Quest pacing

[Chaosturn]

Just interested if people on this forum agree or disagree with me on quest pacing!

Do you prefer:
- Big quest hubs (with 5-10 quests a time) which were common in vanilla, tbc and wotlk to an extent, or...
- More linear progression with around 3 quests per "hub", with more focus on a main story for each zone (Cataclysm+)

Personally I prefer the big quest hubs. For me they made it feel like I was out in the world and completing tasks, and the "modern" way feels more like I'm on rails. I don't necessarily dislike it though, it's still enjoyable to me, but I couldn't help to notice how much more fun and immersive the questing felt in Outland and Northrend to me when I took my most recent alt through them - the questhubs are still there since it hasn't been touched since neither of the zones have been touched since Wrath.

What do you think about questing now compared to then?
Do you prefer the new or the old way overall?
Do you think they could go back to the big hubs?

Share your thoughts!

[Lime]

I want both. Having a huge quest hub with as much story progression as those smaller ones would be perfect.

But I voted Linear just because I love a good story.

[Airwaves]

I love the new way they do questing. Makes your actions feel like they had an effect and the story progresses. I have done loremaster on both alliance and horde and have read every single quest in wow (I read dam fast). When quest hubs keep sending you back to the same area it feels like the story isn't going anywhere. They really need to have scaling in lower level zones like gw2 so you can finish the area before it goes gray. That is the only downfall of having long quest chains when leveling is so fast now days.

[Thelxi]

I actually like linear quest zones like Hyjal. It just makes leveling less painful for me.

[Flaks]

Why not both? *queue Mexican music*

But yea, I loved Hyjal but I also loved Borean Tundra. What seems to be missing though are the amazingly epic "side" quests from Vanilla and tBC that required collaboration like the Cipher of Damnation questline...though I guess in the current day and age it can be compared to the linearity of Cataclysm questing...it's just not EVERY quest needs to be a solo experience in this game.

[Destinas]

I prefer linear questlines, especially leveling characters now. I find that going from revamped vanilla zones to Hellfire, I feel overwhelmed in the Outland zones. I get like 13 quests at one hub sending me to every corner of the broken planet. Granted, with all those quests (in most cases) I can get most of them done in one spot. However, I never feel invested in the story with all those quests.

I like knowing the single epic storyline of each zone and why we're there. In Hyjal, I know we're stopping the Twilight's Hammer and the elementals of the Firelands from razing all of the mountain and Nordrassil. All I remember from the quests in Nagrand is "I killed every clan of ogres, over and over."

That's not to say that a zone can't have more than one storyline. Uldum shows this very well (albeit, the storytelling is another issue there). In Uldum you get to either see the story of the Tol'vir and their civil war, or the Harrison Jones storyline (which dabbles into Deathwing and Al'akir a bit). There were two very clear paths to take, and you could choose to do both at once, or take your time with one or another. I don't mind that at all.

[championknight]

Mixture of both is the best

Cata did its damage by forcing everyone down the same path which included some full on pop culture references. MOP did slightly better by not always forcing you down the same path. Always preferred the quest chain story pre cata

Would like old Vanilla/TBC/WoLTK style questing back but I would be surrounded by an angry mob if that ever happened

[Thyranne]

Quest hubs. I loved questing in Hinterlands pre-cata (horde). Go to the city, pick a bunch of quests (like 12), complete them all and pick more.

I can't see how it is now in Hinterlands because I avoid questing due to CRZ.

[Feral Camel]

I really enjoy a more linear progression but I don't think its the only way it should be done.

I actually find the more linear quests the most memorable.

[Acepox]

I'll blend in with the crowd I guess: I'd have big quest hubs but I want to know what did I work for. I want to see progress.

- - - Updated - - -

In that sense, MoP was perfect questing-wise. Altough not all stories were that interesting such as in Wrath or Cata 1-60, but it had the model I wish to see.

