tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post141007065506202876..comments2024-03-18T19:38:53.390-04:00Comments on Parallel Context: A Changing Quest Design PhilosophyRedbeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-88888337384618138552011-10-20T08:28:54.549-04:002011-10-20T08:28:54.549-04:00@Shintar--
Agreed on all points.
It was great at...@Shintar--<br /><br />Agreed on all points.<br /><br />It was great at first, but then once I realized how much of a problem reworking the quest lines will be, I kind of shuddered. The Old World was klunky, but that was more due to the quest design, not their content. For every attunement for Naxx in Eastern Plaguelands, there are now ten for Deathwing.<br /><br />The pre-Cata Old World was a sprawling, broad place of various plotlines depending on your continent, region, and faction. Now, the questlines have been reduced to a two major ones: Alliance v. Horde and Deathwing v. Everybody. A lot of what used to be the old major plotlines --Dark Irons, Silithids, Twilight's Hammer-- have been neatly reined in and placed into the Deathwing plot. Other things that would have been chalked up to stupidity and/or cautionary tales --the Wolvar in Ashenvale and Felwood-- got tied into the Alliance v. Horde conflict instead.<br /><br />I guess what I'm pointing out is that not every quest has to tie back into a major thread. By doing that, Blizzard has made their updating work that much harder.Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-23452993157821621592011-10-20T08:04:30.411-04:002011-10-20T08:04:30.411-04:00The quests-on-rails environment is all about telli...<i>The quests-on-rails environment is all about telling the story --the same story-- which is completely locked in to this expansion. This means that if Blizz were to create another expansion that had an impact in the two main continents of Azeroth, this entire environment would have to be redone, the story rewritten.</i><br /><br />This is something that I haven't seen brought up much in connection with the new quest design, and something that does bother me quite a bit. People moan about how going to Outland doesn't make sense anymore story-wise, but how bad is it going to be when the next expansion obsoletes the two <i>base continents</i> again? As much as I loved stories like the ones in the Badlands for example, I think they made a mistake by tying so many zones so closely to the story of the current expansion boss - who will predictably be killed and buried within the year. More "timeless" stories for the win.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-27778794314729297272011-10-19T20:50:05.352-04:002011-10-19T20:50:05.352-04:00@Cassi-- At first, I didn't mind, but when I ...@Cassi-- At first, I didn't mind, but when I kept overshooting the level requirements for a zone time after time, it started getting annoying.<br /><br />Yes, I do solo work most of the time myself, but I didn't realize that I'd missed the serendipity of joining up for group quests when it started happening in Age of Conan. The lower level zones were, ironically enough, busier than the same zones in WoW. At first I thought it was the time of day, but then when I logged on early in the morning to get on AoC just for the hell of it and I discovered that there were still a lot of people on, I began to wonder....<br /><br />I do have to laugh at the people in AoC and LOTRO who think that the barbarians are at the gates with the people who came in with the F2P option. If they think things are obnoxious now, they haven't seen WoW's Trade Chat lately....Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-2213945796725221812011-10-19T19:55:25.613-04:002011-10-19T19:55:25.613-04:00I do really like the on-rails quest design in WoW ...I do really like the on-rails quest design in WoW at the moment. That said, I haven't leveled many alts.<br /><br />But I find that questing is one of the few activities in the game when I really relish my free time to do it how I want to do it - and not be distracted by others. I like the solo play aspect of leveling. (Not that I hated having to do a dungeon to finish 5 quests and the zone - still love quests + dungeon integration)<br /><br />Then again, I don't level many alts. Or when I do, it's rare that I'll do the same zones each time. But if there's so much XP to be had - what's to stop you leveling in different classic zones?<br /><br />And I guess if you want to jump off the rails you can level using BGs and dungeons. I think a lot of 70-80 gets completed this way now :)<br /><br />I hope in the next expansion they fix PVE/patches and rewards. I'm deeply dissatisfied with nerf = progression these days. And I don't like how often they patch and make gear redundant. I'd prefer to work longer for it and value it for longer too.Cassandrihttp://www.hotsdots.comnoreply@blogger.com