Warhammer Online: Public Quest Quandry

When Warhammer Online (known as WAR) came out last year, I was very excited. The game was supposedly pumping life into an dying generation of MMORPG, introducing several mechanics with the intention of bringing players together (and also against one another). An element of these mechanics is known as the Public Quest, or PQ.


In a traditional MMORPG, a "quest" is a mission that the player must accomplish. The player talks to an NPC, who then grants them a quest that they can complete. Players keep their own quest logs, and each player can complete each quest for him or herself. The process is very localized. For quests that involve multiple people as a requirement for completion, this internal nature can cause problems in getting a group together. Moreover, rewards in traditional quests are not always fairly allotted to a group.


WAR sought to end these problems with the concept of the public quest. In a PQ, an area of the world is reserved for a specific quest. Unlike a traditional quest, the PQ is a scripted series of events that begin periodically, running their course and resetting upon success or failure. Any players in the area can participate, simply by walking into the area where the PQ takes place. One doesn't need to be a member of a group to benefit from the quest. Depending on his or her contribution, a player has a better chance of earning a good reward. On paper, this is a fantastic idea.


In practice, I find that the system needs work. The PQ does streamline the questing process (and to be fair, WAR is not about questing), but instead of communicating with other players to achieve a goal, I found that players in PQs simply contribute to mindless blob-play. There is no communication - indeed, if you're not in a group but still trying to participate, there is no easy way to contact other players in the middle of an event. If you're being hammered on by five enemies, then you're at the mercy of any random healer who happens to notice you dying in the corner. This is, of course, not ideal for new players.


Players who run these quests repeatedly end up re-creating an atmosphere of expectation common in the endgame of an MMO: "if you are here, you should know what you are doing and you should do it well." The PQ system breeds a crowd of hardcore players who are out for rewards, and when the system encourages play without communication, it marginalizes players who are still learning. I don't think that this is what Mythic intended at all.