Dungeons And Dragons Online: Solas' Dev Dairy: Wilderness Quests

Samera has posted this new look at Wilderness Quests in the upcoming Module 4:

Prior to launching DDO we really focused on building great dungeons and I'm very happy with how the dungeons turned out. However, this left the wilderness areas of Xen'drik less well developed. A few months back, I set out to build a new, better kind of quest model for our outdoor areas.

What are wilderness areas?

When I talk about wilderness areas, I mean places like Tangleroot Gorge, Three Barrel cove, and the Menechtarun Desert. These outdoor areas usually lead to some dungeons - the way that Tangleroot leads to Splinterskull, for example. Wilderness areas don't really have a true quest - just "encounters" which give a bit of XP. Unfortunately, they tend to be underplayed, because the XP and treasure for encounters are (in technical game design terms) crappy.

How could wilderness areas be cooler?

Ideally, DDO's wilderness areas add exploration and variety in the game. Different settings are good - dungeons seem more creepy and ominous when contrasted with the natural light and vibrant colors of a wilderness setting. If done right, wilderness areas really make the world seem more vast and real. If done wrong, wilderness areas are nothing more than annoying travel time.

So, the task at hand was to make these outdoor areas more interesting for our players. Adventuring in the wilderness should stand on its own as a cool activity. This required something completely different than the old "encounters" model.

Three kinds of new wilderness quests

To solve this problem I created 3 kinds of new quests:

• slayer quests
• explorer quests
• rare encounter quests

All three quest types are bestowed to you automatically as soon as you enter a wilderness area.

Slayer Quests

(see the first attached screenshot below)

Slayer quests are simple. They count how many monsters in the area you've killed. Your first goal might be to kill 10 monsters. Once you kill 10, you get some XP right then and there (no need to talk to an NPC), and get a new goal - kill 25. The higher you go, the more lucrative the XP and you will never lose your progress. You can kill 23 of 25 monsters one night, then log in a week later, kill 2 more, and get your XP for finishing all 25 kills.

Slayer quests have many goals to kill higher and higher numbers of monsters. It is technically possible to eventually solve a slayer quest - but you'd have to kill a lot of monsters to get there. We set the monster kill numbers really high so that players who like this free-form hunting activity will always have a new goal ahead of them.

Slayer quests can be a fun activity for smaller groups. They're also great if you just want to login for a few minutes of play, without having to commit to finishing a long dungeon.

Smaller areas will generally have one slayer quest which counts all monsters. Larger, high-level areas might have several slayer quests - each monster will only count towards one.

Explorer Quests

(see the second attached screenshot below)

The objectives of an explorer quest are twofold: to discover the lore of the area, and to find all of the dungeon entrances. Explorer Quests are solved by wandering the wilderness and finding their locations. When you find an important point of interest, you'll see some DM narration and will be rewarded XP. Discovering all of the explorer objectives in a particular landscape will give you a final, big XP payoff.

Rare Encounter Quests

(see the third attached screenshot below)

The objectives of a rare encounter quest are hidden at first. Scattered around the wilderness area, certain unique NPCs or powerful monsters have a chance of spawning. Solving the objective usually involves combat, but not always. Similar to explorer quests, you get XP on the spot when you complete each rare encounter, and a big XP payoff when you complete the whole quest.

Where are the wilderness areas?

In Module 4, you will see the new slayer, explorer, and rare encounter quests in:

• Cerulean Hills: a new outdoor newbie area in the Harbor, replacing Postern Gate Wilds.
• Gianthold: A new high-level sprawling mountainous region.

From then on we'll be creating other new wilderness areas, while also going back and retrofitting some older ones (such as Tangleroot Gorge, Three Barrel Cove, and the Menechtarun Desert) to use the new wilderness quests.

Wilderness quest summary

• auto-bestowed when you enter the area
• don't involve any NPCs
• reward XP automatically when you complete the objective.
• good for short play times
• good for small groups
• summarized on your objective panel
• details available in your quest journal
• non-repeatable: you can only do them once (slayer quests go up to really high numbers, so there is lots of XP available.)
• persistent: your progress is always saved when you reenter the area.
• level limits: there are some broad level limits your party must be within to advance on a wilderness quest.

In closing, we're all very excited about this new system. We love the new freedom it gives both us as the designers, and you as the players and we can't wait to see this system in the game.

And check out the official forums for screenshots.