#5 - Feb. 7, 2008, 11:34 p.m.
Q u o t e:
Hi lovely folks at Blizzard,
I've run into a problem with your questing system. I do not believe that drop rates on quest items should be so rare that the quest disappears from your screen between looting the item you are looking for. Please just make the quest require more of the items, that way it at least seems like I am making progress. Instead of getting frustrated that I need 8 of some item and it takes me two hours to get them, just say I need 45, but make them actually drop the item.
Thanks,
a mostly happy customer
It's not consistent, there are quests where we've taken the random drop out and simply made it a "Kill X number of mobs". There's a definite psychological element to it though, and keeping a good variety is really what makes and keeps it interesting. I think there are some spots here and there where the same mechanic is used too often or too close together, but our intent isn't to just make all quests "Kill X number". That's not interesting, that's not any less of a grind. Sure you're guaranteed your kills, but then we just have to offset the random chance with making you kill more of that mob. It would, more often than not, even out.
Take the Nesingwary chain in Nagrand, if that wasn't "Kill 30", it would be a random drop that would require you to kill ~30 to get the number of drops you need. But you wouldn't have a big "5/30 Windroc" staring at you, you probably wouldn't be as inclined to think "OMG THIRTY!? STUPID GRINDS!" What if instead you saw "2/10 Windroc Gizzards"? Even if you were killing the same number of mobs you might feel better about it, but in the end you're still killing the same amount.
Personally I like the random drops as long as the chance to get the item isn't astronomical, I like having that chance factor and seeing the item appear in the loot window for that last one and thinking "yay". You don't have that by just moving from mob to mob, the only game there is if you can kill it or it kills you, and how often is that even a question?
Variety is the key, and I think that's what we've become better and better at. Keeping quests interesting, introducing entirely new mechanics, and building off those for future quests.
