I was out farming crafting materials and gold in Ostland, when I ran into a quest chain that piqued my interest. I’d traveled far south to find an unoccupied Public Quest area. I had a nice spot all to myself for almost two hours. My backpack was overflowing with seeds, coin and four nice pieces of uncommon armor. Eventually others came along and started killing the mobs that would trigger Stage II of the PQ. Since I wasn’t in the mood to play nice with others, I mounted up and moved on. As I was reviewing the map for my next option I noticed that I had a quest completion showing nearby and headed in that direction.
After fighting my way up a dark winding road, I came to a gated cemetery. The quest NPC was a ghost. She was inside the gate, pacing back and forth across the headstones. Ghost NPCs are typically a bit more interesting than the usual fare. Their quests can involve why they died, why their spirit is haunting that location or how you can help avenge their death. I completed the quest and while considering if I wanted to take the next one when it was offered, I noticed a tunnel behind me. “Hmm,” I thought. “This could be mildly entertaining or at the very least, it might unlock something new in my Tome.”
It was indeed an entertaining quest. I’m glad that I took the time to complete the whole series. Based on the number of mobs and fast re-spawn rates, I think it was designed for a small group. However, since I was alone and no one arrived the whole time I was in the area, it felt like the solo designed Destiny Quests from Age of Conan. I was a big fan of those quests – a much unexpected discovery. Scripted events are fun, like the instances in WOW. It’s the grind-check (attunements & gear), min/max check (spec) and orchestrating groups that I found a hassle, and wished some game would design them for solo or duo. While this quest series wasn’t designed as an instance, it was meant for a small group and therefore felt very instance-like to me. Like the AOC Destiny Quests, it’s fun to match your wits against a challenging series of linked encounters.
Interesting! You always find the good stuff
Posted by: Hudson | October 09, 2008 at 03:41 PM
I remember that quest well. In fact, that long trek through the catacombs to reach the temple is actually part of the PVE content I was talking about in my post at http://wingednazgul.blogspot.com/2008/10/pve-in-my-rvr-game.html
It just felt so epic and challenging but not impossible to solo. I hope you got the tome unlock from the tombstone in the graveyard right before the gate to the temple grounds.
Posted by: Winged Nazgul | October 09, 2008 at 04:04 PM
@Hudson - snooping around like an ADD puppy is what I do in my "alone" time in MMOs. I really enjoy this kind of content.
@Winged - Most excellent post!! I'm happy to find someone else enjoying the PVE content too. I keep meaning to do a post specifically discussing why I find myself questing in WAR more than other games and why it was the same in AOC.
Posted by: Saylah | October 09, 2008 at 04:46 PM
I'm seriously loving your travel-logs. Great stuff. I'll have to keep an eye open for that place ... if I can stop rolling alts and buckle down. :P
Posted by: Khan | October 09, 2008 at 05:30 PM
Thanks Kahn. It's been fun finding these places. Being able to quest/fight my way through them is just an extra bit of icing on my cake. :-)
Posted by: Saylah | October 09, 2008 at 07:46 PM