Devlog: Quests and Tasks
Hello everyone! We are back at it again with another devlog. This time we will go through what the difference between quests and tasks are, how you can expect them to be in the game, and what makes them different from other MMORPGs. Additionally, we will be doing our Vocation Deep-dive at the end of this section, where we will be covering the Cultist and Warden!
[h2]Quests and Tasks[/h2]
In most MMORPGs, quests are used to progress the player through levels by granting experience and gear, and typically they have a linear progression pattern in which you complete quests for one zone before moving on to the next. This never felt like what a quest should be to us, though. We have always felt that quests should be more adventurous, grand, and intricate in nature. Local townspeople asking for assistance with materials, wildlife, or bandits, should be kept separate from the mystery-delving quests. As a result of this, we have decided to split these two into Quests and Tasks.
[h3]Task[/h3]
Aside from the random tasks you might get while exploring the world, most tasks originate in a town or city at something called Bounty Boards. These boards contain requests from townsfolk and other nearby NPCs for work that needs to be done. Performing tasks in a town help that town out, and players will earn a reputation and gain rewards from completing tasks for towns. The tasks available rotate and are primarily split up into 2 different categories:
[h3]Kill[/h3]
These tasks revolve around the killing of mobs. This can be killing local wildlife causing problems, dispatching forest bandits, or similar. You will always be asked to bring back trophies as proof of your kills, but don’t worry, there’s always a trophy on each mob you kill (no more headless raptors, liverless boars, and meatless birds).
[h3]Supply[/h3]
These tasks revolve around supplying certain items. These can be anything from gathering specific materials to any kind of crafted item that the town may need. The town is simply requesting the said item, meaning that you do not need to gather or craft it yourself if you’d rather buy it off the marketplace. Sometimes, however, the task might include details about crafted items being a certain minimum quality, so make sure you find a skilled craftsman (or become that skilled craftsman yourself).
[h3]Quests[/h3]
These are a whole other type of adventure in Ethyrial. Quests are usually multi-layered stories with more than one outcome depending on your actions. Although early on in your adventuring career, some quests might still be simple, they require significantly more effort than a singular task. As you explore the world of Irumesa, you will discover all kinds of quests about anything you can imagine. Some might involve infiltrating mysterious cults, others about dismantling political ploys, and some might even lead to dangerous and mysterious ruins that must be explored and cleared by several adventurers!
With these distinctions between Quests and Tasks, we feel that it’s easier to set the player’s expectations for what a quest or task should play like. Tasks are mostly about helping local townspeople and getting the town through whatever minor hardships it might be experiencing, whereas Quests should be about true adventure and exploration, oftentimes involving more than just the slaughter of mobs.
[h2]Vocations Deep-dive[/h2]
On our Discord, we recently ran a poll to ask the community which sort of vocations they would like a deep dive into. The winners from this pool are the Cultist and the Warden. Let’s jump right into the cultist!
[h3]Cultist[/h3]
“To channel the powers of Nalazar is to command blood itself. Through your blood, his power grows, and it shall become yours as you decimate your foes and strengthen your allies.”
Vylrian, High Cultist of Nalazar’s Chosen.
Cultists have made the demon Nalazar their Patron. These spellcasters focus their blood-infused magic to deal damage to foes while healing and bolstering their allies. As with all vocations based on Demonism, these casters utilize the demonic infusion of their patron to unleash some of their most powerful spells.
Cultists can excel at healing and bolstering their allies through an offensive play-style by infecting their enemies with demonic leeches which they can trigger and explode for damage whilst healing nearby allies. Their primary healing rotation can be done through damaging enemies, but they also have hard-cast heals that can be used for direct healing of allies. Damage and healing build up demonic infusion stacks, further attuning the Cultist with the influence of Nalazar, and this unlocks the second part of their kit: Pacts.
Pacts are essentially powerful effects that are granted through a sacrifice, spending your own life essence (blood) in combination with demonic infusion stacks to perform powerful effects. Examples of some pacts available to Cultists are damage dealing dots that slow enemies, absorption shields for allies, AoE healing zones, and much more.
[h3]Warden[/h3]
“To respect our ancestral spirits and fight in their name is to fight for Irumesa itself. Without the guidance and support of the spirits, we are nothing.”
Thyrion, Warden of Elkpine Woods
Wardens attune themselves to the spirits of nature and call them in battle to increase the strength of themselves and their allies while weakening their enemies. Typically seen clad in leather armor and two-handed weapons, Wardens often defend places of great spiritual importance, such as forests, lakes, groves, and meadows.
Wardens are centered around a melee-based playstyle and are mostly played as a DPS/Support hybrid, since a lot of their abilities have the additional effect of healing and strengthening nearby allies, as well as weakening enemies. The debuffs they apply to enemies cause them to take more damage, making them very well suited for larger group encounters, and while they might not hit as hard as a Berserker, Crusader, or other types of Melee DPS, their extra added utility, healing, and debuffs make them a strong contender to bring along for your group.
Your core rotation revolves around building up ancestral attunement, which in turn is expended to activate some of your more powerful abilities and effects such as large AoE heals, stat buffs to allies, and weakening debuffs on enemies.
That’s it for the Cultist and Warden. For the next Devlog, we will cover the remaining Mystic-based ascensions (Enchanter, Priest, Druid), and will also go through some exciting lore revolving around infused magic and essence, which also covers necromancy.
