How Destiny could improve the quests... (Destiny)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Sunday, November 01, 2015, 06:18 (3406 days ago)

I finished my quest for the No Time To Explain today, and while I loved each step (even though the Twilight gap mission took me all of 33 seconds to complete because of dumb luck, keeping me from appreciating the unique mechanics), it stuck with me how starting the quest was something that might not have happened if I hadn't had some existing knowledge of the Ghosts in the Paradox mission. Now, crowd sourced info is neat and all, and as someone who's involved in the community and current gaming news, it was pretty easy to get it all started...

But while I was doing the quest, I was in a party with Cane, and he had no idea about the Ghosts, or the special Daily missions. And that got me thinking. How can more casual players figure out how to start these quests? Bungie definitely accomplished the goal of making some people want to ask you how you got your neat exotic, but that seems a bit... I dunno. I was thinking about how other games seamlessly implement hints and clues, and it clicked how Bungie could improve the quest lines.

In Warframe the Elder Scrolls series (Skyrim in particular), there are a few ways that you can obtain quests that can feel natural. One is through conversation, in which you can ask about rumors, and people will point you in the right direction to any of a handful of quests, or they give you insight into a person of interest. Another way is called "radiant quests", where eavesdropping on nearby conversations can get you started on a possibly rewarding mission. The latter seems to be the easier to implement into Destiny's current game world.

Imagine that you're in the tower, and as you are headed to check what Xür is selling, you pass by a person who turns to you and says "Hey Guardian! Heard some of your folks talking about secret passages in the Vault of Glass, and some weird stuff hidden in there. Know anything about that?" Ghost's symbol then pops up on the top right corner of your screen, to help clue you in that what the person said might be important.

Then you go to orbit and see that Hey! Paradox is the Daily story! What a coincidence...

Or say that after turning in your Engrams, Rahool says "Oh, by the way, Guardian, I believe Zavala was looking for you." then, when you get to Zavala, he says "Guardian, some of my scouts have reported that Fallen have been seen making quick raids near the Temple of Crota. Let me know if you see anything." Then when you get to Orbit, you see that "Lost to Light" is the daily.

Radiant quests are a good way to make the world seem more organic and immersive, while helping guide players to rewards and quests that they might miss out on if they're not very involved with Destiny news. The foundation is there, as in the Lost to Light mission, Ghost can scan the door if it's closed, and he comments on having just missed the Fallen.