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DeletedUser7529
Guest
What about introducing list of all quests available in queue and allowing player to choose 2 active ones, directly from list?
It was most desired change, but simply ignored by Inno devs...
We received quest overview that is preety same than old system, with slightly improved cycle time (but cycling and wasting time for *click* *click* 10x abort still exists). Unfortunatelly it has much worse visibility - old system allowed at least to see advisor miniatures indicating what quests are active without need to click them.
It was most desired change, but simply ignored by Inno devs...
We received quest overview that is preety same than old system, with slightly improved cycle time (but cycling and wasting time for *click* *click* 10x abort still exists). Unfortunatelly it has much worse visibility - old system allowed at least to see advisor miniatures indicating what quests are active without need to click them.
DeletedUser
Guest
Thanks for your comment. That could possibly be an interesting improvement but it would be a completely new behavior (almost a feature of its own), and a significant (game design) change. We consider it a separate topic from the Quest Overview and out of scope for now.
As you said - this is mostly the old system with some changes - we had some topics we wanted to address (see the original announcement for details), but making significant system modifications was not one of them.
In this thread we hope to focus on the system "as is" and the changes that were done as compared to the old layout
DeletedUser8341
Guest
There are some things I like about the new Quest Overview. It has a cleaner, snappier look to it and appears more 'modern' however that applies. The look of it is distinctly different to the rest of the game but I assume that is an indication of general changes to come, rather than an intent to remain looking odd.
I understand that the new system is also more flexible so it is surprising that an enhancement requested of the old system has not made its way into this new one. Quite often, tasks are set to do one thing or to do another. Sometimes, there are two counts, such as 'build 3 x from your current age or 5 x from the previous age'. With both old and new overviews, if you build 2 from your previous age and 2 from your current age, there will still only be a single count - giving no indication how close you are on the other count. This is an aspect of flexibility needed for a while and the time to include a count for both options would be now, before full release and while players can have the chance to see some immediate benefit.
The recurring quest issue must be resolved. The old system showed both story and requirements in one view. The new system is better for a story-driven game because it puts story first, then the player has to click to see what they need to do. However, with recurring quests, there really is no need to be forced to read the story more than once. Perhaps one way to help speed up recurring quests again would be to not show the story more than once but instead skip straight to the tasks. The player can still access the story if they want but would be saved the necessity of an extra click/press just to discover they don't want that quest anyway.
I understand that the new system is also more flexible so it is surprising that an enhancement requested of the old system has not made its way into this new one. Quite often, tasks are set to do one thing or to do another. Sometimes, there are two counts, such as 'build 3 x from your current age or 5 x from the previous age'. With both old and new overviews, if you build 2 from your previous age and 2 from your current age, there will still only be a single count - giving no indication how close you are on the other count. This is an aspect of flexibility needed for a while and the time to include a count for both options would be now, before full release and while players can have the chance to see some immediate benefit.
The recurring quest issue must be resolved. The old system showed both story and requirements in one view. The new system is better for a story-driven game because it puts story first, then the player has to click to see what they need to do. However, with recurring quests, there really is no need to be forced to read the story more than once. Perhaps one way to help speed up recurring quests again would be to not show the story more than once but instead skip straight to the tasks. The player can still access the story if they want but would be saved the necessity of an extra click/press just to discover they don't want that quest anyway.
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DeletedUser5097
Guest
Stories are hard to read
Okay, if the missions where only mindless doing missions, it would be not a problem, however
the dev. team did make great stories for the stone age up to the future era and events. Beyond
AF they lost it*, but the event stories especialy historical events where you learn about history
have great stories to read. Sadly it's difficult to read the story.
It's hard to read the lines, because there is not enough space for it. The sollution would be bigger
space for it, so you can read it better. It's pretty sad, because the stories brings the game more a
live. In some main missions it can change the way to go, for example in a main mission of the post
modern era.
Reward size
Also I would like to give said that the rewards are indeed a bit bigger. However if your reward is
a unit it's still a small picture. If you hover with your arrow over the reward (unit) you do not get
any information. I can't make screenshot of it, because I completed that mission.
I can't said or the size the pictures of special buildings, during special event missions, are big
enough since there is no active event (yet) to test it. So pleas stay standby for feedback on
that part when a event is active.
