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rrauwl
Member Posts: 9 Arc User
I've been doing a marathon of reviewing new Foundry quests. I can tell you, it is a massive, massive pain in the backside most of the time. But just a few small improvements (from the Dev team and the quest coders themselves) would make reviewing new quests less of a task, and more of a joy:
Issue 1) One Click Abort and Report: The MAJORITY of new quests are one of the following: A personal home (near impossible to find with tracking turned off and no hints). a single encounter exploit (ogres in a box, talk-once-and-chest, a field of super slow mobs for kiting, etc.), or just plain broken. But of course, you aren't allowed to rate a quest until you've finished, and I've seen almost zero evidence that the DM's clear out the Foundry based on abuse reports.
Answer 1) Add a button called Abort and Report when on new Foundry quests. This would allow a quick, effective way to flag BS quests up to the DM's, and let the reviewer move on to a valid, working quest.
Issue 2) On many systems, the tab for new Foundry quests is insanely unresponsive. It takes forever to load them all, scrolling is jerky and inaccurate, and selecting/accepting these quests can take minutes.
Answer 2) This shouldn't be one big tab. Break out new quests into several pages to improve performance and allow for more efficient sorting.
Issue 3) Even valid quests can be a real pain to discover the start point of.
Answer 3) At least for the duration of the trial period, the first step of the trial Foundry quest should be findable. If not hard coded, just as a best practice for the quest creators if the want it to be reviewed.
Issue 4) Shoddy language and badly explained starting points reduce the willingness of the testing community to play your mod.
Answer 4) Spellcheck. Use complete sentences. No smilies, lol-speech, or emoticons. Make sure you give sufficient detail as to where your quest starts and the hints or activities that led the character to this point.
If these 4 things are fixed, we can rapidly clear out the Foundry's exploit quests, and get hard working, honest quest creators the reviews they deserve.
Issue 1) One Click Abort and Report: The MAJORITY of new quests are one of the following: A personal home (near impossible to find with tracking turned off and no hints). a single encounter exploit (ogres in a box, talk-once-and-chest, a field of super slow mobs for kiting, etc.), or just plain broken. But of course, you aren't allowed to rate a quest until you've finished, and I've seen almost zero evidence that the DM's clear out the Foundry based on abuse reports.
Answer 1) Add a button called Abort and Report when on new Foundry quests. This would allow a quick, effective way to flag BS quests up to the DM's, and let the reviewer move on to a valid, working quest.
Issue 2) On many systems, the tab for new Foundry quests is insanely unresponsive. It takes forever to load them all, scrolling is jerky and inaccurate, and selecting/accepting these quests can take minutes.
Answer 2) This shouldn't be one big tab. Break out new quests into several pages to improve performance and allow for more efficient sorting.
Issue 3) Even valid quests can be a real pain to discover the start point of.
Answer 3) At least for the duration of the trial period, the first step of the trial Foundry quest should be findable. If not hard coded, just as a best practice for the quest creators if the want it to be reviewed.
Issue 4) Shoddy language and badly explained starting points reduce the willingness of the testing community to play your mod.
Answer 4) Spellcheck. Use complete sentences. No smilies, lol-speech, or emoticons. Make sure you give sufficient detail as to where your quest starts and the hints or activities that led the character to this point.
If these 4 things are fixed, we can rapidly clear out the Foundry's exploit quests, and get hard working, honest quest creators the reviews they deserve.
Post edited by rrauwl on
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About point four: One thing people have to realize is that sometimes incorrect spelling and grammar are used during dialogue with NPC's to show an accent, lack of education, speech impediment, etc. In other situations, it may be used when the author/DM is talking to the player.
As an example, when I give a DM note either through an item description or area objective, I quite often type in the vernacular. I see myself as talking directly to the player and as such I am prone not to use perfect grammar. This is a stylistic choice on my part and needs to be recognized for what it is. Just something to keep in mind when reviewing quest.
I do not mean to infer I use emoticons or "lol speech", just that perfect grammar has its place and can at times be discarded to achieve a certain effect.
NW-DJ56XFK6G
My first installment in the Rise of Shadovar Campaign.
One of my pet peeves is receiving unnecessary quest items. They take up inventory space and unless an item really adds to the experience or is necessary, I feel that less is more. Most people lack bag space at all times.
I would love a search filter for the maximum duration time. There is one for the minimum time, but when I have half an hour to play a new quest, I would like to be able to find it quickly instead of having to spend ten minutes on digging one up.