Additionally, you can head over to our Discord channel to vote on which topic you would like to see in the next devlog as well, so make sure you join our server and cast your vote!
Have a wonderful day y’all
Amar Duranovic
Game Director
[h2]Quests and Tasks[/h2]
In most MMORPGs, quests are used to progress the player through levels by granting experience and gear, and typically they have a linear progression pattern in which you complete quests for one zone before moving on to the next. This never felt like what a quest should be to us, though. We have always felt that quests should be more adventurous, grand, and intricate in nature. Local townspeople asking for assistance with materials, wildlife, or bandits, should be kept separate from the mystery-delving quests. As a result of this, we have decided to split these two into Quests and Tasks.
[h3]Task[/h3]
Aside from the random tasks you might get while exploring the world, most tasks originate in a town or city at something called Bounty Boards. These boards contain requests from townsfolk and other nearby NPCs for work that needs to be done. Performing tasks in a town help that town out, and players will earn a reputation and gain rewards from completing tasks for towns. The tasks available rotate and are primarily split up into 2 different categories:
[h3]Kill[/h3]
These tasks revolve around the killing of mobs. This can be killing local wildlife causing problems, dispatching forest bandits, or similar. You will always be asked to bring back trophies as proof of your kills, but don’t worry, there’s always a trophy on each mob you kill (no more headless raptors, liverless boars, and meatless birds).
[h3]Supply[/h3]
These tasks revolve around supplying certain items. These can be anything from gathering specific materials to any kind of crafted item that the town may need. The town is simply requesting the said item, meaning that you do not need to gather or craft it yourself if you’d rather buy it off the marketplace. Sometimes, however, the task might include details about crafted items being a certain minimum quality, so make sure you find a skilled craftsman (or become that skilled craftsman yourself).
[h3]Quests[/h3]
These are a whole other type of adventure in Ethyrial. Quests are usually multi-layered stories with more than one outcome depending on your actions. Although early on in your adventuring career, some quests might still be simple, they require significantly more effort than a singular task. As you explore the world of Irumesa, you will discover all kinds of quests about anything you can imagine. Some might involve infiltrating mysterious cults, others about dismantling political ploys, and some might even lead to dangerous and mysterious ruins that must be explored and cleared by several adventurers!
With these distinctions between Quests and Tasks, we feel that it’s easier to set the player’s expectations for what a quest or task should play like. Tasks are mostly about helping local townspeople and getting the town through whatever minor hardships it might be experiencing, whereas Quests should be about true adventure and exploration, oftentimes involving more than just the slaughter of mobs.
[h2]Vocations Deep-dive[/h2]
On our Discord, we recently ran a poll to ask the community which sort of vocations they would like a deep dive into. The winners from this pool are the Cultist and the Warden. Let’s jump right into the cultist!
[h3]Cultist[/h3]
“To channel the powers of Nalazar is to command blood itself. Through your blood, his power grows, and it shall become yours as you decimate your foes and strengthen your allies.”
Vylrian, High Cultist of Nalazar’s Chosen.
Cultists have made the demon Nalazar their Patron. These spellcasters focus their blood-infused magic to deal damage to foes while healing and bolstering their allies. As with all vocations based on Demonism, these casters utilize the demonic infusion of their patron to unleash some of their most powerful spells.
Cultists can excel at healing and bolstering their allies through an offensive play-style by infecting their enemies with demonic leeches which they can trigger and explode for damage whilst healing nearby allies. Their primary healing rotation can be done through damaging enemies, but they also have hard-cast heals that can be used for direct healing of allies. Damage and healing build up demonic infusion stacks, further attuning the Cultist with the influence of Nalazar, and this unlocks the second part of their kit: Pacts.
Pacts are essentially powerful effects that are granted through a sacrifice, spending your own life essence (blood) in combination with demonic infusion stacks to perform powerful effects. Examples of some pacts available to Cultists are damage dealing dots that slow enemies, absorption shields for allies, AoE healing zones, and much more.
[h3]Warden[/h3]
“To respect our ancestral spirits and fight in their name is to fight for Irumesa itself. Without the guidance and support of the spirits, we are nothing.”
Thyrion, Warden of Elkpine Woods
Wardens attune themselves to the spirits of nature and call them in battle to increase the strength of themselves and their allies while weakening their enemies. Typically seen clad in leather armor and two-handed weapons, Wardens often defend places of great spiritual importance, such as forests, lakes, groves, and meadows.
Wardens are centered around a melee-based playstyle and are mostly played as a DPS/Support hybrid, since a lot of their abilities have the additional effect of healing and strengthening nearby allies, as well as weakening enemies. The debuffs they apply to enemies cause them to take more damage, making them very well suited for larger group encounters, and while they might not hit as hard as a Berserker, Crusader, or other types of Melee DPS, their extra added utility, healing, and debuffs make them a strong contender to bring along for your group.
Your core rotation revolves around building up ancestral attunement, which in turn is expended to activate some of your more powerful abilities and effects such as large AoE heals, stat buffs to allies, and weakening debuffs on enemies.
That’s it for the Cultist and Warden. For the next Devlog, we will cover the remaining Mystic-based ascensions (Enchanter, Priest, Druid), and will also go through some exciting lore revolving around infused magic and essence, which also covers necromancy.
Additionally, you can head over to our Discord channel to vote on which topic you would like to see in the next devlog as well, so make sure you join our server and cast your vote!
Have a wonderful day y’all
Amar Duranovic
Game Director