World "???" is not a good quest but I have ideas on how to fix it

Name me one average joe who enjoys ??? as a quest. That's right, you can't, and if you can, that sucks for me. I'm just trying to say that ??? is not a good quest and I know that not a lot of people like it, but how could this be? what could possibly be wrong with this quest? Well, there's a few things, while not particularly bad on their own, make for a diabolical experience combined

1. This Quest is a Big Mystery...
Now, the secretness is literally the entire point of ???, and probably the least bad part of it, in part due to the Wynncraft Wiki existing, but also because when this quest came out, it made a huge community event in solving the mystery. Though, if you're going into this quest blind, this would be hellish.

2. This Quest makes you go EVERYWHERE
This is a smaller reason, but it's one of the reasons I don't like this quest and a quest that's somehow worse than this one. Nobody likes having to figure out where to go across the world, and nobody like having to use 18 million tp scrolls to get to those places.

3. This Quest takes Foreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeveeeeeeeeer
I mean, this isn't particularly bad, a huge mystery has to have a huge amount of steps, in reality this and the last two reasons would make for an annoying, but FINE quest if it was just those three. Sadly, there's a fourth reason that makes all of these flaws much more potent when it comes to being annoying.

4. IT'S MULTIPLAYER YOU NEED 4 PEOPLE
I can't even count to 3 much less get 3 other people to work with me on this quest. You either need to use party finder and try to cooperate with random people to finish the quest (hopefully you're using the wiki to already know what to do), try to get people you know to do it with you (those people probably have lives outside of wynn and can't/don't want to dedicate their time to doing ???), or try to get a carry (the people that carry ALSO probably have lives outside of wynn).
That might not sound awful when put into a poorly written paragraph, but just imagine either trying to get a carry party or trying to do the quest with pfinder. I'm sorry for putting that image into your head.



This quest sure is a not good one! Thankfully, here are some of my ideas on how to fix this quest to maybe make it better!

- Remove The Required Multiplayer
This is the reason the quest is as bad as it is, so make it so you can do it singleplayer. Literally every other quest can be done solo (Some quests you might have to be good at the game though).

Segment 1 could require you to go to each meteor individually, finish the puzzles, and get the items from the meteors, without needing to have multiple people stand on pressure plates.
Segment 2 (according to the wiki) is doable solo, hooray!
Segment 3... oof that Color Maze puzzle I never even understood when I got carried through this quest thrice, so maybe just replace that with a different puzzle? I don't really know.
The 4-Color Flow puzzle could just be replaced with a flow puzzle like the one in that one Llevigar quest (forgot the name)
Segment 4 is doable solo, according to the wiki.

This is probably the best way of making the quest better, in my opinion, if you want to keep the core parts of ??? (being a long puzzle quest)

- Make It Not a Quest
Either make it a Secret Discovery (could keep the exp and maybe emeralds, probably gonna have to put the set in a different spot)
Or make it just a random secret for people to find (No real reason to do this besides making the lives of completionists not hell, but if this does happen you're definitely gonna have to relocate the rewards)

If you guys do this way of changing ???, you'd probably have to add a replacement quest so nobody would miss out on the XP, Emeralds, and Cosmic Set. I'm not going to pitch any replacement quests though.

- Remove It
I mean... it'd be the easiest way, but probably the least likely because of how complicated this quest is and how long this probably took to make...



Alright guys, that was why I (and many others probably) don't like this quest, and my ideas on how to fix it! Have any feedback? Please give it to me! Ideally in a nice tone so my feelings don't get hurt

 

i'm unashamed to admit i have never completed ???. though I do think that at the very least, pande should get rid of the quest req. (I've never been able to mess around with that one, and it makes me kinda sad. (though damage is mostly done since it got 'nerfed' in 2.0))

 

Ive done ??? 12 times now and I can say:

- Takes long (Maybe 2 hours for the quest and a varying amount (~1h) to get people into a party)
- Someone has to prepare the items for Yahyas basement in advance (Myself)
- Someone has to lead the party and guide them especially in Lab N (Myself)

What could improve:
- Make the Lab N starting point a more official break by splitting the quest in two parts and make it obvious to collect the feathers to get back in (Or rework the reentry mechanism)
-> Splitting the quest into more chunks makes it easier put down and start again
- Remove the items required for Yahyas basement (If not prepped makes it take even longer)
-> Maybe make quests officially required for starting ??? (The Bigger Picture, Cluck Cluck, Memory Paranoia)
- FIX BUGS AND JANK (Especially the key item for the red meteor entrance breaking upon server restart and other similar server restart issues)
- Remove the extreme punishment of falling to Lake Gylia for failing to parkour on the meteors
- Give more in-game hints

I like the idea of the quest but the execution can be better

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(Also the quest req on the items wouldnt be so bad if the quest was better, still kinda pointless though to have the req)

 

iirc it has to be a quest to make the logic work properly. still yeah make multiplayer optional, but still helpful

 

This isn't the most relevant to this reply but this made me think of a story when I was trying to get carried though ??? once

I found this guy who'd carry me through ???, and since he had an alt I just needed to find 1 other person for the party, and it was stressful trying to find 1 other person who was not only awake, but also on Wynncraft to join, because I was thinking "oh god if I take too long this carry guy is gonna have something come up and then he's not gonna be able to do the carry, and then I'm going to have to wait foreeever for him to get back online"

Thankfully I found a guy so we had 4 people, and then we got carried and then everything was fine and dandy.

 

Also, every time you're doing Lab N, there is always someone who swears they know what they're doing but clearly doesn't and makes it take way longer than it has to.

I actually like this "quest" and don't terribly mind most of the friction points, but it needs some updates. Especially the different player count requirements and the items. The items just feel like deliberate obtuseness left from the "secret" era. The different player numbers (three for meteors, four for Lab N) is just weird and annoying. I personally don't mind the cooperative aspect of it, in fact that's kind of interesting and the annoyance is worth the value it adds through being unique and quirky, for lack of a better word.