Most MMORPG games today offer an alternative way to gain experience other than grinding; questing. The problem with questing in MMORPGs is the lack of creativity and effort put forth by the developers. Almost every MMORPG has the standard “Go outside town and kill X amount of Y Monsters”. Replace X with a quantity and Y with a type of monster. Another very common quest you’ll find in most MMORPGs is the “Take this letter and hand it to the guy standing next to me”. Why do quests have to be so dull? There are only two MMORPGs I know that actually have a well thought out questing system; World of Warcraft and Maplestory.
It’s no surprise that World of Warcraft actually has a well designed and interesting quest system, as the game does has 10 million subscribers worldwide. The game’s quest dialogue was always very well written and the quests weren’t always go outside town and kill some monsters. Completing a chain quest also made you feel like you accomplished something and each step along the way, you were fed bits of information that kept you interested in the quest. When I first completed the Defias Brotherhood quest line In World of Warcraft It actually felt like I was in the game, as the quest actually kept me engaged with the game.
Maplestory also has a surprisingly good quest system. The quests in MapleStory aren’t good because they’re well written or tell an epic tale, but they’re incredibly fun because they’re so unique. Players can get together and participate in party quests where players get to work together to solve puzzles and defeat monsters. The puzzles are all actually very unique, as players get to actually do something other than grinding. MapleStory also has a series of incredible platforming quests where you’ll have to try to get to the end of a stage by jumping on platforms while dodging electricity and other obstacles. MapleStory also has all the “Go out and kill X of Y monster” type quests, but the fact that the game actually did some unique was definitely a welcomed change.
I’m looking forward to seeing what developers come up with next as far as questing goes. I’m a bit disappointed that the latest MMO games haven’t created anything new, as it seems like developers are too scared to try something new.
God, I can’t even imagine how many times I spent trying to “Kill 1000 Hopping Butt Pirates outside of your mom’s house”. I wasn’t a big fan of WoW but I did like their Quest system more than anything.
I also liked how the Quests in World of Warcraft linked to each other. Once you get around 5 wolf meats, you trade it in for Moonshine, then you give it to some midget engineers, and they will give you a letter to give to some leader guy. So right there, you got 3 quests, and you didn’t waste anytime looking for any.