Does anyone remember Epic quests?

[Istivan]

Hi, long time pen and paper player here.

I have read some posts from people that seem to be disgusted with the content here in DDO. Is true I have characters that are receiving -90% experience from running StormCleave so many times. Yes it sucks, but it is how our game currently is running.

My question/suggestion:

Remember the Epic quests in Pnp D&D?

My favorite, and I am sure I am not alone, was the giant/drow/lolth quest.

With a little imagination I took my characters (I was DM) through the slave pits and hooked them with the Giant series of quests. On through the giant series they went and that hooked with the Drow series. Through the Vault of the Drow and onto the Queen of the demonweb pits.

This took the characters from level 3 to about level 13 or 14 all in one adventure.

I know the co-ordination for the players would be tough to do. But is something like this not possible for DDO.

Can anyone say Dragon Mountain? Tomb of Horrors? Temple of Elemental Evil? Rod of Seven Parts? There is so much classic content that this game should not run dry, even if its with quests we ran 10-20 years ago in PnP. Putting those into this game would in itself make it fresh.

Heck remember the Dark Sun world? or what about Ravenloft? What about a little outdoor area of that with some quests attached?

Taking one character, from level 2 or 3 to level 13 or 14 in one huge epic quest. Now that is the way it should be. Let us players figure out the logistics of people being on at the proper times to continue/finish. DDO should just figure out how to get something like that for us to get into.

[Uska]

Now a big epic set would be nice but lets not go bringing in stuff from other worlds this is Eberron lets use the setting we have

[Cavalier]

Technically, the Necropolis series is just that type of quest......

Granted not too many people like it, but that is a design issue.

[Hvymetal]

I was about to say the same about necropolis, the 3rd instalment is enroute.

[Istivan]

Well that is good to know.

I have enjoyed a couple of the Necropolis quests.

But I am talking in the quest area, not having to repeat the quests to obtain the levels. Do them once, in a long series of quests (cannot go back, cannot jump forward) and obtain many levels when finished. Maybe have trainers every so often to make this possible.

That is the style I remember, "back in the day".

And maybe just wishful thinking and its not possible.

[MysticTheurge]

But I am talking in the quest area, not having to repeat the quests to obtain the levels. Do them once, in a long series of quests (cannot go back, cannot jump forward) and obtain many levels when finished. Maybe have trainers every so often to make this possible.

This is not feasible given DDO's design structure.

D&D allows you to "pause" right where you are when everyone needs to go do real things. You come back a week later and pick up right where you left of, even in the middle of a quest/dungeon/adventure etc.

DDO can't allow you to pause, largely because different people come and go at different times.

[OKCRandy1]

Chain quests went a small way along those lines, but logistically just don't make sense for an MMO where time is limited for some and different parties may gather at different times to complete a quest. Necropolis seems to be as close as one could get, a wide range of quest levels in viniate quests that don't have to be run in any particular order, culminating in a raid. Sounds good, lets see if they do what's necessary to correct Necropolis and add a fun raid.

I understand you're asking for something grander and perhaps a paid expansion could come with something like what you've envisioned.

[Laith]

WW leads to STK which leads to Threnal (i think).

Velah ties in to Gianthold Raid.

[Mad_Bombardier]

And, IIRC, Old Sully's Grog leads to Graverobber leads to From Beyond the Grave.

[DaGSO]

To me a chain quest is like the before mentioned:

WW -> STK.

Thernal chain.

Basically any quests that chains together.

They are good, and in DDO they did it very well by giving little bit of time some people have. You can do on quest in an hour come back later and do another.

Raids:

Could be a chain. Many of the older raids have a chain event with a final kill.
VON's, Titan, and a little of Demon Queen all have a little type of chain.

These are designed to take a little more time, and provide a challenge.

Epic:

I like the idea of epic quests. Basically these are HUGE chains, with some raid content. This is designed to have a lot of people work together. This is not a bad idea as DDO is PVE. I prefer this environment.

The awards should be main class restrictive. Fairly top of the line such rewards would be:

Barabrian: +5 Elemental Burst(Randomly archs a different attack) Falchion of Stunning (20%)
Fighter: +5 Elemental Burst(Randomly archs a different attack) Bastard Sword of Intimidating(20%)
Ranger: +5 Elemental Burst(Randomly archs a different attack) Long Bow of Threat Reduction(20%)
Rogue: Amulet of the Sneak Thief(+15 all rogue abilities)
Bard: Amulet of the Jester(Heightens all bard spells by 2 levels, plus +4 on umd)
Cleric: Amulet of the Anhk (Superior Healing 9, and Mana reduction 9 (30%))
Wizard: Amulet of the Elementalist(Superior Potency 9, and Mana reduction 9(30%))
Sorceror: Amulet of the Mind Caster(Superior Potency 9, and Mana Reduction 9(30%))

These rewards should be desired by most people, but they should make us go through hell to get them, or at least the fires of Fernia themselves.

my 2cp on this.

[MysticTheurge]

Velah ties in to Gianthold Raid.

As does Tempest Spine.

[Drith]

Magician Epic quest in Everquest 1.

End of story.

I still have nightmares.... or should I say daydreaming-mares as when anyone tried to do that quest they didn't really get any sleep for oh... about 8 months...


P.S. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them to put in epic quests. = )

Despite the pain... my mage epic quest was one of the biggest accomplishments I've ever felt in a game and it really brought a lot of meaning to my character and playing with a goal.

[Raithe]

I can just imagine the quest designers rolling their eyes and remarking... "I thought what we did was pretty epic."

As several people have noted, many of the quests in the game are related. I actually consider the stories that lead up to the Stormreaver to be fairly interesting and "epic" in nature. The problem lies in the nature of the gameplay. DDO is too fast paced for people to actually appreciate what they are going through, and the days of finding a group that will stop and smell the roses are long gone.

Making a really long quest chain is just going to ensure that it will take 20 different groups (whether PUG or guild) to complete it. It won't feel any different than any other quest chain in the game.

Unless all you are looking for is the +15 trinket of uber everything.

[Lilith-Darkmoon]

I've had a recurring project to overhaul the Temple of Elemental Evil and make it more Eberrony - replace some of the enemies with daelkyr, and make the overarching theme to be a cult wanting to release one of the Lords of Dust from Khyber. :P

Good fun, ya?