Thoughts on Player Made Quests

[Lenaris Vaerin]

So looking forward to seeing this game come together!

Anyway, the idea is just a way to implement quest making in the game, something I think would greatly influence the player made content. Quests should have an easy "build your own quest" format that makes use of key words like "defeat", "kill", "collect", "steal", etc. These keywords will have specific meaning. If the quest calls for the player to "defeat" something that would mean reducing the target to zero hit points from non-lethal damage, where "kill" would be lethal damage. Obviously the quest reward would be taken from the giver's character and set into the "contract" to be given out upon completion, or returned if the quest expires with no completions.

Having a method for creating quests gives players a lot of control over the world and works well for guilds to have major influence. Go to a guild of assassins and post a hit on their quest board. Go to a paladin guild and put up a quest to defend a location. For quests that have an evil act attached, like killing a good aligned player, the player who posts the quest should receive some alignment adjustment, and a player who posts a positive quest should as well.

I know the team is already thinking about cool stuff like this but I figure I'd put the idea out there in case it isn't already. Keep up the good work Goblins!

[xDialtone]

Already have most of the ideas though with personal, guild, or private contracts. You can do assassinations, bounties, convoys, and many other things through the system and it's pretty much what you're describing.

[AvenaOats]

Lenaris: Have you read the blog: "Signed... In Blood" > Contracts:

Goblin Works Blog wrote:

The Ties That Bind

How do two (or more) anonymous players in an MMO make an agreement that is meaningful to all parties, and that creates a system where people will fulfill their commitments even without real-world social pressure or legal consequences?

The solution we have evolved is to have a variety of contracts tailored to various purposes. Characters can enter into contracts specifying various aspects of their deals, the rewards for success, and the penalties for failure.

You can think of these contracts as a questing system hidden in plain sight... In Pathfinder Online, the dynamic shifts from NPCs giving quests to players interacting with each other to advance their own agendas.

I think they mentioned there will be some regular quests also, but the above is very exciting.

[Andius]

Lenaris Vaerin wrote:

Quests should have an easy "build your own quest" format that makes use of key words like "defeat", "kill", "collect", "steal", etc. These keywords will have specific meaning. If the quest calls for the player to "defeat" something that would mean reducing the target to zero hit points from non-lethal damage, where "kill" would be lethal damage.

I like that, you could actually use that mechanic to create a good-aligned version of assassins that rather than killing someone apprehend them. I know the assassins do something to the player that is considered worse than a normal death. You could make getting apprehended have a debuff similar in severity, since nobody actually wants to sit around as a prisoner. I would say you would call the good version a bounty hunter if not for the fact there is already a bounty system setup for a different reason. You could still make them called bounty hunters though and just have apprehend as a different tool in their toolbox.

[Ravening]

I like the idea of player made quests. As long as the devs decide on what type of gear/loot can be found.

Also it's unlikely that will be a 'defeat' quests using non-lethal damage. I suggested that non-lethal damage be part of the game for dueling and such. However, Ryan Dancey doesn't think it likely that they will have this system in the game.

[LazarX]

So far the best execution of this that I've seen is Star Trek Online's Foundry. Which is pretty complete toolkit to make quests and even issue out real rewards.

[Valkenr]

'Quests' in the game world will be in the form of player contracts.

Other than that there is a plan in the works to have mission module zones, which would start out as in-house content, then players may be given the ability to create modules, even to the point of buying/selling them for real cash. But that is something near the bottom of the priorities list.

It should be back in the PVE blog, check my post, link.