10.0.1 What kinds of quests will you use?
We've implemented an advanced flag-based quest system that is very flexible. More details will follow, but here's a simple example of how it works:
Quests will involve all sorts of ideas and stories; there may be multiple ways to solve or complete them. Some of the stories might be only of local import, or some might have some epic scope. It really all depends on the context, who you are, and what you're doing. Certainly the quests will not be random, nor limited to taking an item from point A to point B. Our quest design involves a sophisticated flag system where characters can be marked by an number of events (including, but far from being limited by, picking up or being handed an item). NPCs will then react to that character depending on what flags he has on or off.
One example of a quest we just put in the game involved retrieving a stained cloak from a half-giant that attacks you if you are on a certain quest. Once you retrieve the cloak, it allows you entry into a goblin mini-dungeon -- apparently the goblin's smell the scent on the cloak and choose not to attack you. This then allows you audience with the goblin chief -- you have a quick dialog with him, have another flag set, and continue onto the next segment of the greater quest. And, as long as you aren't dumb enough to remove the cloak, the goblins allow you to exit the dungeon and proceed.
10.0.2 Will there be branching quests?
Yes.
10.0.3 Will players be able to repeat quests?
Some yes, some no.
10.0.4 Will there be different types of rewards for quests?
Yes, there are quite a few types of rewards including but not limited to items, experience, faction adjustments, etc.
10.0.5 Will there be some sort of journal to keep track of quests?
Yes.
Its purpose is ultimately to store information about locations that don't necessarily have to do with a quest. For example, we feel the new player when assuming control of a level 1 character who is, assuming he or she is human, at least 18 years old, probably ought to know something about their surroundings. Where to buy food... where their guild master is... where the merchant is... where the nearest noobie yard is... There's no reason to frustrate a player by forcing him to find these places and from an RP standpoint it doesn't make sense -- you're creating an adult noob, not an infant. So your travel journal, to begin with, will contain basic information that makes sense for you to know -- basic locations. And then you can use your travel journal to bring up the cord and guide you to that location. No, there's not a ton of info there, and we very much believe in learning your surroundings and not being too hand-held, but the key stuff is there.
Next, when you die, an entry related to your corpse appears in your travel journal. You can then use the cord to lead you to said corpse, and after you loot it, that entry will delete itself. As stated elsewhere, while it may be dangerous and difficult to get to your corpse based on where it is, you shouldn't simply lose it because it blends in with desert rocks.
And then, as you play the game, travel journal entries will come and go based on what you're doing. You could be given a quest with directions. You could complete a quest and be rewarded with directions to something important or valuable. You could pay a merchant upon entering a new town to scribble down some of those essentials again (food, merchants, etc.) The possibilities and power of the travel journal are really cool, I think. And those locations, combined with the cord, definitely help you navigate the world.
10.0.6 Will we see different types of rewards for quests?
Yes.
10.0.7 What relationship if any will factions, alignment, and quests have?
Completing quests may adjust faction, but there is no explicit alignment associated with your character. Decisions you make during gameplay can effect your faction. The faction you accrue may effect what quests/opportunities open up for you within the game. The quests/opportunities that do open up to you may effect the items acquired. This aids in creating a character that is uniquely developed by you, the player. Your Avatar at level 40 may meet another player of the same class/level/race and yet appear different due to the different choices each has made and different paths followed.
10.0.8 How can the player affect the environment? Will this effect be permanent or temporary?
How players affect the environment is an area we're pretty excited about, but need to keep under wraps for a while. We have revealed that, for example, crafters will be able to remove cave-ins and repair broken bridges.
10.0.9 What can you tell me about your 'advanced encounter system'?
Encounter Routes are interactive adventures that can be used to progress a storyline, or simply to create a fun play experience for a group of lucky players.
Encounter Routes are not /only/ spawned via items – we have other means of tracking a group’s action within an area. View an Encounter Route as a series of linked events or conditions which must be met in order to receive a reward. Our encounter routes are not an entitlement; not everyone will get to experience each one of them
We will have both covert and overt Encounter Routes. Covert ones may not give the players any feedback as to their progress along the adventure. Overt ones may give you feedback such as “Kill ten more Foozles” or “Return to the Throne Room”. . (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.10 I am not a fan of locked encounters -- will your encounter system involve them?
