Quest Etiquette

Discussion about quests and other in-game special events

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Quest Etiquette

Postby Ehran on Mon Dec 02, 2002 11:44 pm

During the last quest we had some of the usual problems with people running ahead and excess volume. This sort of thing leads to needless deaths and the delays that entails. I won't name the culprits this time but i would heartily suggest a review of the questing information in the manual. Read it and take it to heart.
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Postby Wings on Tue Dec 03, 2002 2:58 am

Randell's Guide to Shard Quests

In this guide, I hope to relay some good ideas to use during shard quests. First and foremost, let me point out that this is simply a guide and in no way should be quoted by anyone as questing rules. After all, I am but a fellow player not a staff member. Also I don't claim to be an authority on quests. Have only participated in a few of them myself. This guide is composed of ideas presented to me via conversations with other players and feed back on the original writing of the guide.

You should also consider this as nothing more than a rough draft of the guide. This as many things in our little world are subject to change. While maintaining the basic principles.

One more thought before I get on with the show. Quests are meant to be fun. They also add to the history and substance of our world. Gives the illusion of a more realistic place. I would also like to take a moment to thank all the seers for their hard work. With out which our world just wouldn't be the same.

It is my hope that this guide, when used during a quest, will up the level of fun for everyone, while cutting back on the number of deaths during a quest.



Before you head out on the quest:

This is sort of a rough area to cover, as no two quests ever start quite the same. So I will present one example on what to do before heading out. The first "secure the area" part can be ignored on a lot of quests, in which you head directly to notifying people and meeting at the bank.

1: You suddenly see a death cry for a castle guard. You and everyone now know that the Queen’s Castle is under siege. What to do? Well in this case it is important to secure the castle. Everyone wishing to participate should begin heading there right away. Kill and/or other wise drive off the offenders.

After the group has secured the castle, begin sending out the word that a quest is beginning. Work those carrier pigeons to death. Set a meeting place, somewhere like the bank. Everyone should take a few minutes to stock up on supplies. Bandages, heal potions, kindling, cure potions, scrolls, reagents, an extra weapon or two, arrows, bolts, etc, etc.

Late comers, this is for you. If you see a group in the bank and you figure out a quest is about to start. Be polite and ask to join with the group. No one is going to tell you no, not if it is a shard quest. If someone does, report them to the admin. (even though a seer most likely already knows what was said). You can still go with the group. It matters not who they are, what profession they are, or even if they have a young tag or not. They are a part of the shard and that is all that matters. Yes they will most likely die. They should already know this to start with and this should also be pointed out to them. Yet it is still there decision as to try and help or not. SO be polite and ask to join. Those in the group be polite and accept the late comer openly and friendly. No one has a right to say no. Well if that's true, why even ask? Because it's the polite thing to do.

Remember that hurrying to the action could get you killed after you run out of something cause you didn't take time to prepare. Also during this point in time, a couple of people need to be designated as looters. The "I will loot" thing is not an option by itself. Volunteer and let the group decide as a whole. A few things to consider. How long have they been playing here? Are they strong enough, (loot bags during a quest can get very heavy)? Are they trust worthy (what untrustworthy players exist on wod)? But above all else, the group as a whole should decide who gets the job. If you are not a designated looter, don't run around looting. You might make a few fellow questers upset with you and increase the tension in what can be a rather tense situation already.

Now lets try something kind of new for some of you, the buddy system. Warriors pair up, in this fashion you keep an eye on your buddy and he keeps an eye on you. Heal each other with bandages. You are MORE effective healing someone else rather than your self. You heal faster and will succeed more often. This will also help the mages out a lot. It can be rough to try and heal 6 or 7 people alone. This also frees the mages up to do other things with there arcane arts (more on that later). Mages, pick a small group of people to watch over and help to heal. Here is an area where a bunch of greater heal scrolls are very useful. You can cast a little more often with them than you can with the spell book. Plus you have your targeting cursor before you are even done casting. Also I would recommend some offensive scrolls like E-Bolt, Flame Strike, etc, etc. I suggest this for the same reason I suggest a lot of heal scrolls. You can damage targets faster this way. Hmmm, one more thought, Magic reflect and mana vamp scrolls also. Mages should try to drain and or mana vamp enemy mages, clerics, shamans, etc. This cuts their effectiveness against the group as a whole. But look I'm getting ahead of myself now. :)

We are now pretty much ready to move out. In order to keep down conflicts within the group, I have decided that designating a "leader" may not be a good idea. The group can opt to do this if they want to though.

