New Quests (or quests for new players)

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Aglach
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Feb 29, 2008 6:59 pm

New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Aglach »

As a new player in MUME, I have been looking around for some new quests (i.e. exploring). As far as roleplaying, I think quests go hand in hand, so to speak. Most of the quests I have come across, however have been "noload" or broken. I ask someone about them, and I am told "don't bother with that", (oh its noload", etc. I am not looking for someone to give me a specific guide (such as step one, step two).

I guess my question is, are there several quests out there, or should I just explore and find out what happens and forget quests? One of the things a quest does is acclimate a user to the game environment. I am not particularly concerned with XP. That sort of takes care of itself.

In case you are curious, my main charater is lv14.

Thanks, Aglach
Wobbler
Posts: 393
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:02 pm

Re: New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Wobbler »

Unfortunately, not many quests are particularly rewarding. The ones that do come with a nice reward usually require a bit of character power or items that do not load very often, which unfortunately is necessary for balancing reasons. Herblore quests are particularly unrewarding as most herblores have very minor positive effects and some of these even have greater-than-minor negative effects.
Politicians are wise and benevolent and will gladly sacrifice themselves for the common good. Anyone who implies that there might exist dishonest politicians is obviously a terrorist who should be locked up indefinitely without a trial.
Caerroil
Bug Hunter
Posts: 214
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:25 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Caerroil »

Generally the newer areas (Lorien, Rohan, Fangorn) have more quests than the older areas, however there are some available in the areas between the Blue Mountains and Bree. Quests can be initiated by someone entering the room of a specific mobile, or by asking the mobile about certain keywords (generally each quest can only be initiated in one of those ways). The first type generally feels a lot better, while the second type is much easier to check/initiate when it comes to quests that you can do more than once.

IMO most quests are fairly straightforward and easy to understand once you manage to initiate them. The initialization part for the quests you need to initiate on your own can at times feel kind of artificial but that is a limitation due to the difficulty/complexity of parsing natural language (which simply isn't done, the mobiles just react to certain keywords no matter the context). I believe this could be part of why you felt that some quests were broken, which as far as I know none are (some are however unfinished). However if you come across a quest that you believe to be broken feel free to ask about it, even if it isn't broken it might help changing the quest to make it more intuitive and overall better.

Regarding the rewards, yes they are mostly of very limited use for characters above level 25. However for lower level characters they can be useful and there are people that like to do quests just for the sake of doing them, at least once to see how they work. Similar here as with the availability of quests, the rewards from the quests in the newer areas tend to be more useful.
Aglach
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Feb 29, 2008 6:59 pm

Re: New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Aglach »

I should have said "unfinished" or "noload", not broken. To the new users, the end result is the same, but there is a difference. I wouldn't say that quests should be catered to new users either; I like how MUME is a rigorous world. Demanding is good. However, I think it is a "no-brainer" to say quests for the lowbies are a built-in way for new users to advance (at least TPwise).

As for the reward, I am sure the developers have a good sense of what the reward should be. I didn't mean to imply the rewards weren't up to par. I suppose I have to be more patient with the quest triggers, though.

Thanks
Caerroil
Bug Hunter
Posts: 214
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:25 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Caerroil »

I didn't mean that the quests should be made simpler/easier to complete, which I really don't think they should since most are very simple once you have played for some time and/or done the quest before. If anything I'd prefer to see some quests be made a little harder to complete. What I meant was that quest mechanics that might be unintuitive for new players possibly could be remade to be more intuitive.
Aglach
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Feb 29, 2008 6:59 pm

Re: New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Aglach »

Caerroil, I think you hit the nail on the head.
Timodeus
Arata
Posts: 301
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:20 am
Location: Germany

Re: New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Timodeus »

Which places are no_load or not finished?

Afaik that's (well, stuff where it seems something should or could exist) the White Tower in GH, Purpledoor in Shire, Wall of Twilight/Archer in Lorien (I am not sure, but am very convinced by now that those things are not yet finished), and, hum, well... Isengard. Did I miss something?
If you came across other stuff, feel free to tell me about it.
Wobbler
Posts: 393
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:02 pm

Re: New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Wobbler »

Fëanor complained several years ago about needing some mudlle he couldn't write himself to finish the White Tower stuff.

Personally I don't do any quests as a lowbie (unless I come across the Bree weaponsmith dagger), the time investment would be more profitable if spent on killing slithering snakes.
Politicians are wise and benevolent and will gladly sacrifice themselves for the common good. Anyone who implies that there might exist dishonest politicians is obviously a terrorist who should be locked up indefinitely without a trial.
Aglach
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Feb 29, 2008 6:59 pm

Re: New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Aglach »

Fornost beggar / Shire wise old hobbit ( I was told by AInur that it wasn't complete). The Giant in the shire wasn't loading, but I believe it did last night. Trolls did me in though, and that's my problem, not MUME's.

I want to repeat that I wasn't asking for quests to help level (give lots of XP). I was talking about quests like the weaponsmith dagger, etc. My char is almost 15th. I was really inquiring to see if there more quests. THere probably ARE more, I just haven't figured them out, and I'll probably be too high a level for them to be worth doing by the time I do figure them out.

Ag
Ortansia
Posts: 142
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:52 pm
Location: Algeria

Re: New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Ortansia »

There are many quests in mume :p like more then 20 .... . Just google : Mume quests and you will find some interestings websites :p
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Timodeus
Arata
Posts: 301
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:20 am
Location: Germany

Re: New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Timodeus »

By the way (just for your interest) - we currently try to add a bunch of small quests to existing areas... but that turned out to be MUCH more work than expected (and the world we have is HUUUGE, so a new quest won't have such a big impact). I originally aimed for something like 50 (HA, what a stupid dreamer!), but when we get some 10 done over time, I'd be happy.
Waba
Arata
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:07 am

Re: New Quests (or quests for new players)

Post by Waba »

Timodeus wrote:Did I miss something?
If you came across other stuff, feel free to tell me about it.
  • The Tharbad boatman
  • The place under "stairs" at "A Natural Crown" in Eregion
  • Elrond's place in Rivendell
  • Quenaire's book
And probably some more that I forgot or haven't noticed yet.
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