[derpkitteh]

i like quest hubs with a lot of quests that are all in the same area.

[Deleted]

Big hubs, I like to do 10 quests and hand them in at the same time during questing. Atleast I see my xp bar move and not feel like it takes forever.

[lawow74]

Quest hubs. I loved questing in Hinterlands pre-cata (horde). Go to the city, pick a bunch of quests (like 12), complete them all and pick more.

I can't see how it is now in Hinterlands because I avoid questing due to CRZ.

Hinterlands is HORRIBLE now. Used to be you went to Revantusk, you picked up all the quests to do in Jintha'alor, and you could go up there and do them all in one shot. Now you have to get a couple quests, go up and do them, turn them in, go up again, do a couple more, turn them in, go up AGAIN...it's horrendous. Whoever redesigned that should be relegated to cleaning toilets. They should've used auto-updating quests to prevent you having to keep going up and down through all those mobs over and over.

Pre-Cata, Hinterlands was one of the few zones where it didn't take forever to get through the quests, they were pretty tightly grouped and you went through them quickly. Now it's been drug out to excruciating levels of time consumption. Most other zones got a pretty good revamp to make them flow much better. They actually managed to make it WORSE to quest there.

Back OT, I prefer the smaller, more linear hubs that have a story flow. I just don't like pointless running back and forth through walls of mobs to do it.

[Underverse]

Quests don't mean anything right now. It would be nice if they did, so you would feel compelled to read the quest text and actually have an emotional investment in the things you're doing.

[Thyranne]

Hinterlands is HORRIBLE now. Used to be you went to Revantusk, you picked up all the quests to do in Jintha'alor, and you could go up there and do them all in one shot. Now you have to get a couple quests, go up and do them, turn them in, go up again, do a couple more, turn them in, go up AGAIN...it's horrendous. Whoever redesigned that should be relegated to cleaning toilets. They should've used auto-updating quests to prevent you having to keep going up and down through all those mobs over and over.

Pre-Cata, Hinterlands was one of the few zones where it didn't take forever to get through the quests, they were pretty tightly grouped and you went through them quickly. Now it's been drug out to excruciating levels of time consumption. Most other zones got a pretty good revamp to make them flow much better. They actually managed to make it WORSE to quest there.

Back OT, I prefer the smaller, more linear hubs that have a story flow. I just don't like pointless running back and forth through walls of mobs to do it.

So lame that they ruined it (well, at least for me).

Quests don't mean anything right now. It would be nice if they did, so you would feel compelled to read the quest text and actually have an emotional investment in the things you're doing.

I used to be like that but I actually enjoyed the legendary quest

[Windfury]

I loved the big hubs. My favourite questing zone was always Un'Goro because you could literally pick up 20 quests and just do them all at once.

[enchanted]

I'm abit undecided. I'd rather have an interesting story or thing to do with hubs or a good reward that get a linear quest which is absolutely pointless.

[Airwaves]

I can't see how it is now in Hinterlands because I avoid questing due to CRZ.

Why? i have failed to see one downfall of CRZ. Hell i have leveled a few players and only been ganked a few times. If having other players around is the problem then an mmo isn't a place for you.

[FuxieDK]

Quests were PERFECT in TBC..
You had 5-10 quests in a hub (sometimes even more), but it was still tied to a lot of lore, if you bothered reading the quests..
In WotLK, it was already dupd down too much, and by Cata, you had zero choice on how to do your quests.

TBC also had hard quests, with Elite mobs. You could easily save them for later, where friends could help you. WotLK only had very few of these in Icecrown, and they were so late in the zone, that you were already 80 (and thus most people already stopped levelling) and could easily be in raid gear, when you got to the quests, and you could solo them, even though they were marked as 5man quests..

[Elegiac]

Personally I prefer the linear progression; it's actually faster owing to it cutting down on travel time, while allowing you to appreciate the story of a zone. The Badlands, for instance, is one of my favorite quest zones.