[MUD-Dev] DESIGN: WoW quests and content

[Kiztent Hatepriest]

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 08:10:42 +0930, Mike Rozak <Mike at mxac.com.au> wrote:

> I don't understand why WoW players think its quests/content are so
> superior.

> Here's my synopsis of WoW's quests:

>  - WoW's quests are fundamentally the same as any other MMORPG
>  I've tried.

>  - Except that there are more of them and they seem to flow into
>  one another better.

Isn't this enough to make them better?  While I agree there's some
fundamental flaws with MMORPG quests (the staple of heroic fiction,
the "search really hard for a rare something" is pretty much made
obsolete by spoiler sites, leaving the staples of "kill x", "collect
x" and "deliver x").

The other major advantage of WoWs quests is that they help guide
you. Say, for example, I'm a night elf.  I start off in the newbie
area, once I finish the quests there, I get guided to the first
village, once I get done with the quests there, I get guided to the
main city, which then gives me quests to Darkshore, where I level
until the exp starts to dry up and I get pushed to Auberdine... and
so on.  I'm currently level 43 and haven't needed a spoiler site to
(1) find things I 'need' to do and (2) figure out where to level.
The quests give me enough to do to fill the exp bar until I can get
and do higher level quests and move me through the world into level
appropriate content.

>  - As far as I can tell, the only place that the instancing really
>  made a difference was the follow-the-NPC part.

Instances are quiet.  Since you're not on the main world
channels. This is good.  Plus you don't have to worry about some
random person rampaging through your area, pulling your mobs or
dumping an overpull in your lap.  Plus, instances that don't respawn
are nice since they allow you to move through a slower pace.  Some
do, some don't.

> What am I missing? (Perhaps I'm missing some quest/content-design
> subtlety.)

While I can only compare EQ and WoW, the WoW quests might not be all
that, but they're light years ahead of the EQ ones.  They're in the
fabroc of the game and don't feel like someting tacked on.
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev