How did people figure out quest back in the day?

[Valura]

Originally Posted by Kagey [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

everlore

that website hated the 10 year old me

shame on my parents for letting me use the internet unsupervised at that age

[Bummey]

Originally Posted by Cecily [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Packet sniffers? There's absolutely no reason to give the wooden painting to the human skeleton in FM for the druid epic, but somehow we know to do that.

I assume there's some scripted text hinting at it, somewhere, either from idle NPC banter or a completely random NPC in a tavern somewhere responding to a hail or text prompt. Nowadays we know that most NPCs are basically just filler bodies coded to do nothing more than stand still or move between two locations but when I was young and this was a whole new kind of game, everything was alive with possibility.


Everquest, man.

[Teppler]

Originally Posted by Bummey [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I assume there's some scripted text hinting at it, somewhere, either from idle NPC banter or a completely random NPC in a tavern somewhere responding to a hail or text prompt. Nowadays we know that most NPCs are basically just filler bodies coded to do nothing more than stand still or move between two locations but when I was young and this was a whole new kind of game, everything was alive with possibility.


Everquest, man.

Having npcs randomly drop hints for really hard quests from random texts in different norrath taverns would of been amazing. That could've added a whole other dimension to this game and give reason to travel into and hang out in cities.

[Bummey]

Originally Posted by Teppler [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Having npcs randomly drop hints for really hard quests from random texts in different norrath taverns would of been amazing. That could've added a whole other dimension to this game and give reason to travel into and hang out in cities.

Well, they do, there are places where this is the case. It meant that you had to try key words on every NPC you saw, like this:

Originally Posted by RDawg816 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I remember going to NPCs and actually talking to them.
Hail
What gems?
Who took your gems?
I will find your gems.
Where are your gems?
I want gems.
/gu Anyone know about %t's gems?


Good times.

The third monk shackle quest, for example. The quest giver doesn't tell you much except for saying there's a history book you should read. You would then have to find the book, read it, and go around Cabilis asking every NPC in sight about a lost iksar master. There's one totally random no-name vendor inside a tavern who would tell you about an arm wrestling match, then you find the person who lost to the master, they point you to The Overthere, at which point you'd spend the next few weeks running around OT, not finding shit. Eventually you'd give up and get on the boat to Timorous Deep because why not? Then the boat would bug out, drop you in the middle of the ocean, and maybe you'd be near the chessboard island where the "an Iksar master" is hiding out. Or not, maybe you'd drown or get killed by Faydedar and lose your body forever, and never go back to TD again.

Or you would talk to a ranger or a druid who saw "an Iksar master" on track while riding the boat, and skip all that nonsense.

It was a fun time.

[koros]

Originally Posted by Cecily [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Packet sniffers? There's absolutely no reason to give the wooden painting to the human skeleton in FM for the druid epic, but somehow we know to do that.

I was working on/following this very closely when it was being solved on live back in the day. This made me curious so I actually looked it up:

Josia
Registered User
(10/26/00 6:22:01 am)
Re: Epic Quest - Teldin Quest with Logs

my apologies if this is somewhere else. I looked through some other threads, but couldn't locate my answer.


In the part where you take the old painting to the human skeleton in the Frontier Mountains, where does this skeleton appear?

I looked all over the Mountains last night, but could not find him. Is it always there, or is it something that only appears every so often?


Also, as I was doing this part, I wondered what clue that Niera gave to prompt one to go to the Frontier Mountains? Did someone just happen upon this?


thanks,
Josia

Ungar Raventhorn
Registered User
(10/26/00 6:49:04 am)
Re: Epic Quest - Teldin Quest with Logs
She is always up I think unless someone has given her a painting then she needs to respawn.

It's almost impossible to find it on tracking with all the trash in the zone. Easier if you get a SK, Necro or Cleric and have them cast Sense Undead.

As for giving the painting.. It was a pretty good educated guess. Niera has powder and won't give it up because it reminds her of her mother. Her mom is dead and you have a painting of Niera, so you gotta give the painting to her dead mom somewhere..

I gave the painting to Jarnel Marfury a ghost in FoB first who wasn't KoS.. Human skele in Frontier worked..


Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20010111...cID=2788.topic

[applesauce25r624]

those asshole guilds that had the help of GMs/devs/whatever

[fugazi]

Trial and error, insane tinfoil discussions on various fora and of course, GMs and guides. My friend and I used to have a druid guide port us around, haha. I think my bastard friend got her to do a whole lot more as well.

[Daywolf]

Stratics. I had been already using it for a year with UO before EQ. They launched eq.stratics in late 98 and had a quest database going in 99 just after the game launched.

[Lagaidh]

Originally Posted by Daywolf [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Stratics. I had been already using it for a year with UO before EQ. They launched eq.stratics in late 98 and had a quest database going in 99 just after the game launched.

Wow I haven't seen that name in ages.

[Daywolf]

Originally Posted by Lagaidh [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Wow I haven't seen that name in ages.

Yeah it wasn't heavily used by EQ players, nothing like zam when that came around. But it was used and well known by UO players that played EQ as well. Was one of the best community sites for UO, everyone used it as a go-to for linked info at the official UO forums. But now, for some years, it's not very active at all, well considering EQ and UO live are low pops. Both games went in the wrong direction some years after release state [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
edit: speaking of stratics