Thoughts on Trader Quests.

[Kashnar82]

Hello,

 

I would like to start by saying that I do enjoy the game and that trader quests are my main source of activity on this game.

That Being said I must admit these large building become rather boring rather quickly. The main reason for this is because most traders only have 1-3 types near there location. If you happen to know exactly how many tier 5 buildings there are plz let me know. It is also unreasonable to simply ask that you pile more of these giant buildings into the cities for the sake of these quests. So What I am suggesting is to also introduce chain quests to the mix. Just some examples would be:

*I need you to grab the supplies we have been gathering from 3 different locations, each of them being a tier 2 building.

*I need you to find out what happened to this person, which could entail as much as 4 tier 1 and a dig up quest.

*It's time to start taking back this land, that involves clearing a pair of tier 4's

 

Those are just ones I could come up at the time. but I feel adding these chain quests would add a lot more variety while also making it so you as the Fun Pimps do not need to just make a bunch more giant buildings/quests.

 

I would love to hear feed back on this idea and with enough support we might start a fire .

[Synvastian]

chain quests would be awesome, we already have a version of them with the "Kill zombie" quests (go to a location and kill one of each for example)

 

maybe new T5 quests should encompass maybe 2-4 buildings inside it? like a whole city block ,randomized so it could be a square or a rectangle....so it could be a few next to each other, or a whole strip mall plus the gas station across the way

 

support

[jackhimer]

I love these ideas. Late game stage 5 quests can get super repetitive.

 

Here's another idea to change things up. How about a tier 3 or 4 building, but it is filled with all ferals or special zombies only.

[Sjustus548]

I agree that they need to add in more variety of trader quests. I wouldn't mind seeing quests for bringing a certain amount of a random material like "I need you to bring me 500 iron ingots" or so many shotgun shells. These can be quests offered from other survivors that are put on a job board in the traders compound. They can be picked up from there and then turned in to the trader.

[Hek Harris]

Trader Joel : "Bring me Rekt head".

No problem, don't need a reward.

[Limdood]

If you happen to know exactly how many tier 5 buildings there are plz let me know.

7

Hospital_01

Apartment_brick_06

Factory_lg_01 (shamway)

Factory_lg_02 (Shotgun Messiah)

Skyscraper_01 (Dishong - I've still never managed to successfully complete a clear quest here...i simply can't find all the zombies)

Skyscraper_02 (Crack-a-Book)

Skyscraper_03 (Higashi Pharmaceuticals)

 

Of those, I tend to avoid clear or fetch/clears in the factories (due to really awkward area entrances like the ladder down into the pipe room in the shotgun factory where you get rushed by 8+ workers while stuck on a ladder) or Dishong tower (which I've run for 2 full in-game days and still can't find all the zombies), and I'm not too big a fan of Higashi (I can do it, but there always seems to be at least one room i miss and have to backtrack to...and the frequent outdoor paths with vultures constantly result in vultures getting stuck somewhere and resetting)

[Synvastian]

I don't think it'd be too hard to make multiple buildings into 1 quest honestly, they use a bounding box system to clearly mark the area a quest is held in, making it encompass more buildings would only require expanding the bounds to include additional structures

[Ac75]

It wouldnt be hard actually, FINALLY, after millions of dollars raised, to have ANY KIND of focused story quest.

 

And dont tell me about Early Access. I know all about it and definitely don't need a lecture. I know a great deal about publishing fees as well, so lets not go there.

 

Clear a Hospital looking for answer to the virus > Points you too the Military Missile Silo Base > Clear the base and the clues say the next building to clear is the Higashi Pharm tower because thats where the virus came from > Clear Higashi Tower and destroy the EMP Radar Dish at the top that is preventing communication to the outside world for rescue > Climb and clear Dishong Tower so you can send off a message from the highest point = Rescued. Game over.

 

Having ANY kind of story at this point would be good. I know it's early access, but when you gotta make up your own story after the games been in development about 7 years, thats a little weird.

