Newport Sewers Bounty Quests

[donfolstar3]

I recently started playing again and after starting two characters and doing the Newport Sewers bounty quests offered by Guardsman Stanton noticed a very minor, though annoying, "problem".

Stanton offers exp/faction for handing in up to 20 Ratman Hoods, Beetle Pinchers, and Sewer Rat Tails. Collection these flow almost seamlessly with the early levels if you kill ratlings for the hoods then beetles for the pinchers, but by the time I had collected those 40 items the rats that drop tails are mostly green cons both times, and entirely green cons before 20 tails were collected. I was killing the target mobs exclusively and did not hand anything in until all quest items were collected.

Now obviously no one is forcing a new character/player to collect every single item, however, it really breaks the flow of leveling and creates a farming for no exp situation before level 7- which is a bit early in the game.

Would it be possible to either:
1. Increase the level range of the rats by 1 level, or
2. Increase the drop rate of bounty items in the sewers by a moderate amount

Again, this is a minor "problem" which only affects starting characters, but it almost feels like this bounty 'chain' is slightly broken and in need some tweaking to make the first few levels flow better and be more enjoyable/less of a chore.

 

[phroggonalog]

If you think those newbie quests are a chore try oggok or grobb newbie faction quests omg

or kelethin or athica

I recently started playing again and after starting two characters and doing the Newport Sewers bounty quests offered by Guardsman Stanton noticed a very minor, though annoying, "problem".

Stanton offers exp/faction for handing in up to 20 Ratman Hoods, Beetle Pinchers, and Sewer Rat Tails. Collection these flow almost seamlessly with the early levels if you kill ratlings for the hoods then beetles for the pinchers, but by the time I had collected those 40 items the rats that drop tails are mostly green cons both times, and entirely green cons before 20 tails were collected. I was killing the target mobs exclusively and did not hand anything in until all quest items were collected.

Now obviously no one is forcing a new character/player to collect every single item, however, it really breaks the flow of leveling and creates a farming for no exp situation before level 7- which is a bit early in the game.

Would it be possible to either:
1. Increase the level range of the rats by 1 level, or
2. Increase the drop rate of bounty items in the sewers by a moderate amount

Again, this is a minor "problem" which only affects starting characters, but it almost feels like this bounty 'chain' is slightly broken and in need some tweaking to make the first few levels flow better and be more enjoyable/less of a chore.

 

[donfolstar3]

What do you mean you don't want to eat your dinner? Don't you know there are children starving in Africa?

Yes, those newbie quests/areas are probably not without their faults either. Perhaps someone will come up with a suggestion or request that would fix any design flaws (such as farming greens at lvl 6 by design) that might exist in those area. Until that time 'less broken' does not mean 'not broken'.

I just want to reiterate that this is a minor issue with a very minor solution.

Farming greens is the worst and should only happen if the player missed their opportunity to get xp while completing the quest, not because the design of an area/quest does not make it possible to do otherwise. Imagine if Everchill Orc Ears or Elthannar Service Medallions dropped off mobs green to a lvl 55, 60, or even 65. People would be up in arms at a situation like that and it would be a major problem.

 

[GuiardoTuneweaver]

Farming greens is the worst and should only happen if the player missed their opportunity to get xp while completing the quest, not because the design of an area/quest does not make it possible to do otherwise. Imagine if Everchill Orc Ears or Elthannar Service Medallions dropped off mobs green to a lvl 55, 60, or even 65. People would be up in arms at a situation like that and it would be a major problem.

Only because those are the last in the series of the faction quests... if there were a quest beyond that that was not green mobs, nobody would complain. Very similar to the way nobody has complained about these quests before since there are bandits, liodreth, the everchill orc ears that you mentioned, and other faction quests for Newport. There's no reason you have to complete these quests... move on to the ones that give you the same result (faction) but aren't green mobs.

 

[jules4099]

I always thought NP and Erudin had the easier ones. I abhor doing the Kelethin and Athica newb quests. And I avoid Oggok and Grobb at all.

The drop rate is pretty common in the sewers for Ratman Hoods and whatnot. If I roll a new toon, I can get all 40 items from the sewers in short order, not twinked. Maybe familiarity with the ripe spots plays a part, I dont have to comb the entire sewer to find the right areas, but it does not take incredibly long to figure out where those areas are. I could see maybe increasing the drop rate on the other city bounty quests mentioned, but the NP Bounty stuff is fine IMO.