If you do see something like that in Vanguard, it will be very different than what you see in, say, our distinguished competition. More on this later, but don't panic.
If we use it it will be in very special situations that I don't think you'll have a problem with. Until then, please have faith. Also faith that if, in beta, it doesn't work, we'll yank it.
10.0.11 Is there an example where you feel using such a restrictive mechanic would be reasonable?
The current thinking (not set in stone) is that if you or your group caused a boss mob to spwan with our flag-based quest system, it would only do so as you approached the correct location in response to your flagged group. Most likely it would be locked to your group so someone else doesn't gank it when you did all the work on a long, detailed, and difficult quest that culminated with the boss mob spawning.As mentioned above, only a very limited number of mobs or NPCs will be considered “Golden”.
10.0.12 Do we have to do the quests?
Quests should be ONE way to advance. They should be optional in most cases. You definitely should never feel like you have to complete a sequence of quests in order to merely advance.
That said, we want them to be more detailed, more immersive, to reveal lore, to have context, and to not all feel like basic fed-ex quests either. And having a robust quest journal to help you track and manage quests is important. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.13 Will there be other kinds of flagging, then?
We're going to use flags a LOT. But hopefully in ways that make sense. Using databases like we can now, we can have all sorts of flags associated with your character which allows us to do some pretty cool things.
I could see things like if there was a special teleporter in a dungeon that ported you across a river of lava, but you needed to have completed a quest to use it... or the advanced encounter system knowing to spawn a special mob because you and your party are flagged accordingly (having worked your way through the encounter segments), etc. I think that sort of thing works well and also makes sense to the player. (And remember HOW the character is flagged on the server doesn't and probably shouldn't be so obvious to the player... the player should be picking up an item, or receiving a temporary magical sigil on his arm, or something cool like that.) (using Sigil in a sentence ftw!)
As for flagging an entire zone, not only unlikely, but probably not doable really if we wanted to because there aren't really any zones in a seamless world. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.14 Do your quests use keywords? Do we have to guess the keywords and type them out?
The current plan is such that you can click on the words or type them out. Again, not set in stone and is functionality we want to play with in beta. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.15 Can a player quest actually change the world? Will there be a story that we can play a substantial part in?
I'm every bit as much a sucker for story as anyone. I think I'm equal parts power-gamer and RP buff. I can 'grind' on a game for hours if I'm given a compelling reason. If my efforts have a 'real' impact on the world or the lore, well, then consider me compelled.
Changing the world is a lofty goal in a MMO though. Especially in a huge world, it's a challenge getting a decent base-coat of content in place and debugged. If you are going to allow a player (or group of players) to actually change the way the game is played or a story is presented then you have the responsibility of ensuring that the changes are just as compelling for those who follow as the original content was.
Going down that road, it's easy to exponentially increase the amount of work that must be done. What happens if you spend 1,000 man hours on a content 'path' that players opt not to pursue? As a designer, you're probably looking for a new place to work.
I've given it quite a bit of thought, and experimented with it a bit on previous projects. I think one elegant solution is to set up a win/win scenario, where trailblazers are able to impact the world in a way that benefits the more casual player. Where their efforts expand the story instead of causing it to completely change direction. Then, in order to maintain the benefit, follow-up players must perform acts that perpetuate the setting, or it will eventually revert to its original state.
Ultimately this doesn't break anything, work isn't wasted, and players of all types can feel like they're playing a significant role in impacting their environment. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.16 What can you tell me about your 'advanced encounter system'?
Encounter Routes are interactive adventures that can be used to progress a storyline, or simply to create a fun play experience for a group of lucky players.
Encounter Routes are not /only/ spawned via items – we have other means of tracking a group’s action within an area. View an Encounter Route as a series of linked events or conditions which must be met in order to receive a reward. Our encounter routes are not an entitlement; not everyone will get to experience each one of them
We will have both covert and overt Encounter Routes. Covert ones may not give the players any feedback as to their progress along the adventure. Overt ones may give you feedback such as “Kill ten more Foozles” or “Return to the Throne Room”.
10.0.17 So what happens when an advanced encounter starts?
Encounter routes are for your group - your group needs to do the actions
Encounter routes are not only triggered by items - they are triggered by monitoring the actions of your group
Encounter routes are /not/ specifically designed for casual players. They are a layer of content on top of existing content. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.18 Do encounter routes have party number requirements?
