DragonFable: Right Idea, Wrong Implementation

NOTE: Yes, I know, I’m not technically the DragonFable blogger here, but I figured you don’t need to know a heckuva lot about the game to have an opinion on this concept, and I feel like this is a huge issue with the new Quest Log. It is not at all intended to replace Chickencowlord’s full analysis, and as far as I know he will be coming out with one soon.

This is Chickencowlord, and this post is 100% approved by both fowl and bovine! Enjoy!

Anyways, any avid DragonFable player would know one of the main releases this week was the opening of the new Quest Log. This feature, which gives you a brief description of every zone in the game and all of the quests in that zone in addition to letting you do the quests from the log, is an essential aspect of any RPG and MMORPG, and it is great to see DragonFable adding this key feature. However (and this is a BIG however), while AE got the right idea to get a Quest Log in-game, they completely misinterpreted what I believe to be the purpose of the Quest Log, and I think that this in the long run could severely damage DragonFable’s long-term prospects.

I’d like to say first that having a Quest Log to include every quest in the game, conveniently organized by zone, was a fantastic idea, and a much-needed implementation. Questing is without a doubt the biggest feature of DragonFable, and to have all of the quests in the game collected in one spot is a great aspect. Alas, that is not the issue here. The issue is with the fact that not only can you view every quest currently in-game, but that you can play every quest as well. Hypothetically speaking, you can pretty much beat the entire game without moving out of Falconreach’s main area. Yes, there are certain things you’re going to miss, such as the many shops to buy equipment from, the various NPCs to converse with, and other minor trifles, but the bulk of the game can now indeed be be beaten without moving a square.

The Gryphon already removed most of the exloration features of the game, but this new Quest Log has demolished what was left of it. There is still some exploration available in most of the cities (Dragesvard took a big step forward with this), but now many players won’t even go to those very cities because they can access the quests from Falconreach. DragonFable needs to go in a direction that will encourage exploration without making it a tedious and boring process. It’s hard for me to imagine someone making a logical argument that Less Exploration = Better Game. If anything, AE should be attempting to improve the exploration aspects of DragonFable, and there have been some absolutely stunning suggestions on the forums regarding this.

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t offer my suggestion to the staff for how to solve this problem. As I said, the idea itself is fantastic and I’m glad AE has gone with it, moving their fastest-evolving game even further. I hate to take a page out of such a bad game as RuneScape’s book, but one of the few things Jagex did well with that game was their Quest Log, imho. A clear, concise list of every quest available, with a nice little log for each quest. The main difference between RS’s Quest Log and DF’s Quest Log? That RuneScape’s forces you to actually go to where the quest actually begins, whereas in DragonFable you can do the quest right from there. The fix I would suggest is to remove the option to do any quests directly from the Quest Log, and instead maybe write up a small description of the quests themselves. In addition, if this were possible, it would also be nice for quests that you have completed at once to show up in a different color, perhaps green, so players could know exactly what they still have to do (this may force players to do every quest all over again, but if the functionality is there this would be a nice implementation).

Anyways, this post has gone on much longer than I expected, and feel free to voice your opinion on this key feature in the Comments section below. Enjoy!