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 3 of 4)
Zachariahs Mar 30th 2012 2:16PM
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Xantenise Mar 30th 2012 3:12PM
Except that Blizz aren't adding anything that's a challenge. They're just making it easier and easier and say "It's streamlining, it stops you wasting time on pointless stuff!" but don't give you anything that takes time that is WORTH taking time on.
omedon666 Mar 30th 2012 3:55PM
I'm feeling generous, so I figure I'll address the nay-saying tones that followed my post.
Ronin: Yes, immersion is an excuse to complain that is all over the MMOniverse, and it's ricockulous. The MMORPG is one of the most horrible mediums of RP interaction there is (and this is coming from a "RP'er"), and it gets worse when uppity "Pro RPers" raise their noses at necessary gameplay features that make the medium work. The MMORPG requires, REQUIRES that you suspend disbelief on many fronts for the sake of the fact that there is a "G" on the end of all of that, and it's the reason your little RP lobby exists. Also, if you didn't see the word above, this is my opinion, and yours is yours. I get that, and I respect that.
Xantenise: Um, ok, so go complain in the discussions regarding the features that are better off containing "difficulty", because "which guy do I talk to" is not that feature.
Jebediah54 Mar 30th 2012 4:00PM
I don't know, I'm kind of on the fence with this change. On one hand it does make quests of finding books, bones, talking to people, or whatever much less of a pain. On the other hand, however, it almost makes the game just a bit more mindless. Without the blue glowing areas, you have to look at what you're clicking, but with them you can just click on an !, accept, look at map, go to marked area, click on blue thing, look at map, go to marked area, click on ?, and complete quest.
If I were to relate it to another area of the game, I'd probably equate it to adding that big ring (that they have on procs) around action bar buttons for every ability that lights up in the order you should hit them. It doesn't necessarily make it easier (you still have to push the buttons fast enough) but it makes it take a little bit less thought.
Nyold Mar 30th 2012 1:26PM
WTF Blizz catering to casuals dumbing the game down as if it's not easy enough.
JK, I love you Blizz. I don't mind looking really hard and feeling a little bit confused the first time I do the quest, since it feels like I'm actually "looking for" the object. But when you're leveling your 9th alt through the same quests again, you just want it to be over as soon as possible.
Caylynn Mar 30th 2012 1:27PM
I'm torn between thinking this is awesome, and thinking that it really decreases the whole immersion factor. Not that bright yellow exclamation marks and question marks don't already destroy the immersion somewhat, but still... I know this could be immensely helpful for those times when I just can't find that one thing that seems to blend in perfectly, but it really does seem to break immersion (in addition to the "too easy" comments already presented by others.)
Ray Mar 30th 2012 1:35PM
If this comes with a toggle option then I'm fine with it.
shomechely Mar 30th 2012 1:55PM
This will make it lots easier to level drunk! Thanks Blizz!
Bapo Mar 30th 2012 1:58PM
As a few others who have mentioned it, I hope it comes with a toggle function.
It's a nice idea, and on alts I will probably leave it on, but for my first few times going through MoP, I will *hopefully* have it turned off.
The only time I have had an issue with finding a quest item, was in Deepholme, where you need to find the dead gunner, the unexploded shell, and I want to say the log book? Yeah, the gunner took forever and a half for me to find.
PaulC Mar 30th 2012 2:00PM
On my setup, mobs that I have to kill for a quest have red names, I *think* that Carbonite does it. Seems unobtrusive, yet lets me know "hey man, you better kills these guyseses"
D4 Mar 30th 2012 2:15PM
Nope. Standard UI, I'm pretty sure.
wow Mar 30th 2012 3:19PM
Don't mobs in WoW have a red (will attack you at range) or yellow (u have to attack them first) name plates?
Shinanji
xenothaulus Mar 30th 2012 2:03PM
I am totally fine with these changes, provided they give us a toggle.
Zachariahs Mar 30th 2012 2:13PM
Why? Searching through a bunch of NPC's to find the one you need to talk to is tedious, not difficult. People may want leveling to be a challenge, but no one wants it to be tedious. That's why they redid the 1-60 leveling. I'm all for making certain quests with mobs that are difficult to solo for the challenge, but I don't want to be reading on wowhead where the coordinates to that "book" I'm supposed to find because it blends in.
Zachariahs Mar 30th 2012 2:14PM
Whoops, this was supposed to be a reply to ray.
Sally Bowls Mar 30th 2012 2:17PM
There is one map feature that I love in SWTOR:
the entrance to the cave/elevator/room is marked on the map, not the objective, if the objective is in another sub zone/room.
"Getting Things Done":
For instance, if I want to go do a quest, the location of the objective is irrelevant. What I need to know is the location of the entrance to the cave that the objective is in. Once I am in the cave, then the objective shows up.
mbeck Mar 30th 2012 2:20PM
Yeah, I have to say, having done Loremaster and several other quest related achievements back when they meant something and enjoying the challenge of actually getting stumped by quests, this feels less like a challenge, which is what a quest is, than just following directions and collecting XP & loot. It's kind of like the difference between LFR and heroic DS - technically the same thing, but one actually requires you to pay attention and will cause some people to give up on that particular challenge, which is "working as intended"
In general, I'd like to see mechanics put into place that slow down the questing / leveling to make it meaningful and stretch out the process to more than a day or two from 85-90 and then a LOT more relevant quests beyond 90, but I guess that's just wishful thinking....
Faroth Mar 30th 2012 2:51PM
Definitely lowers the immersion factor.
"They're stationed somewhere east of here" becomes "...."
Okay, whatever that guy said, my brain instantaneously knows that the specific GPS coordinates of the individual I have never met in my life whom I must go speak to.
I dunno. It's a quality of life change we'll get used to and we'll be comfortable with having things easier and easier, but I just question how far Blizzard is going to eliminate the MMORPG for the rise of the MMOArcadeGame.
And when there's no point to having engaging dialogue or text for quests because you can just "right click NPC, Accept" and go where the map and icons tell you without reading a word, then how much effort will the quest writers really put into quests over the next few years?
I've found more errors in quests since they added the quest helper map feature saying "southeast" when they're actually southwest than I did back in BC and Classic.
kgavrin Mar 30th 2012 2:57PM
Well, if you want to argue from an immersion factor, how do we instantly know the names of all of these people in a crowd? We know exactly who we're supposed to talk to already, who to get quests from, etc. How?
Trust me, you don't want to start thinking about that stuff. I have, before, and it drove me mad. Like it's rather immersion-killing if you're in agreement with Garrosh on what the Forsaken are doing, but in order to level in the Eastern Kingdoms, you still have to help them.
WoW isn't a "typical" RPG. Honestly, it's more of an action RPG. If we want more immersion and all, we have to hop on an RP server and hope to find some good folks to RP with.
Besides, it's a magical world. Sure, it might be a cop out, but who's to say magic isn't involved in us just "knowing" these things?
Faroth Mar 30th 2012 5:09PM
Regarding people in the crowd, that's your choice to know it. If you mean names of quest givers and how we know they are quest givers, its a matter of blizzard not having every quest have flavor txt of "hey, come here. My name is ___" followed by a full soliloquy of the quest.
It's a simpler assumption to skip over than the assumption that we had precise gps coordinates of an individuals location, especially when quest text points you in the general direction and you were once expected to find them by exploring the world.
It's a simplification that will make things easier. That's fine, I suppose, but my experience makes me wary that quest quality will continue to decline in terms of errors as blizzard moves further and further towards 'quest text is meaningless to complete the quest.'
I wouldn't mind if I could turn them off much like I never have combat text or map quest help on.