User talk:Linsey Murdock/Questions2

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Contents 1 Quests where you have to collect trophies 2 Thanks and Bahltek 3 Mallyx, revisited... 4 Ancient lore question... 5 GW2 and "public quests" 6 DoA 7 Linsey 8 Secret Lair of the Snowmen

[edit] Quests where you have to collect trophies

Some examples of the quests I mean: She Hungers, Sticks and Stones, Last of the Breed.

The first is ridiculously easy to complete, the second doesn't take too long if you don't mind farming the monoliths in the Sulfurous Wastes for shards, and the 3rd I've only just completed after having the quest in my log for MONTHS because giant tusks seemed to drop so infrequently.

I guess I'm asking why the inconsistency between these sorts of quests? Given that it appears to be ok for any heket to drop their juicy legs while She Hungers is active, how come the other two quests (and similar ones) don't act in the same way? It seems even crazier, when I consider that heket are probably more plentiful and easier to farm than the monoliths and grey giants are...
--BramStoker (talk, contribs) 14:05, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Last of the Breed is bugged - when you show the Tusks to the NPC, he does not take them from your inventory. So if you have multiple characters to do that quest with, you may use the same 3 tusks for everyone. Not exactly a bug I would like to see fixed, though : D However I agree, I don't like this kind of quest (Last of the Breed and Sticks and Stones) that require you to farm random enemies looking for a drop that you may or not get. She Hungers is, to me, perfect in that regard - it's not a matter of luck; you know that, if you kill these enemies, you will get what you need. Erasculio 15:27, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Even better, do She Hungers with Desperate Measures and let the harpies do all the work. When the dust clears you'll have more heket legs than you'll know what to do with. But, yeah, Last of the Breed is a pain to get the trophies for. I finally had to wurm solo some giant groups in The Ruptured Heart to get them. --Valshia 18:49, 30 July 2007 (UTC).

Editing to add: That was before the new loot scaling. It'll be a lot slower now to farm tusks. --Valshia 18:54, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

The Last of the Breed quest was fixed recently. Last time I went with Giant Tusks she took them from me. The only really hard one is sticks and Stones. I have accumulated over 20 Giant Tusks without ever farming Giants. Just questing and mapping and getting my characters through. I am sure if someone wants to farm them, they can get a LOT of Tusks easily. Sticks and Stones is NOT living up to that standard. I am always way short on Inscribed Shards because the number required is much higher (10 Shards versus 3 Tusks). --Karlos 19:29, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

I have 2 Elonian GMC's and did all the Desolation quests with those two characters. All I have to say is my luck in getting tusks was quite different than yours. On the other hand, farming A Show of Force supplies more than enough shards. --Valshia 19:50, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

(Reset indent) Last of the breed must have reverted during a recent updated then: I collected on it earlier today and retained the tusks. Players shouldn't have to resort to tricks and farming to collect these trophies just for a quest. It's pretty clear from above that experience of drops varies widely, certainly, my normal playing (in the desolation) got me more shards than tusks. --BramStoker (talk, contribs) 20:15, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

The difference between She Hungers and Sticks and Stones is that one is looking for an actual trophy item and the other is looking for a quest item. The difference between a quest item and a trophy item is that trophy items drop off of monsters all the time regardless of what quests you are on and a quest item only drops when you are on the quest. It really is a case of two different quest types and the decisions made by the designer when writing the quest. - Linsey talk 18:56, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks and Bahltek

Thanks for taking time to answer some questions on the Unanswered questions page. I was wondering if Bahltek was a "solvable" easter egg or if he was just alluding to future storylines? In other words, since he talks about "reflections" might we find some ominous otherwordly reflection in Nightfall or is it merely allegory. Any little direction or hint would be much appreciated. =) --70.246.139.29 23:07, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

See this ~ Kurd 09:51, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

All that says is how hot Linsey is and that Bahltek may appear in the future. I am asking if there is some easter eggs coupled with his speech or is it just speech. :) --70.246.139.29 14:27, 31 July 2007 (UTC) (via Wii)

It also says that I'm not going to answer any questions regarding Bahltek and his mysterious behavior... - Linsey talk 18:37, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Well to be fair, the question and answer seemed to be referring to what will happen with Bahltek in the future, not what is currently in game. /shrug --70.230.179.46 20:18, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

True, but it still applies. Sometimes things are mysterious to be mysterious ;D - Linsey talk 20:36, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Come on now, we don't really want to find out..., Its way more fun if you can make up your own story about him ~ Kurd 21:15, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply. =) I think your answer saves me hours of looking into reflections. --70.246.139.29 23:41, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

That could have proved quite frustrating. Glad to answer any questions I can :D - Linsey talk 00:01, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

So are you now implying that you also don't know what Bahltek will be up to in the future of GW? Interesting... (insert Twilight Zone theme music) ;) --  (CoRrRan / talk) 00:50, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

mebbe... ;P - Linsey talk 01:05, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mallyx, revisited...

