Monday 30 March 2015

MMO Design: Vindictus Quest Structure

[Part of my MMO Design folder.]

Most MMO's I've played have the quest structured similar to this:

  • NPC Person has Obvious Marker (?/!) that they have a quest for you
  • Talk to NPC Person to pick up quest
  • Do something which 80% of the time involves fighting
  • Return to NPC Person and get monetary / XP rewards
  • With enough XP your Stats might go up

While Vindictus also has that, there are extra and somewhat hidden quests (mentioned only once during the tutorial phase and never again) you can undertake in the form of Equipment Sets which serve as both a gold drain and time wall. How it works is this:

  • Find NPC Person in town (no obvious mark)
  • Purchase a Story scroll from them and read it to begin Quest
  • Quest is often a combination of collection, crafting and luck
  • When complete, you gain some "title"
  • Each title you earn boosts stats (STR/DEX etc)

It's the first time I've seen a "Pay for Quest" structure that gives out permanent Stat bonuses as a reward but I think it's pretty clever as it really rewards those who play the game longer (to go after those quests). Two of the same character with the same gear at the same level can still vastly differ in power levels due to the title system, and I for one would actually like to see this system in more games. Properly implemented with a few tweaks I think it could even replace the old XP and level structure that everyone is used to.

What do you think?

2 comments:

  1. I think it is a pretty interesting system. I like those systems where you get to pick and choose in what ways you want your character to get better than the usual "Your character gets better at everything they already did. Yay!".

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    Replies
    1. Me too! That's why I think stuff like this is great. Imagine all those "optional" activities that can actually be made rewarding to one's character. :)

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