First Quest Chain 5.0 -> 5.2

I'm going to try something out with my formatting so it's easy to follow which quests are in each chain.

Below is the quests for Alliance players who logged in during 5.0, never logged in during 5.1, and are logging in again for 5.2

Glory and Thunder

Speak with Lorewalker Cho in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

Description

Change hangs heavy in the air of Pandaria. Things are definitely different since your last adventures. If there’s one person who can catch you up to what’s been happening on Pandaria, it’s Lorewalker Cho. Seek him out in the Lorewalker’s library above Mogu’shan Palace.

Completion

Ah! Hello again, friend. Welcome back! How can I help you today?

Notes: This quest would only trigger for players who are logging in during 5.2 and haven’t logged in since 5.0. They would have to travel to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms to catch up with Lorewalker Cho on what’s been happening on Pandaria.

War and War

Catch up on the goings-on of Pandaria with Lorewalker Cho.

Description

Lorewalker Cho’s face hangs heavy as you listen to his updates on what’s been happening on Pandaria.

Completion

And that’s where we’re at now. Times sure haven’t been the same without you; Pandaria can sure use your help.

Notes: After accepting this quest, a dialogue box would trigger for Lorewalker Cho and a “Storytime” would play for the player. Lorewalker Cho explains how tensions are high in Krasarang, how the Alliance have erected a Hero’s Call Board in the Shrine of Seven Stars, and how word spreads of an imminent push on the Isle of Thunder from both Horde and Alliance.

A Hero’s Duty

Report to the Hero’s Call Board at the Shrine of Seven

Description

As you descend from the Lorewalker’s library and make your way to the shrine, you can see the sheen of gold and shine of blue coming from a newly erected Hero’s Call board.

Completion

There are two important, well dressed posts on the board.

Notes: After completing this quest, the hero’s board will offer players Hero’s Call: Lion’s Landing and Hero’s Call: Thunder Calls.

Hero's Call: Lion's Landing

Speak with Scout Lynna at Krasarang Cove in Krasarang Wilds.

Description

By order of his royal highness, King Varian Wrynn, all able-bodied citizens of the Alliance are to report to Scout Lynna at Krasarang Cove in Krasarang Wilds.

It has been two months since the parting of the mists. Alliance scouts, seeking a suitable landing site for the fleet, have engaged Horde forces on a beach in Krasarang Wilds.

For the glory and honor of the Alliance!

Completion

You have impeccable timing, <class>. King Wrynn is just about to land, and the full might of our fleet will follow soon after.

Notes: This quest would play out the same as Meet the Scout for players logging in during 5.1.

Hero’s Call: Thunder Calls

Report to Vereesa Windrunner at the Shado-Pan Garrison in Townlong Steppes.

Description

By order of his royal highness, King Varian Wrynn, all able-bodied citizens of the Alliance are to report to Vereesa Windrunner at the Shado-Pan Garrison in Townlong Steppes.

The time to attack the Thunder King has come!

A small group of Kirin Tor awaits you near the Shado-Pan Garrison in Townlong Steppes.

Report to Vereesa Windrunner for further instructions.

For the glory and honor of the Alliance!

Completion

We must move quickly, <name>! The others have gone ahead of us, but I will brief you in the flight over.

Notes: This quest would play out the same as Thunder Calls for players that are logging in for 5.2 and have logged in during 5.1.

Fan Project 1: Recap Quests Check List

Alrighty!

I've gotten a few quests done that I'm ready to share. I'm going to be updating this section as I add more and more quests.

Below is my checklist that I'm using so I don't get lost with the quests I'm trying to build.

I'm starting off with the Alliance first, just because A comes before H in the alphabet :P I'm also notating what I need accomplished for each quest and what their purposes serve.

·         Quests for Alliance who only played during 5.0 that’s returning for 5.1:

o   Note needed as Meet the Scout covers this.

·         Quests for Alliance who only played during 5.0 that’s returning for 5.2:

o   Would replace Thunder Calls for these characters only. Characters who played during 5.1 and logged in during 5.2 would simply receive Thunder Calls normally.

·         Quests for Alliance who only played during 5.0 that’s returning for 5.3

·         Quests for Alliance who only played during 5.0 that’s returning for 5.4

·         Quests for Alliance who played during 5.0 and 5.1 that’s returning for 5.2

·         Quests for Alliance who played during 5.0 and 5.1 that’s returning for 5.3

·         Quests for Alliance who played during 5.0 and 5.1 that’s returning for 5.4

·         Quests for Alliance who played during 5.0, 5.1, and 5.2 that’s returning for 5.4

·         Quests for Horde who only played during 5.0 that’s returning for 5.1

·         Quests for Horde who only played during 5.0 that’s returning for 5.2

·         Quests for Horde who only played during 5.0 that’s returning for 5.3

·         Quests for Horde who only played during 5.0 that’s returning for 5.4

·         Quests for Horde who played during 5.0 and 5.1 that’s returning for 5.2

·         Quests for Horde who played during 5.0 and 5.1 that’s returning for 5.3

·         Quests for Horde who played during 5.0 and 5.1 that’s returning for 5.4

·         Quests for Horde who played during 5.0, 5.1, and 5.2 that’s returning for 5.4

·         Hero’s Call for Lion’s Landing

·         Hero’s Call for Thunder Calls

·         Hero’s Call for War is Coming

·         Warchief’s Command for Domination Point

·         Warchief’s Command for Thunder calls

·         Warchief’s Command for War is Coming

Quest Design Project 1

One thing Blizzard has mentioned in their 2013 Q2 earnings call was that they wanted to make the process of rejoining the game smoother.

