An interesting thought experiment. What quests would you get rid of?

[Logicman69]

An interesting bit of information came up during the Strimtom/Lynnabel "Year in Review" video. Lynnable stated that DDO is starting to have too many quests. So here is an interesting thought experiment based on that info

*Note: this is just a fun "What If" scenario. It is by no means a prediction of what is to come in DDO. This is not a DOOM thread, but a fun exercise.

Say DDO has hit it's quest limit and in order to add new quests and expansions into DDO, you have to remove existing content from the game. What would you get rid of in order to add new content/expansions?

This is a tricky situation. Can you legally get rid of content that people have paid actual money for (example: getting rid of Eveningstar)? Is there enough free to play content to remove stuff without gimping that experience?

Here are my votes:

1) Challenges: This may be my opinion, but I just don't see them run as much. I would remove these, and put the dropped ingredients into the existing quests (so you can still craft the equipment).
2) Solo Quests: Just remove them. Quests should promote grouping. Having solo only is counter intuitive into DDO.
3) Korthos: This one is a bit controversial. I could see a case for removing Korthos all together and either make Keep the starter area (some tweaks would need to be made) or start people in the harbor like in the "old days". Maybe adjust some of the levels of those quests to be level 1.

So.. if you had to get rid of content to add new content to the game (whatever your favorite expansion/module is.. Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Neverwinter), what would you select?

[Deslen]

I have to say, *if* they had to get rid of quests, it would be a very sad day indeed. My first reaction would be "OMG DON'T GET RID OF ANYTHING!"

That said, over the years, many quests have been reworked. Many of the Korthos quests are tweaked versions of the old docks quests. I'd much rather see quests redone than scrapped altogether.

That said, if I *had* to choose a few quests to get rid of...

Stealthy Reposessions (truly obnoxious quest to run)
Baudry Cartoman chain (Mostly 'cuz I can't run the first two on Reaper)
Purge the Heretics (moral objection)
Threnal East part 3 (traumatic memories, and it's pretty boring now)

To reiterate, all would be better off reworked than scrapped.

[Stravix]

I have to say, *if* they had to get rid of quests, it would be a very sad day indeed. My first reaction would be "OMG DON'T GET RID OF ANYTHING!"

That said, over the years, many quests have been reworked. Many of the Korthos quests are tweaked versions of the old docks quests. I'd much rather see quests redone than scrapped altogether.

That said, if I *had* to choose a few quests to get rid of...

Stealthy Reposessions (truly obnoxious quest to run)
Baudry Cartoman chain (Mostly 'cuz I can't run the first two on Reaper)
Purge the Heretics (moral objection)
Threnal East part 3 (traumatic memories, and it's pretty boring now)

To reiterate, all would be better off reworked than scrapped.

I could see the Baudry chain reworked into a single quest, if "quest slots" were running low.

Maybe a similar treatment could get used with tangleroot, where redundant quests get merged

[gaffneyks]

Sorrowdusk Isle
Secrets of the Artificers chain along with challenges
Tower of Frost
Murder by Night
The Riddle

[krimsonrane]

Having too many quests is like having too many days to live. If I could TR 3 times in a row and never play the same quest twice it would be digital D&D nirvana.

[Epicsoul]

The number of people taking this "thought experiment" as a serious possibility is humorous.

[Stravix]

The number of people taking this "thought experiment" as a serious possibility is humorous.

I mean, either that or we are just bored and just using it as a thought experiment xD

[Logicman69]

The number of people taking this "thought experiment" as a serious possibility is humorous.

This is definitely not meant to be a serious topic for sure. Its just a fun exercise based on some throw away info from a podcast. Its interesting to see people's opinions though

I agree with Question2005. Going back and revamping content would be amazing. Combining content is a good idea too. Having to run back and forth to the same quest is a nightmare and one of the reasons why I don't run things like Tangleroot or Sorrowdusk. If that was one long quest, with a boosted XP (maybe 3/4 of the total for the chain), I would probably run that more.

Someone mentioned doing away with the heroic/epic versions. In this experiment, I don't know if that would apply. I assume that quest that use the same maps are considered "one" quest at it's source. I wouldn't think you could get rid of one without the other.

I would think if they were to get rid of any quests, that any favor lost would have to be absorbed into other existing quests.

Another contender for me would be the "dragonmark" quest. Just give everyone one free feat swap per life and call it a day.

[elvesunited]

Temple of Elemental Evil would be one that wouldn't be missed by too many.

Too hard for new players. Too long for old players. Multiple death trap rooms. And an end boss fight that is infamous in its lethality.

[Oxarhamar]

Temple of Elemental Evil would be one that wouldn't be missed by too many.

Too hard for new players. Too long for old players. Multiple death trap rooms. And an end boss fight that is infamous in its lethality.

On heroic I agree on epic its one of my favorite solos

That's all having to do with IPS though

[Xgya]

If there was a hard limit on the number of quests, and some had to be removed in order to make way for more...

I'd start by halving the number of quests in Tangleroot.
That's already a chain's worth of quests right there.

With great pleasure and absolutely no regret, The Faithful Departed would go the way of the dodo. I can't remember the last time I ran it.
Actively hostile mobs you have to make sure you don't kill? Whose bright idea WAS THAT?!?

Threnal, make way for newer, shinier quests.
Alternatively, give Threnal the Tangleroot treatment and halve the number of quests there.
Heck, fuse the Threnal and Tangleroot adventure zones to make room for one more of those too.
The jungle around Tangleroot is a beautiful place with a ton of nooks and crannies to explore... which most of us never care enough to go sightsee. Adding 3 more quest entrances in there might change things the tiniest bit.

