Hello. This is my first time posting here on these forums. I was just playing Evequest. I have a level 19 barbarian beastlord. I did the Gloomingdeep tutorial and briefly did the Plane of Knowledge tutorial and explored Halas and the surrounding area. Then I decided to follow the progression line of achievements to get the achievement points. I don't know if they're good for anything. I'm relatively new to the game, but it seems like it is the suggested main quest line the game offers. ***Spoiler Alert*** I am now to the point of doing the level 10-15 tasks and I finally go to start the quest called "A Dark Heart". This is a quest that requires the player to go murder a barbian NPC named Shelga who is teaching alchemy in Crescent Reach. The character that assigns the task is a necromancer named Vunder the Dark and the way he presents himself he seems to be evil (if one doesn't assume a necromancer to be evil). Vunder wants the barbarian murdered in order for the player to prove themselves to him, and because he doesn't like what he perceives is arrogance on the part of Shelga for attempting to teach anything to drakkin (~racism), and to get items in the possession of Shelga. Vunder discloses that he eventually plans to overthrow Councilmember Vakk'dra. Vunder also warns the player not to get caught by the guards when he kills the barbarian. The character Vunder is clearly evil by my standards, and should be by the game's standards based on what I've read of the deities and races and classes and what they all stand for. That being the case, it seems the only way to get the achievement points is to complete this awful quest. It's a lot of points for me, as someone who is just starting out. I realize I could just skip this, but why is this a requirement to get the points for the mainstream storyline? Why isn't this party of an evil-character story line? Or why isn't it just part of some other set of achievements instead of the primary Progression line of achievements? This seems clearly wrong to me. I went and talked to Shelga and all he did was mutter about teaching the alchemy students to be better. There's nothing to indicate Shelga is deserving of such a fate. It defies my personal sensibilities and the nature of at least half the character types to do such a thing. Am I missing something? Is the central storyline intentionally catering to evil characters? If so, it almost makes me wish I hadn't started playing. Is there more of this to come? Or is this the only quest in the primary line of quests like this? If so, then why this singular departure? Words used to describe the quest groups that include this quest is "hero" or "heroic". This quest isn't heroic in any sense of the term. I understand there are evil characters in the game, and a player can choose to be one. And, I understand that in order to make playing such characters seem worthwhile at all there must be incentive to do so. But this quest and any others like it that may exist in the game requires good characters to depart from being good, to do something completely antithetical to heroism in order to advance through the primary progression storyline. I don't see that as a good thing. I understand I can skip it and go on, which I may do, but it will still be there and it will continue to bother me that it's not some side quest to offer a plot line for evil characters to follow. I want to invest time in my heroine character only if the game is worthy of my time. I don't want to invest time in a game where tasks such as blatant murder are equated as no different than saving lives. There must be a distinction made. I earnestly encourage serious explanations, shared sentiments, or other thoughts on the issue. Thank you. Sincerely, Hyllia
Completing achèvements will grant you some reasonable quality gear; you can check this by looking at the reward button in the achievement window. Note that some quests required to complete an achievement may require a group to complete at the level the reward is useful for, and you may want therefore to skip some. Vunder: yup, evil. Always seemed odd to me, too.
There are many quests, missions, and raids in the game in which you have to take actions which can best be described as morally dubious. A lot of them! You do have some expansions where everyone is bad and you get to be the good guy but there are many, many times when you have to go kill something minding it's own business to get treasure. As you go on in the game quests become less and less important, although you could probably have several months of entertainment just doing the hero's journey. If it helps at all, achievement points don't actually do anything, Anyone know if the quest to murder the pregnant woman is still in game?
There are many quests, missions, and raids in the game in which you have to take actions which can best be described as morally dubious. A lot of them! You do have some expansions where everyone is bad and you get to be the good guy but there are many, many times when you have to go kill something minding it's own business to get treasure. As you go on in the game quests become less and less important, although you could probably have several months of entertainment just doing the hero's journey. If it helps at all, achievement points don't actually do anything, Anyone know if the quest to murder the pregnant woman is still in game?
When the original version of the game was released in 1999, there were different cities with different races. Some were good (high elves and such), some were evil (dark elves) and some were mixed (humans). Dark Elves had a few seriously evil quests. As I recall, one of them even had to be removed from the game because it was inappropriate given the game's rating. However, the city that you are currently adventuring in, Crescent Reach, was released as part of a later expansion in 2006. It was meant as a starting zone for all races, so you find a mix of quests there.
