Mists of Pandaria Beta: New icons make questing a breeze
by Anne Stickney 
Mar 30th 2012 at 1:00PM
Do you remember the times you had a quest in your log that asked you to go speak to someone in particular? Or the quests that required you to speak to or deliver something to several different people? It was almost impossible to track where those people were, since they weren't marked with a yellow exclamation point, and they didn't glitter like most quest objectives.
Well, that issue has suddenly evaporated in Mists of Pandaria with the introduction of a new quest icon. In much the same fashion as the usual exclamation points in blue and yellow (and question marks of the same color), all of those pesky people you have to talk to are now marked by a simple yellow word balloon over their head. But the improvements go further than just that -- quest targets are also marked on your minimap for you with a white word balloon icon, as well.
And if that's not enough for you, there's also a new icon for interactive objects -- a floating yellow set of gears. This seems to be for quests that involve searching for clues or items you need to examine; the gears float over the various quest objectives. Both new icons are bright and easy to see, clear indicators that whatever they're floating over is part of a quest you have in your logs.
Both of these situations are something I'd chalked up to one of those little annoyances that I rarely thought about. But now that I've seen the solution in action, it's elegantly done and makes the entire questing experience much smoother. These improvements are both small additions, but they add so much to the overall experience that you start to wonder how you lived without them. The Mists leveling experience is pleasant so far, but it's the little additions like these that make all the difference.
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Well, that issue has suddenly evaporated in Mists of Pandaria with the introduction of a new quest icon. In much the same fashion as the usual exclamation points in blue and yellow (and question marks of the same color), all of those pesky people you have to talk to are now marked by a simple yellow word balloon over their head. But the improvements go further than just that -- quest targets are also marked on your minimap for you with a white word balloon icon, as well.And if that's not enough for you, there's also a new icon for interactive objects -- a floating yellow set of gears. This seems to be for quests that involve searching for clues or items you need to examine; the gears float over the various quest objectives. Both new icons are bright and easy to see, clear indicators that whatever they're floating over is part of a quest you have in your logs.
Both of these situations are something I'd chalked up to one of those little annoyances that I rarely thought about. But now that I've seen the solution in action, it's elegantly done and makes the entire questing experience much smoother. These improvements are both small additions, but they add so much to the overall experience that you start to wonder how you lived without them. The Mists leveling experience is pleasant so far, but it's the little additions like these that make all the difference.
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!Filed under: Mists of Pandaria
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Eternauta Mar 30th 2012 1:47PM
If they want me to read quest text, they should make interesting quests in the first place.
Luotian Mar 30th 2012 2:05PM
@Ronin: Not that, you know, you just simultaneously managed to insult myself and my father in the process of 'proving' your point.
Is it dumbing down the game? Absolutely, yes. Is that bad? I don't think so. I think its a good thing to make more content more accessible to people. To let me play for the hour a day I manage and not spend that whole time trying to get somewhere or find one thing that has eluded me for days. That's a good thing and worth my money.
Zachariahs Mar 30th 2012 2:07PM
Quest givers already have yellow "!" over their heads, and the same goes for the folk you hand them into except with a "?". Imagine what it would be like without those. Every gathering quest has the items sparkle for you, so I don't know how this is any different except they are implementing it in the 4th expansion. You still have to go do it yourself, just now you don't have to go to WoWhead to find out where exactly the NPC is, you can just see it in game like you should be able to anyway.
Ronin Mar 30th 2012 2:24PM
@Luotian, so you're insulted by someone sharing an opinion that differs than yours. And you have to play the "you insulted my father!" card too? How about just letting your opinion rest on its own merits, hmm?
Caz Mar 30th 2012 2:49PM
Honestly, to me this is just hand-holding of the worst sort. As if you couldn't identify the body in question BY THE GIANT BLUE GLOW HE'S EMITTING you need cog wheels floating over the body as well?
wow Mar 30th 2012 3:13PM
I am actually color blind and that blue glow that "caz" eludes to, I can't even see the effing thing or the people that are supposed to be Ghosts, so Blizz makes them translucent, I can't see them either or they are very faint. Having to raid/dugneon in some of the older areas was a pain for me coz I couldn't see a lot of what normal sighted people can see. So, in my case, I am glad for these changes, it'll make my life a lot easier and I won't get as frustrated when trying to do questing with ghosts around. Ghost mobs were never a problem, coz of the red nameplates hanging above them. That red text I could see. Though it looked closer to a grey with red tint. hehe
I remember in the earlier days in EPL/WPL can't remember which, when you go to the southern town to talk to the little girl. I could never see her, period. I had to ask passing players where she was, so I could complete the quest. That was also during the time when you out-leveled a quest that the Question Marks/Exclamation points were not as bright as if you were of level for them.
