Quests: Left in the dust?

[Miss_Kozlov]

So I had been thinking ever since what I considered the abysmal disappointment that was the 200th quest. Looking back they appeared to try and revisit the concept that was Recipe For Disaster. When I checked it out I noticed that RFD came out March of '06. So it took 5 years to reach 100 quests, but another 9 to do the next 100. Now it can be said that quests take longer to produce than they used to, but it's hard to deny that quests have fallen significantly in terms of quality.

 

With the habit of repurposing things for quests and not having nearly as many I ask why? I always thought quests in Runescape were a huge selling point for the game being unique. The quests were compelling, had an actual story, weren't simply about a boss fight or killing a certain amount of animals (sorry WoW). So what is the reason for shabby treatment they get now? Were they starting to prove unpopular or did that happen after they were essentially put on that back burner in the update schedule?

 

And on another note, but one I want to discuss, what is the need for very difficult boss fights in quests? They put an ungodly focus on combat and bossing lately, why must or bleed through into quests? Must Chris L seep into everything?

[strilmus]

actually, repurposing content has been a larger trend lately (see: most of the poh fishing room content)

 

they can't spare a single moment these days to make anything new when they're plowing all this time into one shot world events that never get used again

 

it's the same issue with all of their best assets being wasted on christmas, but now on a regular basis

[Miss_Kozlov]

But they haven't done a huge amount of world events. Everything feels lazy and unfocused. And the concept of making a quest replayable and how they turned that into a feature for specific quests in lieu of interesting content is aggravating.

[strilmus]

well, see, they're making one BIG event, and then wasting their time on it

[Wkw]

It also pains me for them to spend so much time and production on world events. One shot things that will never be seen again. It is like spending 50 million on the avengers movie, then only showing it for a week.

[Yoko Kurama]

This is a weird thread to be complaining about one-shot events, since quests are, with few exceptions, also one-shot events. The complaint about world events being one shot events is valid, but it also applies to most quests. That's one of the reasons why the frequency of quests has been reduced. They take significant resources to develop, and yet most are one-time affairs which most players spend no more than 2-3 hours at on day of release. World events by contrast, are at least a few weeks long, or sometimes a few months. Don't get me wrong, quests are an important part of RS, but they are one-time things with a high developmental cost.

[Wkw]

Sure one account can only play a quest once, but you can create multiple accounts over several years and play the quest several times.

 

I would still think the total time played on good rewarding quests is more than time limited one shot effects (world event and holiday events).

[Arceus]

But I can go play that quest anytime I want, not just hear 'Oh World Event 3 was awesome...you missed it? That's too bad...'

 

Quests are a one-shot event yes, but it allows a little more in terms of equal opportunity rather than world events.

[Miss_Kozlov]

And a quest is permanent. A part of the game that everyone will have a chance to do at some point. And I thought a great idea they had and then abandoned was the holiday quest. Do it for the event, but the quest stays on.

 

Do they not like to develop quests because then they're limited in what they can do? Do they not want to come up with lore? Is it just too hard for them to do?

 

I think a solid reason why they don't have popularity is because the rewards don't make it worth the time investment and people are so damned obsessed with the game, xp/hr, gp per hour, *razzle frazzle* stupid game being dictated by math. I'm err, rambling...

[essiw]

This is a weird thread to be complaining about one-shot events, since quests are, with few exceptions, also one-shot events. The complaint about world events being one shot events is valid, but it also applies to most quests. That's one of the reasons why the frequency of quests has been reduced. They take significant resources to develop, and yet most are one-time affairs which most players spend no more than 2-3 hours at on day of release. World events by contrast, are at least a few weeks long, or sometimes a few months. Don't get me wrong, quests are an important part of RS, but they are one-time things with a high developmental cost.

I have never participated in any world events as I was not around at the time. The game speaks about the world events but you can only see intro and outro movies, and get left in the dark about what happened. I had to read tons of pages on external sites to understand what happened in the world events... I might agree with you if that lore was findable in the game...

[Miss_Kozlov]

At least Brassica/Marimbo left f2p a minigame.

[Arceus]

Do you know how many tangible rewards that minigame offers to F2P though? If you guessed zero, you're correct! It's fun, if you do combat at least, but I don't even know if there are enough people interested to run games anymore.

