This idea was inspired by this thread: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=238399


Now, what I want to know is why every quest has to be a questquest. And by that I mean: Why do I have to go through an insane amount of traps or mazes or trash mobs to get to a really cool beast? What the people want, in the end, is to fight a kicka$$ monster! Why do we have to go through the mundane punish fest that is the shroud to get to fight a really cool monster?

Couldn't, in theory, there be a different approach? And the approach I'm about to pitch would be super easy for devs and alot of fun for players.

First example:

You go down to the docks, there's a man who will take you on a boat to wherever you want to go for say, 1k gold. And when you get to that island, it's a relatively quiet island. Maybe a wild boar here and there. But lets just say this island has a volcano. So you trek your way up the volcano to find this rumored mythical beast. And lo and behold, when you get up there, there is a MONSTER MIMIC! or insert whatever monster you think would be there. It's huge, it's gorgeous, it has awesome spells, and it totally slays, and it's mean, and it takes a whole party to bring the thing down, but there it is, in all it's simplistic glory. THE BEAST! It can have a thousand hitpoints, a tough AC, good saves and everything, BUT it 'can' be beaten. Then after you kill it you get "some" xp and "some" treasure. Maybe it guards a pile of gold (which would pay for the trip) and the gear of previous fallen heroes ei: some decent plate, a decent sword or nifty bow. And maybe it could have a 1 in a thousand chance to drop a medium or large ingredient. It could even be on a timer so that you only get to fight it once every couple of days to keep farming down.

Second Example:

You're walking through the forest in... oh let's say Searing Heights. You find an obscure path that leads off seemingly to nowhere. The trees are thick and it's hard to find your way around until finally you smell the stench of corpses. As you approach the pile of corpses a rumbling sound can be heard from all directions. The trees begin to shake and your adrenalin pumps until suddenly! A MASSIVE SHAMBLING MOUND leaps through the thicket. It's massive, menacing, knocking over trees and chucking them at you. It has a ton of hitpoints, it's got great saves, it's downright MEAN. It takes an entire party to bring the thing to the ground but it CAN be brought down with vigilance and the right tactics. Then it could have "some" treasure, "some" xp, and also be on a timer.

Third Example:

You and your party are climbing along a mountain to get to who knows where when you are jumped by, A GIANT GRIFFIN! It's growling, slobbering and flapping its wings in such a way it knocks some of you to the ground but you cast aside the thought, "It really is a beautiful creature." to get up and fight that mean s.o.b. until it's dead and you steal it's eggs and sell them on the market for lots of gold. and maybe you find an ingredient or the battleax of the poor halforc who fell to it shortly before you.

My point is, Why all the punishment? Why all the repetition? Why can't we just fight cool, hard monsters? Why do we have to hack through 500 gnolls to get to an anticlimatic boss when the boss could be it's own climax? Not all of us need uber loot chests to have fun. Alot of us out there are really in it for the fight itself. And as I said, this approach to content addition would be painfully easy for the devs to implement and super rewarding to those of us that just want to fight those big nasty beasts.

Just an idea.