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 4 of 4)
Shrikesnest Mar 30th 2012 2:31PM
I have a new idea - challenge mode! Here's how it works:
1) Open the video options
2) Turn the gamma down until you can't see anything
There! Isn't it more fun and epic now that the interface makes it nearly impossible to accomplish mundame tasks? Why, think of how rewarding it will feel just accepting, let alone completing, a single quest!
And the best part is that those of us with other shit to do can just have some epic adventures real quick without having to play "interface screw hide-and-seek" for hours first.
Snuzzle Mar 30th 2012 3:08PM
There's a happy medium between "difficulty for no purpose" and "about as challenging as sneezing". We all hated the Mankrik's Wife quests of yore, but how memorable would she be if every Vanilla player had simply glanced at his map, and beelined for the giant floating cog icon?
Shrikesnest Mar 30th 2012 3:27PM
If there had been an awesome fight or gorgeous locale at that cogwheel? Pretty damn memorable. I might have actually bothered hitting max level in Vanilla. Instead, it was "getting lost in the boring-ass Barrens: The Game!". What is it in the MMO gamer's mind that confuses the boring crap you have to slog through for the fun at the end? If you had to ritually hide your pack of cards before every game of solitaire and then search your house top-to-bottom for it so you could play I doubt you would find the experience enhanced.
robgrayert Mar 30th 2012 2:43PM
I don't really care if this makes the game 'too easy' or 'less immersive' - I just wish that the devs were spending time on things that we've actually asked for (warlock green fire, new character models, profession improvements, etc.) instead of random ever-so-slight quality of life improvements.
Lipstick Mar 30th 2012 2:54PM
On one hand, I am like "neat".
On the other hand ... At the moment 90% of the quests in game can be completed without ever reading the quest text. You simply go to the areas marked blue on your map, and start killing stuff indiscriminately. Odds are dead to rights that the mobs in that area are what you need to kill to either collect something, or kill them.
There are a few quests which are vaguely more challenging. Mostly because they are out of the run of the mill, go here, kill this. On those moments where I've gone into auto-pilot mode, it feels -good- for me as a player to have to stop, look at my log, read through the quest, and figure out what I missed. That laugh at yourself, hey maybe you ought to pay attention, here's your sign kind of moments are good. They interrupt the auto-pilot, they engage you with the game world.
Before anyone starts with the pitchforks .. I do agree there are a -few- quests where finding whatever it is you're looking for is simply annoying, and not in the challenging to do the quest sort of way, just challenging as in bad game design way. This could take a step towards fixing it, but in all honesty this feels like laziness on blizzard's part. Here's yet -another- band-aid solution rather than just fixing what is truly wrong. Rather than just fix those quests, they're making it possible for people to get to max level, never having really read -any- of the quests.
Maybe I am just way out of sorts here, but I started playing the game back in BC. Questing back then was rough. There were -tons- of elites, there were many group quests, things had incredibly low drop rates -- if you were leveling as a healers in the days prior to dual spec, you often had to heal mobs to death, as you did such pitiful damage {before the equalization of spell-power/+healing} that questing itself was hard. It was completely possible to die while questing, and you did die, a lot. Which in a way was actually a good thing, as it got you prepared for dying in game down the line in raids. You didn't rush through questing, it took some time. That was time well spent, in my eyes as I learned lots about my class, which spells worked best in certain situations etc. It made me confident and smart as a player when I had quests I shouldn't of been able to complete, that I was able to "out smart" using all of my tool-kit/spell book to do so.
While I do feel quality of life changes are important in the grand scheme of things, they can start to become a very slippery slope. This next comment will probably draw a lot of hate, but it's stuff like this in a round about way which is why we even -need- a LFR system in game.
This rush, rush, rush, I have no time to stop to do anything.. means that a lot of what makes wow so rich and dense and wonderful gets lost in both translation/on the cutting room floor. It means that people who have no clue what they are doing -at all- are quickly hitting max level, and now through LFR starting to raid. Do we really want people playing this game who don't know how to play it? {And no I don't mean every single player in LFR doesn't know how to play it, there are quite a lot who do, but there are just as many equally, who do not! And in my eyes this is a freaking problem, unpopular those this sentiment may be for some people}.
Maybe I just sound like a grouchy get off my lawn stingy person which I am sure is an unpopular opinion, but I think that in life and in game there maybe shouldn't be so many training wheels, and "hand-holding", and warning labels which tell us -hey, hot coffee is hot-. Derp.
