Developers Corner

Originally posted by rock_harry
i think your wrong a quest is story line based and your right with the task as in you do a little job.
but a mission it you have to go some were like dungeon or some think and hunt down a mob for it trophy.

well that what i think any way

Originally posted by Aethios

Runescape has already adopted your idea of what "quests" and "tasks" are, and also the idea of allowing multiple means of progressing the quest itself.

Some of the quests allow you to choose the ending, by agreeing to help the "good guys" or the "bad guys." The rewards, in this case, are the same, but are presented in such a way that they FEEL different.

They have also included tasks in the form of the "Slayer" skill, where a master gives you tasks to kill ## of some monster, while the game awards you Slayer experience per monster killed, and once the task is complete you return to the master for a new one. The skill itself allows you to kill certain monsters that otherwise would be unkillable due to special powers/abilities (such as the Cockatrice ability to turn people to stone), and which drop larger amounts (or different kinds) of treasure than normal monsters.

I think Runescape has got it right, in more than one way. If it weren't for the clunky feel and FAR outdated graphics (which, IMO, are unimportant) this game would probably be dominating the market. I don't think the company behind Runescape knows what it's doing, to be honest, and if another game would take their ideas and run with it, they would be wildly successful.

Originally posted by healz4u
MMORPGs today have cheapened the concept of a Quest and confused it with a task; if their aim was to reduce a Quest to a task, they have succeeded.  What is a task?  What is a Quest?  I raise these questions because completing a quest has a sense of honor and accomplishment to it.  However, completing a task does or should not; it gives a small sense of accomplishment (if any). 


Developers need to create a task key and a Quest key.  Nevertheless, it is appropriately (but will not always be the case) for a Quest to have "steps" to it.  However, it is not necessarily true for all Quests. 


Definitions

Quest:   a journey.

A quest usually transcends levels, requires a considerable amount of time and travel, and generally results in a great reward or some honor.  The focus of the quest is to define your character and in doing so feel apart of the lore of the game. 

Example:  as a young Paladin, you were told about corruption in the ranks of the King's guard.  At level 5, you were charged with discovering documents in a bandit warehouse that indicated this (the warehouse was a fairly easy but fun dungeon crawl).  You were subsequently charged to infiltrate a crime-lord's mansion in the city center at level 15 and arrest him (it was a challenging dungeon crawl at 15).  You practice your negotiation skills on the crime-lord and extract information that leads to the names of the corrupt King's guards.  You learn of a plan to poison the King  (a rogue might have a similar quest to poison the king).  Your commanding Officer, Saint (highest Paladin rank) Grenias charges you with thwarting the plans.  You defeat the corrupt guard(s), which was a very challenging fight.  The King learns of your accomplishment, you subsequently are entered into his loyal retinue of bodyguards (you acquire title - Saint/Sir, a ring to prove membership in the King's guard, access to the King's shops, and a new skill/ability - Heart of the Paladin, ac/str buff).  Upon completing this quest, two quest lines open - one, in service to the Paladin Order, as you are now Saint/Sir.  Two, as a member of the king's bodyguard, new quest line opens up.  If you chose to be a "Shadowknight," you could have joined the corrupt guards and poison the king (who would survive, most-likely). 

Note:  You see how a Shadowknight, Rogue, and Paladin (maybe even a Cleric and other classes if they wanted to join the king's bodyguard) would have similar interlinked quests?  A Rogue could poison the King;  a Shadowknight could join the corrupt guards; a Paladin could attempt to stop it; a Cleric could revive the King; and so forth.


Task:  a job.

A task is usually completed in the same level, does not require a lot of time or travel, and is completed to gain experience, train skills/abilities, or money.  The focus of the task is to complete it and advance your character and obtain nominal rewards. 

Example:  collect 15 boar hides, deliver this note, kill the bandit ring-leader. 


Illustration
                                              Quest                     Task
Exp                                            -                               +
Reward                                      +                               -

I agree with you on the definitions.

A quest should be about a journey of exploration, suspense, thrill and excitement.

And it should be intricately linked to the culmination of the "end-game"/peak of one's character in the game's storyline.

I agree with the poster that DAoC had done it fairly well. Old school Epic quests were somewhat 'quest-like' and the rewards were just AMAZING!

Class armor sets were so gorgeous

I think that Anarchy online has it quite right. i have always seen people using 2 terms: Missions and quests. Missions in AO are simple, Go there, Kill/Find it/him, return and are generated by Machines so have no personal touch. i also dont think anyone ever bothered to read the crap it says, they just did it. they were also adjusted to your level automaticall

Quests were different. these always included humans and had two forms. 1: Link of many tasks done for people that forced you to level because, for eg: the guy was too well protected. It was implemented in a way that always made me continue. started trivial, by delivering a Bio Communitor, but after many many people and even more levels it got me in touch with AO Government and the quest began to really matter.  Another form was a single assignment, but (real time) you were given a week to complete it. then you returned and the guy told you to track down 6 bosses. not all areas were open if you sided with someone.. it was hard but manageble. and after that you were to kill the bosses... now.. being level 50 there is no chance to kill a lvl 160 Boss so aclling in friends you made it. Uffff... thats a quest acording to me. total, the game allowed 3 week for competion... i guess before guides were made it really took that long.

Originally posted by jopy 

A quest should be about a journey of exploration, suspense, thrill and excitement.