Quests and the ones you'd like to see.

[Josh Warner]

We've seen a few examples of quests so far in the game, and with the recent rise in community activity and the thread squirrel just posted I figured I'd throw mine out there.

Essentially, outline the types of quests you'd like to see, and then later on I'll make a poll with as many of them as I can and the devs can get an idea of what kind of quests we like the most/dislike. I'll add/update any additions by others as needed to the original post's list.


Good things to point out are victory conditions/defeat conditions, the type of terrain and then elaborate as much as you feel is needed, and if you'd like add an example. I'll personally read every reply no matter how large, but some others might not bother if it gets too big. Keep that in mind.

• 
  Defense: You recieve a quest about a friendly (ai) village/town/city/fortress or what have you (Depending on how far you are in the story would decide the size/difficulty ie; what size army you'd need to bring) that is being assaulted by an enemy race or an evil faction of the same race, your job is to protect either a specific building or unit, perhaps a central keep must not fall, or the king/leader of the place must survive for a set time, or the reward at the end is based on the number of allied units/named characters/specific buildings left standing or alive at the end, with at least a certain amount required at the end for a 'success' Could operate quite a few different ways, I won't expand on them all but traditionally it would be with a set number of waves on timers, if you can't manage to kill all of the last wave they'd regroup and come in again with the next wave making it progressively harder, with the occasional boss thrown in.
  
  Example: You arrive at a human city with basic stone walls/towers being attacked by orc raiders, you're given a minute or two to set up. There are 3 named characters and two buildings you are tasked to protect. You are given control of these characters for the battle, they are very powerful but should any fall your reward at the end from the villagers will be reduced significantly. The two buildings you are tasked to protect are the towers adjacent to the main gate, if there are no friendly units on the tower it is considered lost. The towers provide good defensive positions, but the center of town has an even better defensive position, with it's own stronger inner walls and gates, far more/stronger static defenses etc. If you can protect the two main towers the reward is greater, but it's far more difficult. The center keep would also give a small healing effect over time for all units nearby, but it would be too far to send units there between waves effectively. Every few waves comes a boss and a larger amount of units, you're given time to heal all your units and set up before they arrive. Also, you can have the waves start sooner with either a command/button if you're ready early.
  
  
• 
  Search and destroy(Or find): You must find a specific person/item within a region for various reasons, be it a magical item, a large stash of resources or to bring an assassin to justice. The objective is to find it(or he) before the time runs out be it he escapes, an opposing force(ai or if the system supports it two players that have the quest have the option for looking for another player with the same quest that has a roughly equal army in the area, and competing for it) finds it, and escorts it off the map, or to their base on the map and begins sending it to their home city. It could be as simple as locating a non moving resource within a set amount of time, or as I said as detailed as an AI army/camp is on the map looking/clearing out the local monsters/bandits whatever, trying to find it and once you find it you have to bring it back to your camp before they intercept and stop you(Or die to you and you continue on to your camp).
  
  Victory condition is obviously either killing the target and defeat not finding before a timer runs out. Returning the item(s) to your base, defeat being the enemy returning it to theirs. Or finally just locating and clearing out any enemies protecting the area, perhaps a shrine/temple whatever. Reward could be flat, or based on how quickly you do something, or even modifies by efficiency ie: how much of your army dies.
  
• 
  Rescue Mission Overview, your advisor tells you about a group of people/soldiers (The type of units and amount varies both randomly and based upon your kingdom strength) that have been taken captive, and a local warlord is demanding ransom or he'll start killing them. You can pay (Extortionate amount of resources for the units you'll get, but you gain a small amount of influence) or you can attack them and try to rescue the hostages. Victory condition is escorting the captives to a designated area. Reward is the units you save, as well as a certain amount of resources based on the number of units. Defeat is all or a set amount dying.
  
