Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Interview
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Q: In the presentation EA Mythic talked about '˜Public Quests' being one of WAR's redeeming features, what are they and what makes them so special and unique to MMOs?
A: Public Quests basically expand on the PvE solo-playing experience, turning them into communal experiences where realm pride is really at stake. There are 300 public quests in the game, most of which consist of multiple stages. The first stage is generally solo-able, though they do take some time if you go down this route, and the other stages require participation from other realm players and they all generally culminate in disposing of a big boss.
It's hard to convey what's really great about public quests, until you actually experience it. It's a fantastic social hub in the game. I was in the beta the other week playing in the Dark Elf Zone 1 and I was just having a look around, watching what other players were up to and I was right next to the citadel, which has public quest where you need to kill a Hydra. There were 7 or 8 people around contributing to the public quest and intuitively I thought I might as well join in. I grouped up, did the public quest and then added two of the guys as friends. The public quests are good fun, but what really makes them great is that they are intuitive social networking hubs. You don't have that problem where you gather a group together and then wonder what to do. People will probably be in the middle of doing a public quest, so you can just join them, or not, the choice is yours.
