suggestion: Heartwood revamp

RockRock Posts: 567
edited March 2020 in General Discussions
In a recent thread, @Lord_Nythrax has suggested that the Heartwood hunting quests be upgraded to offer more challenge and variety.  I agree, with the additional suggestion that the hunts scale to player skill level.  Don't send a 60-skill warrior to fight balrogs, nor send a grandmaster mage after ettins.  Ideally, player could tune their quests, with perhaps an easy/medium/hard quest setting added to their options.

I could have added the above to the original thread, but since my suggestion goes further, I started this one to avoid possibly derailing the other.

Hunts should not be the only type of quest which scales.  The crafting quests are extremely frustrating.  They have little variety, and expecting them to help you train is almost an exercise in futility.  Bowyers can use them to train if they dismiss the large majority of offered quests, but Carpenters, Blacksmiths, and Tailors are simply wasting time hoping for certain recipe drops which seem to never come.   If they could gain skill while doing so it wold not seem like such a waste of time.

Regarding recipes, it felt like each craft had maybe five recipes which would drop often, and getting another sort of recipe was a very rare event..  I.e., maybe 99.5% of the time a recipe drops, you would get one of the frequent ones. (What the heck are you going to do with 3 of the same recipes which all drop in the same session??) That other 0.5% chance contained all the other 10 to 30 recipes for that skill.  I'm not saying some recipes should have the same drop rate.  Rareness is fine.  But the current design is the textbook definition of "a grind" which would make other games blush.  Fit the rare recipes into maybe a 7% probability window.  Then at least one recipe in 16 might be new and useful to that character.  And in the meantime he is gaining skill, building a variety of things besides stools.

So, basically I am suggesting all quests, hunting and crafting, be upgraded.  Have them scale to the player's current skill level.  This will change Heartwood from a gloomy place of dread to a place where players enjoy visiting.
Rock (formerly Imperterritus VXt, Baja)

Comments

  • For real devs, there's a working K10R quest system in this game. If you want to increase the amount of available content for not much work, putting it into meaningful commission seems like a good move. Have them award items to turn in for collections, with each quest having a small chance to randomly throw in a rare item when completed.
  • RockRock Posts: 567
    @Lord_Nythrax What is "K10R"?  All I saw from a net search was model numbers and virus names.
    Rock (formerly Imperterritus VXt, Baja)
  • Arroth_ThaielArroth_Thaiel Posts: 1,019
    edited March 2020
    Rock said:
    @ Lord_Nythrax What is "K10R"?  All I saw from a net search was model numbers and virus names.

    Kill 10 Rats
    -Arroth
  • RockRock Posts: 567
    @Mariah Thank you for the links.  I was not aware such lists existed.
    Rock (formerly Imperterritus VXt, Baja)
  • The rewards in the bags obtained from Heartwood quests is influenced by Luck as well at the time of quest turn in (wasn't always so). Heartwood quests are one of the few ways to frequently get Talismans, other than Peerlesses. Strongbox quests are the ones you should aim for.
  • RockRock Posts: 567
    Regarding the Heartwood Quest list @Mariah posted, the system is clunky when looking for a specific quest giver.  In fact I could not even find the first one I tried to look for, Elder Onallan the Wise.  I checked both the Trammel and Felucca versions of Heartwood, and he did not appear to be in either location.  Maybe I just missed him.  Even if I had found him, the feeling of clunkiness would remain.  Now it just has frustration added.

    In the end, I chose a random quest giver, Elder Caelas.  He's having me take down some Orc bombers and brutes, so I'll see how that goes.


    Rock (formerly Imperterritus VXt, Baja)
  • KirthagKirthag Posts: 541
    Rock said:
    @ Lord_Nythrax What is "K10R"?  All I saw from a net search was model numbers and virus names.

    Kill 10 Rats
    woah..
    haven't seen that since MUD days!
  • Arroth_ThaielArroth_Thaiel Posts: 1,019
    edited March 2020
    Rock said:
    Regarding the Heartwood Quest list @ Mariah posted, the system is clunky when looking for a specific quest giver.  In fact I could not even find the first one I tried to look for, Elder Onallan the Wise.  I checked both the Trammel and Felucca versions of Heartwood, and he did not appear to be in either location.  Maybe I just missed him.  Even if I had found him, the feeling of clunkiness would remain.  Now it just has frustration added.

    In the end, I chose a random quest giver, Elder Caelas.  He's having me take down some Orc bombers and brutes, so I'll see how that goes.
    Quest info can also be found here:
    http://www.uoguide.com/List_of_Quests

    A number of years ago I spent a lot of time pushing the "Last Object" key to cycle the quest givers for Heartwood and Sanctuary attempting to determine who gave which quest. Think I forced each NPC 100 times? I'd have to check my spread sheet. Anyway, UO Guide already had a bunch of it, but I was able to gather and add lots of data, especially for Sanctuary.

    Since then someone else has gone through and reorganized it all and put it into sortable lists. 100x better now then it was. I still use the Quests list a lot.

    The UO Guide list is not grouped by difficulty like the UO.com list, but you can view the Mob target and determine difficulty for yourself.

    Good Luck!

    P.S. Looks like Elder Onallan the Wise is in Sanctuary, not Heartwood (CRTL-F FTW!).
    -Arroth
  • MariahMariah Posts: 2,943Moderator
    :) I was just about to post that. I have found him in Sanctuary and will update the page accordingly.
  • Mariah said:
    Yeah see these quests are way too focused on trash mobs, and the rewards are of the "derpy doo stack luck and pray to the gods and you might get something that sells for 50k on a vendor six weeks months from now" variety. I want quests to kill the Dark Father in Doom, to kill Medusa, to kill Scalis or whatever, and I want concrete advancements toward fun rewards.

    Like a magical talking dog that says insults when it sees a player die.
  • RockRock Posts: 567
    ...
    Yeah see these quests are way too focused on trash mobs, ...

    @Lord_Nythrax Here I'll largely disagree with you.  I like a hunting selection from easy to hard.  It allows characters to use them as part of their skill training.  Remember, not everyone is solely interested in end-game content.  While it is clunky to have to search for the right quest-giver, the fact that one can find a quest to match his skill level is a good thing.  I don't object to also offering extremely difficult quests, but don't throw away the "easy" ones.
    Rock (formerly Imperterritus VXt, Baja)
  • TheoTheo Posts: 169
    Agreed. Plenty could be fixed here.  Give rewards via a gump and let people choose the recipe they need or something.  Scale the list of the difficulty of the item crafted. Right now I do footstools. I could get a crap piece of jewelry or I could get a heartwood saw.  That’s crazy. 

    For the fighting ones scale them and let someone pick a skill of their choice pink.  .5/1.0/1.5/2.0 depending on difficulty.  Kill 10 Balron? Pick 1.0 scroll.  Those quests would be mobbed. 
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