Finding unfinished quests
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 1st 2009 at 8:00PM
Alan on LJ is having a problem I've been thinking a lot about lately -- like me, he wants to go back and finish the Loremaster achievement, which asks you to clean up all of the quests in the old continents. But like me, he's wondering just how he'll find all of those old quests -- unfortunately, there's no way to know which quests have and haven't been done, and while of course, there's a "low level quest" tracking option, that still requires you to run around to all of the different quest locations to find them.A forum thread like this one is a huge help, but still, there's no way in the game to really go back and easily find which ones we've missed. Even with a list like that, you might spend twenty minutes trying for a drop before realizing you've already done that quest. Blizzard promised us a little while back that they'd be changing the "discovery" mechanic (so that we'd be able to see on the map which areas we hadn't discovered for the achivements yet), and an option like that might be helpful for cleaning up old quest -- say that low level quest tracking might work over the entire map, or there might be a magic box in Dalaran that would have whatever quest items we might need.
The good news here is that Blizzard has built a fair amount of leeway into the quest achievements -- you won't need every single one to get the points, so the more obscure drop-based quests can probably go undone without worry. But just like the World Exploration achievements, a little more help finding the quests we might have missed would go a long way.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Quests, NPCs, Achievements
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Aracross Mar 1st 2009 8:05PM
"Blizzard promised us a little while back that they'd be changing the "discovery" mechanic (so that we'd be able to see on the map which areas we hadn't discovered for the achivements yet)"
In every zone achievement, it tells every sub zone that is left to discover.
That's enough help, ain't?
by Mar 1st 2009 10:51PM
only Outland and Northrend zones have individual quest counters for the achievements...
that said, with the low level quest tracking and the recent reduction of the Kalimdor requirement, its MUCH easier than when i started on my mission of doing every quest in the game a year ago... i hit the 700 mark for Kalimdor and a week later it was lowered to 685...
honestly, the more Blizzard scales these things back or adds new assistive tools (like the tracking) it takes the 'achieve' out of 'achievement'... there are plenty of 'gimmes' for those who like to do easy ones...
Salty Mar 2nd 2009 10:06AM
Well, the problem with the Kalimdor one was that the Alliance version was pretty poorly estimated. I ran around that continent for weeks while TBC raiding was winding down trying to get 730, but I was about 16 short. I estimate in terms of distance/time, I basically rode my mount from the night elf starting area to the gates of Ahn'qiraj and back twice, and not by the most direct route.
I only really decided to do that achievement because before burning crusade, I had done something like this achievement out of boredom (not a raider, heh). During BC I mopped up lots of the left over quests for capital faction. I was pretty startled at just how many remained on the achievement counter when wrath came out Wrath. I was dumbfounded - was there some underwater civilization in Durator I wasn't aware of? Is there a camp of Horde that are mysteriously neutral?
Well, no, it just turns out that you needed to be far along on he Scale of the Shifting Sands quest line, or maybe the BWL quest chain, I can't recall. Basically they discounted the raid-based quest lines. Seeing as how that's a casual achievement, it doesn't really make sense you needed a group of old-school hardcore raiders to pull it off.
I looked for an addon that might do what the OP is talking about but never found anything. For now you just have to turn on low level quest tracking and, believe me, follow every little sewage drain or suspicious hut you can.
sara Mar 1st 2009 8:06PM
For once, I disagree. I understand that it's a pain to run around to get all the quests we've missed, but there's a point at which Blizz needs to NOT serve everything up on a silver platter. Loremaster is awesome BECAUSE of the work that goes into it. "a magic box in Dalaran that would have whatever quest items we might need" is just too much. And I'm all for the easing of, say, the love fool achievement. I just don't think Blizz should go this far.
PeeWee Mar 2nd 2009 8:01AM
Agreed.
Make it any easier and we could just as well just give the achievment to all characters.
It's called "achievment" for a reason.
Jason Mar 2nd 2009 10:12AM
/Agree
I know it's going to take some effort and like so many other posters I think that it _SHOULD_ require some effort. Loremaster should take some work. Seeker should take some work. The Exalted should take a TON of work.
Frankly, if the Achievements are all dumbed down to accommodate the lowest common denominator player (aka slackers who like to QQ when things aren't simply handed to them) then they're not Achievements at all.
Deadly. Off. Topic. Mar 2nd 2009 12:22PM
The problem I have with some achievements is that there are many that aren't simply earned but are luck based and YET people will equate luck with DESERVED earning.