It has been over a week and Mr.Curtis Johnson has not responded on Mallyx's talk page. I know this is not your problem, but is it possible to get any kind of feedback as to whether he has even seen the talk page, is aware of the problem or even cares that 11 pages worth of discussion on Guru is saying Mallyx is irrevocably broken? If you can't follow up or if he does not want to be bothered, that's fine. I was just hoping for more responsiveness to the issue. I understand this is not your area and if you do not wish to be involved any further, your help up to this point is still very much appreciated. --Karlos 23:13, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

As I said, Curtis was out of the country and had his first day back just this Monday. After two weeks of being away, the work tends up pile up quite a bit hence why I warned you that it would most likely take a while for him to respond at all. I know that this has been a bit of a distressing issue for a lot of people since the fix to that bug and it can be frustrating to not get any kind of response immediately. Please have some patience. Curtis has a lot on his plate right now with the release of GW:EN fast approaching (as do we all up here) so it could be quite a bit longer before he even has time to think about the issue much less head a discourse on a possible fix. Try to cut us a little slack as we are all on a deadline now. Thanks. - Linsey talk 23:51, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Bringing up bugs and broken things in the game is great, but keep in mind we are often working on many projects and responding and posting on the wiki is stuff we do in our free time, demanding that people post and respond can really discourage people from spending their free time to post, so please understand we can't respond to everything thanks. ~Izzy @-'---- 23:58, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Apologies for misreading your earlier note. I thought he was coming back sometime last week, not this week. I'll wait some more. I understand the rush of work just before shipping a new product, shipped .NET myself. :)

The ability to approach Devs directly with questions and concerns is much appreciated, you can be very sure of that, Izzy. I misunderstood the time frame I was looking at, that is all, and I am sorry about that. --Karlos 00:19, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ancient lore question...

Can you answer the question that has haunted millions of GW players since the game came out...

What is the Ancient Weapon for? :) --Karlos 09:26, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

The ancient weapon was originally to be used to knock down the statue as part of the 15 point attribute quest. Unfortunately time did not allow for the quest to be complicated as such and this functionality was cut just prior to release. It now has no real use in the game world - Linsey talk 20:21, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

I WAS RIGHT ALL THESE YEARS! -FireFox 01:13, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

capslock lulz -.- -FireFox 01:14, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GW2 and "public quests"

I had to steal WAR's name for them because so far A.Net has not differentiated them from different quests. As you probably know a public quest is one where actions are happening in the world and basically players join freely to play along together without grouping or needing to be handed the quest directly. I know you probably can't talk about them right now (but it would be a great thing to eventually put on your user page ;), but I was wondering why the sudden genesis of this gameplay?
I know that the whisper of a public quest has been around for sometime. One "whisper" I have done many times is killing Stitches before he gets to Darkshire in WoW's Duskwood. But it seems that A.Net, EA Mythic, and Turbine have all kind of turned their heads about the same time to bring about this type of gameplay. When GW2's info was released we had to dragon/bridge scenario, LOTRO dev notes talk about a future update with a constant public quest to keep a dungeon open, and WAR has publicized and even demo'd two of their public quests.
I was just curious, you being a rockin' quest designer, what are your general thoughts about this genre of quests and why do you think all of the sudden they are becoming "noticed?" --Ravious 13:27, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

I doubt shes allowed to comment on those games ~ Kurd 14:12, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

Well I was just looking for general commentary, specifics not required. =) --Ravious 13:02, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, I can't really comment on other game developers motivations but I can give my own thoughts on the subject. I think it's a combination of factors. Firstly, most MMO's are based around a multiplayer experience but playing in a group when you don't have a lot of friends handy can have a fairly high barrier of entry. Also, when you have a group of people all trying to do the same quest, the logistics of trying to make sure everyone is eligible and has the quest can be a pain. Creating an environment that eliminates a lot of the clunkiness of a multiplayer experience and streamlines the players enjoyment of the game is pretty awesome. Plus it also allows the world to live a bit more. Having an event system where the world just exists and things are happening in that world and you can participate or not and get rewarded accordingly; it makes it feel a lot more alive. I think there was a realization that developers are creating alternate worlds in which people are living and making those worlds as living and dynamic as possible is the ultimate goal. - Linsey talk 18:02, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

