World of Warcraft Preview
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Questing in WoWIf there's one thing that sets World of Warcraft apart from any other MMORPG I've played, it's the huge emphasis on quests. Questing not only gives you more experience than you would get from simply killing creatures, it's also the fastest way to level and achieve appropriate unique class-related items. You see, almost every creature in the game is designed to be related to at least one quest, usually but not always given in a nearby town. You won't see the quest item drop of course if you're not first given the quest, but it's better if you sample the hostile creatures on your way to and from quests, but not stay for too long and "level" solely on creatures. For example, if you're camping a set of razormane quillboars in Durotar for experience and haven't yet received the quest, you're going to end up disappointed once you find there's a quest related to them, as with quest in tow, you'd not only get xp for the kills but a nice (or sellable) quest item and xp reward for doing the same thing. It's like that with most of the creatures in the game.
And that's where I bring up my first negative point. Even in the beta, many quests will require items from one specific set of mobs, and you'll usually find half-a-dozen other people there with you trying to kill the same monster(s), which can bring the game to a scrutiatingly abrupt halt. Well, it's not always like that, but more than a few times, there has been kill stealing going on when two different groups vie for the same creature in a sparsely populated area. Blizzard needs to fix this, as when the game goes gold and there are hundreds instead of perhaps 50-100 now in one area, attempting the same quests as other people will require that you ask to be let in a group within that same area... something I've often had to do. People will usually accommodate, but occasionally will just ignore you, which is extremely rude when it happens.
Last night I was in a group of 5 hunting level 18-19 quill boars in the Barrens savannah for a quest from the Crossroads far to the north. Each person was supposed to get 20 of the special quest item, which was often not found on the corpse. After a half hour of this, I held only 2 of them, mainly due to the round robin looting system where everyone gets their turn. It's usually works great, but when the drops aren't consistent, your turn may leave you with nothing. So our group was going this way and that, killing off quill boars as fast as they spawned while other groups were also taking their share. It was not very fun and pretty soon I left because for the experience and small amount of silver as a reward, staying for hours in that spot wasn't worth it, and was not like the fast pace I had grown accustomed to.
One thing Blizzard has done to partially rectify camping is increase the spawn rate and number of the creatures in many areas. In the beginning area for example, you'll find dozens of first-quest monsters to hunt, and they'll respawn quick enough I expect even for the masses. I've noticed that with roaming creatures as well. The spawn rate appears much higher than in EverQuest, for example, which is nice especially when the mob is yellow, indicating that it will not go hostile on you if you approach it or kill another like it. But there is still a long way to go in balancing out all the areas and quests, as I've experienced camping just a bit too much for my enjoyment, which again will be exacerbated when the game releases if something is not done in the mean time.
So what is a typical quest like in WoW? I would guess that it was one of Blizzard's main goals to have at least one quest related to virtually any spot in the whole world, making every area at least of some importance. For example, after taking my shaman to the Tauren starting area of Mulgore and completing all the quests I could find there, I suspect there isn't a lot that I did not see in that whole zone including the named wandering mobs. Simply put, it's going to take you a very, very long time if you want to explore the whole world and take on most of the quests. Quests can be diverse, easy to find, and are usually a lot of fun. I've done everything from storm a very hard mid-level human village full of "+" mobs who are much tougher than their level indicates, to several multi-part quests that get progressively harder and escalate toward an assault on the main bad guy who resides deep inside of his castle.
You'll likely have many quests on your log at any given point, and if you travel without completing many of them, chances are you may have to even abandon some to make room for others. I also expect they'll tweak the number you can have active at any given time, likely increasing it from what it is now. The majority of quests I've tackled feature the "find the group of monsters, kill them, loot them, and return with x number of their special item drop," meaning you'll be sent to kill several of the same type of monster to get their quest items. Fortunately, quest items typically drop from monsters fairly frequently (though the number required and the drop rate need balancing) and you usually won't be in one area too long, especially if in a group.