  Ex: You start on one side of a ravine, the main bridge is heavily defended and it will be a difficult location to take head on. But there would be 1 or 2 'back door' smaller bridges that are well out of the way that you could cross to avoid the well defended approach to their base. You have a time limit, after that the warlord starts killing a captive every x seconds or minutes. Once your forces are spotted you have a seperate time limit to engage the warlord in combat or he'll start killing as fast as he can. Once your units enter his line of sight he would charge you and leave the captives. You can choose to kill the difficult opponent for a larger reward, or simply distract him and take the hostages. They come under your direct control after you free them, requires destroying their cages/cutting their ropes (Any amount of damage frees them, so just one hit per to free them). If you choose to go through the main bridge, your goal is to get to the warlord himself quickly, if you try to skirt around the ravine, your goal is to beat the main clock as you'll be on the warlord himself before he has time to kill anyone. You do not know where the secondary bridge is, and there would be several paths to check, if you take too long to find it... Brawn and speed or stealth. The first will be a difficult battle for your army more likely to keep the captives alive, but risky to your own troops. The latter will likely see several captives executed.
  
  
• From u_have_krabs
  Collection:A long time staple of an RTS quest early on, simply collect a certain amount of a specific resource and just receives some units or another type of resources. A very basic quest designed to encourage gathering from the start and get people used to it's mechanics.
  
  
• From Joseph Visscher a resident dev with a very long title!
  Treasure Hunt quests where every now and then randomly (when your not in a battle with another human player) a dead enemy will drop a special box which can be picked up which holds a letter of a treasure clue and a location on the world map, you go to that location on the world and explore trying to find another clue about it while fighting some creeps along the way you find the next clue and location, keep going from place to place with an army until you get the exact location of the treasure which gives great rewards of resources of mostly gold and maybe other things.
  
  
• From Darathor
  Escort quests: You find a broken down caravan or something, and the leader asks you to escort them as they move through an area. You must protect the leader and his wagons from various foes(even players!). These might include, wandering bandits, the leader's foes, and even the elite fighting forces of other players that can send your way. You may have to protect him as he searches a building or cave for a long lost artifact or relic! He might even ask you to search for something while he and some of your units protect his caravan or train of wagons or train of carts or even a train of elephants!(there aren't any in-game right?) There might be a time limit, there might be an overwhelming amount of units that you must pass quickly or sneak through! The path may be long and arduous or short and easy. Your reward will depend on which!
  
• 
  Survival:You arrive at a town/city/fort for one reason or another, on another quest. But the quest you started was really a trap. Shortly after arriving you are assaulted by a large army attacking in waves, you have several ways to 'win' this one. You can immediately try and make a break for one of the 'exits' on the edge of the map and leave the already deserted place, once all your living units are on the exit the quest ends. You get no reward, this is the safest way to deal with it a way to escape if you brought along a very small army thinking it was a simple quest that wouldn't need much. The second option is to last through enough waves to have built up a bonfire large enough in the center of town to create a large cloud of smoke, big enough that a nearby patrol would see it and come to your aid(takes 2-3 waves after lighting before they arrive) quickly dispersing the attackers. For each wave you survive you will gain an ever increasing amount of resources, for each wave after the bonfire is built and you choose not to light it you will gain a very small amount of influence, but the attackers will be significantly stronger now. The last option for victory may or may not be available, you must kill the leader of the attack without the help of a patrol. He's protected by several later waves worth of units, and far enough away from the defensive position that you can't lure them into it. It's ill advised, but the reward is great if you somehow manage to succeed.

Would people like a template design more, or freeform? I prefer the latter, but readers might like a template more. Writing freely is easier but a little harder to read.

[Josh Warner]

Originally Posted by u_have_krabs

those seem to be most quest for RPGs. you could also have a quest early on with you having to collect so much of something(different resources) and this is either to keep or give to someone.

(first post yeah lol )

Think about campaigns from various games, things like these are common, it's just the persistent world needs rewards that make it a little different.

Would you like me to add and expand on that to add to the list? Or just as is, collect x reward y. titled 'collection'

List continued here because of character limits

• 
  Expedition: You are sent out to one of the significantly more dangerous areas, such as the dwarf lands, or dragon territory, your goal is to help map the area. You have to reach a specific location on the world map with an army, and then make it all the way back to your city within the allotted time, the faster you do it the better the reward also. The timer starts as soon as you 'accept' the quest, in order to accept it you must have an army within a certain distance of whomever is giving the quest (The location for this quest depends on which region the quest giver is in to maintain balance. If the quest is acquired in the human lands, he'll either have to go to the dragon territory, or just a little ways into the dwarf lands since he would have to cross elven or orc territory/the ocean to get there.) and that army is the one that has to go there and come back.
  
