Another thread made me wonder this. And I am sure there was another poll for it at some point, but humor us.

I love good lore, interesting characters/factions and when I find something enjoyable, I really look for more and talk to as many npcs as possible.

Sadly, most quest text is boring and generic.

I dont need to read 2 pages of text to tell me to go kill 10 pigs or go gather 10 flowers.   Most MMO's lore is pretty shallow anyway.

I find that if I'm in a group, no one has time to read anything but the most essential points of what to do and where. Cutscenes are better here.

EDIT: Or better yet, storytelling imbedded into gameplay.

It depends entirely on the game. If the world is immersive, and the questing mechanics reinforce it, then definitely.

If an MMO has an actual storyline then yes but if you conider me reading text for 100's or even 1000's of quests "storyline" then no I wont read it.

I gave up on Themepark games before they even began (EQ development). But I have played a few, mainly since my son bought some (before he gave up on them too).

I wanted to get into the quests and the lore and all that, but realizing that it doesn't make one bit of difference I lost all interest in reading them. I was just pushing levels so I could see the next skills in action.

It's a shame too. Some of the writing and story was well done. But it just didn't have any meaning. It didn't matter.

Would be nice to see chain quests make a comeback in MMORPG's.

Personally, I feel that's one way to make quests worth reading. Otherwise...as most of you have said....quests are generic with too much text to expain why Mortimer needs 20 rat pelts. But if they had purpose...especially an on going purpose....I think that would make them worth the time.

I remember..vividly, a quest in Rift that did such a thing and has stuck with me You scaled  a tower fighting bad guys the whole way up...once at the top, it zoomed just over the shoulder as you kicked in the door and proceeded with the quest into a fight. Was a nice change and much more engaging and immersive. Especially if the outcome could have an impact. Maybe give different options of what to do during the quest which could alter the outcome.

If the quests are well designed I will read them.  The Secret World was a great example where the dialogue really had little to do with what your task was going to be, but it was entertaining enough that I would watch them all the first playthrough.

 

No voice acting, poorly written, mundane tasks - forget that, its marked on my map with a big arrow directing me anyway.

I was spoiled with EQs epic quests and have been extremely disappointed with most quests since then. If I have to quest in any newer game I just click thru it as quickly as possible until I can get back into a dungeon and start having fun again.

Unless the game gives me a reason to read it I will skip it....

Originally posted by Murashu
I was spoiled with EQs epic quests and have been extremely disappointed with most quests since then. If I have to quest in any newer game I just click thru it as quickly as possible until I can get back into a dungeon and start having fun again.

Aye...same here. Epic quests in EQ were just that...epic. Long and story driven...with an outcome worth the time and effort put into it.

Another big issue I have with most quests today...eh, take Vanguard:SoH for instance. Some of the quests are long and tough (Mainly because grouping is a chore to get and soloing can be done, but longer and harder to do as it should be). The quest reward ends up being garbage.

Especially in games where you out level the usefulness of most quest rewards.

I'll give it a couple of days. Those first couple of days, I'll read them. After that, if they're consistenly dull, I'll start hitting the "get quest" button immediately. :)

I always start out reading them, but my continuation beyond the first dozen or so depends on whether they have any bearing on my character's life in the game world or not. In PotBS, I read the quests. In WOW and WAR, I just scrolled down to how many foos I had to kill or widgests I had to collect. In GW2 I paid attention to the quest dialog all the way up until Trahearn showed up. After that, it seemed my personal story stuff was over and I was just there to follow Trahearn around so I just started skipping the dialogs completely.

 

Originally posted by Kaynos1972
I dont need to read 2 pages of text to tell me to go kill 10 pigs or go gather 10 flowers.   Most MMO's lore is pretty shallow anyway.

Agreed, i read every single player game quest log but for multiplayer whats the point? The quests are extremely shallow and always involve doing the same thing over and over... Seriously i dont wanna red 20 pages of quests that end with "go kill 20 of these monsters".

i don't start playing unless it has a good story. i mean...what's the point? my time isn't THAT worthless to me.

When quest text has clues that I need to complete a quest, then I'll read it.

 

When the game trivializes questing to the point where all I have to do is follow the arrow to the highlighted section of the map, and kill six "Wumpus", then there's not much of a reason to read it anymore.