QUEST OVERVIEW

[DeletedUser28832]

It's still in beta. See post #115.

From the announcement:

They didn't refer to daily challenges directly but they were very clear about why they did this and why it was needed.

I understand the frustration of mobile users, hopefully Inno will see the feedback and make it function same as desktop does.

Wish I could PM this, but don't know how. I can see how you'd believe what your saying. However, for players who don't know anything about daily challenges etc....this message is not clear. Your knowledge gave you a perspective so that their intent was clear. This is not true for the average player.

 

[lemur]

Just curious, are you using desktop version or mobile app?

Desktop

With the old system, the "Abort" button and the "Abort Confirmation" button were in close proximity and always in the exact same locations through the quest cycle. So I became very good at selecting them — back and forth in rapid succession.

Now the various buttons are in different locations through the quest cycle, and the distances are sometimes greater — even with the abort confirmation gone. For example, the quest buttons are on the left side of the screen, but when the blueprint screen pops up, that's in the middle of the screen. On large computer displays, this distance is significant for a mouse cursor.

An even bigger problem is that the fancy moving graphics causes a slight delay before each button becomes "active" and receptive to the mouse cursor.

For those who find the new system slower, are you on browser or app?

Browser

I have a Level 44 Château (quadruple boost), so quests are a major part of my playing style.
.

 

[DeletedUser28970]

It's still in beta. See post #115.

I, mistakenly, thought you were saying you were now doing it in the real game ... I should really stop thinking LOL
After wading through the rest of the muck ... again ... I managed to reread your post and realized I'd I had read it wrong to start with.

 

[DeletedUser30943]

With the old system, the "Abort" button and the "Abort Confirmation" button were in close proximity and always in the exact same locations through the quest cycle. So I became very good at selecting them — back and forth in rapid succession.

Now the buttons are in different locations through the quest cycle, and the distances are greater. Furthermore, the fancy moving graphics causes a slight delay before each button becomes "active" and receptive to the mouse cursor.

I can see how someone more coordinated could have found the old system easier, though I don't believe the Abort button was always in the same place between quests under that system. I always found myself trying to "find" it, not just clicking back where it always is. I might be wrong on that, though.

In any event, even for someone like you who's mastered the old cycle, the time between quests has now been reduced, so I would've thought that that would compensate for any increase caused by the slight shift in Abort buttons now. I'm surprised that you don't find it does. That said, there's been some discussion on beta about tweaks that would be helpful, so don't assume that this will be the final version. I wouldn't be surprised if we see incremental changes to improve the flow even further, and I agree that having the Abort button in exactly the same place between quests would be enormously helpful.

 

[DeletedUser28832]

I can see how someone more coordinated could have found the old system easier, though I don't believe the Abort button was always in the same place between quests under that system. I always found myself trying to "find" it, not just clicking back where it always is. I might be wrong on that, though.

In any event, even for someone like you who's mastered the old cycle, the time between quests has now been reduced, so I would've thought that that would compensate for any increase caused by the slight shift in Abort buttons now. I'm surprised that you don't find it does. That said, there's been some discussion on beta about tweaks that would be helpful, so don't assume that this will be the final version. I wouldn't be surprised if we see incremental changes to improve the flow even further, and I agree that having the Abort button in exactly the same place between quests would be enormously helpful.

On a tablet, those buttons were in the exact same place. That's the main reason for the efficiency there. Tap the quest when complete, tap to get reward, then quick double taps to abort cycle back to the quest you wanted. Very fast, very little hand movement.

Consistency of design and predictability are always appreciated.

 

[DeletedUser30943]

I've just had a thought. What if, instead of the Abort/Pay buttons being on the bottom, they were put on the side, just like the Collect button. Abort could be on top, in a fixed position across all quests. Then, for the UBQ, Pay could be underneath. When a quest is completed, the Abort button is then replaced by the Collect button in the exact same spot.

Looping quests would, in essence, be a matter of always clicking in the exact same spot, from Collect through to the next quest you want to do. The only time you click anywhere other than that spot is if you actually want to do that quest. This resolves the complaint that the Collect button is far away from the Pay/Abort buttons, as well as the issues people above are reporting. (Not sure how it would affect mobile, since I don't have a good sense of that.)