Sub note, about the stories
I would like to offer some extra support for the dev. team. I write stories by my self, so if wanted they
can contact me if they find problems with coming up with ideas for storie lines, or if they want some
tips to improve storylines. By the way I don't want any reward in return, my only goal is to help them.
If they want to contact me it's possible on this forum, as long I have internet. So dev. team feell free
to send a pm if you want some ideas / tips.
Okay, if the missions where only mindless doing missions, it would be not a problem, however
the dev. team did make great stories for the stone age up to the future era and events. Beyond
AF they lost it*, but the event stories especialy historical events where you learn about history
have great stories to read. Sadly it's difficult to read the story.
The sollution would be biggerspace for it, so you can read it better. It's pretty sad, because the stories brings the game more a
live. In some main missions it can change the way to go, for example in a main mission of the post
modern era.
Reward size
Also I would like to give said that the rewards are indeed a bit bigger. However if your reward is
a unit it's still a small picture. If you hover with your arrow over the reward (unit) you do not get
any information. I can't make screenshot of it, because I completed that mission.
I can't said or the size the pictures of special buildings, during special event missions, are big
enough since there is no active event (yet) to test it. So pleas stay standby for feedback on
that part when a event is active.
Sub note, about the stories
I would like to offer some extra support for the dev. team. I write stories by my self, so if wanted they
can contact me if they find problems with coming up with ideas for storie lines, or if they want some
tips to improve storylines. By the way I don't want any reward in return, my only goal is to help them.
If they want to contact me it's possible on this forum, as long I have internet. So dev. team feell free
to send a pm if you want some ideas / tips.
DeletedUser7942
Guest
But isn't that what this change was to begin with? I think the problem here is the process. I mean it's cool the players can provide feedback and see changes based on such so I'm appreciative of that but it seems an Alpha access would be optimum. Any player who does a lot of recurring questing a day could have recognized early on the issues with the initial design and two of those got fixed through Beta. The other thing these type players have been asking for is the ability to choose which of the recurring quest to do rather than constantly having to cycle through the ones they never or rarely do with every single collection. This is something I would think could have been addressed during initial development as the entire thing was being reworked anyway but not sure as of course I don't develop/program so I defer to the experts.
In the end though I hope at least with the improvements that have been made thus far the time for collections will at least be the same as it is on the old system. I'll know once it goes live and can do a full blown test and return with the results.
DeletedUser7107
Guest
It has gotten faster since it first came out, a big plus. The two remaining issues, in my opinion, are the sliding banners, and the quests dropping to the bottom of the overview.
While sliding the banners off the overview may be an attractive effect to some, it really serves no purpose, and it does slow the whole process down. And, frankly, after doing 40 or 50 recurring quests, it becomes downright annoying.
The big one though, is dropping the new quests to the bottom of the overview, after completing the current one. Why? When you are doing lots of recurring quests you really want a smooth flow of motion which allows an economy of movement, allowing you to rapidly flow through them. Dropping the quests to the bottom of this very large interface makinjg it neccessary to actually scroll down to see the new quest is disruptive and time consuming.
In conclusion, if you keep the banners stationary, and give the different quest lines a fixed position in the overview, this new interface will be very workable.
While sliding the banners off the overview may be an attractive effect to some, it really serves no purpose, and it does slow the whole process down. And, frankly, after doing 40 or 50 recurring quests, it becomes downright annoying.
The big one though, is dropping the new quests to the bottom of the overview, after completing the current one. Why? When you are doing lots of recurring quests you really want a smooth flow of motion which allows an economy of movement, allowing you to rapidly flow through them. Dropping the quests to the bottom of this very large interface makinjg it neccessary to actually scroll down to see the new quest is disruptive and time consuming.
In conclusion, if you keep the banners stationary, and give the different quest lines a fixed position in the overview, this new interface will be very workable.
SirSmithy
Squire
I think the active quest, which one you are currently "working" (understand cycling) should be the top most. If you are doing another quest beside (the other not cycling quests) you are already aware of them. So you don't need to see them all the time.
Suggestion: new quest should come on the TOP instead of the bottom.
