Kit's Quest rework?

[Pen N Popper]

I realize this may be sort of a "right of passage" type quest due to the complete annoyingness of the quest, but could Kit possibly just tell us up front what she is looking for?

There are no merchants in Hlint now, and for those of us with poor memories of what OOCly she wants, it is a nightmare of boredom.  Running back and forth and back and forth and back and... where was I?

[Carillon]

There may not be merchants in Hlint anymore, but that doesn't mean you have to run all the way back to Port Hempstead or anything just because it's the new starting area! If memory serves, there are vendors in a town that is about the same distance from Haven as the merchants in Hlint were.

(Since I'm in more of a neutral than a good mood tonight, though, I'll leave it to you to figure out what town I'm talking about. *evil grin*)

[minerva]

I'll add that there are some nice opertunities for role play and true collection as well.  The only downfall to that town is the lack of crafting facilites for those that actually make the items Kit wants and not purchase them from NPC vendors.

On another note, PC vendors are not limited to one particular town...

[Pen N Popper]

But is there a point in her keeping it a secret?

Anyone with half a bit of sense (of which I apparently I fall short) takes note of the items required the first time through and just buys them all at once for subsequent PCs.

[Dorganath]

It's not so much a point of keeping things a secret as it's one more step that gets revealed in the process.

From a technical standpoint, it's much more difficult to write a quest system that takes items in a random order rather than one at a time.

Postmaster Vale's and Packagemaster Freya's quests are not really any different in that they're sequential.

[Acacea]

Though considering the rezoning of areas, maybe there should just be a different quest, hehe.

[Nibor21]

It is also worth asking if the item that Kit hands out should be down powered.

I have always felt the item stands out as an uber-item. You can access it at lvl 8, and no-one seems to replace it at all (even world leaders still use it), which means crafters never-make anything to fill this errr space.

It means the gap between lvl 7 and lvl 8 PCs is a gulf, and all because of this one item.

[darkstorme]

Well, there are very few things in-game that offer an inexhaustible supply of a spell.  This is why Exceptional items go for so much; the power involved is remarkable.

Given that Exceptional items are usually so far out of reach (both financially and in crafting skills) from the lower levels, I think the helmet is a nice gift to people upon achieving level eight.  You're supposed to have to slog for a bit to get there, regardless - you may as well get something for your trouble.  (You know, aside from the extra attribute point. )

[Faldred]

I have always felt the item stands out as an uber-item. You can access it at lvl 8, and no-one seems to replace it at all (even world leaders still use it), which means crafters never-make anything to fill this errr space.

Crafters never make anything to replace it with, because there aren't really any (useful) helmet recipes anyway.  All craftable helmets, as far as I can tell, regardless of metal or style, are mechanically the same -- Concentration +3.

Give crafters a reason to make helmets, other than for the crafting XP (practice), and you'll probably see more variations in what's being used.

[Kindo]

I do not mean to sound rude, but I hate these quests. We just had to do a a lot of running in order to supply some wizard with random types of scrolls. Two of the scrolls had to be bought from PC-traders! It makes no in-character sense for these quest givers to just tell you one of the items at a time. It only adds an insane amount of frustration. Needless to say, the reward did not really feel worth the thousands of True we spent, and the thousands of miles we ran in order to please this annoying Wizard.

Those are my two cents. <3

[aragwen]

I do not mean to sound rude, but I hate these quests. We just had to do a a lot of running in order to supply some wizard with random types of scrolls. Two of the scrolls had to be bought from PC-traders! It makes no in-character sense for these quest givers to just tell you one of the items at a time. It only adds an insane amount of frustration. Needless to say, the reward did not really feel worth the thousands of True we spent, and the thousands of miles we ran in order to please this annoying Wizard.
 
 Those are my two cents. <3

 
 Well dont take this the wrong way, but firstly you dont have to do the quest.
 
 Secondly I think it makes perfect in-character sense, as the task giver is testing your resolve, sort of testing your worth. And I think it is great that two items had to bought from PC-traders, it gives you the opportunity to meet others and roleplay with them.
 
 It would be even better if the items you need to acquire can only be found/bought at different places, kind of like the pelt quest. That way you get to explore more places.
 
 But then again that is just my opinion

[Kindo]

Well dont take this the wrong way, but firstly you dont have to do the quest.
 
 Secondly I think it makes perfect in-character sense, as the task giver is testing your resolve, sort of testing your worth. And I think it is great that two items had to bought from PC-traders, it gives you the opportunity to meet others and roleplay with them.
 
 It would be even better if the items you need to acquire can only be found/bought at different places, kind of like the pelt quest. That way you get to explore more places.
 
 But then again that is just my opinion

They are not trying to test your resolve. They just want to get some free items! If they were trying to test my resolve, shouldn't the dialogue be a bit more fleshed-out and feel more like role-play? They are just saying "I need that, give it to me". That Wizard just wants his scrolls. It would make just as much sense, role-play wise, if they gave you a list of all the items they wanted, and it would still involve just as much exploring and finding players who can supply you. "I need to acquire this item, do you happen to know anywhere I can go in order to procure it?" Response: "Ah, I seem to remember hearing about a trader in who might be able to help you. It won't come cheap, however..." and so on and so forth. It's still awesome role-play, but without the frustration of having to find one item at a time and run back and forth in all infinity.

[Dorganath]

Let's not debate the merits of NPC quests.  There's a limit to how complex or "fleshed out" they can be realistically in a PW setting without having to build a new one from the ground up every time.  The system we use is pretty uniform, and allows us to easily make a large array of customized quests with relatively little effort.  

The trade-off is the one-at-a-time system, which I think makes plenty of sense in both IC and OOC ways.