[Synvastian]

wouldn't the story have less to do with finding a cure, especially with "The Duke" out for your head? we have no idea how long said virus has been around*....it could have been years by the point our character gets kicked from the Casino for cheating/stealing (which points to a New Vegas kinda deal to be honest...Benny just got caught instead of going through with his plan *wink*)

 

*heck it might be that dead people don't rise anymore, and its only those that died originally that are mutant freaks*

[Niil945]

I'm in agreement with the added variety being a nice addition. I'd really dig some more variety on the trader quests. Maybe offer additional rewards for every 1k distant a mission is and then simply take the last 5 locations we've done out of the pool of locations for missions. That would guarantee we wouldn't be hitting the same place up over and over again. I'd also really like some way to say, "hey, this is the schematic/book that I need" either for dukes or a mission or something. A way to target something that we're stuck behind would be very helpful. In my current game I've been waiting for a crucible to show up in loot or on a trader for far too long. Additionally, for the clear quests it would be nice to have the indicator show up earlier. It seems to show the last group or area where there are zombies (the orange dot) but some of the places are huge and it's easy to miss more than that.

 

The note quests I don't even bother doing anymore. I've tried them many times but the rewards are never worth the effort or even the time. Most of them aren't hard or challenging so it makes it tough to give them a reward that feels worth the investment of time so I hope they can find a way to make them worthwhile.

[Morloc]

It wouldnt be hard actually, FINALLY, after millions of dollars raised, to have ANY KIND of focused story quest.

 

Dude. Chill. This ain't no RPG, and it's early access.

 

 

-Morloc

[SenpaiThatIngnoresYou]

7

Hospital_01

Apartment_brick_06

Factory_lg_01 (shamway)

Factory_lg_02 (Shotgun Messiah)

Skyscraper_01 (Dishong - I've still never managed to successfully complete a clear quest here...i simply can't find all the zombies)

Skyscraper_02 (Crack-a-Book)

Skyscraper_03 (Higashi Pharmaceuticals)

 

Of those, I tend to avoid clear or fetch/clears in the factories (due to really awkward area entrances like the ladder down into the pipe room in the shotgun factory where you get rushed by 8+ workers while stuck on a ladder) or Dishong tower (which I've run for 2 full in-game days and still can't find all the zombies), and I'm not too big a fan of Higashi (I can do it, but there always seems to be at least one room i miss and have to backtrack to...and the frequent outdoor paths with vultures constantly result in vultures getting stuck somewhere and resetting)

 

I have never gotten the skyscraper quests, and i have not gotten the apartment quests in alpha 18 when playing on navesgane. It's always those damn factories and the hospital. It would be nice if the game kept track of which buildings were cleared,and did not reissue a quest until after a bloodmoon. This would help with the spaming for resources.

 

The whole questing system could use some work. I hope that these current quests are just place holders and we will get a big quest update in the future.

[Psychodabble]

I have never gotten the skyscraper quests, and i have not gotten the apartment quests in alpha 18 when playing on navesgane. It's always those damn factories and the hospital. It would be nice if the game kept track of which buildings were cleared,and did not reissue a quest until after a bloodmoon. This would help with the spaming for resources.

 

The whole questing system could use some work. I hope that these current quests are just place holders and we will get a big quest update in the future.

 

Same here, only factories and hospital. SUPER bored of them already.

[Kashnar82]

Hey guy's first off thank you for the replies. However I would like this post to focus on suggestions on how to improve the quest system compared to complaining about what is wrong with it. We have covered how they get boring and I feel that is the main negative point to be made. So on that lets keep the suggestions for improvement going .

[Khulkhuum]

My suggestion on how to change the questing is here.

 

I would like new quest types to be added:

1. Fetch Resources - Something the trader does not have in his shop and depending on the tier, the type of resource and amount would change.

2. POI Defense - Done in Trader POI or in Survivor Camps/Hideouts (if there will be any in the future). You have a limited time to reinforce the place and have to kill all the Zs that attack the place. If it's the trader outpost, the magical barrier gets turned off, allowing the players to change the environment in the vicinity. Also, NPCs get hitpoints and if they die, it will fail the mission, permanently disabling the outpost.

3. Workstation Repair - Fetch a series of resources to restore one of the many workstations in the trader outpost. If Survivor Camps/Hideouts will be added anytime in the future, i predict this could be a major goal for reinforcing how it works. Additionally, implementing this could change all workstations at a trader to be destroyed at default, because you would be able to repair them (without the need of a schematic to build it).

4. Workstation Craft - If a player has the recipe unlocked for crafting certain workstations, a quest could appear for suplementing a workstation object, so that it can be substituted for a destroyed one. This only works for destroyed objects and when having the skill.

