An attempt on a beginners guide on questing

Aeldra

Hello dear possible future quest-seeking adventurer,

in this little piece I'll be trying to relay to you my experiences in the last few months I made regarding questing and some tips and tricks as well as possibly useful items and to do's. This is by no means an exhausting guide nor will it particularly offer every solution to everything. But, so is my hope, it'll help the one or other one who's new to the game or has never done much questing. Or, you could see it as 'all the things I wished I had known about questing'. Feel free to reply and expand or correct, should you find any mistakes.

Without further delay, here we go.

What will I need?

Things that you will want to have / to be:
- A halfway good punch in regards to bashing ( I guess, really quest dependant, I think anything 70+ should be fine for most quests)
- Some basic influencing skills ( a good deal of quests have at least one part of influencing )
- Some time, patience and inquistiveness.
- the secrets ability in discernment ( only really useful if you have the spectacles, see below )
- a way of flight (not for for many quests, but for some at least)

If I wanted something to make my questing life easier what would you recommend?

There's one artifact that I want to mention that make one's life a lot easier while questing: "a pair of thin spectacles (100 credits)". It allows you to always find secret exits when using the 'secrets' ability in discernment ( also makes observe cost no balance, as an added bonus )

What types of quests are there and there's anything I should pay attention to?

Be aware that there's essentially four types of quests: "honour quests", "regular quests", "hidden quests" and "conflict quests". This categorization by me is a little arbitary as it could easily be that a quest fits in more then one of those categories, but for the purpose of this little guide there's a purpose to it.

Let's first talk about 'honours' and what this means. A honours quest is usually a lengthy quest ( taking at least about two hours if you know what you are doing ) that will reward your character with a honours line when somebody does HONOURS FULL yourcharacter, so e. g. "She is a honourary staff member of the Clarramora cloud gardens". You usually are notified that you got a honours line by 'You have received a new honours.". Your citty or commune's 'epic quest' ( see below ) usually gives you several honours after completion.

"hidden quests" are only mentioned here for completeness sake. Those are usually quests that are completed when you do power gathering through hunting creatures for essence. You notice that you 'solved' a hidden quest when you suddenly receive an ikon out of the blue.

"conflict quests" I use to denote quests that usually have two choices how to solve them and there's usually other players who care about how that quest is solved. The best example for this is the cay of Clodahi quest in the middle of the inner sea. There's one version that aids Celest and one version that blocks Celest from performing their epic quest (unsure on consequences for Magnagora if Celest side is done). You usually will find a list of banned quests in your CHELP scrolls, e. g. quests or sides of quests that you are not allowed to do while being part of your current organisation. Those are usually honours quests. Be prepared that you can and maybe will be hindered or even killed trying to do a conflict quest people care about. Shouldn't deter you, but should make you aware :-)

Basic quest mechanics?

Every quest can have a few basic mechanics I want to talk about briefly:

- Item hunts. Usually those items are hidden in hidden containers in rooms. You will have to go through the rooms of the area the quest is in, read the long descriptions of each room, look for suspicious nouns ( the carpet, the vase, that odd table, the hole in the wall, ... ) and PROBE them. If you get a response, you either can see the item directly, or you can apply one of the following nouns to get your item: PULL, PUSH, TWIST, TURN, SHAKE, TOUCH. Sometimes, it's just a container like a chest, you maybe have to 'OPEN' the item before you can take what you seek from it.

There's usually more locations then there are items to find for the quest, so expect some of them being lost and the order where items are is usually random. Write down any location you find ( I'll talk more about writing later).

Lastly, you should always suffix your commands interacting with items in the room with a HERE so e. g. PROBE VASE HERE, avoiding you accidently target a vase in your own inventory.

It pays to only turn in the items once you have all of them.

Sometimes items are also received by influencing the denizens in the area, or giving them items that they want ( see the denizen section below ).

- puzzles.

There's many different puzzles, that I'll not go into explaining, but leave for you to figure out. But be ready to solve mastermind puzzles, magic squares,  lights out or other creative reasoning. Sometimes you also need to deduct right solutions through a number of information given to you.

- questioning denizens.

Generally, your first action when you try to get something from an npc is to GREET them. You may find that greeting them several times will respond random responses from them, not always will they tell what you seek first.

denizens generally respond to keywords said in the room. For example, if you say "Can you tell me anything about Clarramora", the denizen in question may have something to tell you. Sometimes they expect you to answer 'yes' to a query for help before they give you a quest, information, or an item. do not use ASK and do not use SAY TO, the first won't work and the last actually can sometimes trigger an admin to animate the denizen for you, which would be confusing for them if you were just questing. Just speak to the room instead!

I really would ask you, formulate your questions as real questions though, because having only single words said really looks awkward for anybody in the room with you. Sometimes you'll have to ask multiple keywords till you are informed of what you want.

Denizens involved in quests will often respond to being influenced, so if you are stuck and your denizen has been reluctant to give up things you seek, it may be worth influencing them with begging and see what happens.

What could go wrong or help my quest isn't working?

We sadly have a few quests that are a little unstable out there and sometimes bugs just happen. If you do find a definite bug, please make sure you actually 'bug' it. However, keep the following things in mind:

- sometimes, quests are actively disabled by other people
- some quests need to be in a certain stage or have prerequisites to be solved
- someone else may be in progress of solving it already, blocking you from starting.
- items involved in quests will periodically reset, so do periodically check your inventory if they are still there. They don't need to show up in the same location either.
- a relevant denizen could be actually dead.
- sometimes, you need more slain denizens then there are per one reset. Also account for that and keep an eye for when they return.
- there may be actually a hidden exit where some things / denizens / items hide inside. always keep an eye out for hidden exits!

asking other people often will yield information and help. Some quests are just lengthy and their level of difficulty waries greatly. Sometimes a little nudge from someone else will actually help you getting forward. But there's a great reward in satisfaction when you finally crack a quest on your own.

why should I write things down?

You will most likely not figure out a honours type quest in your first attempt. You often don't even know where to start it correctly. Write down your actions and your failures in working up, as you will likely have to restart at some point, as the quest resets upon you. You will be faster next time, following your own instructions. At a bonus, if someone else gets stuck in the future, you can actually hint them for completion, making it easier for them. Or maybe you'll do it again for the quest rewards.

quest rewards?

Typical quest rewards are usually:

- Gold
- Ikons
- a honours line ( if a honours quest )
- some effect on the world
- sometimes a denizen to follow you around for a few days
- satisfaction and (forum) bragging rights

I last but not least want to express that this guide is by no means exhaustive and I may update it in the future to add further things I learned or other people tell me. I would highly appreciate support in making this guide better and I hope it'll help people to figure things out. Happy questing