Breakfast Topic: Collectibles
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 15th 2008 at 8:00AM
As I was perusing the very first review of Grand Theft Auto 4 yesterday, I noted that the "collectibles" in that game are going to be pretty intriguing. While a lot of collectible items in games (say, all the packages in the previous GTA games, or the flags in Assassin's Creed) are fairly superfluous, I find that some (like the orbs in Crackdown and the billboards and jumps in Burnout Paradise) actually make the game more fun -- while traveling through the game world, you can keep an eye out for extra stuff to do and see.World of Warcraft has never really jumped in on that idea, however. Obviously, there are plenty of collecting quests, but usually they're for killing mobs. And there are plenty of things to collect in the game -- noncombat pets, tabards, and mounts, and so on -- but none of them really give you a reward when you find a certain number of them, or give you bonuses based on how many you've picked up.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? For me, hiding some fun, optional collectibles (and giving small rewards based on just finding them) in a world as lush as Azeroth would make exploring an already great environment better. But I'm sure some would see it as a cheap tactic to make people hunt for widgets. What do you think?
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Chais Apr 15th 2008 8:07AM
I would see it as a tactic for Blizzard to get more money, but thats just me.
Noel Mcleod Apr 15th 2008 9:16AM
Have you priced cable or satellite TV lately? Duhh! In terms of dollars per hour of entertainment, NOTHING beats WoW for me. If it was $15 bucks for WoW or $15 bucks for Ironman at the theatres, there's be no question.
Obviously, you've never been poor in your life ...
Shadrach Apr 15th 2008 8:13AM
I always kind of felt that the Reputation system was their collectable system. Gather enough rep, get a reward...
Krianna Apr 15th 2008 11:53AM
Indeed.
Plus, we get bonuses off of our gear-- come on, my character packs a sword and suddenly is smarter?
I think you could make a decent argument that the "Have X and get Y bonus" is more based off of armor +to stats than that bliz needs to adopt the theory.
Zali Apr 15th 2008 8:14AM
There are lots of things to collect in game. I have a pally friend that collects full gray armor sets, like Deteriorating Armor, ect. I like to keep The Stopable Force (with +30 intellect) in my bag. Or there is the guy you reported on a few days ago that wants tourist photo's at all the statues in the game.
Decide what to collect, and that that be it's own reward.
Noel Mcleod Apr 15th 2008 9:16AM
I like your answer, but I think Blizzard should put something in there (although aren't the plying cards kind of like this ...).
I think a collectible for collectible's sake that has no other purpose would add to the game.
Truckin Apr 15th 2008 9:41AM
Whose got bank space for more trinkets, toys, etc?
Soldat Apr 15th 2008 10:14AM
Noel, they do have a few things.
An example would be the tokens for finding all the elders during the Lunar festival.
Reyja Apr 15th 2008 8:14AM
I think it would be an interesting idea, however, as with everything else in WoW, it wouldn't take a day before the exact coordinates were plastered all over every questing reference site on the planet.
I won't lie, I use quest helpers frequently. I'm guilty. However, just like alcohol, I only consume it if it is available to me. Chalk that up to lack of self control, and I'd agree with you, but we are all flawed human beings. I just think that questing references have taken the difficulty out of the game, and therefore, would not make the addition of collectible quests successful. For example, the Cuergo's Gold quest. That would have been, before Thottbot, et.al, a fun quest to do. A treasure hunt would have been awesome. However, all I did was get the coordinates and ride/swim down there.
It's a novel idea, but people would be too tempted to cheat.
mcdrobert Apr 15th 2008 8:18AM
Give it a day and there will be a add-on for it. Good idea though, it seems (to me) like a huge task to take on in azeroth but then again thats wow for you hehe.
Kolky Apr 15th 2008 8:15AM
That would be an awesome idea actually. Just don't overdo it, add only 50 maybe 100 tokens all around azeroth. With a Title for Reward when finding them all. And a simple item based on the level of the area where the token is found when an token is found. Or a small gold stash as reward.
Since the start of WoW I've always been adventuring and trying to climb that one mountain, or get on top of that building or trying to get to closed area's. Would be awesome if this was implemented..
