Feeling insecure about quests...

[Vuld Edone]

Hi'.

You may encounter an Enkidukai endlessly killing Arangmas in front of Ojaveda. That would be me. And you may wonder : "Why is this guy farming mobs instead of enjoying the game ? There are quests, there is exploring, crafting... why kill monsters endlessly like any other basic mmo' ?!" I won't explain all the reasons, it was just to introduce myself - and feel free to interrupt my ingame activity for a short RP - but I would like to talk about quests.

Make no mistake, I enjoy questing, especially glad to Vengeance (thank you oh thank you thank you !!!). I also enjoy, I really do, most of the game, if not all, plus I know there is not the tenth I have discovered so far, so you can add as many positive opinions about the game, I will endorse them.

My problem is, right now I have thirty-two quests in my book, a part of which I can't do (like killing too powerful monsters) and another part that basically tells me to go from point A to point B (repeatedly). Almost all of the NPC's will give me a quest and if I first limited myself, as travels became longer and longer I finally took everything to avoid making too many trips. And here I am, with more than thirty quests telling me to go to three or more different places where more quests await me with no idea when this yo-yo behavior will stop. I'm just overwhelmed.
At a certain point it becomes less repetitive to simply bash monsters in a single place than endlessly travel everywhere to just hear one NPC tell you "thanks but your princess is in another dungeon"...
Quests taken independently are enjoyable in many aspects and I know that PlaneShift's spirit is to let loose on the gamer. Still, when you have eight quests telling you to take a five minutes trip just to add ten or more quests to your log, shouldn't the game in some manner limit it ? Refusing to give the quest to the player because he can't beat the monster or waiting for most of the quests in one place to be completed before offering those who tell him to wander away ? Especially for long (and complex) deliveries, couldn't they wait that we gain a way to travel faster ? I feel more secure around Ojaveda than crossing half the world just to discover I miss one object I had no idea I would need to cross the whole world two more times... and understand, I would be fine if it was for one quest - I would see it as an advantage - but I have ten or more of those quests simultaneously...

Note that even now with my Arangmas I'm still having fun and again, if you see me feel free to interrupt for a short RP. But as a beginner, right now, I feel safer staying in a corner and progress than losing myself in the gigantic content of PlaneShift.

Any beginner feels the same ?

[LigH]

Welcome.

I wonder what your experience with roleplaying games was before you found PlaneShift ... I believe mostly single-player RPGs?

No panic.

It is not necessary to do a lot of quests here, or even immediately. Take your time. Interaction with other player-controlled characters is much more important than with NPC.

Still, if you are seriously interested in solving quests: Remember their name. When you talk with NPCs, they may have replies for a quest you got from an earlier NPC (remember this quest title?), but also start new quests (that quest title is new to you) ... don't rush it. You don't need to start all the quests you can get.

Returning to the topic "interaction with other player chars": It is not wrong to ask others which quests might be useful for beginners, and which might be too hard to be solved all alone. But if possible, try to do it as much "in character" as possible (you know, your Enkidukai will not know what an NPC is, and might not usually say "quest" to a task or job he gets from a merchant). If a quest you got turns out to become hard, you may often discard it (with a few exceptions), or ask more experienced players for help (e.g. you need Tefusang hides ... if you can't kill them, make a deal with a hunter).

Unfortunately, this game is still in an early phase of development. I could imagine that some kind of balancing may be discussed to avoid too hard quests for not yet too developed characters, or at least a kind of signaling if a quest might require advanced abilities. -- Sounds like a "Feature Request" for the bug tracker?

[Earowo]

It's like what Ligh said, you can just get Help, for those that ask for monsters to hard for you, My guild hunts animal parts for money, as ell as criminals. But I wouldnt hesitate to help a new player for free.

[Vuld Edone]

I guess it's fine.
For a beginner the priority of all priorities is to up its stats (and, you know, get that "cool" mount he saw flying earlier). I hope I surprise nobody here but when you can't harm a rogue you have a hard time mixing with the heavy-armored flying sorcerors community. Try to imagine, your character is basically a peasant and you're meant to talk somewhat equal with that knigh captain that kills monsters by coughing at them while you lose your health for a misstep outside the tavern. And that's notwithstanding the "job" or "various" you dream to be good at, or for those who play a magician to have at least a single spell...
So... yes, it's not necessary to do quests immediately. But it's quite necessary for the beginner to quickly "level up" to fit in the community he sees around him. To that regard quests are the main way to advance, thus the rush mentioned earlier. You want to be part of the community and you want the be a part of it the earliest possible. I dunno', from my experience the pressure to conform is quite high, especially since most of the game is interacting with other players.

But I get the point, quests are made for you to interact with other players, either to get information or to group... they are more like occasions to have "little" adventures. When you think of it that way the actual quests system is efficient and limiting what you can take would be preposterous.
Otherwise in terms of rewards (experience en trias) only, yes, you most definitely have to rush them.

[LigH]

Getting a mount like a Rivnak (horse-like) or a Drifter (giant, somewhat amphibic fish) is surely planned as "advanced quest reward", you will have to solve a series of quests which are often hard, often also annoying* - but counting the number of mounts people achieved, it can't have been be too hard. At least not "with a little help from a friend". That's what this game should be for.

*Spoiler: You'll love or hate Lorytia Starhammer if you chose the Lawful Way out of at least 3 known ways into the Winch quarter of Hydlaa

[Roled]

Welcome!
And try not to despair... All I did the first two months was quests... it was annoying but each time I went back and forth I got lost less often...

And please ask other player-operated characters, as LigH says, to help you with the harder stuff, like beasts you can't kill but you need their bodily parts. As this in development game on this server has a role playing emphasis {don't worry, Illysia,  I am not going to attempt a definition of role playing,  and Vuld- there are mega- threads about that} you might think about your quests in terms of your character's motivations. Are you interested in being a warrior? Do the guard's quests first then... a crafter? a merchant? a bad guy? Try to whittle your quests into categories of your character's interests and they may be less onerous.... maybe not. Maybe. 

Ask other players to help you or even go with you on a multi-part quest- many of us will do that- or if we don't or are busy right then, you might find yourself dragged into a role play and you forget about your quest for the time being.. and you make friends... or enemies 

And look for threads about how to find your CHAT LOGS... 'cause those are in a weird place and those record the NPCs quest words to you. As you begin to amass knowledge of this still being developed by volunteers game world, you will find clues    in the way the NPCs talk to you.

Good luck! Have fun! Talk to folks!

Roled Rolak
Proctor
The Knowledge Seekers
"We Come to Teach" and to Learn!

[Vakachehk]

I have been complaining here for ages about the hardness of PS these days, it almost seems to me that it's just a waste of time helping a noob, I mean who on the planet earth would really kill a dozen animals and have to mine up a load of ores just to reach level... 1!

You're facing the issue that really needs to be fixed, when I first started, things were a lot more easier, it seems the devs got sick of people managing to... enjoy Planeshift. There honestly was no reason as to why they changed things to make the game harder to play. Why the mobs are far to hard to attack, its soooo freakin simple don't touch them, unless you know what you are actually doing! PP well thats taking a long time (just under a year) to 'balance'. Its not a long process, nor would it be hard, its just a bunch of false accusations. Its obvious that its the main thing killing PS, look at 0.4.3s player count, 200-500 players actually played the game (not at once) now... 50-75.

I don't care about stupid shields, harvesting, Helms, or getting new areas in. What I do care about is whats getting put under the mat and not being fixed, things that are half implemented seems someone got bored and decided to do something else, your as bad as my dad who started building my house then got bored and started building a new backyard then got bored of that too and started fixing some vehicles, now he's finally gotten bored of fixing my mums car that he has finally came back to finishing the house (21 years later) TBH its just gonna pile more junk onto your hands, and is not gonna make PS look better. Moving forward is good Talad, but you are running on a treadmill right now, till you throw that mat away... and that closet too! You will find PS a much more enjoyed game. If people complain about new things not getting implemented then just tell them the choice, A) having lots of new stuff, but hundreds of bugs and problems along with lag and a low player population, or B) not so much new stuff, but a nice polished lower lagged game with a good player population.

Don't call me a troll and don't ban me, this is true from mine and many other peoples perspective, even an ex-prospect.

[Minks]

I don't care about stupid shields, harvesting, Helms, or getting new areas in. What I do care about is whats getting put under the mat and not being fixed...

http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=38354.msg436565#msg436565

I voted for graphics.
Grass would be nice to be implemented, changes in the character models so that they can wear cloths Smiley

 


Edit: Well, maybe someone else will understand what I tried to say here.

[Vakachehk]

I don't care about stupid shields, harvesting, Helms, or getting new areas in. What I do care about is whats getting put under the mat and not being fixed...

http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=38354.msg436565#msg436565

I voted for graphics.
Grass would be nice to be implemented, changes in the character models so that they can wear cloths Smiley

 

Thank you for your support, I do believe grass was once implemented. But taken out due to bugs and was never fixed

[Vuld Edone]

From a beginner's perspective, PlaneShift is not that hard. There are plenty of rats to kill, a variety of monsters to evolve gradually and the stats do eventually go up. Plus quests do help a lot at the beginning, notwithstanding the good sum of cash you have (and the letter, and the maps...) and finally, from someone who gave up when PlaneShift was "Blue Crystal", the tutorial and the work Vengeance did for quests are juste life-savers.

So, no, I can't agree. Sure, you can get lost easily at the beginning and quests can become repetitive if you focus on them but if it's about leveling up then no sweat. And I certainly wouldn't dare (and wouldn't want this topic to) criticize the developers's work.
As long as the focus is roleplay, PlaneShift is the best I could find.

[LigH]

Phew, we can be glad to have at least one happy newcomer...

Exaggerated, of course. But a little optimism now and then, a little patience and tolerance, was really needed.

To add to your summary: Don't miss the rest of the community while playing. You can find several "noob sponsors" here and there. May it be money, discount on wares, or a good hint for your quests or your development.