[Jonboy]

Daily quests

I don't know how they were intended to work out, but daily quests in WoW are fairly recent. They work well.

Basicly, they're fairly normal quests, except they give a relatively large reward. What's the difference, then? Pretty much everyone gets the same quest, and they can only do it once a day (server time 3am to 3am).

How does this work out better than normal quests? Because everyone has the same quest, it's much easier to find a group. The enemy has the same quests so there's interaction for PvP. Because there's a PvP element the risk can be higher, so the higher reward can be justified. The reward being higher than normal means you are discouraged from repetitive grinding (although the grind is available if you want it) - as it's easier to just wait for the next day. You can then concentrate on what you are really wanting to do.

The real concept here is military type missions. For example, all Sols get a mission to hold a particular quant sector blue for a few minutes. And all Quants get a mission to stop them. This would lead to a lot of fun. Obviously, people would have to do either mission in groups, or with escorts. Even with delivery type missions, your enemy could stop you trying to do it.

Unlike in WoW, I'd have the mission expire at the end of the day, if you fail to do it on time, so you cannot save up a mission for when the server is quiet. The reward should be up to triple the normal rewards. The problem with this kind of mission is social. People allow each other to get their mission done, so everyone can be happy, so they should often be competitive. The missions can be recycled, but that shouldn't happen more than once every other week.

[Radi]

The only problem I see is that you are making things less flexible. Sounds confusing but let me explain.

In Jumpgate, we had no missions do anything that related to PvP. It was mostly GM or player organized event or just nightly invasion of [insert faction].

With those type of quests, you are simply restricting some type of PvP action (in this example, holding a sector) to a pre-defined rules. While it might add to the gameplay, I feel like it is going to destroy open-ended will of players where they [players] could do anything. Instead, you will get a grind which is simply doing quests anyway you look at it.

I always liked in Jumpgate, that you could basicly do anything. Just couple examples: EEA, Amanath bombing and blockade, factional wars etc.

Just my 2c's.


P.S. I really don't like that Jumpgate Evolution might become just WoW in Space.

[Istanbul]

Wow In space where you have to fly the ship and pull the trigger :P

[Tim]

WOW in space will likely make a lot of money. Wait.. that's Money(tm).

Anyway, I think you'd still see plenty of free will among pilots. They aren't being _forced_ to take the mission. It's simply available, if one gets bored of the normal mission grind.

Sure, it would have rules and restrictions.. all missions do. But because this would be a more-than-normally popular mission, and it would be designed in such a way as to encourage PvP, it might offer something to the 'i want a reason to pvp' crowd.

You might even go an extra step and give, say, one faction a mission to mine X ore from A,B,or C sectors. Then give another faction a mission to stop them. Good times?

[ELPIRATA]

Radi, that was before the MT thing we didnt had that kind of mission of controlling this or that sector, but there were many missions that required teamwork and coordination.

I like the idea Jonboy, though Id go with multiple missions for the day, or maybe at times and depending if the faction has enough numbers to support it. I mean like, Oct has 200 fighters online, but both sol and quant sport 30, then the mission computer could arrange for many of these missions to use the available fighters to cover the most possible ground and then increase their domination of the map.

This also helps by not having a 200 ships in one sector, which 60 combined sol/quants couldnt fight off, but if they are divided (in theory, numbers online wont be always that exact) in 4 sectors, then there's a chance a 30 vs 50 can be doable depending on everyone's skill.

Still, the octs end up owning at least 2 sectors because they had the numbers to back it up.

Of course, the mission computer could also think that equipment is needed for optimal fight conditions and propose to attack and hold 2 sectors while have some fighters to escort some cargo ships that would go for equipment.

I see it with good eyes but makes you wonder how intelligent the mission computer may be, and how disobedient the pilots on your faction would be.

ELP

[Tim]

Heh, good point.. the missions would have to be something that 'spying' couldn't affect.. there wouldn't be such a thing as secret routes or hidden destinations.

