A new type of quest.

[Vinven]

For those of you who have played D&D, you know a common thing to occur is travel. Travel sets up a lot of opportunities for events to happen. One of the most notable is the random encounter while traveling. There is also the rest stop. Then, after a long day of traveling, there is setting up camp and going to sleep, along with someone keeping watch. It really sets the stage for things to happen, such as an ambush attack, or a thief running off with your goods, etc.

I really think that DDO could benefit from this type of quest. In game terms, I imagine you'd be given some objective by an npc, go through a door and be teleported to a wide open land somewhere. There you would travel to your destination, maybe guarding some person, and you might be attacked by wild trolls or whatnot through the way. You might stop at some point to rest, and be attacked by a horde of bad guys. After fighting you might then go through a cave, and the game takes you to a camp site. Then maybe you get ambushed by vampires and the person you were guarding gets kidnapped, and you have to go find and save him.

There are a lot of ways that this could be implemented. I'd really like more actual travel to the far off dungeon to be included, instead of just being teleported there. It could be a quest chain itself just getting to that cursed temple that you have to retrieve an amulet from.

[LeoLionxxx]

There are already quests somewhat like this. In several wildernesses you will run to the quest, getting "ambushed" by gnolles or drow or whatever. The path of madness is a pre-quest to get to the xoriat cipher. There's even one exactly like the one you propose: Ecsape plan (http://ddowiki.com/page/Escape_Plan) where you rescue the guy from the lizardmen.

[droid327]

There's a quest that's pretty much exactly what you describe, Detour in High Road. You escort an NPC from his house to a destination, staving off mercenary attacks on the way.

As for more obstacles on the way to getting to a quest...I think you're in the gross minority on that one. When you're repeating quests as often as you do in Epic, the last thing you want is to have to slog through the same 15-minute hike to get to the quest entrance every time. Not many people enjoy having to walk 5 miles in-game to start a quest. Its a great way to ensure that your content never gets run.

And if its just a serial quest, where the end of one quest is the beginning of another like Servants of the Overlords or the Deneith Depths series, how is the "travel" not just a regular quest? You start in one spot, you proceed through a dungeon fighting enemies and overcoming obstacles, and end up at the other end. The only difference is if you recall or if you click the door to the next quest.

[tralfaz81]

There's also LOTRO which is way more open world based and, wilderness wise, has way more of a class D&D feel to it than DDO does - which is about the best thing I can say about that game :P

Before they rolled out Evening Star, I thought how cool it would be to have different zones that you actually had to travel to, where it would be difficult enough that you'd stay there awhile because of the pain coming back. Seems good in theory but I don't think that style would fit DDO. Really the appeal and replay value of DDO comes from the toons and working on your build. The dungeons are good but improving your toon and experiencing the dungeons with a complete different playing style of the different classes.

[brian14]

For those of you who have played D&D, you know a common thing to occur is travel. Travel sets up a lot of opportunities for events to happen. One of the most notable is the random encounter while traveling. There is also the rest stop.

Note that there is already a quest called "The Rest Stop". :)

Really, the entire High Road pack is just what you asked for.


As for more obstacles on the way to getting to a quest...I think you're in the gross minority on that one. When you're repeating quests as often as you do in Epic, the last thing you want is to have to slog through the same 15-minute hike to get to the quest entrance every time. Not many people enjoy having to walk 5 miles in-game to start a quest. Its a great way to ensure that your content never gets run.

The run from Meridia to "Ritual Sacrifice"... ughh. Agree.

[bsquishwizzy]

For those of you who have played D&D, you know a common thing to occur is travel. Travel sets up a lot of opportunities for events to happen. One of the most notable is the random encounter while traveling. There is also the rest stop. Then, after a long day of traveling, there is setting up camp and going to sleep, along with someone keeping watch. It really sets the stage for things to happen, such as an ambush attack, or a thief running off with your goods, etc.

I really think that DDO could benefit from this type of quest. In game terms, I imagine you'd be given some objective by an npc, go through a door and be teleported to a wide open land somewhere. There you would travel to your destination, maybe guarding some person, and you might be attacked by wild trolls or whatnot through the way. You might stop at some point to rest, and be attacked by a horde of bad guys. After fighting you might then go through a cave, and the game takes you to a camp site. Then maybe you get ambushed by vampires and the person you were guarding gets kidnapped, and you have to go find and save him.

There are a lot of ways that this could be implemented. I'd really like more actual travel to the far off dungeon to be included, instead of just being teleported there. It could be a quest chain itself just getting to that cursed temple that you have to retrieve an amulet from.

I can almost hear the sound of heads exploding of all those xp/min types...

[Oliphant]

i think the difference between a travel quest and some other quests is that it could be a big open area, neither a linear path or a maze. i think the King's Forest is a fantastic setting and i've thought they should make some quests out there. maybe some kind of crisis of the fey variety, with a midsummer nights dream feel and some magical environmental effects with cool graphics overlaying the forest