Quests, and how to find them

Nakari

It is often said that one can make it in Achaea without spending real money. Well, I lack the necessary survival lessons to make fishing profitable, definitely lack the lessons to ever think about deep sea fishing, and lack the levels/artifacts to make bashing profitable (though I am working on this). Judging from most discussions, it would seem like the best approach would be quests.

However, I have no idea how to make questing profitable and, more importantly, how to go about learning. So I'm curious: what is the best way to actually learn where good quests are and how to find them? What are some of the was people have used to do so?

Sherazad

I used to just explore, talk to denizens to check out their stories and if you say something related to their problems, they will tell you what they need help with. Also, if you ask me in game even through messages, I'd point out something very useful from our house.  

Peak

Not allowed to talk about fight* club.

*quest

It's sort of against the rules to offer quest help.

Easiest way to discover quests is to spam greet a denizen until they say something then say one of the keywords they mention. Or just try talking about something interesting you found in the area.

Also go through HELP BASE COMMANDS and do those on out-of-place or interesting items.

Sena

First, you can ask someone (a citymate, housemate, friend, mentor, etc.) where a good place to quest for gold is. Then explore those areas, GREETing denizens and saying key words in front of them* (like "quest", "help", or something they mention when you greet them). If you find an item laying on the ground or sitting in a container in the area, try picking it up, interacting with it (things like PUSH, PULL, TURN, TOUCH, SHAKE, etc.), and giving it to denizens nearby who might want it. You can also try killing denizens (be careful they aren't too strong, or loyal to the group you're trying to do quests for) and giving the corpses to someone who might want them. If someone is making food for example, try giving them some animal corpses. Or if two factions are at war, give corpses of one faction to a leader of the other. Denizens can also drop quest items.

If you want to be thorough, you should read every room description (and descriptions of unmovable items, like altars or furniture) for hints of secret exits or hidden items. For example, there might be a portrait in a room description that isn't visible as an item, and PUSH PORTRAIT opens a secret door. Or the description might hint at a draft of air coming from a certain direction, indicating that there's an unlisted exit in that direction. Often though, there won't be any hint of the hidden exit, and you'll just have to use the SECRETS ability a few times in every room or manually try every unlisted exit.

*If you're not too lazy, you should try to say things that actually make sense. For example, instead of simply saying "Quest.", say something like "Do you have any quests for me?" or "Is there anything I can help with?". This doesn't actually matter much, I just find it a bit annoying and OOC when people say random words in an obvious attempt to trigger a quest.

Edit: It's not against the rules to have someone tell you outright how to do quests (as long as they don't do it over a public channel), but you should practice solving them yourself. Knowing how to find and solve quests is a useful skill, and there won't always be someone to walk you through it.

Edit2: Once you find an area that gives lots of gold and learn the quests there, the next step is to learn how long the quests and quest-related items/denizens take to reset/respawn. That way you can go through the area and complete all the quests, then go do something else (like other quests) for 20 minutes (or however long it is) then come back when everything is ready again and do it over, rather than checking one area constantly or only completing the quests occasionally.

Iocun

Sena said:

*If you're not too lazy, you should try to say things that actually make sense. For example, instead of simply saying "Quest.", say something like "Do you have any quests for me?" or "Is there anything I can help with?". This doesn't actually matter much, I just find it a bit annoying and OOC when people say random words in an obvious attempt to trigger a quest.

I am utterly lazy, but at the same time all that single-wordedness annoys me to, so I made me an alias that lets me type "inq <whatever>" (for "inquire") and it says a nice full sentence like "Could you tell me about <whatever>?" or "I'd like to know more about <whatever>". Still not as optimal as asking real questions, but at least it produces a relatively normal form of communication.

Tvistor

Can you tell me about quest?

Iocun

For "quest" I have another alias, actually, that constructs an inquiry about quests, work, or needed help out of a random selection of pre-written sentence elements. It even includes things like say "Good morning!" by taking into account the actual day time!

I'm such an automation whore.

Jurixe

So all that time we were RPing, I was basically talking to an Achaean Jabberwacky?

Tvistor

What is RP.

Aldeberan

Never stop learning! Even when you find some comfy place to sit back and constantly reap your quest monies, always be pressing yourself to find more/better places. It's possible you have found the best place for yourself at your skill level, but people will no doubt take your quest monies all the time, so you should always have backups. Worst thing that happens to me at least whenever I try and get some goal accomplished is I get derailed because something is bashed out or something, and I'm not entirely sure how to adjust my routine and then I waste time and nothing gets done.

Iocun

Jurixe said:

So all that time we were RPing, I was basically talking to an Achaean Jabberwacky?

Sometimes I also just pay a dozen children from third world countries to turn my typed streams of lols and wtfs into credible RP.

