[MUD-Dev] DESIGN: WoW quests and content

[Douglas Goodall]

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?

This may be a bigger reason than you think:

>   - Except that there are more of them and they seem to flow into
>   one another better.

Quests in WoW also have good rewards (items, coin, XP), are easy to
access (? and ! over NPCs' heads, a quest journal that is almost
useful), and are usually painless. In WoW, I trust that most quests
will not be a waste of my time. There are a few "pixel hunt"
exceptions, a few quests with bad directions, and escort quests
don't always seem to work right, but most quests are painless. If
you do WoW's quests in the intended order, you are given multiple
reasons to visit content near your level, which often lets you hunt
a bit, find a team with similar goals, or do several quests in one
trip.

In other games, quests tend to be a complete waste of time. Like,
"ride a horse for 15 minutes and talk to an NPC, then ride a
different horse for 12 minutes and talk to another NPC, then ride a
third horse for 9 minutes and talk to yet another NPC, then ride a
another horse to a dungeon, then wait 25 minutes for a group..." And
when you're finally done, you get 30 copper pieces, 15 minutes
camping worth of XP, and an earring you wouldn't give to a level 1
alt. If you're lucky.

In most MMORPGs, it's just not worth your time to do quests except
for the ones with a really good item. You get more XP and better
loot from camping. I'm glad that WoW and EQ2 both choose to give
quests better rewards as I have less patience with camping than I
did when it was novel. CoH does this to some degree--although you
still get more XP for fighting mobs, the mission system gives you
easy (and instanced) access to mobs of the right level.

>   - The lighting/mood was uninspiring. In my opinion, dungeons
>   should be dark and scary. This was light and chearful.

This is a problem in many games, not just MMORPGs. I think most
people prefer it that way. While everyone else is on the forums
complaining about the server being down or some other class being
too powerful, I'm the only one complaining about the flashing pink
and lime green lights with no visible source.
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