[yfernbottom]

Having too many quests is like having too many days to live. If I could TR 3 times in a row and never play the same quest twice it would be digital D&D nirvana.

This.

There are quite a few quests that need to be revamped. But more content is always better, especially in a game designed around running through 1-30 100+ times as a means of character progression.

True Story: In Destiny II they decided to "retire" about half the content in the game when they released the Beyond the Light expansion. I had only been playing for about a month at the time and had not yet set foot on even half of the planets they got rid of. I was so ****ed off I uninstalled and never went back. It was a pretty fun game, but I am not going to put my time into anything where the devs might randomly decide to set half the game on fire to force us to buy and play the newer content.

[Cantor]

Sorrowdusk Isle
Secrets of the Artificers chain along with challenges
Tower of Frost
Murder by Night
The Riddle

I dont really mind these, though you could half the number in sorrowdusk without losing any. I say...
Terminal delirium, restless isles all of it, rework threnal to 3 quests (one per current chain) and dump the walk ups, low level solos, gladewatch, kobold assault, all I can think of without looking at a list but I'm sure there are more.

Bookbinder, statler bros, small problem and the other quest with brawnpits. There are more that I dont mind running but are not very interesting like depths chain, freshen the air, dirty laundry, etc.
Rework tangleroot to be 4 quests and allow reaper.

[Aelonwy]

I would get rid of the Cannith Challenges, I didn't mind them but hubby never wants to run them and often torch and npc behavior doesn't go smoothly, and aggravating randomness of crests making it more for a frustrating rather than fun experience.

But to truly reduce # of quests while improving player experience of the game I would reduce chains with unnecessary repetition such as Assault on Splinterskull, Threnal, Sorrowdusk, Baudry could be cutdown to 2 quests easily. Some of the harbor quests could be combined... for example Home Sweet Sewer could easily be an optional within another quest that takes place in a sewer or a rare in the Water Works "wilderness zone".

Off the top of my head other quests I could see combined:

• Information is Key + the Miller's Debt (Both start in a basement, I could easily see the Miller's debt being an optional to acquiring the artifact in Information is Key)
• Sunken Sewer + Freshen the Air (This would need the story changed just a tad but first you would eliminate the Trog Champion from Sunken Sewer and then you would have the timed optional to destroy the Trog infestation that spawned him)
• Missing in Action + Walk the Butcher's Path (Group of adventures get lost in sewer and die? where better than an annex of the infamous Butcher's Path, in which case finding the lost adventures would be an extended optional of the main quest WtBP)
• Bringing the Light + An Explosive Situation (Both have to do with criminals one with gamblers the other with the Quickfoot Gang, this could go either way as to which is the optional but it would require a little rewriting)

I would also like to see sewer quests actually placed in the Water Works wilderness zone such as WtBP, Garrisons Missing Pack, Durk's Got a Secret.

But this entire topic DDO having too many quests is somewhat ridiculous and makes me think its more an issue of people can be selective on HC and don't have to do every single quest to achieve 5k. It also reminds me that they had 7K favor marked for years as the next max favor reward and then reneged on that when players could finally achieve it. Ooopsie we didn't think we'd make 7k favor worth of quests.... uhm the finish line has moved for "reasons"

[Ganak]

If forced to choose, I'd say one from the combination of Stealer of Souls, Titan Awakes and Tower of Despair.

Why? These are great quests/raids, and all had their brief shining moment in time where they were the top end game content, but they have been rendered irrelevant and by and far largely un-run.

[Certon]

All of Threnal. The Pit. The pre-quest quest for Von3. The minor side quests in Sands of Menechtarum. The prequest for Feywild. I HATE that quest so much. Coalescence Chamber. All of Ataraxia's Haven.

Oh, and the Restless Isles. Just put the quest entrances in one of the Houses.

[Oliphant]

Flagging.

[Kebtid]

Dryad and the demigod, worst raid in ddo.
Defiler of just, 2nd worst in raid.
Saltmarsh, worst pack in ddo, boring, stale, ripoff sold as half expansion full price or whatever they call it.
Wheloon and stormhorns, full content deleted and nuked from orbit, and remade into a actual epic arc without giving me epilepsy attacks.

[Logicman69]

Dryad and the demigod, worst raid in ddo.
Defiler of just, 2nd worst in raid.
Saltmarsh, worst pack in ddo, boring, stale, ripoff sold as half expansion full price or whatever they call it.
Wheloon and stormhorns, full content deleted and nuked from orbit, and remade into a actual epic arc without giving me epilepsy attacks.

See, I love Dryad and the Demigod. Its a simple raid, but I love the music in that (probably one of the best musical tracks in DDO, IMO). The dance mechanic in a little awkward at first, but easy enough to get around (kind of forces you to pay attention). All in All, I enjoy it. Its definitely not the worst raid in DDO. I think that award would have to go to Titan (go run that, and you will quickly see why that is the worst). 2nd runner up is definitely Defilier. 3rd in my book is probably Shroud. Not because its not a bad raid design (quite the opposite), but it gets 3rd solely on performance (its an instant lag fest.. every time.. all the time).

Though I think the topic of "Best and Worst Raid in DDO" is another topic for fun.

I'll agree what Wheloon needs a rework to be less visually annoying. but removal? Can you remove content that someone paid money for? Would SSG have to reimburse everyone that paid for that expansion if it was removed? Would they give you a credit toward the next expansion?

[Jerevth]

Maybe don't remove any quests at all?
Some are turned off, maybe some new ones are turned on- it could be a six month rotation. (Perhaps Free-to-play quests only)
Keep a schedule for what's going offline/coming online and coming online so no one is caught off guard.