Low Level Guardians, New Quests

I've had a level 6 Titan for quite a while now. When they announced the new organization and questification, I stopped playing so I could experience it in the Taken King.

I've been playing a little bit tonight. Here's a few pictures of the new "quests" for vanilla Destiny, for folks that are interested.

Nothing really crazy. I do think it's interesting that some missions are grouped together into a "mission."

[image]

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FYI, it is possible to get these on a higher-level character, as well. Just go to the "abandoned quests" kiosk near the mentors in the tower.

I like what they've done here. By grouping certain related story missions together, and adding bits of dialogue and text to fill in the gaps, they've improved the Destiny story where it was most lacking previously. That is, by making it clear which events lead to which other events.

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I didn't even notice that kiosk. Too busy look at the exotic blueprints kiosks, I guess. :P

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... about this whole "questification" thing. I'll need to see how it plays out when I dive into the new content next week, but so far it just feels like a bunch of mundane chores and checklists.

I'm all for a system that adds more narrative cohesion to Destiny, but I'm not convinced a system is what is needed to do that. I never found the narrative flow of Destiny year 1 to be confusing... I just didn't think it was very good. The missions flowed clearly enough from one to the next. I always knew where I was and what I was doing, as far as the narrative content allows.

Luke Smith has mentioned The Dark Below as a turning point in a few interviews. He describes the quest lines introduced in TDB as being a major influence in the questification of TTK. Thinking back to my early time with TDB, I quite enjoyed Eris' side quests... but it wasn't because of the UI implementation. It was because the quest missions were cool! Cyber, Cody and I jumped in on launch day and had a lot of fun searching for the various targets. I loved that the quests didn't give you a waypoint or tell you exactly where to go. They just told you to search a general area, and the rest is up to you. It felt like a real "hunt", and it was different than anything else in the game.

I'm hoping TTK adds more quests along those lines. All my characters are level 34 already, so the quests I've seen so far are little more than glorified bounties with a more confusing and cluttered UI. The best way for me to keep track of my activities is to go to the director and see which planets have glowing icons over them: exactly the way I did before quests were introduced.

TL;DR,

I'm not sold on the new format, but need to see how it plays out with more substantial content.

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I like them overall.

They seem a little RPGish to me, and I assume that's the direction they are going. They capture the current task, and give you general directions of what to do, without you having to think about them too hard. It's a fine line between quest design. On the one hand you have quests like WoW or the elder scrolls series do, which is basically giving you backstory that you can read, but most people just skip to the "todo" list of the quests and have their icon direct them exactly where they need to go. The other side are quests more like the original SGA quest, giving you a vague "find a dead ghost on venus" that you'd have a pretty tough time doing without the internet to help you. You don't want to be too constrained and you don't want to be too open. You don't want to drown the user in text and you don't want to say nothing. So far I think Destiny is hitting a pretty good balance with the new quest system here.

There are also the other MMO angles to consider. I think there will be a mix of "weekly" quests, daily quests, story quests, and elder cipher "get cool loot" type quests. I expect bounties to fill most of the non-urgent 1-off type scenarios in the daily realm. The faction quest I got from dead orbit seems pretty cool and I would pin at a weekly quest. I'm also full up on the abandoned quests for all the old story missions and I've thought they are pretty well put together.

Of course it remains to be seen how they ultimately use this system. Early signs look pretty good though.

As a side note, I think the cutscene after you get your hyperdrive was a nice touch by turning the "tower" into a mission. It's a little thing, but makes it feel more like you are in control and in the driver's seat, without actually doing that.

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Low Level Guardians, New Quests (Destiny)

Low Level Guardians, New Quests

Low Level Guardians, New Quests

I'm still on the fence

I'm still on the fence