And I'd like to nominate Rrauwl for supreme world chancellor, just because he knows how things should be fixed. All in favour?
Trolls and exploiters used to flood quests with 1 star ratings with out even touching the actual quest, they would accept, abort, rate it with one star and repeat. Or they would flag the quest and the system would automatically pull it off the shelf because of too many reports.
What I would love to see are foundry tokens for finishing quests (different ones, not the same ones), and social clothing that can be purchased with these tokens. Perhaps titles too, for reviewing <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> new quests.
Also, I believe people are entitled to create homes. I do not see them breaking TOS though many people will complain that it is a box farming quest when 90% of the people who create them do it for RP reasons.
The orge stuff, that just needs to be deleted.
Multiple Personas, only 'One' me
"Why should one devolve themselves to try and entertain those of a lesser mindset around them?"
I am an artist. Not everyone likes my work, and I am okay with that. When I get upset is when someone just walks past my work and gives it nothing more than a passing glance, that is when I know I failed as an artist. If they stop and look at it, even if they don't like it, I know they were engaged with it. I consider that a success.
My opinion is this. There should be no "Did not finish review button". If the quest is boring or designed poorly, by all means quit it and move on to another. Why take the time to write a review if the author did not take the time to design something that made you want to keep playing it.
NW-DMIME87F5
Awaiting a serious response from the developers on the abuse of the review system by other authors.
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I feel that a "Didn't finish" counter or review (with a star rating to prevent abuse) would be a useful feedback tool that may also, and chiefly, be useful to the author. With art, it is mostly about the subjective elements of preference and taste, but with games (and Foundry quests are games within the game) there are several aspects and potential problem sources that the author may not be aware of. Players may not finish a quest because there are errors that prevent completion, or the difficulty may be frustratingly high. Would an author not like to know why someone did not finish the quest that he or she put so much time and effort into?
Even as a writer of short stories (in a language that is usually not English!) I am eager to learn why a reader may not have enjoyed my tales. There is nothing that can be done about a simple, "Did nothing for me, wasn't my thing.", but there is much I can take from, "The story arc dropped off too fast." or "The characters seemed bland.". I feel it is the same with Foundry quests. If a player simply didn't connect with a quest, that's okay. It happens. But if there were technical reasons preventing the completion, or other aspects that don't fall in the "creative" category, I think this kind of feedback would be beneficial to the author. It's hard to improve if you have no pointers for what could be improved.
Criticism doesn't have to be poison, it can be fertilizer, too.
Ack! I don't think I can afford the pay cut!
Its quite simple. There are hundreds of players who are or will be publishing to the Foundry. Imagine trying to find legit quests within the list of tens of thousands of 'personal spaces'.
If you think the lag is bad trying to test new quests now, just wait until one in every twenty players makes a little shack for themselves.
There should be a separate facility for personal homes. They do NOT belong on the public quest lists. It will result in insane amounts of spam.
Easy fix... you must have at least one 4-star 10-rated minimum quest made; and you must have reviewed at least 50 quests to be able to get access to a Foundry Reviewer Status- which will give you these options... something along those lines. Let this function be for people who (a) are an active part of the foundry community and (B) are only doing what they do to improve the community.
Short Code Copy/Paste: NW-DJC4R9H3R
I don't want a review button.
I want a REPORT button.
The vast majority of quests that you can't finish are either violations, exploits, or mistakes. I don't care about reviewing quests that are half done and legit. I care about a mechanism that easily allows me to report cheats and frauds using the Foundry for BS power leveling and other exploits.
This... Then you have to specify a reason why you did not finish. You have to actually type out some kind of 100 word review or something, so that the no-finish review is flagged and can be collected by the Devs to implement whatever action they desire.
This could be full deletion of the quest or prioritizing its place in the roster to the very bottom of the pit of doom.
Short Code Copy/Paste: NW-DJC4R9H3R
In addition to verbose typing out of a reason, there is a potential to use a bulleted list for DNF to provide a general category of common legit reasons that would prevent one from finalizing a review:
* Unavoidable Fall / Deathtrap
* Unreachable Objective
* Private Dwelling with No Legitimate Quest
* Spawning Captive / Kiting Mob Farm
* Broken Quest Component or Transition
That covers the vast majority of DNF situations. If 80%+ people report the same reason for DNF, it will be very easy for the DM's to check it out.
They are a legitimate use of the Foundry, however and should not be reported as abuse. Basically, we need another section for them. It's that simple.
I think that should be my next post in the forum then. I'll go do that.