Friday, March 21, 2008

The daily bad conscience

"You may only complete nine more daily quests today".

Whenever I get that message it feels like a reprimand. It's like I'm ignoring a task that I really should perform. Why settle with one or two quests, when you could do all of them and get gold and fame at the same time?

"Well? the voice of the better me says, sounding as strict in the voice as Aunt Maiden.

"What is your excuse today not to go to Blades Edge, bombing and catching demons? Hmmm... is it the lazybones inside of you that has taken over completely? Eh? Are you running around entertaining yourself wiping in instances when you should be working? You won't get much gold in your pocket that way. This behaviour is not to be tolerated."

Stammering I try to explain and defend myself, but I honestly haven't got a strong case, except for that my bombing technique is terrible, no matter if it comes to eggs or canons. (That I only own a slow normal flying mount is the weak excuse). The effect of this is that I'm shot down over and over again, which will take loads of my playing time and in worst case will result in death and heavy repair bills as the sad consequence. There's no good business in it.

On the other hand: practice makes you better. That is one of the very ideas about doing daily quests at all, rather than clearing Netherstorm and SMV from the quests that I've still got there. There's no need for research, no looking for mobs or quest items. You can get it done quickly and get gold in a decent pace. In theory it's a reliable and effective source of income.

But I feel some kind of resistance, as said before. So most of the time I just do the most simple quests. I play on the colour machine, I snare the rays, pick the berries and cook the soup. If I'm about to run an instance I naturally check out which one is the daily heroic and normal, even if that is not the only thing that decides what instance I'll chose. But if I can get a grab of gold and a couple of extra badges, I won't refuse it.

What makes me a bit worried now are all those new daily quests that will come with the next patch. If I get a bad conscience about not doing the ten quests available for me today, how won't I feel when there are 25 quests that you can do provided that you're hard working?

Logically I realize there'll hardly be more than an handful of fanatics (there will always be that kind of people) that will complete every single quest every day. You should rather see it as a menu to pick your choices from - a help to vary your playing - than as a bunch of tasks that all have to be done. But still. I'll always feel a bit bad every time I get that message, that I "only" can complete another 24 quests this day.

But then I shrug, forget about it and go back to earn money the way I prefer at the moment. After all, if other players put more of their gaming time into doing the dailys, they couldn't possibly have the time to grind elements or farm herbs the same way as they did before. That means less competition, faster farming and more gold per played hour for Larísa. So in one way maybe everybody can benefit from the daily quests - no matter if we do them or not.

No comments: