I'm still on the fence (Destiny)

by slycrel , Wednesday, September 09, 2015, 13:22 (3600 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

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.