As great of a sandbox MMO UO was it was the weakest MMO I've ever played when it came to NPC questing. There was zero NPC questing in UO for the first many years not including the NPC that randomly shouted "Help!", and the NPCs that randomly asked to be escorted to a City or Dungeon. Those examples in my opinion do not count as quests, they were as non-quest as a beggar begging for gold. Great quests in MMOs are few, so few I can't think of a great one, as none were able to ever convert the amazing single player Ultima VII quests to the MMO world.
Converting the single player Ultima VII quests to a multiplayer world is a challenge, I can say how I would implement it, I was going to make a detailed video detailing how I would convert the single player Ultima VII quest experience into a MMO with video from the games, and I may still do that. Basically I'd not ignore the static quests, I'd not limit the static quests to single player mode, dynamic changing quests that appear and disappear depending on level/skill are great, but to ignore the static quests would, in my opinion, be a big mistake. Not sure if any of what I mention here has been covered or not, as I have not had time to watch every live stream and read every forum post.
I really hope they don't eliminate the single player static quests from the online game. If they do of course we can play them in single player mode, but the single player quests don't need to be hidden away in single player land, they can be adapted. Even if they were adapted generically like Diablo did it, where you can do them over and over it would still be amazing and addictive to many, compared to them not existing in MMO mode at all. Diablo I, II, & III is an example of this.
The reason Diablo was so popular was because of the ability to do the same quests over and over. Many are familiar with Diablo, but in my experience not many are familiar with Ultima VII, how many can claim they've played it from beginning to end? Part I & II? I'm talking about the SOTA team. I'm honestly curious how many have. I can't be sure of how many SOTA team members are fans of Ultima VII, I've made the mistake of assuming such in the past and I'll just bluntly say, you either consider Ultima VII the best game ever made or you pretty much dismiss it as an old game from 1992.
As "an old game from 1992" it has NPC schedules, where the NPCs;
* Sleep in their beds at night.
* After they've shut their shutters
* And locked their house door.
* In the day they wake up
* Unlock their door
* Open their shutters
* And go to work.
I've yet to see this exist in any game other than Ultima VII, VIII and perhaps variations of it in the Elder Scrolls games. (I don't play every game ever made and perhaps many other games have used it as well).
Elder Scrolls knew how cool of a feature it was. I know it has been stated that Garriott plans on implementing it. But short of the NPC 1. Sleeping in their bed. 2. Locking and unlocking their house/room doors and 3. Opening/shutting their shutters and 4. Going to work, it's a major downgrade from an "old game from 1992". I know this is alpha, and I know the NPC that insanely walks up and down the stairs is not an example of the final product, but please, know the power of the detailed scheduled NPC.
Obviously NPC schedules are not quests but they play a very important immersive role with quests of Ultima VII. To participate or complete a quest in Ultima VII & VIII, many a time you had to abide by the in-game world clock and schedule of the NPCs. If they were sleeping you'd have to wait for the day. This gave the virtual world a living breathing aspect to it that is not seen in many games today. Short of this is short of "an old game from 1992".
A. Would you rather have to rely on an in-game clock that showed the in-game Novia time, and wait for the important quest NPC to wake up and unlock their door and arrive at their scheduled quest location to begin/complete/participate in the quest?
B. Or would you rather the NPC be standing at the quest location 24/7?
C. Or would you rather the NPC made a lazy attempt at walking around, making the rounds, and appearing at the quest location every minute or two?
Personally I'd choose A., because I've seen it and it works amazingly, it draws you into the world to the point where the immersion really gives you a sense of nostalgia, or something close to it, it did me anyway. It caused me to have great fun as I didn't focus on the real world for 2 seconds and actually had fun for a second believing the pretend virtual fantasy world was more than pixels 1s and 0s. I didn't make a poll because I'd prefer dialogue rather than a generic yes or no. You either consider Ultima VII a great game or an old game from 1992. It's not black and white, some thought it was okay, I've seen let's play videos on youtube of modern 'gamers' despising it, but their dislike of it is the equivalent to me, of some guy claiming Monet's paintings are gabrage, so I don't take their criticism seriously. An old game is an old game, and I know there are some that claim they've played it, and claim they love it, when they've never played it, or beat it, and they're secretly indifferent towards it. An amazing feature is an amazing feature. I could go on and on.
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