Come to think of it, that would even leave room for the Collect and Repeat button that people have asked for (though you'd probably want to shorten the text to just Repeat). That could go right underneath the normal Collect button.

 

[ITown]

Quest UI seems faster for cycling quests. However, it's more difficult to see the quest reward. I don't love it, but it will make me somewhat more likely to do loop quests.

 

[DeletedUser26154]

We value your feedback greatly, so don't forget to comment here!

In a nutshell, it sounds like a blessing for some, and a burden for others.
Running a few tests, if you do 60 quests a day, like that one guy does, it'll take a while.
If you glide though 3 recurring quests [1 gather coins and 2 gather supplies], the new interface feels custom-made.
If you have to collect 2 clockmakers, turn in a quest, repeat repeat repeat, turn in other quest, etc.. that will take more steps.

More steps mean more time.
I don't know what it's like collecting on a Pad because I don't have one.
iPhone is for simple collections, and Desktop is for the main game.
We all come here to criticize and critique.

Getting rid of the "Are You Sure" every time is a blessing.
Like anything, nothing will be a one-size-fits-all-perfectly.
I think the new quest feature is a good effort.
Me the Forum Pundit and Me the Beta [Alpha or Zeta] Tester would be two different species.



It would be nice if we could choose in options, "Old" or "New" interface.

 

[DeletedUser26965]

In a nutshell, it sounds like a blessing for some, and a burden for others.
Running a few tests, if you do 60 quests a day, like that one guy does, it'll take a while.
If you glide though 3 recurring quests [1 gather coins and 2 gather supplies], the new interface feels custom-made.
If you have to collect 2 clockmakers, turn in a quest, repeat repeat repeat, turn in other quest, etc.. that will take more steps.

More steps mean more time.
I don't know what it's like collecting on a Pad because I don't have one.
iPhone is for simple collections, and Desktop is for the main game.
We all come here to criticize and critique.

Getting rid of the "Are You Sure" every time is a blessing.
Like anything, nothing will be a one-size-fits-all-perfectly.
I think the new quest feature is a good effort.
Me the Forum Pundit and Me the Beta [Alpha or Zeta] Tester would be two different species.



It would be nice if we could choose in options, "Old" or "New" interface.

The true size of your post;

In a nutshell, it sounds like a blessing for some, and a burden for others. Running a few tests, if you do 60 quests a day, like that one guy does, it'll take a while. If you glide though 3 recurring quests [1 gather coins and 2 gather supplies], the new interface feels custom-made. If you have to collect 2 clockmakers, turn in a quest, repeat repeat repeat, turn in other quest, etc. that will take more steps. More steps mean more time.

I don't know what it's like collecting on a Pad because I don't have one. iPhone is for simple collections, and Desktop is for the main game. We all come here to criticize and critique. Getting rid of the "Are You Sure" every time is a blessing. Like anything, nothing will be a one-size-fits-all-perfectly. I think the new quest feature is a good effort. Me the Forum Pundit and Me the Beta [Alpha or Zeta] Tester would be two different species. It would be nice if we could choose in options, "Old" or "New" interface.

 

[DeletedUser26965]

 

[DeletedUser26154]

In a nutshell

Your version doesn't sing to me.

 

[ODragon]

I haven't multi collected since it started so I can't compliment or complain about that aspect yet.

I can complain that the if you have a green check mark up already, it doesn't flash or anything if you complete a 2nd quest. I realize I am at the far edge sitting on a quest because it gives diamonds getting my CF up to maximize before I collect but this is an issue I didn't have before.

So for me, I am clicking to check way more often than before so that makes it a negative.

 

[lavty]

Quest UI seems faster for cycling quests. However, it's more difficult to see the quest reward. I don't love it, but it will make me somewhat more likely to do loop quests.

This^^^

 

[DeletedUser28832]

I've just had a thought. What if, instead of the Abort/Pay buttons being on the bottom, they were put on the side, just like the Collect button. Abort could be on top, in a fixed position across all quests. Then, for the UBQ, Pay could be underneath. When a quest is completed, the Abort button is then replaced by the Collect button in the exact same spot.