[Wild_Bill]

Radi, rather than "restrictions" I think of it as "roads" vs "open fields". By having connecting missions folks would be "directed" so as to ensure conflict vs the haphazard methods previously employed. It's not like I care much either way, but for folks that want a fight, why should they have to waste time trying to find one, when they can take a mission that's almost guaranteed to deliver one?

It would undoubtably take a high level of programming so when Mission A is taken at Oct Core, it generates Mission B at Sol Core and/or Mission C at Wake, etc. I think it would make missions more meaningful, but it would absolutely take some high level programming to accomplish and I'm not sure ND would be willing to alocate the resources to do it. Perhaps when Mission A is taken in Octavia, then a KTRI type-crawler would go out in Solrain to "Check for vital combat mission at your local station" or variations thereof.

Nothing like the current Cargo Missions or Roh help us, the PREVIOUS Cargo Missions we had. With those, the mission had absolutely NOTHING to do with anything. Currently you don't get a cargo mission unless the station you are at HAS the commodity and the station you are going to NEEDS the commodity. Hmmm... considering what they HAVE done, perhaps it wouldn't be all that difficult to do a meaningful mission system.

[ELPIRATA]

Roh help us

Oh boy, one miner already defecting our uber oct pop culture...

ELP

[Diver012]

I like the idea myself. Each faction would have their own type mission of the day, kinda like the faction missions we have now except they could be completed in 1 days time. Some type of mission that would require faction interaction... I can see a lot of possibilities here.

[GrimGriz]

The problem with WoWs missions is that they never get done. You can be leading Steve the Butcher back from the Goblin encampment and pass a group of people on their way to rescue Steve the Butcher from the Goblin encampment.

I guess the point is that WoW's quests behave as if each character is the only person on a server. It's a single player game that thousands of people can play as far as storyline goes.

Jumpgate was mostly better than that. The missions may have been dull, but a bunch of them made changes in the universe that affected other players. If Jumpgate Evolution is WoW in space, that aspect of Jumpgate will be gone.

[netburnr]

Originally Posted by Wild_Bill

but for folks that want a fight, why should they have to waste time trying to find one, when they can take a mission that's almost guaranteed to deliver one?

Amen brother, amen. This is exactly the kind of thing Jumpgate Evolution needs, a way for the system to help people find the fights instead of having to roam around looking for one.

[Jonboy]

Originally Posted by Radi

...With those type of quests, you are simply restricting some type of PvP action (in this example, holding a sector) to a pre-defined rules. While it might add to the gameplay, I feel like it is going to destroy open-ended will of players where they [players] could do anything. Instead, you will get a grind which is simply doing quests anyway you look at it. ...

That's why you have a different mission every day. If you don't like today's mission, you can just skip it, and wait til tomorrow. It's not like you're going to be able to get all of them done anyway.

Originally Posted by Wild_Bill

...It would undoubtably take a high level of programming so when Mission A is taken at Oct Core, it generates Mission B at Sol Core and/or Mission C at Wake, etc. I think it would make missions more meaningful, but it would absolutely take some high level programming to accomplish ...

Although I like this idea, I wrote the idea up not as missions tailored to each pilot, but tailored to each faction. That way it promotes community too.

Originally Posted by GrimGriz

The problem with WoWs missions is that they never get done. You can be leading Steve the Butcher back from the Goblin encampment and pass a group of people on their way to rescue Steve the Butcher from the Goblin encampment. ...

Yeah, I never did like the break of immersion caused by instanced missions. You can still have faction-wide missions, just in jumpgate style. 'Hold this sector for 2 minutes' is still a valid mission after someone else has done it.

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I know i shouldn't do comparisons with WoW, and I wouldn't like WoW-in-space, but I play WoW a lot, so that's what you get. I know what I like/dislike in WoW, and I think I know what would be good for Jumpgate.