Certain Encounter Routes will have a minimum number of players that must meet the conditions. It will not often be a full group requirement – so yes, additional players may join in. It would certainly not be fun to find out you are on an Encounter Route that you have no way of defeating – just because the Ranger and the Cleric didn’t hit accept group yet.
We may create some solo and casual encounter routes – but the focus of most of the Premiere Dungeons past a certain level is typically group. That’s not to say we wont have mini dungeons with encounter routes for solo players – but creating this content does take time.
As for higher level players returning hoping to do those Encounter Routes – they will find that they are not eligible. This falls in line with Trivial Loot.
The intent is to not trigger or allow encounter routes to happen with a solo individual in a group based area. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.19 How does my level effect my chance of triggering an encounter route?
The maximum level for a given encounter route will probably be in line with the level range of the dungeon or area that it is in. It should be pretty clear to players that when a dungeon is trivial to them the encounter routes it contains are also trivial.
Also please keep in mind that these encounter routes are not an entitlement. Not everyone will get to experience every one of them. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.20 If these items when dropped must be used for that encounter then or can they be saved and activated later?
We have a variety of options here and will likely use them. If the plan is to have the item persistent (saved) we can do that, or we can have the item disappear after you trigger the encounter route. The latter will probably be more common. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.21 I assume only one encounter of a route can be active at a time. If that is the case what happens if 2 people get the item to start the encounter with, and roughly how many routes are there in a dungeon for these types of encounters?
The second group with the item that triggers the encounter route would fail to trigger the route until the first group had moved on. That said, remember that longer routes are divided into segments, so there would be an item/trigger for each segment. The idea there being that more than one group could be on the same route, but in different segments (but not on the same segment at the same time).
How many routes and segments per dungeon depends on the size of the dungeon, the level range, etc. The idea behind our larger dungeons is that they should support multiple groups that are either just adventuring or on various routes and the segments within those routes. Ultimately, while we think the encounter route system addresses what instancing tries to addresss but without the negatives, having a lot of content and huge dungeons is just as, if not more, important. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.22 I am not a fan of locked encounters -- will your encounter system involve them?
If you do see something like that in Vanguard, it will be very different than what you see in, say, our distinguished competition. More on this later, but don't panic.
If we use it it will be in very special situations that I don't think you'll have a problem with. Until then, please have faith. Also faith that if, in beta, it doesn't work, we'll yank it. .
Locked encounters are only at the end of a specific type of quest. The vast majority of the time, encounters will not be locked. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.23 So in what kind of special situation would encounters be locked/golden?
"Golden Mobs" are typically only at the end of an encounter route or special quest which involves massive amounts of work by one set of individuals. We do not want a groups collective effort being spoiled after working towards something for a long period of time.
We don't lock standard encounters. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.24 But I like competing for named mobs. How many are going to be locked like this?
There is a huge difference between two groups competing for a standard spawn, and a group coming in and destroying the last hour of /your blood sweat and tears.
Again to be clear – only a very limited number of NPCs will be golden. These will most often be the final boss type encounter NPCs.
A very limited subset of NPCs involved in an encounter route will be “Golden” NPCs. These are the only NPCs which others may not interact with. A majority of encounter routes are planned to play upon the standard population of the dungeon as stated above.
The purpose of the “Golden” NPC is to insure that a group which has been working on an Encounter Route for several hours and finally spawns a boss mob does not have said boss mob “stolen” “ks’d” or otherwise molested by other players. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.25 Reserving such a restrictive mechanic for highly beneficial encounters would be very reasonable. To me, thats where other newer MMOGs went overboard. They locked EVERY encounter, no matter how common and miniscule.
The current thinking (not set in stone) is that if you or your group caused a boss mob to spawn with our flag-based quest system, it would only do so as you approached the correct location in response to your flagged group. Most likely it would be locked to your group so someone else doesn't gank it when you did all the work on a long, detailed, and difficult quest that culminated with the boss mob spawning. As mentioned above, only a very limited number of mobs or NPCs will be considered “Golden”. . (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)
10.0.26 Can we expect many random, unexpected or unusual encounters?
We'll do our best. the more complex the content or encounter, the more time it takes to implement, but the designers are putting in major hours and doing the best they can. (This answer is courtesy of Silky Venom)