As I have returned to World of Warcraft, I have become taken by the daily quest. Â To many, this is an old mechanic, but when I quit the game these were just called “repeatable quests” because you could do the exact same quest over and over again. Â But the daily quest mechanic has evolved and now, for example, the fishing guy in Stormwind actually has several quests which rotate. Â You get to do one per day, and the one available changes from day to day.
Imagine if we took that design a step further. Â What if, instead of entering a town and finding the same five quests every player finds every day, you were to just find five quests? Â If you entered town on Monday, the baker, the weapon smith, the bartender, the fisherman and the captain of the guard would have quests. Â But if you came in on Tuesday, the baker and the captain of the guard would have the same quests, but now the other three available quests would be the potion master, the stable boy and the inn keeper. Â And by “quests” I mean “tasks” because that’s what they are anyway. Â The majority of quests in a game aren’t the type they expect you to hold on to and work on for months, weeks, or even just days. Â They expect you to take the quest and then finish it within a single play session, maybe two.
And not just quests for single players. Â Quests for duos and groups, even daily raid content. Â Call it a midway point between current quest design and Rift’s “abandon quests to fight random events” design. Â I think it is worth further thought.