New Questsystem

[Sulaika]

Hello,

i am sorry but i have to write my thoughts about the new questsystem. I dealt with the winchaccess now for about two months. i did it now, but only after getting Spoilerhelp And i know some of my friends that play the game also dont have a clue about the whole new system. Its the thing that you dont know about the questchains. I dont know how anyone gets it ever done without help, but if you are new, you just run around, finding just NPC's that wont give you any quests. Now there is another point i never know which quests i need for other quests, because there are no hints where to go or whom to need made next. I wanna play a character without making any guardsquests for example, but if i ask where to start to get quests, all just tell me start with guardquests and work yourself through to the other areas. I don't wanna make guardquests! Why does no one understand this. For me it does not fit for my character. Okay after getting frustrated i did some guardquest which did not help me and just gave me good factions with guards. That was what i always wanted [says it an ironical way]. Oh by the way i have friends that quit Planeshift after getting frustrated about the questsystem, because the someone does not know which quest to make, to get the "Sunshine Squadron Interview". I was really getting mad about the system I already wanted to quit as well after returning after a 2 years break, because of this, but since i dont give up so easily and ask for help always and always again i could make it. But still now i frustraded, cause my friend left because of the questsystem! And I am sure its hard to make hints after setting up the complete new chainquestsystem. Well I hope I am not alone by not having a clue which quests are prequests of others.
Sincerely Sulaika Letaza.

[Mordaan]

I feel your pain.  Sorry for the frustration.  What I intend to do is tackle all these quest chains, reorganize them a bit, and add dialog that properly directs you.  But it's a big project and I'll get to it one of these days.  In other words: soon^TM.

[Pakarro]

But why should everything be easy and ready on a plate? Ask around in game, people will help. If you miss something, bad luck. It is a game, after all. And games are not movies.

[Venalan]

I would like to also say.. The most we will ever tell you as players is which quest is opened up next in a chain when you complete a quest. So in a A->B->C->D->E chain once you do A the NPC in A will point to B, NPC in B to C etc, take the newest cooking chain as an example. And also bare in mind the current settings people setup very few of the chains as they are right now so how -we- (Mordaan and I) would have done the linking dialog is not how they are. And also remember we are busy people but it will get done, given time.

[Volki]

But why should everything be easy and ready on a plate? Ask around in game, people will help. If you miss something, bad luck. It is a game, after all. And games are not movies.

This is exactly how not to run a game, kids.

[Mordaan]

I would like to also say.. The most we will ever tell you as players is which quest is opened up next in a chain when you complete a quest. So in a A->B->C->D->E chain once you do A the NPC in A will point to B, NPC in B to C etc, take the newest cooking chain as an example. And also bare in mind the current settings people setup very few of the chains as they are right now so how -we- (Mordaan and I) would have done the linking dialog is not how they are. And also remember we are busy people but it will get done, given time.

The big problem is, we started off with a bunch of quests and more and more were added as time went on.  Once factions were added, it was decided "hey, let's group these quests and create storylines or arcs by chaining together quests with common themes and connect them with the factions we created."  Which, in theory, is a good idea.  But these quests were already written so this dialog to provide direction needed to be added at the same time they were chained.  In the mean time, the settings staff exited and new staff has come in.

[Sulaika]

But these quests were already written so this dialog to provide direction needed to be added at the same time they were chained.

  <- exactly what i thought. I think it makes it now harder for you to work all this out. Mordaan, thanks so much for your understanding. I am glad you figured out what i mean.
 

And also bare in mind the current settings people setup very few of the chains as they are right now so how -we- (Mordaan and I) would have done the linking dialog is not how they are. And also remember we are busy people but it will get done, given time.

<- I remember that indeed and understand that. The other reason why i made that complain about the questsystem was a video on youtube. A girl were testing Planeshift in january and february 2013 and got frustrated about NPCs that did not have quests for her was only one problem.

Venalan, Mordaan and all other devs as also GMs. I very much appreciate all of your work and thank you deeply for it. I can imagine how much work it is and how much energy you invest in it daily.
[/color]

But why should everything be easy and ready on a plate? Ask around in game, people will help. If you miss something, bad luck. It is a game, after all. And games are not movies.