Sorry for the wall 'o text, wanted to add my .02$ worth. :)
Shinanji
Wrathkind Mar 30th 2012 7:44PM
@Luotian re: "Except a lot of people won't read the text."
I think a lot of people have been conditioned to ignore quest text because of the vagueness of their "clues". If the quest text were improved to be descriptively useful, people might actually rely on them as a matter of course. Useful descriptors combined with visually distinct targets that don't blend into the environment could condition players to read and search.
Current quest text give the impression of being given a generic direction, with the expectation that the player should then do a tedious grid search. That's a time-waster and no one would accept such useless instructions in real life ("Find my wife, who may or may not be alive, somewhere down the road from here." Really?!). When you tell people to travel and talk to someone they've never met surely you give them something more than "Go to the city and talk to John Doe."
Drakkenfyre Mar 31st 2012 10:51AM
There was a time when I thought the sparklies over quest objectives and resource nodes made it too easy.
This, while I guess it makes it easier for some people, seems to be dumbing it down even more. Quest objectives now not only sparkle, but are marked on your minimap, pointed out to you by the game, have an exclaimation mark next to their name when you mouse over them, and have their names in red reguardless of your name plate options for NPC's.
Now they point out who you have to talk to by giving them a speech balloon, and interactible objects a gear icon?
The gear icon incidentally reminds me of the interactible icon in STO. It shows a scanning icon.
Krsnik Mar 30th 2012 1:10PM
Speaking of which, weren't they supposed to add red exclamation points to mobs that granted kill quests? I remember hearing about it but then never seeing it in places like Uldum and such.
Krsnik Mar 30th 2012 1:15PM
Here's an example of what I remember seeing: http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/20/around-azeroth-beta-edition-slimed/
Puntable Mar 30th 2012 1:17PM
In Cata, yes. The resulting sea of exclamation points made them realize it was a bad idea.
Nagaina Mar 30th 2012 1:18PM
This turns up in a couple places in Outland -- the demon wandering boss kill-marks in the Mechanar, for example, have red exclamation points over them.
(cutaia) Mar 30th 2012 1:21PM
"In Cata, yes. The resulting sea of exclamation points made them realize it was a bad idea."
Hmmm...that makes me think. I wonder if they could bring that back, but only have the closest mob display the exclamation point. Seems like it would solve that problem.
Krsnik Mar 30th 2012 1:21PM
@Puntable
Ahh, that does make sense in a way.
Hollow Leviathan Mar 30th 2012 1:10PM
Before anyone says anything, quest dead bodies glowing like that has a precedence in at least TBC, when Sedai's glowed like that. I vaguely recall some bodies/parts glowing in the Battle for Darrowshire questline in vanilla, too.
Tsoi Mar 30th 2012 1:11PM
Can't say I ever had this problem with things that were stationary. Maybe a long time ago in TBC or vanilla, where Blizzard loved to have NPCs that patrolled a wide area or an entire zone (you know who).
The only time I've had problems finding anything quest related is leveling my alt through howling fjord, trying to find the two named worgs for the worg in the cave.
jfofla Mar 30th 2012 1:22PM
At first AOE looting was hard to get used to. Then I went back to the normal version of WOW and was like "Fffffff I want my AOE looting!"
omedon666 Mar 30th 2012 1:24PM
To those either feeling or voicing "too easy" sentiments, allow me to ask:
Is the "hide and seek" element really an admirable kind of "difficulty"? Until the gameworld is holodeck-rendered, anything bridging the interface of a 2D world brings the player closer to a truer experience. Is it truly "immersive" (so sick of that excuse) to look at a bed of flowers and have your indication of "this is the right one to pick and bring back to the herbalist" be a matter of moving your mouse over the flowerbed waiting for the gears to show up?
Make fights or even the odd puzzle the source of "difficulty", but streamlining mundane details of our characters' adventures this way is, in my opinion, a wholly positive change.
Mondi Mar 30th 2012 1:58PM
Very well phrased.
Ronin Mar 30th 2012 2:02PM
So immersion is an excuse, now? Or could it be that different people look for different things from their WoW experience?