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Quests


Zymogen

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This has probably been suggested before but I feel it's worth bringing up again:

 

We all know that the devs already have a lot on their plate with regards to the development of dungeons, and we don't know their exact plan for it, but I feel that quests would be a perfect accompaniment for them, or they would be a great addition to end-game content as a whole. Other successful MMOs are almost entirely centred around questing throughout the main story line, and even offer variable daily quests outside of and within the dungeons which are the staple of the end-game content.

 

Take Runescape 3 for example - you could consider its main library of quests to be the "story line" which offer a creative outlet for the developers with regards to telling the lore of the game, and they also present the players themselves with an opportunity to undertake unique tasks in return for experience/money/items/unlocks. Alongside this, there are daily challenges that are assigned by an NPC which generally entail the collection/crafting of items which are then given to the NPC, again, in return for money/items/experience. The tasks themselves may not be exciting, but they add an additional dynamic to the grind of the game which helps it to become less monotonous and samey. 

 

World of Warcraft is another great example - the primary method of leveling through the story line is questing throughout the many regions of the world. You could sit there for hours on end killing NPCs for your experience or you could complete quests which are not only faster, but again are unique tasks which allow the player to do something different in return for a reward. Daily quests are primarily end-game content as they are generally associated with gaining reputation with different factions, so this concept wouldn't exactly be applicable here, but the principle of being assigned different daily challenges to complete remains the same. Quests unique to dungeons are also a huge part of the game which I personally enjoyed a lot, as they gave you secondary objectives to consider alongside the primary objective of the dungeons/raids.

 

The challenges themselves would not have to be anything extravagant - they could be something as simple as defeating 50 wild Pokemon; collecting soft sand via pickup; or catching X number of Pokemon with 31 in Atk IV, for a monetary/item reward etc.. Just something different.

 

tl;dr questing is essential in a MMO environment. They offer a dynamic approach to grinding items and money and would be a welcome offshoot from monotonously grinding gyms everyday which is currently the best moneymaking method, and which many people feel is largely unrewarding.

 

P.S. Upvote instead of liking pls

Edited by Zymogen
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The game doesn't need quests because it has actual goals for you to pursue. Questing serves these purposes in games (doesn't necessarily serve all purposes in all games):
1. To flesh out the world.
2. To encourage exploration.
3. To facilitate leveling.
4. To keep otherwise useless areas of the game relevant.
5. Give players access to areas/powers they didn't otherwise have.
6. Keep players moving in the right direction (i.e in WoW there's usually a quest in a level 12 area that says "Hey good job, you've saved this town, heres a quest to go to the level 15 area next")


Pokemmo (and Pokemon in general) solve these problems in ways that don't require questing:
1. Pokemmo uses the world of the pokemon games which is already really fleshed out. Every NPC has something to say, the world feels alive and real. 
2. Wanting to catch new pokemon encourages exploration. In other MMOs, going to a new area might mean new monsters to fight... but not everyone cares. But in Pokemmo, the goal is to fill up the pokedex, level and train pokemon, etc. So knowing that an unexplored area might contain a new pokemon you've never seen... or a new leveling location that will facilitate the IVs you need better then any other area means that the player is already encouraged to explore.
3. Pokemon has trainer battles to facilitate leveling. They basically take the place of a quest. Talk to an NPC, do a battle that's harder than a wild encounter, get exp that's higher than normal. Pokemmo has increased the usefulness of this feature by allowing players to go back and re-challenge trainers they've already beaten. This -is- pokemmo's questing system... it's just not called a questing system.
4. Same as point #2... because different areas house different ecosystems of Pokemon, it keeps most areas of the game relevant to players wanting to catch/train specific pokemon.
5. Pokemon has Gyms to facilitate unlocking powers (the HMs) which the player then uses to unlock new areas. It doesn't need quests for this. With that said, getting HMs often involve finding and talking to a specific NPC to get that HM in the first place... so that's kind of a very small quest in and of itself. 
6. Again, Gyms as well as the world-design keep players on a forward path to their next destination, while still giving them leeway to take detours. 


Some other points:
-> Pokemon has a story-line already. It doesn't need quests like RS3 to give it a story... it already has one.
-> There are NPCs throughout the world that will offer to trade Pokemon with you. They're looking for a specific Pokemon and will give you another specific Pokemon in return. These are basically quests... although again, they're not explicitly called 'quests'.


Your argument boils down to "Give me something else to grind for fast money because the current method doesn't appeal to me anymore". Running around beating gym leaders -is- your daily quest. It just doesn't come with a floating yellow exclamation point and fancy quest window... but it's ultimately the same thing. 
So even if they did add new styles of daily quests, they would only serve the same purpose as currently existing systems. While this would seem 'fresh' for a time, these daily quests (much like the ones in WoW) would get very boring, very fast. Which means the devs would have to add new quests, which then stagnate -- Rinse & Repeat ad nauseam. Meanwhile the time it takes to develop those quests would take away from the development of other features.


tldr; this isn't WoW. The game has quests & systems that serve the same purpose as quests already. They just don't come with big yellow exclamation points, so you didn't notice. And despite these quests already existing... you're still bored with the game. QED quests are not a solution to this issue.