• 
  FromThe Witch King of Angmar
  Stealth mission: Basically, you have to sneak stealth units (probably elf units) into the opposing faction's capital and gather information about strategic as well as economic advances that the enemy has made. You must get in and out unseen and safely make it back to your home base. The reward could be either cash to spend on more elite units and access to more expansion options, and obviously, a look into the enemy's plans.
  
• 
  From Kire
  Need before GreedI know it is not original.... It is hard mission so only developed ppl should go for it. First you have to find something similar to treasure hunt but not same (to get a x thing), than you must destroy it in special places (like lava in lord of the rings). While doing quest you are hunted more by enemies (your castle and your expedition)... similar to lord of the rings quest =P. Trough time the invading enemies comes in greater numbers so you must destroy it as soon as possible =), but if you feel strong you can keep that Thing as trophy and it gives you some bonuses but you will eventually fail in time- if the enemies get the Thing it gives you a curse ... to decrease things. The rewards would be epic but if you want to go on that quest you must be well prepared.
  And be aware .... your friends, friendly players(?) and also some friendly npc can also act strangely... who wouldnt want the power that the thing gives you or the reward if you destroy it. So some of them will also try to took it beside enemies. The Thing also improve your hero stats and that curse, if he loose it, decrease stats.
  Are you prepared to bare such a magnificent gift?
  
• 
  From Puppeter
  Overwhelmed: How many assaults can you withstand? With your fortress, repel as many waves of enemies as possible, which range from a few bandits until progressively mounting to full scale-sieges. You cannot win, only survive longer each time. The idea is to see how impenetrable your castle is, and how long you can last. It wouldn't affect your castle in quests, as this really is a mini-game, but provides some light-hearted fun.
  
• 
  Ongoing War: You must travel into one of the opposing race's regions and sack a player city of the designated race, or defeat an army of the designated race in the field. Your reward is greater if you sack a city. (Come the poll unless we have more options, this is basically a blanket option for those that want quests that encourage player versus player).
  
• 
  Repell the invaders/Invade the enemy: You must attack and destroy an AI controlled camp within your racial territory for Repell, this is the easier version of the quest. It would be a small, poorly defended camp with a moderately powerful boss at it's center, this would be an early quest designed to get you used to attacking walls/well defended positions without too much danger, thus it should be fairly easy with a small reward. Invade the enemy would be a more difficult version taking place in a racial enemy's territory. You would be attacking a AI controlled castle that would have defenses scaled depending on how far you on in the main quest line/overall strength of your kingdom. As soon as you begin your attack (Enter LoS of the units along the wall) the alarm would be raised and units would continually be trained within the castle at barracks located throughout the city, and much stronger units within the keep itself that head out to any part of the wall attacked. The Barracks do not stop spawning until they are destroyed, or a set 'cap' of defenders is reached, once defenders die they would start spawning again. There would also be several mini-boss units patrolling the walls/defending the gates, they would not respawn, and a boss defending the keep itself. This mission would also have a time limit to prevent just camping the barracks, once reached a large hostile patrol arrives and your army is forced to retreat from the field. The reward would increase based upon how quickly you kill the main boss, which is the victory condition.
  
  
• 
  From: sneaky_squirrel
  Rebuild: You alone with a few escorts (You are only allowed to bring but a small army), this quest will consist of the hero arriving and finding a devastated region where a people have been separated by either war, greed, disasters or monsters, your mission is to rebuild with the little resources the survivors you encounter have, round up more forces as you travel the map liberating them from their captors and fight the last outpost in which resides that which causes the separation of the villages.
  Build and destroy, but with RPG feel plus one for survivability, would be a nise setting in a swampy region with villages of houses and farms rounded up with small palisades and weak towers.
  
  

[Henry Martin]

Originally Posted by Haeso

Think about campaigns from various games, things like these are common, it's just the persistent world needs rewards that make it a little different.

