Seeing low level quests again
Tenehuini over on the EU forums has an excellent point: currently, higher level characters have no way at all of seeing which NPCs, at a glance, have lower-level quests for them. What we need is another set of exclamation points, a toggled way of showing which NPCs have quests for us, even if they're below our current level.Aeus says it's a good idea that just hasn't been acted on yet, but I'll add my voice to the crowd asking for action. Before, when lower level quests didn't grant XP or rep, this wasn't that big a deal-- if you were going back to do a certain low level quest (for lore or completion purposes), you probably knew where it was anyway. But since reputation has been buffed on lowbie quests, there's value in knowing where quests are. And there's really no reason for Blizzard to hide that info, anyway-- the quests are viewable right after you talk to the questgiver, so why not throw a exclamation point up there?
The only question, then, is what color. Later in the thread, Readbeard comes up with a whole list of exclamation point colors-- green, yellow, orange and red for quest difficulty, and black and gray for pre- or post-level status. As good an idea as that sounds to us WoW veterans, my guess is that Blizzard won't vibe with it-- explaining all the different colored exclamation points to a new player might be a little tough. But still, a toggle-able lowbie quest exclamation should be easy to implement, and would help those folks headed back to the starter areas to pick up experience, rep, or whatever else they want.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bbcversus Oct 8th 2007 10:35PM
Thats a nice idea! The pink one looks nice, at first glance I thought Blizz already implemented it. :D
Gief that exclamation point for newblets!
Zilog Instantaneously Mojo Oct 9th 2007 1:54AM
That is a fabulous idea. When I decided to hit exalted with all the Alliance factions, I spent a lot of time running around areas talking to every NPC in sight in order to determine which ones had rep-granting quests, and which were merely extras.
The addition of a single option box to the interface configuration screen along the lines of "Enable Low Level Quest Indicators" that was off by default would not confuse newbies, but would prove a boon to seasoned players.
Joshua Ochs Oct 8th 2007 10:47PM
MUCH more important is allowing the LFG tool to work for "lower level" quests and dungeons. Nothing is more annoying than needing to grind rep or complete an old quest for a chain and not being able to find a group. It's the most asinine thing I've seen.
After that, I fully agree with this so we can catch up on things we missed. Although it would break with our experience thus far, I think unavailable quests should have a red exclamation point (fits with skills we can't use), and a gray one when they won't yield XP (again, fitting with skills). Keep the rest yellow for simplicity.
Anon Oct 8th 2007 10:49PM
I thought it was a clever change...and a great mockup, and I think that shade of pink is the exact right color. Mechanically, when would the pink exclamation point pop up?
Glyndara Oct 8th 2007 11:20PM
@3 The pink exclamation mark is for quests that you get about halfway through it and say "This quest is Gay!"
Girl Meets WoW Oct 8th 2007 11:13PM
That would be a really nice addition. I know even in Outlands lately, I'm often trying to figure out which of my characters have completed which quests, especially for rep reasons, and I even know at least one person in game who is a total quest completionist... when TBC hit, he went out to Bloodmyst and Azuremyst Isles and did every single Dranei starter quest he was eligible for. I'm not that crazy, but toggleable pink exclamation points sounds like a great idea.
mk Oct 8th 2007 11:30PM
Great! Now when I take the tram to Ironforge, I get to see the Children of the C--er--the gnomish high council all begging me to go save their capital city all over again.
Seriously though, this is a great idea, and should really have happened when Blizzard decided to no longer diminish rep rewards for quests.
Jamesisgreat Oct 8th 2007 11:45PM
I was looking for a mod that does this a while back - the best I could find was cartographer that puts marks on your mini and main map of all quest givers. Not exactly what I wanted but better than nothing.
makabak Oct 9th 2007 12:12AM
While we're at it, I would love a way to track how many quests I've done out of all the ones available.
In other words, I would like to complete every quest in the game with one of my alts, but I'm not sure how to track them ALL, other than poking through wowhead....
counterfact Oct 9th 2007 12:13AM
Flip those exclamations upside down, espanol style...
C.A. Oct 9th 2007 12:42AM
That is a seriously great idea! Also @9 Nice! lol
Baluki Oct 9th 2007 1:44AM
Wow, crazy. I just started trying to find quests to do for Silvermoon rep so I can get a superchicken mount, but it's kinda difficult finding the questgivers.
It would be nice if the questgivers could also show what types of rewards they give: money, exp, loot, rep, or some combination.
Fruition Oct 9th 2007 2:25AM
Well, as far as colors go, we already know that yellow is used for standard quests, and silver is attributed for quests which will become available after level requirements are met. I'd say the best thing is to make lowbie quests copper-colored. It would fit in best with the color scheme they've got going on.
Going by quest difficulty wouldn't work simply because green is already taken by new flight path discovery. They'd need to either switch the flight path color or make easy quests appear as a different color, neither of which I think players would be too happy about.
rowanmoon Oct 10th 2007 1:23AM
i think this is a fabulous idea! one way to cut down on all those exclamation points would be for them to only be visible when you have that particular rep meter up on screen (so you don't have every single quest that hands out some sort of rep displayed). so only those quest valid for that particular rep appear. i'm sure that would create a meaty little challenge for those wow programmers.
Tancred Oct 9th 2007 5:12AM
This would be a wonderfull idea.
I rerolled from the USA to the EU servers last month and am working on being exalted with the Alliance factions before I hit 40. WIth 1 character to play it's easy to click on every NPC in everyzone twice but doing it with alts would be a major pain.
OrionPaxt Oct 9th 2007 6:49AM
I agree with the previous posts. My high level characters have gone back and done low level quests for rep. Also it would be a great way to do content you have missed, thus expanding game play.
LostOne Oct 9th 2007 8:28AM
I love this idea. When I saw the picture I thought it was already on the PTR. I hope Blizzard implements something like this soon.
jpn Oct 9th 2007 7:30AM
ummm...you wouldn't have to explain all the different exclamations to newbies....they won't see them until they're pretty far into the game and at that point, if you're still around, you'll probably WANT to know...
Will Oct 9th 2007 8:19AM
I've been asking for THIS since before The Burning Crusade launched and I'm really happy to see it getting some attention.
Green Armadillo Oct 9th 2007 8:20AM
There are relatively few things I miss from my vacation in LOTRO, but having the option to make questgivers, including ones with grey quests, appear on the minimap was nice.
In other news, I really wish they'd lift the restriction on reputation awards for the low level BE and Draenei quests.