SimpleSurvival Apr 15th 2008 8:27AM
there already is a "collect the 50 tokens scattered around azeroth"
its called the Lunar Festival
There are tons of other things to collect in the world of warcraft
A title?
There's a bunch that are worth collecting, all you need to do is complete any number of now-obsolete attunement quests
Reward?
Just about EVERYTHING in the game offers some level of reward. Kill the whelps in the wetlands long enough, you'll get a lil noncombat pet (1/1000 drop rate)
Kill mobs in Alterac Valley (the battleground) and you might get a sleeveless T-shirt (your team will hate you for doing this) (also, its a grey item, so watch it if you have an auto-vendor addon)
I could go on and on about the tons of neat things that the game has to offer in the field of useless pointless collectible things.
It is stupid to say "World of Warcraft has never really jumped in on that idea". The base principal of a MMO is collecting loot for your character.
Other games like GTA or Assassin's creed have a semi-fixed storyline and a "win" ending.
The reason they add those sort of things into those games is because it took me 5 hours to beat San Andreas, i spent about 30-40 more hours trying to get everything.
Warcraft... my first character I rolled had about 30 days played time before i got bored and switched my main... Blizz has no problem at all keepin everyone busy
Kolky Apr 15th 2008 8:52AM
I dind't mean it like that. I'd want it to be something hard to achieve, not like the lunar festival. Where you have to look really hard to find it and maybe even climb a mountain, or jump to an unused area. For example; there is some small road in STV walking up to a mountain with some Naga's to kill for a quest. But the road continues upwards where actually no monsters or quest or other stuff is. There's also a waterfall, you could hide it under the waterfall. Or add it to a sunken ship near Ratchet. Do it without an initial quest to start looking for it, only references in books and dialog. This should also allow item databases to pick it up harder.
dave Apr 15th 2008 8:17AM
Sounds exactly like the location-based badges in City of Heroes. It'd be a fun thing to add. You end up seeing different places from different vantage points, and it's something to do while waiting around.
p-diddy Apr 15th 2008 8:19AM
I think the agility orbs in crackdown were genius. you simply could not get to some until you had collected others, and the more you collected, the higher you could jump. It had both a puzzle and a leveling up aspect to it - as well as the achievement/gotta collect 'em all aspect.
WoW already kinda has it in the Dark Moon Faire objects, but it'd be cool to up the ante on those - make them BC useful. I also think a scroll with title aspect with be cool, e.g., add a "view scroll" option to the right click on someone's portrait and there could be a lit of accomplishments - not titles proper where you always see it, but some sort of record of the player's deeds.
But that's just me.
Weryenbaur Apr 15th 2008 8:22AM
I'd have to agree with you. Adding small trinkets or "ancient" artifacts in places all around Azeroth and/or Outland could serve as a nice distraction from the eternal "allgrind", be it lvling, rep, or honor and marks.
It dosen't have to be anything huge at all: maybe a small, temporary bonus to a certain stat, or maybe it could be a scavanger hunt for the explorer's league.
New content is great, but i think it would be just as great to have a reason to go back to the old world for other than the AH and Kara.
_LarZen_ Apr 15th 2008 8:37AM
Warhammer Online wil reward players for going around exploring the world. Something wow dont...Warhammer is gonna be great!
chris Apr 15th 2008 9:21AM
hate to break it to you..im in beta..it's not great
thain Apr 15th 2008 9:34AM
If only there was a reward for finding an area for the first time. Like I dunno maybe experience, even up to maybe 1000+ experience at higher levels.
ohh wait.
rosencratz Apr 15th 2008 8:46AM
An account or "badge" system for achuievements would be nice, they could be accessible from the character panel and categorised.
Badges for 10,50,100,100 honor kills/ killing blows
Badges for humanoid, dragonkin, demon, elemental,etc kills?
But the best one would be badges for sightseeing. just turning up at a place or finding a hard to reach out of the way location. In the past the only reward was maybe having "you discovered (insert location here), you gain x exp" a badge would be a nice alternative and for more specific locations too.
The only problem i foresee is for folks like me who've been playing for years. If an achievement system was started now it wouldn't take into account the achievements you made over the past 2 and a half years possibly so we'd have to start again more or less. :S