How come STILL only Runescape has quests that are actually interesting from the MMOs today. Back in its heyday I thought the quest design in this game was revolutionary and ahead of its time and a sign of things to come but fast forward a decade and we are still stuck with the same Kill X, Deliver X, Gather X and Talk to X quests with giant quest markers pointing you to the objectives.
Might Runescape's unique quest design be that way only because quests aren't the main way to progress in the game like they are in most other MMOs?
The MMO market changed. Old Maplestory for example had a lot more forced social time with the ship to Orbis and manually having to find PQs. They streamlined everything because people want immediate rewards.
Joseph Jackson
The current OSRS is heavily streamlined from what I've seen too but I am specifically talking about the quests - at least they kept the formula of making quests that either have fun storylines or require you to think a bit. I am pretty sure that if a current gen MMO releases tomorrow boasting the same quest design people would be all over that.
Nolan Gray
I think it was a sign of the times. Runescape was very simple mechanically even for the time it was made in, its openness and freedom is what made it have unique gameplay. Games that come out now and have complex controls and high-fidelity graphics don't feel the need to have interesting quests with good writing.
Colton Butler
Haven't we already passed the phase where graphics matter the most and we just want to see pretty pictures instead of actually playing the game?
John Hill
Quests are designed to be able to be picked up and done asap now. Faster people get to end game the faster they can sell shit.
Joshua Robinson
RS was designed more as a point and click adventure with leveling and online than a standard MMO, you'd never get something like it now with the WoW formula being the go-to
Jaxson Hall
Yeah WoW kinda fucked up with its quest system. Even some quests in EQ had more depth to them and they were quite rudimentary and mostly useless save for a few quests really good for levelling which were repeatable "collect X".
Isaac Sanchez
The OSRS quest system is still unmatched. It's surprising most games (at least that I'm aware of) have not tried to emulate it. The closest I can think of is Breath of the Wild, which, while not an MMO, had more complex quests that made you think and complete varied tasks/puzzles, though not to the extent OSRS does.
John Lee
I don’t know. My only comment on runescape is that I miss pre eoc runescape. I would kill for a 2011 server just when nex released because at that time there was no squeal or polypore. >dungeoneering/chaotics >nex/nex sets >curses >summoning >soul wars/stealing creation/fist of guthix >best graphics revision Just take me back
Logan Jones
The OSRS is pre-OC. As for private servers I don't think there's one for the area you liked the most. Eitherways most private servers are geared towards people who want to PK, the only private servers that actually have the original quests, working minigames, skills working properly etc are our own Yea Forumsscape and ScapeRune, both kinda dead and centered on the 2006/2007 era.
Joseph Gutierrez
in WoW and most current MMOs, quests are the vehicle that you use to level, if that makes sense because of that, they need to write a gorillion quests to cover all of the areas and levels and need to make them simple and palatable for people that just want to shut their brain off and blast through leveling content quests in runescape are adventures or stories that you have to unlock the ability to complete through grinding outside of quests, so they can be more freeform and open because they're all essentially optional aside from a few easy quests that unlock skills because they had to pump out a lot less at a time and because they aren't mandatory they can make them much more interesting and rewarding no quest in WoW gives you the utility that Lost City/Fairy Tale gives you with fairy rings or what Throne of Miscellania gives you with the kingdom because they're fundamentally different games design-wise
Juan Scott
Yh I’ve looked around over the years for a server like the one I described. I remember one server back in 2012/3 called revolutionx that was a spawn server. It had working minigames and an active pk community despite being a spawn. A good economy server that goes and comes back is alotic which had the graphics revision and a semi active pk community (or it did when I played it years ago), but no mini games. I gave up playing private servers a while back anyway. They just seem pointless to me. Can’t get into osrs no matter how much I try to so runescape is nothing but a memory to me now. Still goes down as the game of my childhood and the game I have the most hours on by far, something like 8k-9k hours, not including private servers. Including private servers, it would probably be like 13k. I think the first server I played was battle scale which was another spawn
Gavin Phillips
Battlescape*
Josiah Watson
Yeah sure but how come sandbox MMOs that have the same progression and skill system like Runescape(Albion Online and Eldevin from the top of my head) have the same quests as WoW pretty much? Doesn't make fucking sense, if they wanted to copy Runescape why didn't they copy its best aspect?
Levi Watson
The new quests are absolute trash. They just completely ignore the lore and come up with some fanfic.
Adam Thomas
why put in extra effort if people will still be satisfied with minimal effort? it sucks but those devs have a company to run and if they can cut those corners to help their bottom line without pissing off the majority, they'll do it 100% of the time
Dylan Morris
At least they have the same complexity as the earlier ones. I can forgive them for having retarded or confusing storylines that make no sense as long as the quests are not casualised and retain the puzzles, item based solutions, zero handholding, some guesswork involved in them and so on.
Evan Anderson
MMOs arent designed to be fun anymore. New MMOs are just on the rail themeparks that take you from place to place and tell you to do this and that. Actually fun games that have big open worlds and don't hold your hand or force you in a course are a dying breed. Fuck me I had more fun on some minecraft mmo server than final fantasy 14 just because there's no "main story quest", what the hell happened to the genre?
Jack Baker
appealing to a wider audience is more profitable and easier than innovating and trying something that might not work the genre has an 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' mindset, and people gobble up the themepark model
Adam Williams
Yeah it's really disappointing. Nowadays I am happy and excited if I see a quest in a modern MMO that has a little puzzle in it or some shit.
Brandon Howard
Still wasn't there a period of sandbox MMOs popping up all around such as Ashes of Creation, Black Desert Online, ArcheAge and other unreleased or cancelled ones such as EQ Next and Chronicles of Elyria? It is clear that people like the idea of a sandbox MMO but seeing how shit the current sandbox MMOs are this might change.
David Taylor
when I was in college I had a friend that was majoring in programming and game design one day I asked him if he'd rather make a shitty cashgrab shooter that makes 100 million dollars and is forgotten within a year, or a really great cult classic with a dedicated fanbase that pushes the medium forward but doesn't sell very well initially he said he'd rather make the shooter and the money I'm pretty sure a good chunk of new game devs have this mindset and it's pretty disheartening to me
Levi Turner
Well yeah his answer makes sense but having good complex quests would also have a monetary incentive in it. Nowadays what can differentiate the MMOs that are shat out every year one from another other than a unique mechanic, combat or questing system? Wouldn't people be more likely to buy your product if they know it's different from the rest and has some substance in it? Are MMO players that stupid that they settle for a bad reskin of WoW that doesn't even have a good enough endgame to warrant the uninspired questing and levelling system WoW has?
Gavin Nguyen
Normalfags and AAA companies are still in that phase