 

Additionally, i would like to have a more elaborate UI window for choosing a quest with more info. It would be good to see where on the map the quests wants to take us, what rewards can we expect (in advance) and some info concerning the quest itself. The added info could point where we would expect a cache (without using a pointer), how much time for defense we have, what resources are needed to be fetched or required for repairs, etc.

[Katitof]

Biggest problem with trader quests for me is T5 eventually replacing them all, while it should be rare spawn, T3 and T4 should be bread and butter of questing, given there is most of these types of POIs.

 

T5 are repetitive and mind numbling to the point I do them exclusively if I don't have other choices.

[SenpaiThatIngnoresYou]

Biggest problem with trader quests for me is T5 eventually replacing them all, while it should be rare spawn, T3 and T4 should be bread and butter of questing, given there is most of these types of POIs.

 

T5 are repetitive and mind numbling to the point I do them exclusively if I don't have other choices.

 

The game needs to keep track of what pois you have quested at, and remove those from the questing pool for a month. IF you did a tier 5 at a factory, you will not be back for a bit. or maybe change the quests up? After you clear it ferals move in, or bandits? but the loot does not respawn but the trader has nicer rewards?

[pApA^LeGBa]

Tier5 is clearing out a whole factory now? Wow. That´s utterly boring. It was already super annoying in POI´s half as big to search the last zombie. No challenge at all. The whole difficulty is that you have to look in every corner. That´s not how to create a challenge. Well at least not a good one.

[Khulkhuum]

I wouldn't mind the "Clear POI" quest have a bit of leeway, meaning you can leave for up to 5-10% of Zs inside. This means if you have 20, you can miss 1 or 2, but with greater numbers it will ofcourse be more. Having less zombies means you still have to kill all, but it's a bonus for bigger POIs, which have more Zs.

 

I also agree that the game should put out of the loop POIs you recently cleared and only respawn Zs, not the entire POI with loot, blocks, etc. This should take into account that you can ONLY take "Clear POI" quests in there later on, because how many hidden caches can one hide in there huh? This also goes in turn to my other suggestions, that POIs should not have sleepers simply respawn, but perhaps their numbers should slowly rise or simply jump up every bloodmoone horde?

[jdm311]

I agree on the repetitive same old tier 5 quest locations. Chaining multiple lower tier locations would be nice variation. I also like the idea of checking off a location once you have done them, especially if you have loot respawn disabled. I hope the quests in future alphas are more interactive with NPCs. An NPC runs up to you and asks your help to rescue a family member trapped in their house with zombies trying to break in. Each rescued NPC can join you at your base and help you fight during horde night. The mission fails if they die. Maybe they are infected and need x number of antibiotics. Maybe a bandit pretends to need help and lures you into a trap that you need to fight your way through. Maybe my suggestions are making this sound too much like skyrim...

[Liesel Weppen]

That Being said I must admit these large building become rather boring rather quickly. The main reason for this is because most traders only have 1-3 types near there location. If you happen to know exactly how many tier 5 buildings there are plz let me know.

It becomes also boring with T1-4 quests. It's always the same buildings once you know all of them. Doesn't matter if they are in the town in the north or in a town in the south.

 

*I need you to grab the supplies we have been gathering from 3 different locations, each of them being a tier 2 building.

Then you need to loot 3 buildings in a row, you also know... no change at all, just even more anyoing.

 

*I need you to find out what happened to this person, which could entail as much as 4 tier 1 and a dig up quest.

*It's time to start taking back this land, that involves clearing a pair of tier 4's

Doesn't change anything, because still just the same in a row.

 

Those are just ones I could come up at the time. but I feel adding these chain quests would add a lot more variety while also making it so you as the Fun Pimps do not need to just make a bunch more giant buildings/quests.

Imho it does not anything of real value. The only thing it does is it makes the quest longer to complete and instead saves you some traveling.

 

The core problem you mentioned and i agree with you is once you know the POIs it becomes boring and you can "rush" them. Chaining multiple of them doesn't make it better.

 

I guess you are talking about singleplayer. In multiplayer the quests are even more overpowered, because you can share them and everybody participating gets the reward. And you can chain as much as you have players, because everybody can have one quest. We currently reached tier 5 quests and there are only 2 buildings in range. So with 4 players we may get 4 times the same quest in the same building and can do this quest 4 times in a row without even need to return to the trader.

 

I don't know how to make this more interesting but the reward (and free loot respawn) with quests is far to much overpowered. We don't even loot normal POIs anymore... why, if you can have reasonable POIs with free loot respawn?

