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

[Artos_Fabril]

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

Everything in Forgettable Realms. Everything referencing Codex Pages.

[Bjond]

I'd get rid of heroics entirely -- all of them. Characters would all be born with full racial and heroic PLs. Why? Heroics are too easy and serve no point beyond mindless grind-fluff. Why grant all those bonuses? To normalize character power. Why compact the levels? To give people a MUCH larger potential grouping pool.

Quests without any epic equivalent should just be "epified". I wouldn't actually throw away any content. Having too much to do is actually one of the amazing things about DDO. Consider that I've been playing for 3? years now and with the last HCL season, I only *just* managed to do most of them because of the 5k favor incentive there.

Even after doing 5k, there are STILL quests I've not done. This is not a bad thing.

[axel15810]

Well first not sure of the context but I don't see how too many quests would ever be a problem unless there's some kind of technical issue where too many quests is causing lag or other technical issues. More quests the better.

But since it's a thought experiment, assuming I had to I'd get rid of quests the first ones I'd go for are:

Quests with autofail mechanics
Quests that require specific stats to complete
The escort Coyle quest....AI is borked - last time I ran it he got stuck in a corner
Quests that have a more frequent tendency to bug out
Restless Isles - Really dated overly cryptic mechanics
Solo only quests - Just not necessary, overly simple
Prequest quests like Gateway to Khyber
Soul Survivor - Causes game crashes

There are quests like ToEE I am not a fan of but me personally not liking them isn't enough of a reason to list them.

[Logicman69]

Well first not sure of the context but I don't see how too many quests would ever be a problem unless there's some kind of technical issue where too many quests is causing lag or other technical issues. More quests the better.

But since it's a thought experiment, assuming I had to I'd get rid of quests the first ones I'd go for are:

Quests with autofail mechanics
Quests that require specific stats to complete
The escort Coyle quest....AI is borked - last time I ran it he got stuck in a corner
Quests that have a more frequent tendency to bug out
Restless Isles - Really dated overly cryptic mechanics
Solo only quests - Just not necessary, overly simple
Prequest quests like Gateway to Khyber
Soul Survivor - Causes game crashes

There are quests like ToEE I am not a fan of but me personally not liking them isn't enough of a reason to list them.

Pre-Quests are a good idea that I never thought of. Von3 and Xorian Cipher pre-quests and definitely 2 that could go (though I always thought a good April Fools Joke would be to stealth change the Von3 pre-quest so a powerful dragon drops down at the end instead of the 4 shamans).

Restless Isles is a good pack to go, IMO. I guess it was a good way to introduce the Warforged Titans, but now they are so common place that we really don't need it anymore. I'd be ok with these going away in favor for something else. Its Free Agent's favor too, so there is plenty now with 3BC.
The whole threnal series would be a contender if it wasn't the only spot to get the cloak to make the Master's Gift augment. If that item could be put into a different series (add it to 3BC or even the Sentinals chain) then I'm all for it.

the vibe I got was there was a technical aspect to the number of quests. I didn't catch what it exactly was (indexing issues in the DB maybe?) but it just stuck out to me as an interesting quote.

I agree that we could never have too many quests. The more, the merrier. As one person put it, if I can go through multiple lives and not repeat a quest then that is a good thing.

[Logicman69]

I'd get rid of heroics entirely -- all of them. Characters would all be born with full racial and heroic PLs. Why? Heroics are too easy and serve no point beyond mindless grind-fluff. Why grant all those bonuses? To normalize character power. Why compact the levels? To give people a MUCH larger potential grouping pool.

Quests without any epic equivalent should just be "epified". I wouldn't actually throw away any content. Having too much to do is actually one of the amazing things about DDO. Consider that I've been playing for 3? years now and with the last HCL season, I only *just* managed to do most of them because of the 5k favor incentive there.

Even after doing 5k, there are STILL quests I've not done. This is not a bad thing.

That's a bold move :-)

[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"

[boredGamer]

Well first not sure of the context but I don't see how too many quests would ever be a problem unless there's some kind of technical issue where too many quests is causing lag or other technical issues. More quests the better.

Seriously this. What was the reasoning for “too many quests”?

- some sort of weird hard capped data structure?
- graphics space?
- instances cause lag somehow ?
- can’t sell more content?
- reworking things is tedious?
- favor …. Something ?

It just seems like a weird comment.

[Logicman69]

Seriously this. What was the reasoning for “too many quests”?

- some sort of weird hard capped data structure?
- graphics space?
- instances cause lag somehow ?
- can’t sell more content?
- reworking things is tedious?
- favor …. Something ?

It just seems like a weird comment.

Here is the video in which they talk about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtj1qjq4VJg

It's 2 hours, and I cannot remember at what point they talk about it.

[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.

[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

[Oxarhamar]

Here is the video in which they talk about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtj1qjq4VJg

It's 2 hours, and I cannot remember at what point they talk about it.

Yep this is where transcripts are handy too bad it's not something provided

[Oxarhamar]

Seek & find quests

Let's get some Dragonlance

[boredGamer]

Here is the video in which they talk about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtj1qjq4VJg

It's 2 hours, and I cannot remember at what point they talk about it.

Lol well I’M not going to find it .

[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.

[BlueLiger]

I'd remove the following -

Reavers Refuge - do people still go here often bar getting over 5000 favour?
Lower Necropolis - honestly cant say I've run these more than once and only on one character, quests are too much of the same thing and in a necropolis tomb setting make for very dull quests
Inspired quarter - though a rework of this would be better.
Flagging quest for Necropolis Raid - this shouldn't need flagging, I'd rather see it be the 4 quests and the sigil frame along with finding the journals in explorer area

[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.

[Dendrix]

Purge the Heretics (moral objection)

No way!

With the later reveal about that nice Mr Gnomon really is makes the Purge quest very eberron flavoured

[LightBear]

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

The riddle is a vastly underrated quest. At level its one of the few that is a challenge still.
It has a nice story, unique landscape design, optionals that actually are optional.
Best of all... I still don't know what the riddle means.

Back to OPs question.
A lot of redesigns have happened over the years, including removals / redesigns of quests and whole areas.
If I go by the data, I'd say we don't need that many quests around level 30.
Spread it out over all levels, including levels above 33 once we can level our characters that far.

[Strider1963]

I would get rid of Restless Isles, Reavers Reach and any quests where you have to protect someone or something (heres looking at you Coyle) or quests where you cant kill certain monsters or you fail. I avoid these type of quests like the plague.
I also dont see why too many quests are a bad thing. Having a lot of quests gives us more of an option as to what quests we play, or what quests we can afford to avoid while leveling up.