Would you like me to add and expand on that to add to the list? Or just as is, collect x reward y. titled 'collection'

Its up to you. I say sure.

[Joseph Visscher]

I like this, keep making ideas people, maybe we can get a few of them in game before beta.

I want to see, erm... Make a random Treasure Hunt quests where every now and then randomly (when your not in a battle with another human player) a dead enemy will drop a special box which can be picked up which holds a letter of a treasure clue and a location on the world map, you go to that location on the world and explore trying to find another clue about it while fighting some creeps along the way you find the next clue and location, keep going from place to place with an army until you get the exact location of the treasure which gives great rewards of resources of mostly gold and maybe other things.

[Kire]

Originally Posted by Joseph Visscher

I want to see, erm... Make a random Treasure Hunt quests where every now and then randomly (when your not in a battle with another human player) a dead enemy will drop a special box which can be picked up which holds a letter of a treasure clue and a location on the world map, you go to that location on the world and explore trying to find another clue about it while fighting some creeps along the way you find the next clue and location, keep going from place to place with an army until you get the exact location of the treasure which gives great rewards of resources of mostly gold and maybe other things.

Please no =P, there was one quest in world of warcraft in westfall .... you found bottle with letter (or just letter from dead mob x.x). Than you had to go to all clues and stuff..... great idea but if you do it first time.... + lots of murlocks + frustration + sucky reward =P no thx=), just if will be reward golden sword of demigod =) (mmm gold to sell =) or you could use it and rull the world muahahaha .... huh gone to far ...). Well just if it is treasure hunt.... make it moore interesting =)... who would go for a dangerous treasure if it is there few coins and a suit =)... epic loot =).
Sorry for just cry and not post something to contribute but cant remember anything atm cuz its little too late =).

[Darathor]

Escort quests: You find a broken down caravan or something, and the leader asks you to escort them as they move through an area. You must protect the leader and his wagons from various foes(even players!). These might include, wandering bandits, the leader's foes, and even the elite fighting forces of other players that can send your way. You may have to protect him as he searches a building or cave for a long lost artifact or relic! He might even ask you to search for something while he and some of your units protect his caravan or train of wagons or train of carts or even a train of elephants!(there aren't any in-game right?) There might be a time limit, there might be an overwhelming amount of units that you must pass quickly or sneak through! The path may be long and arduous or short and easy. Your reward will depend on which!

[Josh Warner]

Originally Posted by Joseph Visscher

I like this, keep making ideas people, maybe we can get a few of them in game before beta.

I want to see, erm... Make a random Treasure Hunt quests where every now and then randomly (when your not in a battle with another human player) a dead enemy will drop a special box which can be picked up which holds a letter of a treasure clue and a location on the world map, you go to that location on the world and explore trying to find another clue about it while fighting some creeps along the way you find the next clue and location, keep going from place to place with an army until you get the exact location of the treasure which gives great rewards of resources of mostly gold and maybe other things.

I quite like the idea of that, and I wanted to do this earlier but the interest didn't seem there. Like I said though, once we have a big enough list - I'll be creating a poll, or maybe if a mod/dev can, have them create a poll for this thread and include a bunch of them to give you guys an idea of what the community is looking for.

Originally Posted by Darathor

Escort quests, you find a broken down caravan or something, and the leader asks you to escort them as they move through an area. (could even make it where enemy players can attack, perhaps even in another quest)

I hate escort quests with a passion if they're not done perfectly they are the most annoying things ever lol. They are indeed a legitimate and common quest type though. Would you like me to expand upon your idea in detail, or just copy/paste that in as your idea.

[Darathor]

I don't really care.

[Josh Warner]

So I added in several more, but apparently this forum has a character limit in posts... So yeah, lost them :| Curse you 10,000 char limit

[The Witch King of Angmar]

Stealth mission: Basically, you have to sneak stealth units (probably elf units) into the opposing faction's capital and gather information about strategic as well as economic advances that the enemy has made. You must get in and out unseen and safely make it back to your home base. The reward could be either cash to spend on more elite units and access to more expansion options, and obviously, a look into the enemy's plans.

Thanks