- Status Unconfirmed Reopened
- Percent Complete
- Task Type Feature Request
- Category Engine → NPC
- Assigned To No-one
- Operating System
- Severity Medium
- Priority
- Reported Version
- Due in Version Undecided
-
Due Date
Undecided
- Votes
- Private
FS#5216 - Visual indication of available quests
When a player character is within the interaction range of an NPC, a mark (label) of some sort should appear above that NPC if they are offering some new or repeatable quests (! not some information for those already running !) for that particular character at that particular moment.
Should be optional as a turn-off or turn-on, depending on the default chosen by designers. In any case, and as with any other label, players should retain the option of not seeing it, if it spoils their fun or ruins their immersion somehow.
The reason for this request: drastically increased amount of questing chains ingame, and the absolutely unhealthy and immersion-breaking amount of mouse-clicking on the same NPCs the game now requires.
Noticing a sign above someone's head is OOC, of course, but clicking a mouse button on someone's model, or getting an aggressive red "…has no quest information for you" line floating in mid-air is equally OOC'ish.
On the other hand, seeing no mark above someone's head would cause neither irritation nor disappointment (while futile mouse-targeting and mouse-clicking, when done repeatedly, invariably produces both of those negative effects).
The marks would also provoke reasonable curiousity about available quests, hopefully enticing new players into doing more of them.
I know this request is somewhat of a long shot, but assuming that the engine is going to be considerably revisited this summer, I decided to submit it anyway.
[Edited for clarity, and also to separate it more from PS#4798. That older one would 'make the game easier' indeed, while what I suggest would only eliminate excessive mouse actions.]
Same as and extends PS#4798. Please comment there.
Quote from mickra about the differences with PS#4798
Explaining the differences again.
1. This request (#4798) suggests indicating the NPCs who have information on the quests already taken by the player as well as on the new ones.
My request only includes quests that can be started with that particular NPC atm. That doesn't make completing any quests any easier.
2. This request does not deal with visibility range of the suggested 'symbols' at all.
My request suggests that the label would only appear once the player is within the interaction range of an NPC (same as required for talk, trade and training operations). In other words, only when you stand toe to toe with the NPC. That would not let the player get the information from far away, therefore the amount of ingame movement the game presently requires would stay exactly the same. No speed gain, no time benefits.
3. This request suggests using graphic imagery, the implementation indeed overused in other games.
I suggest a label, and PS labels are text. It does not have to be, and I think it should not be, anything as obtrusive as on the picture above. Actually, something as simple as an asterisk symbol could do just fine.
4. This request suggests anyone would be subjected to seeing the symbols all the time.
I ask for an option that would be easily switch-able, same as it goes with the labels already existing ingame.
Re-stating reason, which also differs.
a. With new and many 'quest chains' introduced, the possibility of starting the quest with an NPC at the particular moment got drastically reduced. Out of 20 times you target+click an NPC, about 19 times you get no more than an OOC'ish red 'NO' yelled at you by the server.
b. The only way to actually advance with a quest chain in PlaneShift implies visiting dozens of NPCs and repeatedly clicking on those NPCs. While visiting is logical and has an IC reason, clicking is neither logical nor IC. It's just that, using your computer mouse. (As a matter of fact, using one's IRL eyes would be much more IC'ish; unlike the mouse, we 'share' our eyesight with our characters.)
c. Never before in PlaneShift's history was there a need to click on the same NPC 10-12 times with the sole intent of checking out if it can 'give you a quest' or not. Three or four times in one character's lifetime used to be enough. Now it's somewhere between 20 and 50 clicking actions with each NPC (please multiply first by the number of NPCs in a given quest chain, then multiply it again by the number of quest chains you might be exploring). In my estimation, which might not be exact, it makes something about 12000 mouse clicks per chain total. And about 80% of those clicks result solely in a server shout that tells you… nothing. You are told that there's nothing you could be told.
Now please multiply by the number of one's characters. Sane? Reasonable? Meaningful? No and no.
And now please multiply again for those normally on mouselook (I am). By default I don't even have a cursor to put on an NPC. Two more clicks added to every 5 or 6 of those mentioned above: one to get a cursor, and another to get rid of it.
No and no and no.
All in all, the percentage of successful interactions done with any given NPC for any purpose drops down abruptly, making the player feel frustrated and estranged from the IG world. It also makes it harder for the player to perceive every 'much-clicking-no-response' NPC as a living being in the world. Living beings don't talk in server voice all across your screen, and when they talk, they usually say something. Too much non-resultative mouse-clicking makes an NPC nothing more than an area on your screen to be mouse-clicked on. Not even a container, because clicking on a container usually produces an IC action. Like, taking things out or putting things in.
Summary.
We all know and remember well that 'cheating is for losers'.
Please don't force more players into cheating by making them feel like losers for no good reason.
After getting to the quest menu of that NPC with the (suggested) sign, odds are 9 to 1 that it wouldn't be offering the particular quest you were looking for, anyway. Frustrating enough, please believe me, but much better than a server 'go away' yell again. People are going away from computer games for many reasons, and being constantly, repeatedly frustrated by technical aspects of the game is among the most popular.
If the game '…has no information for you' way too often, you might decide that you have no time to dedicate to that game. If that's the goal, we are progressing fast. I'd rather we would not.
(tl;dr, I know. Sorry.)