<- I am playing PS now since a long time and enjoy it. I am roleplaying often as well. But hey it is a game like you say and i play it to relax and get not frustrated over it.
I already had a break of it in between.
There are games that really give you better hints. There is a flow in it, which isnt in PS its just confusing at the moment, and i am sorry but i am not the only one having these thoughts.

What PS really makes so special to me are the factions you can get, and sorry, but i wont make quests that give me good factions with guards, when wanting to play an evil alt. It makes no sense for me. I might be able to roleplay this out indeed, but hey why do factions exist then? No need for it anymore. Just kick it, cause everything can be roleplayed out. I am just looking for an answer behind those factions, that i find great actually, but would think as evil char only to make evil quests and no guards quests.

Sincerly, with many thanks to the devs, Sulaika Letaza.

[novacadian]

Does your character want winch access or does the player?

As a player, many offered spoilers on the winch access when they noticed my character was without a ride. Goodness knows it is easy enough to find spoilers. The first results on a google  search of "planeshift winch access" should tell one all that they need to know.

Yet where is the character development in that?

My character decided to put in some time of service and moved to the Bronze Doors for a while helping out the guards there where and when she could. To my, the player's, surprise one day she was offered entrance to the Winch. Again as a player, it is now fairly obvious where to get a ride; yet that has not yet become a concern of the character so she still walks or runs where she needs to go.

Again as a player, it is hard for me to understand the big deal about Winch Access.

It seems right to me that things happen during character development instead of being player driven. To each their own though.

- Nova

[Rigwyn]

I think that in some cases, you do have reasons to complete certain quests as a means of preparing your character. Ie. If you specifically want to develop a character who's strongly aligned with certain factions or one who specifically functions within the winch. Your separation of character intentions and player intentions are indeed admirable, Nova.

I don't take quests too seriously as they don't really fit into RP all that seamlessly.  Ie. it doesn't make sense that tens of thousands of people have found X's lost Y, or that X lost his Y a million times and is still so utterly confused about it. When you lean on quests that heavily, it stops making sense.

As for faction alignment as a result of questing, I do try to stick to appropriate quests where possible and practical but even with this, I'll only go so far.

[Bakin_Fundinson]

I don't think is a spoiler, but anyways, here it is:
There at least 2 ways of getting Winch access that I know of, Honorable and Deceitful.
There's also rumors of a Trader way into Winch...

So regardless of your character's ultimate goals & desires, there's plenty of room to do it, if your char wants to.

But even if there was only the 'honorable' way into Winch, there are countless stories of bad people posing as nice ones to achieve a larger goal. Nuthin' to it, just RP it as you see it

Brgds, Bakin

[Eonwind]

What PS really makes so special to me are the factions you can get, and sorry, but i wont make quests that give me good factions with guards, when wanting to play an evil alt. It makes no sense for me. I might be able to roleplay this out indeed, but hey why do factions exist then? No need for it anymore. Just kick it, cause everything can be roleplayed out. I am just looking for an answer behind those factions, that i find great actually, but would think as evil char only to make evil quests and no guards quests.

It will takes time but setting is slowly heading in the right direction, reordering the quest chains making it clearer what step your character has the option to follow next and so on. I said slowly not to belittle Mordaan and Venalan but because the amount of work is really huge because other than reworking old stuff there is new lore being introduced (new books), the tutorial rework (which is a very important task to complete!) and new feature to add in (they have to support new crafting with quests, KAs and so on). A big thanks to prospects helping out as well  .

That said I think factions are a nice feature as well, in the future they could be used to trigger NPCs KA (a guard may acknowledge a player with a good guard faction), eventually offer bonus quests, and NPCs may undertake actions based on it (avoid attacking a player belonging to their faction and so on). Unfortunately before we're able to connect all those nice gameplay elements we need to rework/check the quest chains and make sure the faction points are assigned the right way and so on.

I really hope in the future there will be a lot more ways to get winch access, maybe a crafter way too ... how knows, the time will tell