by Arlos » Thu May 27, 2004 1:19 am
There are actually a pretty wide variety of quest types. Yes, there are "Go slay me 10 Ill Tempered Seabass!" quests, and "Go kill orcs until you get 10 Perfect Orc Nutsacks, then come back and see me!" quests. Some quests are also 1-off quests, in that you do them, you get the reward (always XP, usually money or an item too), and that's it.
However, there are a LOT of connected string quests, where each individual quest might be one of the standard types, but together they go through a rather interesting story arc, and you get sense of the quests as relating to a greater whole.
Two quest strings in particular come to mind: Stitches and Myzrael. The Stitches quest starts out normally enough: you find this hermit in a hut, and he asks you for help with something. Usually he sends you to talk to some other person to get something, and that other person gives you another quest to allow completion of the original request. (some are slay quests, some are collect quests, etc.) Finally, after you finish all of his quests, he thanks you, and gives you a encrypted note to give to the mayor of the main town in the zone, saying it's just a note to a friend. You give the mayor the note, he can't read it, you need to find someone to get it translated, etc. Once that happens, you go back to the mayor, and it turns out the entire quest string you've done has actually helped a horribly evil necromancer create Stitches: a insanely powerful necromantic golem of destruction, who proceeds to pull a Frankenstein, and charge off towards town, intent on wiping out the guards and citizens. Usually PCs intercept him before he makes it, but if no one does, he actually does a pretty good job of slaughtering a big chunk of the town guards.
Myzrael is somewhat similar. You read a book in the Stormwind library, which tells you about a prisoned elemental princess in Arathi Highlands, and to go there to find a way to talk to her. You talk to her, and she sends you on a series of quests of increasing difficulty, including killing a L42 elite, a L44 elite, and meet with a rather sinister NPC dwarf in Ironforge. He sends you to Badlands, where you meet with someone and learn that she was really imprisoned for a really good reason, and letting her out would be a Bad Thing. So, you have to go acquire parts of a magical scroll that will let you re-imprison her, then travel back to Arathi. There, you call her up (She's a L52 elite, with several guards), and have to kill her, then use the binding scrolls.
So, while indeed many of the sub-quests that make up each of those 2 larger quest arcs are typical quest types, the overall story to them makes them FAR more palatable than similar quests were in EQ, sin eyou really feel like you're accomplishing something, and progressing at a overall task.
-Arlos