Feedback:User/Tennessee Ernie Ford/Reduce tedium in Winds of Change
Reduce tedium in Winds of Change
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| User | Tennessee Ernie Ford |
| Categories | Player vs. Environment → Quests World → Other |
Reduce tedium in Winds of Change[edit]
The build up for WoC is like watching a French existentialist film from the 1970s: very, very s l o w. It's repetitious and the rewards don't feel comparable to the slog. As a result, a lot of my guild lost all interest in the storyline. Reduce the number of early quests and actions, reduce the amount of zoning, and put more focus on getting to the good stuff, which doesn't happen until after cleansing is completed.
- Cleansing Kaineng region
There are too many quests, they each require the same activity, and the rewards are anemic. Let the ministry do some of the clean-up without help. Replace the first five quests with two (so #6 — Pongmei — becomes #3):
- (1) Cleansing Bukdek Byway — Introduce the story by killing three groups in Bukdek Byway.
- (2) Cleansing Kaineng Center — Establish supporting characters and the enormity of the task by cleaning out The Undercity. This presumably resolves the root problem (see A Time For Heroes), allowing the ministry to safely mop-up elsewhere.
- (3) Cleansing Pongmei Valley — Rats, some escaped, so set the stage for one last cleansing.
- Cleansing Shing Jea
There are too many quests, many repeat tasks from Factions and once you get the idea, it's a slog. (Also: anemic rewards.) Reduce the number of encounters.
- (4) Rescue at Minister Cho's Estate — keep the current mobs, but only require rescuing two of the peasants.
- (5) Cleansing Haiju Lagoon — reduce the number of incoming mobs for NM only (no changes for HM)
- (6) Cleansing Zen Daijun — reduce the number of diseased Zunraa to three. (Or, keep them all, but only require killing two or three of them.)
To ANet's credit, they reduced a lot of the slog above by decreasing the density of foes and/or the size of the mobs. However, that doesn't make it interesting to repeat the same task 3x (Rescue) or 5x (Zen Daijun).
- Cleansing Cantha
Aside from visiting new areas, there's nothing new here...except for the monstrous afflicted. Reduce to one quest and put it in a zone equally likely to be Kurz or Lux (plus, who doesn't love seeing Kuunavang? In fact, make him an ally during this part).
- (7) Cleansing Unwaking Waters — fight through afflicted. Place the monstrous foes where Merki the Reaver usually is.
- A new enemy
Now that the afflicted no longer afflict us, the Ministry needs a new enemy. But don't make us zone an extra two times just to grab quest and claim reward. Otherwise, this is the true beginning of WoC; everything prior is background.
- Put Xan Hei in Senji's Corner.
- Everything else seems fine as is (once people get to this point, they get more interested again, but they don't come voluntarily at this point).
Background[edit]
The original quests for Winds of Change are tedious: you repeat the same actions over and over (and over) again. They also are frequently near-repeats of Factions tasks, only with the more challenging mobs. They also require frequent rezoning to grab the quest and claim the reward. Worst of all, for all that extra work, the rewards are anemic: in the second chapter, the tasks are less difficult, but offer much more substantive rewards (which is also somewhat unrealistic: we help the Ministry with near-infinite resources...and they give us little, we help the poor defenseless birds on impoverished Shing Jea or the running-for-her-life Miku...and we get gems?).
