Shattered Kingdoms

Forgive me if I misinterpret Enishi's ideas, but this was exactly the kind of thing that I was alluding to in my post from this morning.

Quests that integrate with leveling provides three things:

1. A break from the monotony of killing NPCs. You get to read a quest and perform a slightly different sequence of actions, at least.
2. A reward, no matter how marginal or insignificant. Hell, I've gotten a sense of accomplishment when I got equipment from a quest in WoW that was WORSE than what I was already wearing. "Gee, I guess my gear is so good that I'm beating out quest rewards for my level." Also, adding .25 additional dps is pretty insignificant except at the very beginning of the game. Yet, as a player, you feel that you are marginally more efficient and powerful. SK's levels give you satisfaction, yes, but it is hard to see the impact. Additionally, you can't even say that you gain satisfaction from new skills. The more efficient way to level is to only train what you absolutely need, and then train skills later on when they require less experience. This means that for the average status increase, you'll probably get one new skill/spell. And for non-casters, that's probably a passive skill.
3. An integration into the world. I would love to see quests that immersed a player into the history and culture of SK while giving them chances to level at the same time. Stepping aside the fact that killing the same NPCs over and over again are very boring, what is the MOTIVATION behind your actions? As a paladin, how do you justify killing prisoners in the ayamao outpost? The prisoners might get dangerous behind their LOCKED DOORS? Or killing goblins? "Oh no, they might rise up and demand voting rights!" Even as a generic gray- why kill the barbarians in the Tribal Grounds? What did those barbarians do to you? <insert complete b*llshit rp reason here>. Almost all players avoid asking questions like that because they know their own excuses are equally crappy.

Imagine a quest like thus, that teaches you about previous chars (which are just as important to SK as the one made up by Dulrik), the terrain of SK, the general politics AND gives you a chance to grind while feeling some sense of satisfaction:


At this point the player could go out there, kill a lot of satyrs, get the equipment, come back and give it to the captain, and receive a small reward (a platinum coin or so).

At this point you know that the terrain to the north is a forest, you know the empire has a proud and arrogant culture, you get a militaristic sense of the culture, you learn about a player who made a dramatic change to the game that would otherwise be forgotten except by really old players, and you feel a sense of accomplishment and integration in the world by
completing this quest. You feel like more than yet another grinder in a static world that wouldn't give a [REDACTED] if you deleted right now.

As Enishi pointed out, it is infeasible to ask the IMM staff to revamp the entire game this way. However, I would be unbelievably ecstatic if I heard that they were -trying- to move in this direction. Additionally, they could even call upon the playerbase for ideas/descriptions, wettrew style. Obviously the easiest new quests to incorporate would involve existing areas: for example, a quest that involved finding out a hidden leader among the ayamao outpost who is trying to stir them into rebelling. You would kill a lot of them until one of them drops a trinket that identified them as the leader. Something a bit more complicated than that would be nice, but that would be a great start.

Not a bad suggestion at all. AT ALL.

I completely agree with this as well. My highest character has been master 2-3 so far..After that, i'm really not sure where to go anymore..Or I can't get a group. [shrug]

I very much agree with this as well, Enishi pretty much hit it right on the head as to why leveling/questing in WoW was more enjoyable than in SK. The monetary/item reward is nice, even if it's worse, and the big exp boost means less time spent overall grinding on NPCs.

The biggest boon in my eyes though, would be something that Adder has already mentioned.

HISTORY.

What I wouldn't give to see SK's history far more fleshed out. Sure there's books, but they're choppy at best, and you don't get the whole picture at all. It would be just grand to see old notable names here and there, learn of the feats of past characters, have actual IC excuses as to why a grey aura is just randomly slaughtering the sprite rangers in the Elisair palace.

I know when I first came back to the game, the first thing I did when I started my helf merc in Taslamar was check out the new and improved newbie school. It was -wonderful- to see that all the trainers in there shared the last names of old Taslamaran PC characters, and even more delighted to find that the swashy trainer actually had the last name of my first Taslamaran character. I absolutely think it's a great thing to keep history like that especially player created history in the game, for all those who come after to discover on their own. Having quests that further explained the history and great occurences in the realms, like Ibudon creating the forests in the Imperial lands with his death, or the destruction of the staff of demise, by Frollith, using his own body as a conduit for the evil, and later the reformation of the evil relic, and purification of Frollith by Eisenvahl(toot my own horn). The history of the great blood wars, and all the huge names and events involved during that time. Lorzatu's reign of terror while he was around. Anything and everything that can be remembered could be added.

Not only would it take away the monotony of grinding by giving characters quests to accomplish, with rewards at the end, but just as important, it would give the characters a huge history lesson, the feeling that they're doing something worthwhile and important. They're not just killing satyr's in some dumb forest for hours on end, they're trying to undo the dying works of Ibudon, the creator of the forest itself. It gives the character a sense of self worth, and it gives insight to the longevity of the game, by immersing the game with it's own history.

I think it's a superg idea.

I love this. I would love to see a thousand such quests in the game, to help immerse, educate, give the newer players a chance to enrich themselves with the history that makes SK more its own world. (And by newer player, I mean those of us who have only been around a handful of players, not only those just introduced to the game.)

I would offer to help, but I know little to nothing about Pyrathian history.

I fully agree with the idea. The frustrating part is that not only do I agree with it, but I've been actively pushing it among the imm staff for the last couple of years. Algorab HAS been doing this with Taslamar and I think that's one big reason why people have been giving her props as a KD.

More than areas, SK needs to continuously add new quests, both that provide guidance to newbies and provide history and small material rewards to players of all levels. PLEASE feel free to contact your KD if you have a good idea for a quest that provides these benefits. KDs already know that I fully support them creating more such quests.

Okay this may come out a little strange but, Quests have a big problem.

A quest about getting someone a book, or going to the outpost to kill 10 furblogs are okay but

A quest telling you to go save a damsel from a deepelf can be ridiculous, as the next player will also go save the same damsel from the same villain, making it seem well, a little stupid really. This is why I never liked the idea of a RP server in WoW. What exactly is the catch with killing ragnaros and him respawning every week?

I guess what I'm saying is yeah, quests can be great, but make sure they don't make the game -seem- like a game.

Example of Quests I don't like:
* The quest to enter a certain camp of centaurs in aghelia.
* The quest about rescuing an elf from a certain deepelf by swearing a lot in taslamar ( I also think that elf needs to act a little more elven when rescued)

Just make the NPCs you're supposed to rescue more generic, and perhaps more random. What is a female elf once may be a young boy next time, etc.

Quests should have bigger rewards when done at the appropriate level. A tick at novice is 1 minute of work. There's no reason not to grant a full level for a quest well done at low levels.

The corollary to this is that there should be a level cap to receive a bonus, or just reduced rewards when completed at high levels.

Item rewards at mid-low levels are also a great idea. Even better is an item that can be re-attained after it's lost, as in the Helm of Gods' Blessing.

I agree, but the judge person in exile did mention that killing the bandit now only took them off track as he would find a way to come back later, I like to think im an okay writer and would like to see if I can come up with anything if anyone wouldnt mind?

Actually, I completely understand what you mean, Erevan, and I try to keep that in mind.