Thursday, November 05, 2009

New Quest Helper coming soon.

Yesterday we branched our code for GU54 which means we're safe to start checking things into our code repository for GU55 (Sentinel's Fate).

I've been working on the new Quest Helper window for awhile and today I was able to finally get this work checked in. I'm pretty happy with the results so far. We've wanted to make this change for a long time but just hadn't found the time to do it. Since we're planning on a big marketing push in February, we're trying to get in as many features as we can that will improve the experience for new players.

One of the biggest things that bothered me when making a new character was the fact that we could only track 1 quest at a time. This just doesn't work in the current environment where it's typical to grab 3-5 quests from a "quest hub" and go do them all at once.

I'm sure this window will be familiar looking if you've played other MMO's that have a quest tracker for multiple quests. There just aren't too many ways to innovate in this area. The goal is to present a list of to-do items in a concise and organized manner. I think this window delivers on that and I hope everyone will like it when it comes out in February.

15 comments:

Joshua Kriegshauser said...

What, no pictures?

Calain said...

While I'm exited about that feature actually makes it into the game I'm a little sad that it will not be part of GU 54.

I hope our recommendations on EQ2 Interfaces helped a bit. ;)

Greg Spence said...

Here's a sneak peek at the window.

http://www.gregsplace.com/blogimages/quest_helper.jpg

Sorry we didn't put it in with GU54. While technically it might be ready, we decided it would make more sense to roll out with our other new-player initiatives in 55.

kaozz said...

I'm very excited to hear about this. It will be a great addition. Thanks for the pic!

Mikul said...

What/How do storyline tab monitor?

Can we get another 10 journal entries, or make missions/writs act like Heritage and not count as journal totals?

Dreamwalking said...

Hi Greg, just found your blog, long term EQ2 player here (years and years now :) ). Just had an idea while reading this article: how about not adding more quests in the window (the screen is already pretty cluttered often, hm?) but instead have some flipping page/icon to it? So one could flip through the quests of the zone one is in instead of having to open the quest journal each time. I think that would kill two flies with one slap as we call it. Hm?

Greg Spence said...

Dreamwalking,

That functionality already exists in the existing journal. But the problem still remains that when working on more than 1 quest at a time, its difficult to get a picture of what you need to do when you can only see one quest at a time.

I expect people will get accustomed to toggling the helper on and off with Alt-J when you need it. If you're in 'quest mode' you probably won't consider that information clutter. And when you're done questing and on a raid, for example, you can easily toggle the window closed.

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Dreamwalking said...

Hm, thanks for your reply Greg .. weird, I have no clue how to switch quests with just the little list open. How do I do that?

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