A lot of the achievements aren't earned - they're chance and luck... and people complaining about that aren't QQers or slackers... especially if you look back at the Valentine's Event. Broken RNG is NOT fun to people who don't slack and put in the effort to play with it. Rather sad how some people will just assume that people are slackers because "Omg they're complaining and want it to be easy?" It's more like they want to have a fair chance at earning something that isn't assigned to random luck.
The Loremaster Achievement is simply a time sink achievement. I should know. I went and I did the Loremaster achievement and it is TEDIOUS, but I put my time and effort in to earn it. Still, what would have been easier was to know where the quests were that I missed. I've been playing for 3 and a half years... there are many quests I missed when I leveled my main... you try running around looking for ??? that just aren't there. (Even with the tracker on).
What would have been useful was to have a quest history in which I could look up what quests I had done as oppose to simply guessing.
Rihlsul Mar 1st 2009 8:07PM
All Blizzard needs to do to help us out with this is to make some API calls that allow addon authors to query quest completion status in the current zone. Restricting it to the current zone will ensure the addons can't make huge demands on the server, but then addons can simply file through all known quest data and give you a list.
Some amazing things would be possible if Blizzard gave us this (hint to any Blues that read this). Would be fantastic if WI would do a 'What if' article on this very topic. Might generate more support for the idea.
Lautaro Mar 1st 2009 8:07PM
Or at least new achievements specific for every map, like in Northrend and Outland, so we now there are more quests in that area.
Aimli Mar 5th 2009 9:32PM
The issue with this is that Classic WoW has some huge quest chains that span multiple zones, unless you get lucky and look in the zone where it starts you will be going through the same zones that you "cleared" of quests doing these chains. Best examples I can think of while at work are Missing Diplomat, which is at least 4-5 zones, Verigan's Fist and the Warrior armour. Linkin's Sword was the longest chain I think I have done, Un'goro ->Winterspring -> Un'goro -> SW/IF -> Winterspring -> Tanaris... I only ever finished it on one character and that was only because I was using Jame's Alliance Levelling Guide.
Lycanthro Mar 1st 2009 8:08PM
Schramm, there's clearly something wrong with you. The help with explorer has been a part of the map forever. You only need to uncover the areas that still have fog of war.
Seriously. Wtf?
Robert Mar 1st 2009 8:33PM
^this
ryang Mar 1st 2009 9:27PM
Except for the obscure locations that *AREN'T* covered with "fog of war". There were many areas that I had fully discovered from a "fog" perspective - the entire map was clear - yet the achievement had me down as still missing areas.
A quick wowhead set me straight in all instances, but it was still an inconvenience.
Sleutel Mar 1st 2009 8:23PM
I never understood why there wasn't a way to look up quests I'd already completed. With a quest-heavy game like WoW, especially one with so many chain quests, it always struck me as very poor design.
Jamesisgreat Mar 1st 2009 8:49PM
If only such a thing were being implemented in patch 3.1... oh hang on -
"New Advanced features for quest tracking are now available. Players will need to activate this option within the Interface panel."
;)
Sleutel Mar 1st 2009 8:55PM
Shouldn't have taken four and a half years to fix, is the point. It should have been implemented from the beginning.
Jamesisgreat Mar 1st 2009 8:59PM
Oh I agree. And to be fair - we've no idea yet what this new quest tracking system will be like. Still anything is an improvement.
Thander Mar 1st 2009 11:19PM
I believe the changes for the quest tracking are improvements to the built in quest tracker. They will probably be adding some features like auto-adding new quests you pick-up to the tracker and increasing how many quests you can track at once.
The built in tracker is pretty pathetic compared to most of the rest of the built in stuff. I've had my fair share of patch days where (addons) nothing worked or was updated. I can deal with the default interface for many things but quest tracking is not one of them.
Jay in Oregon Mar 2nd 2009 1:05AM
All I've seen for "improved quest tracking" on the PTR so far is that you can turn on an option to see if an item of mob is needed for one of your quests, in the tooltip.
I would love a "completed quests" database...
Tigsy Mar 1st 2009 8:42PM
I don't see a need for a change.
Yes it's a pita, annoying, time consuming....that's what makes it such an impressive title. It's a challenge, that you have to work hard to earn. If you don't want to invest the effort, you don't earn it, that simple.
Honestly, if Blizz keeps dumbing down these achievements so they are spoonfed to everyone, they may as well just do away with the system completely.