Now it's time to move out. Mages have there healing targets. Those targets need to remain within the mages line of sight at all times. Or at least try to. Also you need to stay with in 20 tiles of the mage. Pull the mage's health bar up. If you lose his bar than he has lost your bar and is unable to heal you.



Let the killing begin:

Everyone is stocked up. Each warrior has a buddy or two. Mages are at the ready to heal and kill and ress. Seems it's time to rid our land of the enemy. First basic battlefield strategy is this. Warriors lead the group, archers behind them, mages bringing up the rear. The idea here is to let the warriors take on the mobs in melee combat while the archers do some long distance shooting. Mages can also help with various spells here. Lightning, E-bolt, flamestrike, etc. Now mages try to keep an eye on your healing targets as well.

Gee, us mages have it rough hehe.

If you are battling a target that runs back towards his group, don't chase him. He will die in his own time. Mages and archers, be on the look out for runners. Take them out if you can. This prevents them from getting out of range and healing back up. Also mages, be on the look out for enemy casters. Hit them with a weak spell at first to bring down there magic reflect. Then hit them with mana drain or vamp. This prevents them from casting the likes of chain lightning and healing their own people. At the same time keep your reflect up, this prevents them from zapping you in the same fashion.

Move slowly and cautiously. Be on the look out for large groups. If need be, draw some off of a big group and retreat some. This is a divide and conquer technique. Try not to take on the whole group at once if you don't need to.

If the group at large is taking serious damage, retreat to a safe place and heal up. This will also give our casters a chance to regain their precious mana. A note here, if there is a pause in the action for this, go out of war mode. It disturbs the campfires.

Everyone should also take this time to relax a minute or two. Let the adrenaline wear off a bit. This is also a perfect opportunity to regroup and check supplies. Mages can gate you to the bank if need be. Be sure to ask a mage if he or she will do this for you. Also be sure the group knows you need to get a few more supplies real quick. Another note here. If a character needs to leave at this time, he or she should let the group know and they also need to designate someone to collect their share of the loot (if they want it). This helps prevent confusion later on. If it is a looter that needs to go, the group should designate another looter right away so that the first looter can hand over any loot bags that he or she has and to make arrangements to get their share of the loot.

After everyone is ready again. Head back out and wear that enemy down. Also during these breaks in the action, don't run off and get yourself killed or bring back a trail of mobs to the group. This could be considered as rude. After all, people are trying to heal and regain mana. All you accomplish is to delay the group even longer since they have to start over again.

Now for the sad part of war. People die, sad but true. No matter how well organized the group is, somebody is going to die. When someone dies, they really should remain by their body waiting for the area to be cleared. After which a mage can ress you. Please don't start sending messages to everyone. You will be helped as soon as possible. Also people, don't loot near a players ghost. If he/she has remained by their perspective body then you will end up looting their stuff. If for some reason a corpse needs to be looted, notify the looter of this. The looter can then grab a bag out of the player’s corpse and stick his/her stuff in it.

Looters, when looting a players corpse, either do it one piece at a time or use the .grab 2 command and target a bag you pick up of off the corpse. Don't just .grab.

Dead people. If for some reason the looter had to loot your corpse and you have to run back to the mage line to get ressed. Stay there. Don't run back into the battle till you have your stuff back and put on. Other wise you just wasted the mages time, mana and reagents. Since, more than likely, you will die again rather quickly.

Always try to remember. You're not going to win an award for completing these kinds of quests in record time. Most quests set up by the seers are meant to last awhile. Otherwise what’s the point of bothering with it? They have a decent idea as to how long the quest will run when they start it. And they are prepared for that. I would also like to point out that by using at least some of these guides while you quest may actually cut the time it takes to complete it down a bit. Fewer people will die, more damage is dealt to the enemy and the forward pace will be steady. Even short pauses will help. As it gives the group a chance to regroup and get things straight again.



Reaching the end:



Ok now, you have beaten the enemy back to their strong hold, wherever that may be. The boss is in site. What do you do? "Race in and kill the boss?" Wrong, keep the pace you have been setting the whole quest. The boss will still die. The idea here is to wear his minions down. Most of the strongest and badest creatures on the entire quest are now in front of you (usually). You think the troops you mowed down getting here were hard, ha. (note: this is not an actual seer rule. heck the end enemies at the strong hold could just as easily be a bunch of weaklings who’s biggest threat is "please don't hit me. He made me do it.")

Dispatch as many minions as you can before bringing down the boss. Let the boss know that he has a weak army by killing his army. Now go for the boss. Take him out quick. Mages and archers, drop a massive ranged attack on him while the fighters are cleaning up minions and taking him on in melee combat.