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2 minutes ago, Patriclis said:

"Give me something else to grind for fast money because the current method doesn't appeal to me anymore".

The current farming system is only one possible realisation of grinding mechanics, one that encourages time rather than skill, and many players who have been playing this game for way too long now are frankly sick of it

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7 minutes ago, Patriclis said:

The game doesn't need quests because it has actual goals for you to pursue. Questing serves these purposes in games (doesn't necessarily serve all purposes in all games):
1. To flesh out the world.
2. To encourage exploration.
3. To facilitate leveling.
4. To keep otherwise useless areas of the game relevant.
5. Give players access to areas/powers they didn't otherwise have.
6. Keep players moving in the right direction (i.e in WoW there's usually a quest in a level 12 area that says "Hey good job, you've saved this town, heres a quest to go to the level 15 area next")


Pokemmo (and Pokemon in general) solve these problems in ways that don't require questing:
1. Pokemmo uses the world of the pokemon games which is already really fleshed out. Every NPC has something to say, the world feels alive and real. 
2. Wanting to catch new pokemon encourages exploration. In other MMOs, going to a new area might mean new monsters to fight... but not everyone cares. But in Pokemmo, the goal is to fill up the pokedex, level and train pokemon, etc. So knowing that an unexplored area might contain a new pokemon you've never seen... or a new leveling location that will facilitate the IVs you need better then any other area means that the player is already encouraged to explore. Filling the pokedex offers no reward - it is a whole lot of time for a whole lot of nothing. Regarding your comment about IVs, I'm not entirely sure what the point is that you're trying to put across
3. Pokemon has trainer battles to facilitate leveling. They basically take the place of a quest. Talk to an NPC, do a battle that's harder than a wild encounter, get exp that's higher than normal. Pokemmo has increased the usefulness of this feature by allowing players to go back and re-challenge trainers they've already beaten. This -is- pokemmo's questing system... it's just not called a questing system. 
4. Same as point #2... because different areas house different ecosystems of Pokemon, it keeps most areas of the game relevant to players wanting to catch/train specific pokemon.
5. Pokemon has Gyms to facilitate unlocking powers (the HMs) which the player then uses to unlock new areas. It doesn't need quests for this. With that said, getting HMs often involve finding and talking to a specific NPC to get that HM in the first place... so that's kind of a very small quest in and of itself. This is more directed towards end-game content as I stated at the beginning of my post
6. Again, Gyms as well as the world-design keep players on a forward path to their next destination, while still giving them leeway to take detours. See above


Some other points:
-> Pokemon has a story-line already. It doesn't need quests like RS3 to give it a story... it already has one. That wasn't necessarily the point I was alluding to, I was more describing the functions of quests in RS3 as opposed to suggesting they serve that function here
-> There are NPCs throughout the world that will offer to trade Pokemon with you. They're looking for a specific Pokemon and will give you another specific Pokemon in return. These are basically quests... although again, they're not explicitly called 'quests'. You mean one-time transactions that serve no real purpose to anyone past the main storyline?


Your argument boils down to "Give me something else to grind for fast money because the current method doesn't appeal to me anymore" yes Running around beating gym leaders -is- your daily quest. It just doesn't come with a floating yellow exclamation point and fancy quest window... but it's ultimately the same thing. The difference being that actual quests would provide you with a variety of beneficial activities instead of battling the same trainers and the same pokemon every single day
So even if they did add new styles of daily quests, they would only serve the same purpose as currently existing systems. While this would seem 'fresh' for a time, these daily quests (much like the ones in WoW) would get very boring, very fast. Which means the devs would have to add new quests, which then stagnate  "don't add new features because people will eventually get bored of them and the devs will have to add more" ? -- Rinse & Repeat ad nauseam. Meanwhile the time it takes to develop those quests would take away from the development of other features. Redundant

 

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26 minutes ago, Patriclis said:

While this would seem 'fresh' for a time, these daily quests (much like the ones in WoW) would get very boring, very fast. Which means the devs would have to add new quests

That's what our entire game is based on though. They make new content, we play it to it's full extent, and we're ready to move on. When the Unova region was implemented, it was fresh and fun for the time being. After everyone got through the story though, it was no longer 'fresh'. We were ready for them to finish abilities, items, etc. That's how MMO's grow, constantly adding new content and improving. 

 

We've been doing the same things for years, I think we're ready to move on from logging in, doing a gym run, and then rebattling the same NPCs every 6 hours. It gets old. 

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I like this mechanic because it has a lot of potential. There could be so many different "quests" to do.

They don't have to be scripted events either, they could just be simple tasks with rewards.
You could also have it so the more you do, the harder they are to complete but the better rewards you get and maybe w/ some weekly/monthly ones which offer large rewards but equally large cooldown.

Like i already said if they added some kind of quest mechanic it has a lot of potential because the possibilities are endless.

 

I feel like the game has become quite linear and repetitive money making wise because the most viable way to make it is re battles and it has been for a while now. If they added quests and made it so the rewards are on par or around re battles it could add a breath of fresh air into the game. 

 

Edited by Etozuri
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