 

Only thing i can imagine is to make this some kind of "scavenger hunt". The trader doesn't even tell you in what direction the quest is AND it is chained, so in the first poi you might only find a hint where to go next or already find the target.

Then it would be a gamble about the trader quests and not just "yeah, i know where it is, i know how to do this POI and i will be done in 10min".

 

Maybe combined with some sort of standing towards a trader. You get a quest "fetch stuff" but you don't know where or what level. If you are lucky its a tier 5 in the first target. If you have bad luck, it's a chain of 5 tier 5 quests, but if you cancel the quest, you will lose standing towards the trader.

So it's your choice. Fullfil it even it takes much more time, or cancel it but loose standing.

 

But i guess that might be something coming with bandits in like A25, so in 2025.

[SenpaiThatIngnoresYou]

I agree on the repetitive same old tier 5 quest locations. Chaining multiple lower tier locations would be nice variation. I also like the idea of checking off a location once you have done them, especially if you have loot respawn disabled. I hope the quests in future alphas are more interactive with NPCs. An NPC runs up to you and asks your help to rescue a family member trapped in their house with zombies trying to break in. Each rescued NPC can join you at your base and help you fight during horde night. The mission fails if they die. Maybe they are infected and need x number of antibiotics. Maybe a bandit pretends to need help and lures you into a trap that you need to fight your way through. Maybe my suggestions are making this sound too much like skyrim...

 

I also like the idea of finding strange notes and weird secrets in filing cabinets and desks. I once found a super corn recipe in dishong tower. Why was it there? Now what would be neat is if say there was a special safe in dishong tower like in the sham factory that would give the location of the supercorn house and reveal that some company was stealing the research.

 

Maybe the quests should be small at first, and when you build a relationship with the traders they tell us rumors that will be in very far away pois, on weird locations in the map. Maybe have these unlock "horror quests" or "Mystery quests" that have a different icon: a skull and bones for the horror quests, and a question mark for the mystery quests. Have these reset the poi in a special way where the loot is gone but there is something bad/weird in a random room.

 

An example of a horror quest is you fall through a fake floor, and instead of dogs, its 15 feral screamers.... An example of a mystery quest is you go to the day care after a trader tells shares his concern about the kids, and you click on the question mark, and you find that at one point survivors were there, but they made it out and now you have to find a bus. This starts a new conversation with a trader, who will tell you where some gas stations are. This will lead to a quest where you just have to look at each gas station, and when you get close to the right one a new question mark kicks off.

 

I also would like to see some bosses in the game, like a shotgun wielding Jesus.... that would be a rare quest trigger for the gun factory or the church...

[Lorca]

Don't know if this is even viable, but imagine you could do a quest to expand the safe zone around traders, so that you eventually end up with a secure village with the trader in the middle.

 

You could also pay to spend the night there. Legit way to avoid the horde for those that desire.

[Liesel Weppen]

The game needs to keep track of what pois you have quested at, and remove those from the questing pool for a month.

Hmm, interesting idea. Couple it to the loot respawn value would make it impossible to just do quests over and over and create a need to further explore again. We totally stopped exploring and just run traderquests anymore. Even more OP then just running a quest and get a reward in opposite to just loot a building without a quest imho is the free loot respawn.

[spj0078]

Don't know if this is even viable, but imagine you could do a quest to expand the safe zone around traders, so that you eventually end up with a secure village with the trader in the middle.

 

You could also pay to spend the night there. Legit way to avoid the horde for those that desire.

 

I love the idea except the spending the night to avoid horde night but that's a ton of systems to implement from a programming standpoint. Maybe you could pay to sleep there on non horde nights (the excuse for why you couldn't on horde nights being something like "we can't afford to have dead weight around while defending against the horde") and immediately pass time til morning. Of course that's only viable in single player, unless it's something like if all players have paid to sleep through the night and are in the outpost the time will jump to 04:00. That incorrectly assumes, however, that after a week or two of leveling and obtaining gear, the night actually poses a risk to a competent player. It doesn't really right now unfortunately, except for maybe clearing tier 5 POIs at night for some.

 

I remember first starting this game alphas ago, and cowering in my base waiting for morning. Granted I was much less experienced, but the lack of open world zombie spawns now coupled with the abundance of ammo you're not going to get in any real trouble unless you're blasting away in the middle of a tier 5 POI.