehemently
    may be a fairer thing to say. Seriously, if we LIKED that, we'd be playing EQ. Play on your strengths FC, not the idiocy of your competitors. PLEASE make rare camp type items nodrop, make the items drop at the end of a hard dungeon or quest (for the min equip level) and make the spawn either nonexistant (thru spawning a new dungeon for every team) or VERY short. Short enough to encourage cooperation and teamwork.

    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?) sure whatever

  17. #97
    In short, yes to everything. These propsals are all good. Im sure everyone however understands that you will have to make priorities as to what you'll implement first.

    My advice is to begin with the system that is the most different from what we have for quests now.

    Kill specific mob in a generated area as part of the quest, preferably something that gives players reason to invent new tactics in PvM. Maybe even make quests where you have to fight thru a maze to reach some person that will give you a clue about next step of the quest. Have some profession specific quests, some non-specific.

    The MOST IMPORTANT aspects o these quests is that the rewards must not be alot better than everything else in the game, or you have practically killed all your previous work by making everyone only try to complete these new uber quests. Make it so the rewards of the old quests and camps still are competitable. We need to have more than one way of getting our chars geared up.

    One nice touch could be to make the rewards such that you can use it to focus on one strength but giving another weakness. For example armor that has 2000 Melee ac but only 200 impact ac and so on. Thats an item people will want, but it wont satisfy anyone in the long run...

    Wolfe
    Last edited by Wolfe; Mar 22nd, 2002 at 21:57:24.

  18. #98
    Well, made my reply and then went back thru and read the previous 5 pages worth. As usualy Bionitrous and I are pretty much in agreement. I'm going to just start replying to things he dosen't when he beats me here.

    ALSO...

    I CAN'T WAIL TILL THEY IMPLEMENT THESE QUESTS FULL OF CAMPING

    Then we will finally have solid proof that even 100% of the player population *****ing about something dosen't have any effect in what happens on live.

  19. #99

    Post Problems solved

    One thing i noticed while particapating in these missions is that its hard to get the correct word trigger. I suggest that you change the colors of the trigger words in the text. Then have a few standard trigger words such as "tell me about your work"
    The npc would reply "I work with wood". wood would be red. The player then asks"tell me about wood" ect ect

    CAMPING IS BAD!!
    the missions should take a signifant amount of time though.
    make short and long ones
    hard and easy
    I also would like some super hard ones!!!
    both clan/omini/neutral and some that are for all
    generated is good but not all generated
    When they are made and working some place or forum where hints are given to where they start. NOT ANSWERS TO THE QUEST just were they start.

    I guess what I am saying is give us variety.
    THanks
    RYan.

  20. #100
    There have been a number of very good replies already.Now for my 2 cr. worth....

    Do you want story-missions that are profession specific or not?

    Both please! I think a mix of both would be fantastic.

    Do you want side-defined missions, or missions for everyone??

    Side-defined, and don't forget the neutrals as they have become a side unto themselves. This just feels better with the backstory.

    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?)?

    Definately scale them. This makes the mission fun no matter what level you are.

    Do you want many small, or fewer longer quests??

    A healthy mix to choose from would be best.

    Is it ok with you to camp spawns, like we see in other MMORPGs??

    NO ! ! Camping is the absolute WORST! One of the most frustrating things so far was trying to complete my Shoulder Pads of hte Su****ious. Why? Because Dodga kept disappearing! Find a way to enable quest timers (sorry, I spent a long time in AC and was spoiled rotten with story features )

    I also played DAoC for a short time and one of my favorite features of that game was 'distibuted questing". There were multiple completion paths to any quest so that many people could be trying to get a certain item, but they were on different steps in different orders, or entrirely different seeming quests. so that there was no camping. This could be done with the mission system spawning unique instances of the mission areas.

    Another way to do this is to give each player in a team the same reward. The reward only means something in the timeline if it had already been asked for and make them unique-no drop. This will make it so tha the items can't be farmed. It also makes people actually DO the work to get an item, not just be part of the final team that found the final item to finish a mission.

    Find a way to limit or better yet, eradicate camping!

    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?)?

    Mix the action up! Interweaving with the mission system would probably make the tech easier anyhow )

    A final note...don't make the NPC's run away after talking to any ONE person that has finished a mission. There is a vast multitude waiting to finish theeir mission as well. By making the NPC disappear, you introduce a great deal of frustration and discontent into the people tha enjoy finishing a puzzle, yet can't because of game mechanics rather than a lack of skill. Not everyone can spend days on end waiting for a certain NPC to spawn, and there are even fewr that really want to.

    Introduce a system of personal "flags" and multiple completion paths. This will get people out of missions and into the wilderness. Some of the most beautiful scenery int eh game is totally ignored because people don't have a reason to go out and see it. The 4 main mayhem zones are some of the most beautiful places I have seen in the game so far...and I can only fly through them and look because it would be insta-death to land

    This will really flesh out the world and bring the story where it belongs...INSIDE the game! Assasination missions, full out assaults, shady item retrievals...the possibilities are endless!
    Milford "Cordale" Neblett
    Meta-Physicist Extraordinaire

    Proud Member of 3305 Local
    Atlantean

Page 5 of 15 FirstFirst 123456789101112131415 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •