[MUD-Dev] DESIGN: WoW quests and content

[Chris]

On Tuesday, January 25, 2005 2:40 PM Mike Rozak wrote:

> In player-rant sites, WoW players often claim that its quests and
> content are much better than other MMORPGs, especially in
> comparsion with EQ2. (I havent tried EQ2 yet.) I don't understand
> why WoW players think its quests/content are so superior. (See
> below). Does anyone have any opinions about why players think
> WoW's quests are better than other MMORPGs?

I am going to take a stab at this. Players like WoW quests over
other quests for two main reasons.

  1) Questing in WoW is the main way to XP grind.

    I recall many talks about how game content gets skipped for a
    number of reasons. One was because old players tell the young
    ones the fastest way to grind and therefore causing only 1 part
    of the content to be experienced, repetitively. The XP reward
    for WoW quests is significant enough that a player can level
    from 1 - 60 by questing only. Because the 'grind' is really a
    'quest grind' it forces players to go through all the content in
    the world.

    On the opposite hand if quests gave less rewards than what
    regular grinding would produce, players would avoid them and the
    impression would be given that 'they suck.'

  2) The great majority of quests are short

    The majority of quests are non-instance based. These quests are
    usually received in no more than 2 minutes travel time distance
    from the quest giver. Because there are numerous quests, they
    deliver quick gains to the player. Such quick gains are
    psychologically rewarding to the player and encourages them to
    do more.

I believe that WoW quests are specifically designed with the Richard
Bartle Achiever player time in mind. As we find that most MMO's
these days are comprised of Socializes and Achievers it is not
surprising that a majority of players like the questing system in
WoW.

    Chris Stewart
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