The same quest always bothered me as well. There's a few others scattered throughout the game that give the same 'wrong' feeling but the majority fit better. I totally agree with your point but hopefully you can get past it and keep seeing the overall experience for the amazing game it is.
tutorial 1-8/10ish hero's journey Crescent Reach 1-5 - the tasks here are dull, repeatable, and ultimately forgettable. you have to do a lot of running around for the council and very little killing is done, i do the baowb's quest line as it gets you a weapon, but skip the 3 tasks in the yard as well as the council library stuff. 5-10 I pick up the 3 quests from jinkin and the 2 quests from baker shivra. i usually grind to 10 in the cat cave so I can turn the quest in and pick up the next set without having to run around. 10-15 I do the vunder quest first, it rewards a decent staff for the level. After that I do the Web of Fears quest, I usually have a better helm than the reward but its part of the achievement. then i kill alligators, bears, and gnolls in any order, I usually focus on gnolls that are melee only, as I hate being rooted. the gnolls and bears are higher than the alligators. 15-20 the quests here are pretty easy I go to the cave for nokk kills for static spawns vs king of the hill type spawning in the exterior. grind nokks to 20 so you can do the second part of akins' quest. Blightfire Moors 20-25 at a minimum I do roanaok's quests as well as the gnoll scout quests. without good pre-planning you will end up revisiting parts of the zone. 25-40 I completed this zone at 41 but some parts were a pain. the witches and the tower especially. not to mention the quests that send you back and forth between crescent reach and the moors then back to crescent then back to the moors. I grouped with my friend's 57 magician and skyrocketed past stone hive / goru'kar and I wasn't about to grind some grey mobs for armor that was inferior to what I could potentially equip. Not sure about goru'kar section of the hero's journey but I like blackfeather roost for potentially acquiring some rings. ---------------------------
Ah memories of days spent in Nektulos murdering helpless little halflings for their blood so I could make some decidedly mediocre armour for my dark elf self. It is a bit odd that such a quest could be presented to a Paladin or other 'good' race as part of the heroic storyline. But then it's maybe also a cautionary tale, about how such things as good and evil are largely based on the opinion of the observer.
Just like in real life, just because an NPC in EQ tells you to do something doesn't mean it's a good idea or that there won't be negative consequences. (Insert mom line about friends jumping off bridges.) There's no real "main storyline" in EQ; the Hero's Journey is a relatively recent addition to EQ that highlights notable quests on your way up. While most of the quests have rewards, you get nothing for the achievement points and there's no overarching story line connecting all the quests, so feel free to skip whatever you'd like.
An interesting thing to note is the last time they did a tally of how many people completed ALL of Heroes Journey, only 18 characters I think it was in the world completed the entire quest line.(One person has completed it on TWO characters!!)
I guess some people need to be eased into the life of reckless murders, genocides, and war crimes that comes with being an EverQuest adventurer.
My Banestrike stats won't let me dispute the charge of genocide, but "reckless murder"? Not true. The vast majority of murders that I have committed in Norrath have been well-planned and premeditated. And if by "war crimes" you mean using military operations as a cover for personal enrichment, well, sheesh, that's the whole point!
Many quests are about 1 faction hating on another the zone you mention you jump over goru'kar mesa got a few too.I even remember the buried sea having some when you get there in the 70s.Personally i like to do them for the defiant gear they bring.Of course i could just pay for them there's 2 npc in pok that sell them too but the prices can be hefty if you are just starting.I rather earn them.
The first thing that this post made me think of is the Qeynos Badge of Nobility Quest, lol. Main point, if the person you are taking a quest from is evil, expect that quest to have you doing evil things. Also, the Hero's Journey is not a cohesive storyline, it is simple a series of quests that run from level 1-90+. All of the quests in the line existed long before Achievements were even added to EQ. The Hero's Journey line is the same for everyone, and is solely there to direct new and returning players (and encourage older players) to go to these zones and do these quests as they are likely to find other players of similar level doing the same quests.
Yet you slaughter tons of bandits who might just be people trying to survive after their town was burned by orcs. What is evil to one person is good to another. You could alwats tell youself it was a fever dream after eating bad edible goo and the shaman is fine.
Shania's Nightie anybody? Yeah lets go murder some cute little kitten just wanting to get home after a day out playing...