George Carlin use to do this skit on survival of the fittest -- his opinion was that if a kid did something stupid, and hurt himself that was as a whole good for society. It was life's way of weeding out the unworthy. If you died doing something stupid, or were otherwise permanently handicapped, odds were you weren't meeting some other idiot and procreating. Creating even dumber kids. Survival of the fittest, all that.
In the wow world of late -- it feels like you're being rewarded for being stupid. Don't have 2 minutes to read a quest text.. no problem, lets do the quest for you. Don't have time to learn a rotation, learn to stay out of a fire, or pay attention to a raid leader.. no problem, we'll give you LFR where 95% of all things which can cause a wipe have been removed, and it's totally possible to completely avoid almost all mechanics of a boss and still win. Yay!?! .. Erm no!
I'm sorry there has to be a line they start drawing -somewhere-. Frankly I think people with limited time schedules deserve -better- more -challenging- raids than what LFR currently contains, and I think that questing while it shouldn't be ridiculously difficult because of artifical road-blocks - should - require you to pay at least a small smidgen of attention.
I for one am sick of people being rewarded for being stupid.
Failing at questing or at raiding, or at dungeons, or at PVP is either motivation to get better, and improve or a sign that particular activity isn't perhaps best suited for you.
I am not trying to be an elitest, although I am sure I come off this way. In my eyes -- the players whom most "benefit" from this are actually the ones this stuff most hurts. I don't know about you, but I don't like being treated like an idiot by anyone. So why do people suddenly think it's okay when Blizzard treats them, their customers, like they are idiots?
Sorry .. haven't had enough sugar today and am way too crabby for my own good.
/end rant
Snuzzle Mar 30th 2012 3:12PM
/stands up and starts a slow clap for this comment.
Shuckles Mar 31st 2012 8:39AM
@Lipstick
While there are a great many sentiments and thoughts in your post I agree with, I feel it is necessary to point out that Blizzard's stance hasn't really ever been on the idea of making the game easier for idiots (Not that I'm suggesting that's what your main point was). Instead, they have always been more interested in giving as many people access to their content as possible. Between people who can only play an hour a night to those without the hardcore play style others of us may have, these are the people Blizzard have, for quite a few years now, been looking to include in all aspects of the game.
The blue areas on your minimap with quest targets/objectives have been a great tool of convenience for many of us who enjoy the game. A player without a lot of time to play is able to pick up a quest and easily finish it and move on. This may allow them to catch up to friends or simply will give them more time to experience more content. I find nothing wrong with that. In my case, I enjoy being able to read the quest text, mostly for the lore, and then knowing exactly which area to go to, to finish my quests. It's amazing how much time I save using the blue area walls for reference points for my kill-target area searches, especially since I sometimes re-read the quest text to better get a feel for the character speaking to me.
And yes, as you mentioned, another player may simply click, accept, and then head off to kill the mobs in the blue zone and run back to finish without really experiencing it. It's both his loss and not something Blizzard can really fix without force.
Sure they could take those blue areas out, keep the hovering cogs and bubbles out of the game. It certainly would slow down those too eager to continue on to appreciate the area, learn there class better, enrich their experience, etc. It may even help them to do each of those I just mentioned, but now we're punishing the casual players who want to play the game well, even with their limited amount of time. It's a balancing act. And one I'll gladly support Blizzard on.
You also mentioned Looking for Raid. This is another one that's certainly a balancing act. I won't argue the point that you will find a lot of players in there learning absolutely nothing from the encounters, keeping them in their shell of hindering play style decisions. But you will also find, again, the casual player who only gets and hour or two to play the game. And that right there is enough to finish both wings of the current raid, even with queue times. They get to enjoy an aspect of the game they normally wouldn't get to, get sweet loot, and perhaps even practice their class skills in an easy-going environment. They might even enjoy the Lore of the instance.
I know there are a lot of other people who enjoy this aspect too. The first month or two Looking for Raid was out, the forums were filled with thank you posts by people who don't normally raid for various reasons, but finally got to see the end of a Lore character they had been fighting and following an entire expansion. With the ease of use Looking for Raid is modified to, a greater many people, yes, good and bad, have seen even more content. And despite the bad, I couldn't be happier about it.
To top all this off, Bashiok mentioned in his "A Night of Mists of Pandaria" post the addition of the "proving grounds," which sounded very much like a good way of tuning up a player's rotation in a better way than practice dummies. Here we have a way for every single individual player better themselves for the future. Obviously, a small portion of players will continue to make hindering play style decisions, even with the proving grounds, but it can at least be said Blizzard is trying to provide a way to help players achieve greater success in their game play.
So to simply wrap this up and provide a comprehensive TL;DR, there are two sides to the changes Blizzard has made with the addition of some quality of life, and easier, content. A lot of focus has remained on the negative aspects. But it has many positive aspects as well, like wider availability to great content most of us have been enjoying for years. And I am okay with that. Hopefully people can start to see some of the more possitive aspects these changes have brought as well.
Brian! Mar 30th 2012 3:39PM
I wonder when they will let my avatar complete the quests without me. THAT would be soooo much easier than reading, looking, searching, etc...
Jyotai Mar 30th 2012 3:43PM
I remember when quest givers and quest turn ins people -BOTH- had no markings at all.
Neither an exclamation nor a question mark - of any color.
- You hit a new area, and talked to everybody.
Felt more immersive, but was not at all convenient.
rhyven Mar 30th 2012 5:23PM
Sigh. Whats next. Get a quest, press a button on the right side of the screen and its done???
VioletArrows Mar 30th 2012 5:43PM
Yes. *eyes roll clean out of head* Damn. *feels around*
Tesla Mar 30th 2012 5:31PM
I can see how this update is just one short step away from getting the game to play itself:
But!
For lipsticks post: Would you really miss something ground breaking if it wasn't a heroic effort to complete one quest for a nameless person doing the same thing a thousand times before
For shrikesnest: I love this idea personally, i think it should be added immediately for those who think everything I to easy! With a broken gamma slider that can only be unbroken once you have achieved seeker (3000 I think), on a new server, from level 1, as an iron man! (permadeath. hows that for immersion?) Or a 2$ fee to remove it
For omedon666 : i agree that those quests that told you 'go west and bring back barley' in westfall. If you had never seen barley, how do you know what it is? What it looks like? How do you know (if there wasn't something like wowhead to tell you) what to pick up without the interactable icon. (More immersion!)
... Think I have done enough of my own ranting
Ominous Mar 30th 2012 5:44PM
"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."
You are joking, right?
/tar [name]
How much easier are things going to get?
Glitter wasn't easy enough? Talk about spoon-feeding.
Where's the challenge, when everything is marked out?
You might as well just complete the game for players, too.
diaskeaus Mar 30th 2012 6:17PM
Honestly, I'd just prefer better quest writing. If the quest boxes gave us better, more interesting clues, we would not have to run to wowhead for hints all the time.
Mork Mar 31st 2012 8:01PM
Constantly see people complain about the lack of story, or missing lore in WoW (going way back into vanilla here and having many arguments with people over it). Granted it always came down to the simple fact people didn't read quest text, they just got annoyed that they had to look for something, or travel, or well do anything other then aoe slaughter 50 mobs within 10' of each other. This isn't everyone, but in my admittedly anecdotal experience most of the players I've come across with the most complaints of boredom, or who hate leveling etc etc, never read anything. The same crowd in vanilla that all installed quest helper, or various other addons to basically do all the thinking for them.
I don't know if I just read incredibly fast or simply want to know why my character is doing what it is doing, but a couple seconds to read quest text is not too much to ask in my opinion. Not to mention, all those quests were written by an actual person, and all that work they put into trying to piece out a compelling story getting simply 'accept' - 'reward' would be well, insulting. As for the people playing, don't you have any interest in knowing what's going on around you? Has the game devolved into nothing more then item levels and standing around a major town?
When they added sparklies to those really difficult to see herbs I was pleased, if not a bit annoyed since it would have saved me a lot of time way back when. The super simplified map to quest stuff, I don't mind that much, but it's mainly great for leveling an alt. The alt side of it is why I like the idea of these smoother, simpler advancements. That said, I'd almost rather they didn't show up until you've completed the same quests on another character. Give your first go through some mystery and time to read, the rest not as big of a deal. My view of playing is just that, mine, and I don't want to force it on anyone else, but I would suggest people at least give some thought into reading what the NPC's have to say. Otherwise, we're just going to eventually end up with NPC's that have an exclamation mark, and quest text that reads 'Kill boar 10 times kthx.....loktar ogar' cause really, why should they bother with more then that if people are just annoyed at having to read anything.
Shintar Apr 1st 2012 8:01AM
At first I rolled my eyes at this.
Then I remembered how annoying I found this quest, precisely because the game gives no indication whatsoever where in Hearthglen all these people are located.
Shintar Apr 1st 2012 8:01AM
Erm, "this quest" being "The Good People of Hearthglen": http://www.wowhead.com/quest=27153