Player Guide: The Quest System

[yellowcateyes]

We are in the process of adding in a daily quest system to provide additional rewards for adventuring, with the aim of rewarding exploration and dungeon completion. Though the system is in the early stages, it is ready for public testing.

Presently, we have a single NPC who offers such quests, and those quests fall into the early level ranges (Levels 1 to 10, in and around Cordor).

Edit: The NPC can be still be found in the Nomad, but for now his location is set to right beside the Wanted Board.

Characters beyond that level range may interact with the NPC and obtain a writ, however no quests or jobs are currently available for them. An expanded network of NPCs and quests, including those tailored for Underdark characters, will be added after the public testing phase.

If you would prefer to wait until the system is complete for a bug-free experience, feel free to ignore the NPC and the services he offers for the time being. If you do take up a quest and find an error, please report the bug to us via the usual channels.

Further information can be found in the guide below.

Player Guide: Daily Quests

Summary: NPCs will be added to the gameworld that offer quests for adventuring characters. These jobs will offer gold, XP and other rewards.

Basic Mechanics:
A quest-giver will offer a Writ item when first spoken to. This item will stay permanently with the character, signifying that the character is a registered adventurer.

The Writ

• Information on current quests will be stored on the description of the Writ. You can always review what you need to do, what tasks have been completed, and what tasks remain to be done, by right-click examining the Writ.
• Writs are usable items. Using a Writ will let you review your current quests and choose to abandon any one of them.

Quests

• Quests are tracked individually. While two adventurers with the same quest can party and share in the fulfillment of the quest objectives, it makes no difference whether they party up or split ways mid-quest.
• For example, Aragorn has a quest to kill ten Orcs, and has slain three of them. Legolas has just accepted that same quest and encounters Aragorn; the two decide to join forces. Three orc kills later, Aragorn has slain 6 of the 10 orcs needed to fulfill his quest, while Legolas has slain 3 of the 10 orcs needed to fulfill his quest.
• A character may only have three quests active at any one time.
• Once a quest is taken, it will cease being available to that adventurer for one RL day. An adventurer may only accept three quests in a given RL day, (not counting the unfinished quests he may have accepted during previous days). Abandoned quests carry no penalty, but will still count towards these limits.
• Each quest has level restrictions, and can only be taken by adventurers of a certain level range.
• Each quest may have several associated tasks, referred to as 'objectives.' A quest is considered complete when all objectives are complete. No partial rewards for half-completed quests are given.

Quest-Givers

• Each NPC that offers quests will have a set of quests associated with that particular NPC. If you grow beyond the level range of the quests they offer, they will have no quests for you. At that point, you should explore and find quest-givers elsewhere.
• Similarly, some quest-givers may offer quests that are too high level for your character. Generally, quest-givers will offer quests in the level range of the areas around them.
• When a quest is finished, return to the quest-giver to obtain your reward.

[yellowcateyes]

An NPC quest-giver has been added to Anundor, again with quests catering to the 1-10 level range. Edit: You can find him in the employment office of the Hub.

[yellowcateyes]

As noted here by Irongron, new Registry agents will be available in Guldorand and Brogendenstein. Additional quests have been added to the Registry agent in the Crow's Nest and the Association agent in Anundor's hub. Together, this represents an expansion of the quest system to cover content up to level 20.

Please report any bugs encountered with these new quests through the usual channels.

Those of you braving scurvy and long sea voyages will likely have noticed that the quest system works differently with Sencliff's system of pirate ranks. Key differences are as follows:

• Information on quests are stored and shown on your pirate contract item, and not the usual quest writ.
• You may only pick up one pirate quest a day, but you can have up to three active.
• Pirate quests are non-repeatable.
• Pirate quests have a minimum level when they appear, but no maximum level at which they are no longer available.
• Finishing pirate quests results in a higher 'rank,' which is the summation of your reputation in the pirate community.

As you might have surmised, the quest system is no longer in a 'public testing' phase. While bugs with new quests will inevitably appear (and hopefully stamped out in a timely manner), the system is stable and functional enough to be regarded as just another of Arelith's many custom features.

Thank you to all the players who have playtested and provided valuable feedback on quest functionality.

Fun fact: Counting Skal-specific quests on the EE server and Sencliff advancement quests, Arelith currently has a total of 121 quests. More to come.

[yellowcateyes]

Courier Quests: Player Guide

Courier quests operate much like other quests - they are offered by the same NPCs, are stored and tracked on the same writ items, and are subject to the same daily restrictions on repeat quests and total quests taken.

The premise of a courier quest is simple: pick up a package from NPC A and deliver that package to NPC B. However, there are several wrinkles that make this task less straightforward than it seems.

1) While carrying a warded package, the character's mobility is inhibited. This means that the character cannot run, and does not have access to fast travel methods including magical teleportation and NPC passenger ships. When a character is carrying a package, that fact is visible in right-click examine regardless of disguise state.

2) While a character may accept multiple courier quests, they can only carry one warded package at a time.

3) Unlike other quests, courier quests have a fail state. Dying will result in the loss of a carried package, voiding any quests associated with that package. If a player-character dies while carrying a warded package, their corpse will spawn with extra gold.

If a character wishes to abandon their package (and thereby quit their quest), they may do so using the package's activation ability.

Because courier quests are not quests directed at dungeon content, there is no progress restriction based on the level of your party members. Additionally, you will notice that there are epic (level 21-30) versions of most courier quests. These versions are identical as their pre-epic counterparts, except that they do not grant XP. Courier jobs will always be available to characters looking to make some extra coin.

Courier quests should be now available at quest agents in the major surface settlements. Similar quests will be offered in the Underdark and Skal at a later date.

As an aside, courier quests are a test bed for mechanics that direct player-characters to move bulky resources from point A to point B, allowing for interception and interference by other player-characters. In the future, we may expand on these mechanics with regard to inter-settlement trade, oceanic commerce, large-scale construction projects, and military logistics.

As always, please report bugs and offer feedback through the usual channels. This is a new system, so expect unforeseen events.