After the boss falls, NO ONE BUT THE DESIGNATED LOOTER NEEDS TO HIT THE .GRAB MACRO.

If the looter is busy, to bad. Let the looter finish what they are looting. Then he/she will loot the boss. Point here is no body needs to loot the boss or any other mob except the looter(s).

Finish cleaning up the area. Make sure all the mobs are dead and looted. Mages, this is a time for one of you to make a gate to the bank. One mage should hang back till everyone is through the gate. This way no one gets left behind. Remember, not all players can gate or recall. Most, but not all. :)







Loot Split and Stuff:




Ok, now everyone is back at the bank and gathering in one spot. First off, try to keep the chatting to a minimum. Many times there will be a fairly large group of you there and it will be hard to tell what anyone is saying.

Designate the official splitter. This person’s job is to equally divide the gold among those that want it (including those that had to leave early if there was any). Looters need to sell their loot bags. If it is ok with the group they could also begin to id the magics. A side note on magics. We all love to see the *a magic whatever* while we loot. Solo and normal hunting it's just fine to stop and id every little thing. Not such a good idea on a quest. Looters just keep looting. There will be plenty of time afterwards to id things.

Ok, the splitter and/or the designated item id'er is finished. Time to roll for magics. Every group is different and the way it is handled will also vary. It has become the 'norm' to roll only for items that the character that was on the quest can use, not any of your other ones. Now granted not every item falls into a specific skill set. IE: A rugged cloak of magic reflect with 30 charges. It is open to all to roll on that item as everyone can wear a cloak and everyone could sure use that magic reflect. Now had that cloak been a rugged cloak of magery and magic reflect, the story would be different. Only those with magery in a spec slot (prime or secondary) could roll for it. Now weapons also fall into there own category on rolls. As a guide, roll for only the types of weapons you use. If you use swords don't roll for a mace type thing (no matter how nice it is).

Hmmm what else. Oh yeah the 'norm' has also been to exclude quest items IE: a special set of armor, a special weapon, a special piece of clothing, or just a specially named item. EVRYONE SHOULD HAVE A CHANCE at getting a piece of the history.

One more thing that has become the norm, after receiving an item, step back and let others have a shot at it. During most quests, there usually aren't 6 billion magics to roll for and it really does suck to see someone get half of what there was. Only thing this doesn't count on is the quest items, (the quest items are special items that seers made for the quest. Usually found on the boss), everyone rolls for these.

This guide for loot splitting is just that a guide. The above way may not work for every group. In the end it is the groups decision on how the split and rolling happen.

This is to the people that have been watching the split taking place: If you were not on the quest, no you can not roll for that *Indy silver longsword of destruction and idiot killing*. Also please do not bother the people participating in the split. They are trying to see what the next item up for roll is and what not. Please do not job in the split area. There are many, many vendors in Brit. alone to job at. Please do not sit there being annoying. You may end up regretting it. Someone may even go as far as to say that if you say one more thing, they will take that as a consent for a little PvP action. That same person may very well que up a flamestrike awaiting you to say something. (That example is in the extreme, but still feasible. This has never happened that I know of but doesn't mean it can't or won't. On the same token, by smarting off that one last time you have consented to being blasted. :) Not sure how Arc or any of the other Admin. would look at that though.)

If you have sat there watching quietly, It's not unknown for the group to give away unwanted items. You may find yourself in the possession of these items. Just because you did behave yourself.





Some final thoughts and considerations:


Be considerate of others thoughts and feelings. Who knows, they may have an excellent idea to express. Listen to it.


Every decision made on the quest is ultimately a group decision. You can decide your targets and stuff but anything that affects the group as a whole needs to be brought to the group and voted on.

Take the time to learn how others play. This can be done during non-quest days. Group up with random people and go out on a dungeon crawl or an over land migration. It's all fine and good that you know how your buddies play, but it won't be just your buddies out there on a quest. It is best to have at least a little knowledge of other peoples play styles. An example would be that there is a certain druid and I that can clear most any dungeon out there. Just the two of us. That is because we both know how the other one plays and can use that knowledge to our advantage. Also we communicate strategies back and forth. We have taken out more than our share of Ancients and Wisps in this fashion.

Another good idea is an open dungeon crawl invitation to the shard. This has been done many times in the past and has worked pretty well. We all share this land and we should take the time to get to know each other better. I know I for one need to learn more about some of you. Geez I'm such a hermit. Hehe

Please leave the dragons at home. Even though they are real good at killing things. They also create extra lag (lord knows there is already an excess of lag during a quest anyway) and tend to block potential targets. Henchies also need to be on their best behavior. Have them arm their bows before heading out. They are great archers and will serve the group better in this fashion.