Sherazad

Iocun said:

Jurixe said:

So all that time we were RPing, I was basically talking to an Achaean Jabberwacky?

Sometimes I also just pay a dozen children from third world countries to turn my typed streams of lols and wtfs into credible RP.

I'd like to thank you for funding my studies, Iocun.

Alyssea

Iocun said:

Sena said:

*If you're not too lazy, you should try to say things that actually make sense. For example, instead of simply saying "Quest.", say something like "Do you have any quests for me?" or "Is there anything I can help with?". This doesn't actually matter much, I just find it a bit annoying and OOC when people say random words in an obvious attempt to trigger a quest.

I am utterly lazy, but at the same time all that single-wordedness annoys me to, so I made me an alias that lets me type "inq <whatever>" (for "inquire") and it says a nice full sentence like "Could you tell me about <whatever>?" or "I'd like to know more about <whatever>". Still not as optimal as asking real questions, but at least it produces a relatively normal form of communication.

Gods really don't like people just saying "quest" either. Percival threatened to kick me out of his tavern for it.

Krypton

ASK <denizen> QUEST.

Ta da.

Tvistor

Lol dude shut up, they'll figure out that doesn't make you say anything aloud and then we'll have nothing to laugh at.

Cahin

Alyssea said:

Iocun said:

Sena said:

*If you're not too lazy, you should try to say things that actually make sense. For example, instead of simply saying "Quest.", say something like "Do you have any quests for me?" or "Is there anything I can help with?". This doesn't actually matter much, I just find it a bit annoying and OOC when people say random words in an obvious attempt to trigger a quest.

I am utterly lazy, but at the same time all that single-wordedness annoys me to, so I made me an alias that lets me type "inq <whatever>" (for "inquire") and it says a nice full sentence like "Could you tell me about <whatever>?" or "I'd like to know more about <whatever>". Still not as optimal as asking real questions, but at least it produces a relatively normal form of communication.

Gods really don't like people just saying "quest" either. Percival threatened to kick me out of his tavern for it.

That could be because you are using say to denizen quest or something of the likes. Everytime a person interacts with a denizen, Gods see it. It is what allows for spontaneous roleplay with denizens. Some news post a while back about it. Ask Sena for additional info.

Sena

Right, you shouldn't use SAY TO <denizen> for quests, just SAY <whatever> while in the room with the denizen.

Krypton said:

ASK <denizen> QUEST.
Ta da.

Does that work in general now, or only for certain denizens/quests? I've tried it a few times, unsuccessfully.

Phaestus

The announce post about this is 1337. Ask won't usually work, since that's handled separately/in an entirely different way from text spoken in the room.

Alyssea

I haven't used SAY TO <denizen> when asking about quests, only SAY. Spontaneous roleplay with denizens apparently does occur from just going around doing "say quest," "say <name of relevant nearby denizen>," etc. too.

ASK <denizen> QUEST only works for certain things, but it goes both ways. Some things don't respond do "say <whatever>" but do respond to "ask <denizen> <whatever>."

Phaestus

Hm, I suspect my answer there could've been a bit more helpful than it was. Normally, if you're going to need to use ASK instead of simply saying a key word, there'll be some indication. The denizen should give you some sort of prompt. If you say dwarves around Jerh'mias, he'll reply: "If you want to know more about the history of the dwarves, just ask."

The reason for this is that once you do ASK JERH'MIAS DWARVES, you're going to get a huge long story about the creation of the dwarves that you really don't want to hear a hundred times a day as random passers-by just happen to say the word. Splitting "What do I do if I hear dwarves?" and "What do I do if someone asks me about dwarves?" up lets us control the situation and save everyone's sanity. A few quests will work this way too, where you're fed some history or a story, but there will be some sort of indication to guide you in the ASK direction if necessary.

Regarding spontaneous denizen interaction: it's never a guarantee, but if you use SAY TO most of the garden will hear it. Sometimes using say is enough, if you're talking to a denizen that a particular volunteer happens to be listening to already, but say to is the best way of insuring you get heard.

Blujixapug

I would love love love if every NPC with a quest responded to the phrase "quest", and to being greeted. Most do. That's great. But it's been a bit un-fun wandering around Meropis and playing guess-the-syntax with some of the local mobs. If they don't respond to "quest", I say a few random words related to the area, and if that doesn't work I end up giving items I find to random NPCs in the area. But not every NPC returns items they don't want, so I often end up abandoning the area in frustration.

Phaestus

If a whole area seems to be too difficult down there just go ahead and file a broad bug and mention I asked you to, we'll take a look.

Synbios

Phaestus said:

The announce post about this is 1337. Ask won't usually work, since that's handled separately/in an entirely different way from text spoken in the room.

It is only apt that such a wonderful informative post take the l337th announce.