 

[donfolstar3]

Yes, you can just move on and not complete the bounty quests, but a quest that 'by design' cannot be completed before the mobs become green is bad design/broken. The problem is not difficulty in collecting the 60 (sixty) items or finding them, it is that the very first quests offered by the guard standing outside cannot be completed before the mobs are mostly, if not all, greens.

I just want to reiterate this is a minor issue with a very minor fix which is far from game breaking (oh CARP people are leaving the sewers as lvl 7 instead of 6 OR he collecting those items in slightly less time than before- the end is nigh!). The fix would just make the very first quest that many new players to SoD encounter flow better and more enjoyable (this is a game, right?).

The same game design mantra that would completely reject forcing 65s to farm elds/ec for zero xp (if those zones were green) if they want their gate necks should be applicable to lower level quests. Broken items/spells are not regularly left in the game 'as is' indefinitely because you can cast another spell of wear different gear, so why have a separate standard for quests?

I am hard pressed to think of any other way to say this is a minor issue with a minor fix which would harm nothing... 'Less broken than others' or 'broken, but with alternatives' are both still 'broken'.

 

[phroggonalog]

Yes, you can just move on and not complete the bounty quests, but a quest that 'by design' cannot be completed before the mobs become green is bad design/broken. The problem is not difficulty in collecting the 60 (sixty) items or finding them, it is that the very first quests offered by the guard standing outside cannot be completed before the mobs are mostly, if not all, greens.

I just want to reiterate this is a minor issue with a very minor fix which is far from game breaking (oh CARP people are leaving the sewers as lvl 7 instead of 6 OR he collecting those items in slightly less time than before- the end is nigh!). The fix would just make the very first quest that many new players to SoD encounter flow better and more enjoyable (this is a game, right?).

The same game design mantra that would completely reject forcing 65s to farm elds/ec for zero xp (if those zones were green) if they want their gate necks should be applicable to lower level quests. Broken items/spells are not regularly left in the game 'as is' indefinitely because you can cast another spell of wear different gear, so why have a separate standard for quests?

I am hard pressed to think of any other way to say this is a minor issue with a minor fix which would harm nothing... 'Less broken than others' or 'broken, but with alternatives' are both still 'broken'.

Okay let's reduce turnins from 10 pairs to 5 pairs!

 

[Rorne]

Yes, you can just move on and not complete the bounty quests, but a quest that 'by design' cannot be completed before the mobs become green is bad design/broken. The problem is not difficulty in collecting the 60 (sixty) items or finding them, it is that the very first quests offered by the guard standing outside cannot be completed before the mobs are mostly, if not all, greens.

I mean it's not broken though, it's just diminishing returns like when collection quests stop giving EXP after X amount of turn-ins. You're faced with sating some weird completionist drive/squeezing out every last bit of faction or moving on (you should really move on).

The same game design mantra that would completely reject forcing 65s to farm elds/ec for zero xp (if those zones were green)

But lots of people would love to be able to farm easy mobs for gate necks??? The end goal is the necklace not the nebulous exp.

 

[robopirateninja]

I think the problem here is more one of philosophy than anything else. Today people are used to WoW-style mmos where quests are interactive little packets of gameplay with a treasure chest at the end. We do have many things like that, but in this older style of game, especially areas that are 5+ years old there are things like this which are just bounties on the items you collect while grinding xp there. In the vast majority of that style of quest there is no reward for maxing it out, there is no "completing it" you just stop getting anything after turning in a certain amount. It isn't exactly broken, but it's not what you're expecting.

 

[totillion]

people are used to WoW-style mmos where quests are interactive little packets of gameplay with a treasure chest at the end

I agree with this. I see these types of early turn-in quests like a self-powerleveling option. Helping you get your character through some of the early stages of grind. Providing you character a quick burst of exp/faction. Helping you to quickly get out of those lower levels an onto better content.

I haven't lost any sleep over any of these turn-in quests that I didn't "complete".

My method for doing these quests - iirc - was to grind the rats until they turned green, however many tails collected were then turned in. Then the beetles, turn in pincers. Then slay ratmen and turn in all their hoods. Then go to Blackburrow and grind the crap out of gnolls for the ears or Bandits in WBL.