With that in mind, I feel that most of any potential for confusion or frustration that a player may feel when returning to the game is caused by how overwhelming returning may be. This is further exasperated by the fact that there is not as much direction in the game as there could be.

When 5.3 was going to come out, Bashiok (one of Blizzard's Community Managers) wrote an amazing post about Catching Up to 5.3, but because the percentage of the community that actually visits the forums is a minority, I feel that this beautiful piece of writing was missed by a large portion of the community.

What I would've preferred (and what I would like to see implemented for the future) is a series of "Recap Quests" for characters that haven't logged in since before a patch was launched, to give them some more direction, in-game, to allow them to continue their adventures without getting lost off the starting line.

With all that in mind, I'd like to preface my quest designs with the following:

Preface

When patch 5.1 came out, whenever a character traveled to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, they were presented with the quest Meet the Scout. This quest introduced them to the story line of 5.1, Landfall.

Meet the Scout brought players to Krasarang Wilds to herald the arrival of their respective faction's military. This then lead into the daily quests of the zone to deliver the story development of Garrosh's quest for power, Anduin's quest to stop him, and each factions quest to inflict as much damage to each other as possible.

In patch 5.2, The Thunder King, Meet the Scout stopped being auto-granted to players and Thunder Calls was granted instead. Thunder Calls brought players to either Scout Captain Elsia or Vereesa Winderunner in Townlong Steppes to secure a base on the Isle of Thunder to stop the Zandalari Trolls and Thunder King, Lei Shen, from retaking Pandaria.

In 5.3, Escalation, Thunder Calls stopped being offered and War is Coming was offered instead. This quest chain is probably the best one of the three to introduce the story of the patch, utilizing directive quest chains and the amazing story telling potential that both phasing and scenarios offer.

Upon receiving the quest you visited Lorewalker Cho in the Vale of the Eternal Blossoms who told you the story of King Varian Wrynn's adventures in Dun Morogh, and Garrosh's dig teams in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, afterwhich, you are sent to Durotar to assist the Darkspear Trolls and Alliance against Garrosh's Kor'kron forces.

In conclusion, the problem with this style of delivery is that the Isle of Thunder content (and to a lesser extent the Krasarang Wilds content) was still relevant when 5.3 came out. So while the Battlefield: Barrens quests did help alts and newer players acquire gear to catch up their characters, it didn't continue to offer players the Isle of Thunder content (content that is no longer "current," meaning, the most recent content of a patch).

I have friends currently who don't know what to do to get to the Isle of Thunder's dailies, because they took a break during 5.1 and didn't return until 5.3 (when Thunder Calls was no longer being auto-accepted into player's logs).

Project

The reason I mentioned the Catching Up to 5.3 article earlier, is because if the information provided here was provided to players as quests in-game, there would be much less confusion on what to do to catch up after an absence, and it would hit a wider audience than only those who frequent the forums.

My proposed change to how these quests are delivered is to utilize the Hero Boards that were used during Cataclysm in Orgrimmar and Stormwind.

If a character is logging in for the first time since a patch has released, and hasn't done Meet the Scout, Thunder Calls, or War is Coming, they'll receive a series of quests, as designed below, to continue their adventures.

http://brolothart.blogspot.com/p/quests.html

Goals

Hello everyone!

This is my first blog, and I figured I'd jump right into this with what I plan to accomplish with this blog.

The first goal I'd like to accomplish with this blog is a place to compile all of my work and ideas into one spot. (A blog spot, if you will.)

The reason for this is because I want to get into Game Development someday (most specifically with Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft team) and would like a place I can point to and go "this is me, this is my work."

That in mind, I will be posting gameplay ideas, any programming advances I make, artwork, and suggestions here for the games I do play (not exclusively World of Warcraft).

To all who visit my blog, please understand that I have been drawing for literally a week (as of today) so much of my work will be bad, but I do appreciate any constructive feedback that anyone wishes to offer.

While I may be an art novice (and 100% programming deficient), I am a veteran gamer and story teller and can't wait to share my ideas with everyone (or no one, depending on who visits my blog =P)

To keep things as professionally as possible, I will not be posting ads on my blog. Also, any comments or opinions I may have about anything or anyone are purely my own and do not reflect the opinions of anything or anyone else.

Again, any constructive feedback on anything I post is greatly appreciated, you all have a wonderful day.

Here's a cat because I know the internet loves those (I, myself, am an ailurophobic).