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Quests are an integral part of MMO’s. Without quests most MMO’s or RPG’s for that matter, would be nothing more than a grind-fest. WoW is no exception. Containing thousands of quests, you would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t completed at least a few hundred.

Quests are what drive players though the content. They direct you to the next level appropriate zone, they reward you with gear upgrades and there one of the best ways to get a game’s story over to the audience. So why is it, with quests being such an important factor in MMO’s, they seem to be overlooked so much of the time?

Let’s be honest with each other here. Vanilla WoW’s quests were bad. There were a few gems here and there, but the vast majority of them were a collect-x/kill-x type of affair. I know, taking into consideration the sheer volume of quests in a game like WoW, there will be cross-over, and like everything else, repetition can become stale. However let’s take a look at the first few quests to a new player starting an Orc character in WoW:

Cutting Teeth – Kill 8 Boars

Sting of the Scorpid – Collect 8 Scorpid Tails

Lazy Peons – Wake 5 peons

Vile Familiars – Kill 8 Vile Familiars

A Solvent Spirit – Collect 4 Intact Makrura Eyes and 8 Crawler Mucus

You get the picture. What is that? Its dull that’s what it is. You could give me the most exciting back story to any of these quests and they would still be mind numbing. Is this the way to get new players excited about your game?

Fortunately, Blizzard stepped up their game with the release of “The Burning Crusade”, adding in a wider variety of quests, more group quests and of course, dailies. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t brilliant, but it was a step in the right direction.

They improved upon the formula once more with Wotlk, more variety, longer quest chains and a lot more focus on the big baddy, Mr. Lich King himself.
However despite all these improvements, questing in WoW is still a little bit… Meh. Wotlk still has its fair share of kill/collect quests, too many in my opinion. Blizzard has shown what they are capable of with some amazing quests, such as the Wrath Gate chain. So why are such a large number of quests still the same old poop they were 5 years ago?

With Cataclysm closing in fast, we’ll all get to experience the new improved leveling experience that we’ve heard so much about, and I really hope Blizzard pull it off. If I’m being encouraged to level a brand new toon all the way from 1 to 85, I want it to be fun and exciting. Not just the first time, but the second, third and fourth time as well.

Eulixe