Looping quests would, in essence, be a matter of always clicking in the exact same spot, from Collect through to the next quest you want to do. The only time you click anywhere other than that spot is if you actually want to do that quest. This resolves the complaint that the Collect button is far away from the Pay/Abort buttons, as well as the issues people above are reporting. (Not sure how it would affect mobile, since I don't have a good sense of that.)

Come to think of it, that would even leave room for the Collect and Repeat button that people have asked for (though you'd probably want to shorten the text to just Repeat). That could go right underneath the normal Collect button.

Not sure exactly how you're envisioning the UI, but absolutely agree they could've at least optimized the one they have now. There's a lot more white space that takes up vertical room in the UI, that, IMHO, doesn't need to be there. Moving the buttons to a consistent, always visible, location would at least let you develop a better rhythm for collecting.

No idea how to implement a Collect/Repeat button. That would be phenomenal, but I also think it would only be useful to those who do a high volume of quests daily. I'm not arguing that the game should be optimized for any particular playing style, even my own. Just simply, don't so completel break a previously effective style of play, even if the issue is primarily on the mobile app. Isn't that what Beta testing is for?

I do like your overall idea to consolidate the UI making more space for action and less for extraneous info.

 

[DeletedUser28021]

I've moved your post from the changelog thread to this, since you were referring to quests. We appreciate all of your feedback, hopefully the developers will be able to do something.

I believe majority of complaints are about mobile app, it is indeed different there - and slower. Luckily I mostly play desktop but was out today so used the app to collect.

My experience of the mobile app [on an iPad] was that I first got an interface which had an abort button, and the blurb about the quest (e.g. a red-haired girl talking about splunk) but nothing about the quest specifics (e.g. collect some amount of supplies). Later (without a game update as far as I could tell) the abort button was gone, along with the blurb - I had a list of what to collect, and no obvious way to abort it. A guildie told me I could abort by dragging the quest box - presumably only to the left, since that's what other user-interface-fail apps on Apple do. (I learned *that* by filing a bug report for another app having AFAICT no way to delete an entry. There was no menu or delete button, and I had no clue about the drag left idiom. IIRC, I even tried dragging *right* that time, since that's what works on Android.)

FWIW, the *previous* iPad interface was much faster than the desktop interface, so even if the new desktop is only 10% slower than the old desktop, my net time loss is the difference between the previous fast interface (iPad) and the new least slow interface (desktop). And that's being charitable - the old interface was more "least slow" than fast.

If Inno wants to kill quest looping, and strategies based on it, they should change the game rewards, not make actually implementing the strategy slow and tedious. And they should tell us what strategies they intend to accept/promote, so those using unacceptable strategies can either change strategy or find ourselves a new game.

I figure close to 100% of players do some quest looping, and 10-30% do a serious amount of it, with a smaller portion taking it to extremes (no goods buildings, maybe no barracks either...)

As one of that smaller %, I no longer have time to play _one_ city properly. My second city, playing a classic hyrbid (5 goods buildings; 3 barracks; maybe 15 loops per day) is still quite manageable. But the city where I went all out looper, complete with Chateau Frontenac - I'm tired this morning after staying up late to not quite finish collecting it. I skipped GE there today because of spending the time finishing last night's collection. I haven't yet mo/po'd my friends - and this in the middle of an event that makes mo/po more important than usual.

 

[DeletedUser]

FWIW, the *previous* iPad interface was much faster than the desktop interface, so even if the new desktop is only 10% slower than the old desktop,

Much faster is an overstatement. I've used the old interfaces on both mobile and PC, and the mobile was somewhat faster, but that was negated to some extent by the fact that I had lag on mobile that I did not have on PC. The new interface is faster on PC, not slower. I can blow through the abort cycle in about 1/4 the time it took before on PC, with less hand movement. If you were used to mostly using the mobile quest interface, you probably wouldn't notice that the new one is faster on PC, but it is. I am actually thinking about reviving some of my cities now that questing is faster.

 

[DeletedUser28832]

Wish I could PM this, but don't know how. I can see how you'd believe what your saying. However, for players who don't know anything about daily challenges etc....this message is not clear. Your knowledge gave you a perspective so that their intent was clear. This is not true for the average player.