That's really cool. I wish I had more followup questions, but there is none I can really ask without asking for other game comments or stuff on GW2. I am really looking forward to it. Does A.Net have a standard term for those events, or are they just area events? If you can't answer, that's cool. Thanks for the response. Hopefully you can drop more info on stuff after the new year. --Ravious 18:04, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Right now we are just calling them events although I don't know if there will be a more formal/official name for them later. The idea though is that you don't have to worry about getting a party together or picking up a quest and making sure everyone is on the same step. You just run into a zone and if something is going on you can hop right in and participate and then get automatically rewarded accordingly. I'm really excited about the concept both as a developer and as a player. As a developer it solves a lot of problems I run into with a quest chain I'm working on that might all happen in the same zone. What if you have a couple people on different steps or different parts of the chain. It can be a real struggle (and one I happen to be going through right now with a quest chain I'm working on in the Charr region) trying to figure out what should happen if you have one person on one part and another on a different part. Trying to prevent double spawns or creating time cop situations where an NPC is traveling with you in stereo so to speak. Events won't have those kinds of problems because if you are participating than you are all on the same step. That'll make my job just a bit easier. But as a player that kind of living breathing environment is really cool and I can't wait to experience it in the GW world. - Linsey talk 18:51, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

 :O Me wants to do those kind of quests ~ Kurd 19:16, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

[reset indent] Jeez, you know that I subconsciously thought about those problems back in Prophecies (starting with that dude with the pet scorpion and eating berries), but it sounds like a nightmare. I just love how MMO's are evolving and this definitely seems to be one of the evolutions. WAR has a bunch of great ideas (like collection quests are based on actual killings instead of killings at the time the quest was received), but I know A.Net will far surpass in GWEN and in GW2. THere was some Richard Garriot article about the generations of MMO's, and I thank god for GW because I think it has pushed the envelope far more than anyone considers.
I know you are super busy, but if you want a break, I am writing up some event/public quest chains on my user page for fun. I'd love to hear the expert's thoughts, but I don't by any means expect it (especially anytime this year). I do also hope the brass allows you to dump some more thoughts on stuff that you did in GWEN and will do in GW2. Keep on rockin, Linsey. --Ravious 04:28, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] DoA

How much do you know about the original intentions of the developers regarding this zone? Most, if not all, groups I see use the standard tank-nuke-heal thing to beat it. Was there ever any intention of having the players able to fight and defeat the mobs there in open ground WITHOUT using body-block/landscape-block techniques? Was it designed to require those techniques? Counciler 03:01, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

No it was not, and I have been able to successfully fight there with out the tired old tank-nuke-heal. It is possible but people don't like to branch out a whole lot. Anyway, I was not involved in the design of that area so I can't comment on it a whole lot. - Linsey talk 07:30, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Well that is comforting to know that it is indeed possible. Are there any plans in the works or on the shelves for revamping it to be more... 'average player worthy'? I don't mean average as in making it for non elite players. I mean average as in people who don't want to play the obsidian tank, bonding monks, echo nukers combo. Counciler 19:16, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

I know I'm not Linsey, but I have the feeling they just did that. Me and some other players have been through DoA recently, and between the huge "nerf" there (reduced the damage of Enraged, removed environment effects on Normal Mode, and so on) and the PvE only skills, you don't really need that kind of party. We did some areas without big problems and without an elementalist in our group, for example. Erasculio 19:23, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Just out of interest, why are elite missions non-hench zones. I get that they're supposed to be difficult and elite, and henches would be practically impossible and even if doable, definitely slow; but if I want to spend 6 hours with henches doing a 1.5 hour 8 man mission, why don't I get the option to try? Sadie2k 18:03, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

I think it's because we wanted to encourage players to play with other people instead of just AI. - Linsey talk 19:14, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

Wow, I hope that isn't going to be one of the main ideas behind GW:EN or GW2. Best thing about GW up to now is that if you want to play at 3am when there is nobody around you can. Sadie2k 10:39, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Actually, if you read the section on public quests here on my talk, you'll see that this barrier for entry is not something we want to repeat. We know that a lot of players like to solo and we will be allowing that ability a lot more in GW2. - Linsey talk 18:44, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

You will get 10 new heroes with GWEN and you can take one "hero" in GW2 (who does not count to group size).. So I don't think this will change that much.. poke | talk 13:34, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes there are 10 new heroes in GW:EN and we are considering a companion system for GW2 - Linsey talk 18:44, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Linsey

Hi Linsey, could you maybe tell us for what purpose Bahltek exists? --84.112.37.174 18:16, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Have a look here. She already answered this one. :) --  (CoRrRan / talk) 18:25, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Secret Lair of the Snowmen

Are you responsible for this? Because I can't stop the giggles running through this! :) --Thervold 09:21, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

That was my team lead, Colin. - Linsey talk 18:04, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

He's my new favorite person. --Thervold 18:21, 31 August 2007 (UTC)