No need to try barding on a quest. Some of the seers have gotten tired of the Bards ruining the quest for everyone. And have gone to making many of the mobs immune to the Bards powers. Now the seer may wait to see how the Bards behave themselves before doing this. If it looks like the bard is just going to do a few things here and there and not try to dominate the scene, that seer may leave things be. So if you're a Bard on a quest. Don't try to control everything in site. Stick to a couple of targets at any given time.

Protect the casters. They are the ones keeping the most of you alive. If a warrior falls, that just means a little less damage to the mobs. If a mage/druid/necro falls, it affects everyone that he/she was healing and could cost that group in more than a little less damage. It could cost lives.

No, mage types are not just for healing. Ever watch a good mage in battle? They can deal out some damage that you can't believe.

Mages, please don't use area affect spells. Except for the likes of arch cure and archprotection. People won't like it if you chain lightning them. Trust me I know from personal experience. *grins*

Necros, do you really need 600 zombies? Please, give us a break. One or two at most and please no large creatures. Especially winged ones like dragons, drakes, wyverns, etc. They also block targets like their living cousins do.

Above all else. Keep in mind that a quest is there to have fun and to add history to our world. I know that I have already said this. However some people are thick headed and need some things repeated. No Quest has ever been about the loot. It is all about having a good time. The seers don't take the time to set up a quest to hear people moan and groan about how the loot sucked. Rather they want to read about the fun people had and the things they saw and what not. That is what makes the quests worth doing. Lord knows I can spend a couple hours hunting alone and get more loot than you will on a quest (most of the time). If it's just loot you want don't bother with a quest, it's not for you.

Also, thank the seers on occasion. Remember that they do this because they want to. They aren't paid to do it. The seers have volunteered for the job and enjoy trying to give us something to do once in awhile. Look at things from their point of view before you start whining about something a stupid as the loot.

Ok everyone. I do believe that I shall end the class now. Please reread this page often and try to keep the things brought up here in mind the next time a quest begins. Hey if you get better organized during the quests that means the seers will be able to make the quests a touch harder without making them a
marathon. :)


I hope this is helpful, it was written a while back by my husband.
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Postby Wings on Tue Dec 03, 2002 3:20 am

And this is what I could find about quests in the manual.

Quests:

1) ALWAYS be courteous to the Seers. They are here volunteering their time for your enjoyment. So don't be rude or act inappropriately.
2) Keep in mind that quests are for everyone. So even if you are a newbie and you want to join up go right ahead. I am not sure if you might have a lot of fun and you might be a bit over your head. But nonetheless it can be a learning experience and you can have a lot of fun.
3) When a seer is speaking to you try not to interrupt.
4) If you are looting always keep an eye for notes. A lot of the times people loot notes and they did not notice.
5) To many cooks spoils the Broth. This is so very true in a quest. Try to select a leader, one that everyone can follow and agree on. Try to follow the instructions of the leader. If you have an idea or find something interesting speak up, but don't try to take over the leadership position.
Okay these are a few tips to survive and make your life a little easier in WoD. There are many more out there. I will post more as I remember them. Other players out there might have more tips.
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Postby Atei on Tue Dec 03, 2002 1:19 pm

Don't run ahead and bring back the attackers to the group. Generally, if a group is stopped, it is to rez a fallen comrade, re-buff or just re-orient. Running ahead and then bringing back the mobs gets people killed.
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Thanks for posting Randells notes.

Postby Ehran on Tue Dec 03, 2002 10:49 pm

I had thought this info had been added to the manual a while back. sorry for the confusion. :oops:
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Postby Ramius on Wed Dec 04, 2002 12:59 am

Some of it is in the manual and some of it was in the player submissions part of the history. I can't get into that right now. Has it been disabled?

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Postby Aardwolf on Wed Dec 04, 2002 7:35 pm

I will double check, it might be in the new version Uthr was working on , if I cant find it I will incorporate it into the current Manual

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Postby BabyKinz on Sun Dec 08, 2002 4:44 am

I'd like to add one thing.

Just as Mages take care of Tanks, Tanks should take care of Mages, If you have leadership and a MoB is on a mage, Entice it off the Mage , who has less AR, so the mage can sit back and do its thing. :wink:
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Postby Eldric on Wed Feb 19, 2003 4:33 pm

Lots of useful info here for new (and old) questers, so ...

*bump*
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Postby Aardwolf on Wed Feb 19, 2003 6:10 pm

Just as you bumped it, I added it as a new page into the manual, it is in the newbie section.

http://www.rc-computers.com/wodman/newb ... stet.shtml
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