Much faster is an overstatement. I've used the old interfaces on both mobile and PC, and the mobile was somewhat faster, but that was negated to some extent by the fact that I had lag on mobile that I did not have on PC. The new interface is faster on PC, not slower. I can blow through the abort cycle in about 1/4 the time it took before on PC, with less hand movement. If you were used to mostly using the mobile quest interface, you probably wouldn't notice that the new one is faster on PC, but it is. I am actually thinking about reviving some of my cities now that questing is faster.

OK, being one of the main complainers yesterday, I thought I should at least follow up. I put my PC and tablet side by side and 1 Colonial city on the tablet and one on the PC. Just as SL says, the PC collection was faster than I recalled. It was the same number of clicks, but the refresh seemed much faster than before. So, IF I'm a low volume quester, and IF I only have 1 quest at a time, THEN I think you're right, the new UI makes things faster and would encourage me to use the quest feature more. Unfortunately if I have 2 recurring quest lines open (which I do) then they are constantly competing for visual space with the storyline quest. The UI only gives room (without scrolling) for 2 visible quests. If my 2 quests are visible then I will always have top scroll to back and forth to use them. Within the UI, the RQ's and SQ are also constantly jumping around in order. That occurred before the change too. This is just more visible and thus annoying.

Now, on the other side, using the tablet. There's no way around the fact that this UI dramatically slows down RQ collecting. IF I'm a low volume quester then an increase in time may not seem like a big deal, especially is I need to be entertained by bouncing stuff on the screen. However, for those players who have built their city/game play around mid to high volume questing on a daily basis, the new UI makes that strategy borderline untenable. IF you've consciously chosen that strategy and made GB and FP allocation decisions based on optimizing that strategy THEN this new UI has made the strategy much more tedious and time consuming to execute. In general the event and historical quests do the same thing by forcing you out of a 24hr collection cycle (most usual for RQ's) into production at odd (unsynchronized) intervals. It takes days to recover a collection cycle after these things. If it weren't for the slight (and growing ever slighter) chance of gaining SoK's, I'd probably skip the majority of these things to keep on schedule collecting RQ's. I will say, mobile CAN have lags when the network is slow. If that happens routinely, then I can see using mobile devices being much more frustrating than an a PC. Thats just not as issue for me.

 

[DeletedUser]

So, IF I'm a low volume quester, and IF I only have 1 quest at a time, THEN I think you're right, the new UI makes things faster and would encourage me to use the quest feature more. Unfortunately if I have 2 recurring quest lines open (which I do) then they are constantly competing for visual space with the storyline quest. The UI only gives room (without scrolling) for 2 visible quests. If my 2 quests are visible then I will always have top scroll to back and forth to use them.

I am a low volume quester, but I do have 2 recurring quest lines going, and I have no problem with them jumping around. I mean, they do jump around slightly, but not while I'm aborting through one of them, which is when slowdowns occur in my experience.

 

[DeletedUser28832]

I am a low volume quester, but I do have 2 recurring quest lines going, and I have no problem with them jumping around. I mean, they do jump around slightly, but not while I'm aborting through one of them, which is when slowdowns occur in my experience.

for me the jumping around is between the story line quest and the 2 RQ's. the UI can only hold 2 quests and the story line one is always getting in the way.

If they could do three things, then collecting on a PC would be much easier [for higher volume questing]

1. Put the storyline quest in its own tab, just like the event.

2. In the Recurring/Side/Bonus quest tab, lock the individual quests in place so slot #1 is always on top, #2 is always next, regardless whether or not it's completed or not. then you're working with a fixed vice moving target. Having 3 open quests would be problematic...no good idea there other than to make the individual quest boxes smaller vertically

3. Allow settings to opt out of all the moving parts in the UI. Animation is fine for fighting and the city, but in dialogs that you're interacting with the movement makes things slower. The UI could cycle just as fast without the sliding around.

 

[DeletedUser]

for me the jumping around is between the story line quest and the 2 RQ's. the UI can only hold 2 quests and the story line one is always getting in the way.

I keep the window scrolled down, and the 2 RQs always stay at the bottom, with the rarely used Story quest above, invisible.