[Miss_Kozlov]

Do you know how many tangible rewards that minigame offers to F2P though? If you guessed zero, you're correct! It's fun, if you do combat at least, but I don't even know if there are enough people interested to run games anymore.

Very doubtful, but at least it's something for f2p.

[Arceus]

 

Do you know how many tangible rewards that minigame offers to F2P though? If you guessed zero, you're correct! It's fun, if you do combat at least, but I don't even know if there are enough people interested to run games anymore.

Very doubtful, but at least it's something for f2p.

 

I'm not sure what you're doubting, as the last of rewards is as follows: bonus experience in Mining, Farming, and Slayer (bonus XP is P2P), Seedicide (XP in a P2P skill out of destroying seeds), Slayer VIP ticket (P2P skill, not much use on F2P), and Patch Bomb (reward for Farming, P2P skill again). That's it, aside from some temporary holiday rewards that were offered at the time of release. But those aren't available anymore so we get back to the original issue: whether it's dead or outright removed content, it's not really usable anymore. If they could make the holiday rewards available occasionally or charge 5x the original holiday price and put them on rotation or something, maybe that could at least be a start. I really don't know though...

[Miss_Kozlov]

I was doubting enough people are playing it to put together a game. :p

 

I do have this odd feeling though as I talk to you you're not wearing pants...

[Miss_Kozlov]

90 of content is one shot stuff. You think the aquarium has any replay value? Excluding the option that was forced onto it and makes no sense.

 

And are we all glossing over Arceus being naked when he was posting earlier? :)

[Miss_Kozlov]

'Tis true in most games I suppose. They don't even try to make mini games anymore because they know it'll be dead content.

 

And ignoring the problem is only letting him get away with it.

[Miss Lioness]

'Tis true in most games I suppose. They don't even try to make mini games anymore because they know it'll be dead content.

 

And ignoring the problem is only letting him get away with it.

 

Actually they are developing something to aid minigames.

[Miss_Kozlov]

 

 

'Tis true in most games I suppose. They don't even try to make mini games anymore because they know it'll be dead content.

 

And ignoring the problem is only letting him get away with it.

Actually they are developing something to aid minigames.

Just as long as they keep Chris L away from it or it'll come in the form of a drop from Vorago it ROTS...

[Blutters]

The frequency of quests certainly seems lower, but I'd be pressed to say that the quality has fallen, necessarily. If anything in many respects production values have dramatically increased.

I'm not about to say any recent quests have been perfect, but most have been adequate with some incredible segments/features, and I'd have to say the actual storytelling has improved most of all.

[Miss_Kozlov]

Storytelling has improved. I'd certainly agree the higher notes hit higher, but so do the lower. Few of them are downright bad. I still think the frequency should come up because I see no unique reason for why they shouldn't. Unique to quests only that is.

[Miss_Kozlov]

I got one a month back as interest on a loan I gave to a friend. I did all the old quests I could do. Two I couldn't finish, but meh. Point is they'll have to come up with something compelling. Since I don't boss I managed to do 2 years of content in 12 days.

[HunterDexter]

Hmm, I understand why you'd prefer to have more quests released then. I have the same problem, I basically play for lore, so besides that kind of content there's a lot of mindless grinding exp and these updates that aren't quite interesting.

[Miss_Kozlov]

I'm not kidding. 2 years and I came back to perhaps 9 quests? Sure Priff is nice and as a player from 2003 I was stoked to go in it. I don't boss as I'm not able to so I have nothing to do.

[helring]

I'm not kidding. 2 years and I came back to perhaps 9 quests? Sure Priff is nice and as a player from 2003 I was stoked to go in it. I don't boss as I'm not able to so I have nothing to do.

 

Unfortunately I think you've pointed out one of the problems with quests. For a player that primarily quests, even if they doubled the number of quests, you would still have done all of them within a month. I love quests, but they're not longterm content. Most people will get an hour or two out of them maximum. World Events at least tend to keep people entertained for a week or longer when they come out. Bosses can keep those players entertained for months, as can skilling updates. Quests though even for those who really like them won't last that long.