Suggestion: new quest should come on the TOP instead of the bottom.
Ian Santa Claus
Marquis
As you can't interact with the rest of the game while the quest window is open, wouldn't it be better to have the quest window simply fill the screen so that all three quests could be clearly visible instead of needing to scroll up and down.
Apart from that the new quest overview seems to be quite an improvement over the old one.
Apart from that the new quest overview seems to be quite an improvement over the old one.
DeletedUser7265
Guest
Yes, this is missing in the announcement and a very good point.
The animations should only appear, if city animations are turned on. (Same with bouncing stars form motivating).
DeletedUser8341
Guest
That presumably depends on the size of screen you are playing on. It makes sense for the developers to start unifying the interface, for the time when they move away from Flash and possibly to a single base code for both brower and app (if the app is to continue, which is not a given if they move to HTML5).
Like it or not, computing is getting to be on a wide variety of platforms and screen sizes, from phones and ebook readers through iPads to (coming soon) giga-pixel sized screens.
That said, the scrolling up and down is probably inevitable even though it is definitely the worst part of the new interface. It would help greatly if new quests - including recurring ones - appear at the top.
DeletedUser7951
Guest
I'd really like to separate the history quests from the side quests. Like tab bookmarks when open the window would do. I like it to be neat and organized, as is it's more messy than anything else. Also I'd like an option to skip the "story behind the quest", it's so uninteresting and does nothing for the progress of the game. The way the quest window is designed now it just clutters up the window, and annoys. I realize some people like to read the text, (though I do not know any of those persons) so an option would be nice. Ideally the window for each quest would be smaller then, but I guess that would be asking for too much.
RedRed
Viceroy
since the new quest overview allows to keep an indefinite number o quests, what about unwrapping the repetitive ones to have them all available at the same time? This it requires to remove possible duplicates from different quest givers of course. Alternatively would be nice to mark (at least) one for each quest giver as favorite; these quests once completed should respawn immediately next to the others
DeletedUser8341
Guest
And now combine these two, so that recurring quests have their own bookmark (even if that bookmark is only visible once the book is opened, rather than on-screeen like many people want) and that bookmark takes you to a 'page' in the book with all quests listed. To keep the story aspect, this bookmark and page could be initiated only once a full cycle of recurring quests has been completed, so that the first time around, the story is given just as with other quests but thereafter, a quick and easy access method is provided to select the recurring quest wanted.
DeletedUser7107
Guest
I see there is every intention to keep dropping the new quests to the bottom of the interface. That is one of the major complaints and sadly, if the interface goes to the live servers as is I will not be playing on many of my 12 worlds, all of which I spend money on..
I am not sure why you bother with feedback from the players if you are going to ignore it and keep changes that are detrimental to our game play
DeletedUser8277
Guest
The only improvement I currently see that would be a plus would be to stop flipping the quests. Top then bottom, needing to scroll to do repeating quests. It takes the improvement of removing the abort confirmation down a notch by adding another step.
I would love to see what Redred suggested in separating out RQs. I do hope they are going in that direction but I think it's a bit too much to hope for at the moment.
I don't mind the new window, with the flipping I can't say until I were to test it on live if it was faster on my RQ city but with the changes it shouldn't be slower. So while it's possible it's not an improvement from the old, it is at least most likely not a step down from it.
It's leaps and bounds better than that new GB interface that's for sure.
I would love to see what Redred suggested in separating out RQs. I do hope they are going in that direction but I think it's a bit too much to hope for at the moment.
I don't mind the new window, with the flipping I can't say until I were to test it on live if it was faster on my RQ city but with the changes it shouldn't be slower. So while it's possible it's not an improvement from the old, it is at least most likely not a step down from it.
It's leaps and bounds better than that new GB interface that's for sure.
DeletedUser8341
Guest
And now we have an example of what the devs wanted to do with quests.
OK, it works and that is good.
It also reinforces my belief that recurring quests should also be on their own tab, accessible from the main screen.
OK, it works and that is good.
It also reinforces my belief that recurring quests should also be on their own tab, accessible from the main screen.
DeletedUser7107
Guest
So is this it? No more improvements in this? Is it going to be sent to live servers as is, despite the dissatisfaction with it?