More Ranting on Quests
Stop making quest chains that span multiple levels. It breaks up the pacing. I hate doing one quest at level 20 only to find out that the next quest is marked as level 25.
Stop making me return to a ridiculously distant area for an single quest in an unimportant chain. If I have to keep making return trips, I should have more than one quest for the area.
Make quests mesh better. If you have a quest to kill 20 wolves in one quest chain and then another quest to kill 30 wolves in a different quest chain, make them at the same place in the chain. I do not like having to kill 50 wolves when I could have only killed 30.
Stop writing a novel just to tell me you are hungry and want some boar meat. I do not care about your dreams and aspirations. I am a mercenary and I am just doing a job. You have friends and family to talk to. I am neither.
Stop giving me group quests followed by solo quests followed by group quests. And for that matter, stop giving me group quests followed by group quests. If you are going to have a quest chain, have it all soloable up until the final quest and make that quest for a group. This way, if I cannot find the group, I at least completed most of the quest line instead of missing huge numbers of quests.
Make drop rates more intelligent. If you want me to collect 10 orc medallions, do not make a set drop rate of 20%. Perhaps start the drop rate at 20% and then for every orc I kill in a row without getting a medallion, increase the drop rate by 20%. Once I get a medallion, reset it to 20%.
When I get back to writing more about Dawn of Steam, one of the things I will elaborate on is quest placement. It will be a "contract" system. Instead of running to town and seeing 30 people who want you to do quests for them, you will see a notice board that has contracts. These contracts will not have huge descriptions and can vary between repeatable quests and one-time quests.
Running into a town may show you a contract board like follows:
Tinker Town Contract Board:
Farmer Joe needs meat. (Daily)
Contract text: Farmer Joe recently broke is leg and is seeking someone to provide meat for his family. Collect 10 boar flanks.
Farmer Steve lost his cow. (One-time)
Contract text: Farmer Steve's cow Bessie has run off. Please return her to Farmer Steve if you find her. Find Bessie.
Mayor Bopkins issues wolf bounty. (Repeatable)
Contract text: Mayor Bopkins is rewarding citizens for helping curb the wolf problem. Rewards are issued for every 10 wolves killed. Kill 10 wolves.
Engineer Meyers is collecting gears. (Repeatable)
Contract text: Engineer Meyers is offering rewards for anyone who brings him gears. Rewards are given for every 5 gears. Collect 5 gears.
Tinker Smith needs a bodyguard. (Daily)
Contract text: Tinker Smith needs is seeking to hire a bodyguard to escort him to his place of work. Protect Tinker Smith.
So few people read the flavor text of a quest, doing quests like this would be more efficient and less overwhelming. Another benefit to this system is that when people eventually do find a quest that is a novel in length they are more likely to actually read it since it it stands out.