Hunting (Idea)

[Kuhns]

I'm unsure if anyone has suggested this, but it's been bouncing around in my head for quite some time now.

As any Pokemon Trainer would know, being a Pokemon Trainer is actually a bit hard...financially. Maybe I was just doing it wrong, but more often then not, I was selling my just-found-this-in-a-Pokeball-on-the-ground items for some spare change. This led to the idea of a series of (maybe) repeatable quests.

Everyone's who played any kind of MMORPG has run into those kinds of quests that involve going out and killing so-and-so number of monsters for so-and-so rewards. This could be applied to PU in a way where Trainers could, instead of killing, catch a certain number of Pokemon for rewards-cough-mostly money. xD

Expanding on this idea, the 'quests' could differ in the sex, level, amount, and location (of the Pokemon). Bonuses could be awarded based on special requirements met, such as using a specific Pokeball, catching the Pokemon without lowering its health/stats, or even completing the quest in a set amount of time. They could also differ in terms of the quest-giver, meaning that, based on the Trainer's...choice, they could help an elderly couple catch some Pokemon for their Breeding Center, or take a 'contract' with some of the more shady characters that inhabit the PU. ;P

[Alais]

This is a good idea, it wouldn't be too boring either for making small amounts of money. I must admit when I read that it was a variant of "Kill x monsters for a reward" I wanted to run a mile, I hate those quests, but this wouldn't be so bad.

The But, and it's a big one, is that it's injecting money into the system in a repeatable way. When people spam such a quest, it causes massive inflation until the value the npc is giving out is worth a small enough amount that only the most desperate trainers will do it. The reason rewards are usually items, is that items don't add to the currency pool.

[Kuhns]

I hate those kinds of quests too, but they do have their worth. ;P

You bring up a good point with inflation. The only way to really counteract that would be the limit the amount of times a player could 'hunt' for a specific NPC. It'd be nice the have one of those level quests. Where you'd get this item A, and then item B, and so on. Hm, but then, what's stopping the player from selling those items to another NPC. -_- Unless they were made unsellable.

Maybe put it on a timer:"You can't ask for this quest until so-and-so many hours/days/weeks."

[Kamaran]

So we are talking about daily/weekly/monthly quests which will reward in either a rather small cash amount or an item.

Regarding the inflation. I reckon that when more players get more money, the value of items will decrease, as of more can buy one. An effect of the same will be that players will raise their prices slowly, since more people can afford buying "once expensive" items making therefore keeping the items (how rare they may be) expensive.

I can't decide with myself wether the "daily quests" should take a shorter or longer time to complete, when considering the rewards.

I'll see to it that the quest/story-writer team will consider your quest idea and of course we will, as always, be open for more ideas.

[Alais]

The way you control inflation is to balance money created (through quests) with money destroyed (through npc sales, got to make people shop there enough). No amount of thinking will get this right the first time cause you don't know how much of either the players will do. Basically, make a guess at how much a quest gives and patch later :p

[Kamaran]

I can't believe that I am making a post just to say one thing;

That sounds right. I agree.

[Vampire Warlord]

I would like to add-
A quest center seems to be needed in these situations, as it would be a weird experience-
You take a quest, forget about it, accidentally do it, and all of a sudden a random message pops up-
Also, to keep track of quests, an acccepted and completed quests screen, to kkep track, like if you did what I said and then check the quests screen-
"Oh, better get my reward!"
But overall, i like the idea. It seems balanced, and honestly, I usually nedd to be on Victory road to get money.
So, yah. I think it's a great idea.
And the "Kill x monsters" thing do suck d***.

[Kuhns]

So we are talking about daily/weekly/monthly quests which will reward in either a rather small cash amount or an item.

Err, well yeah. To keep people from redoing the quest over and over and over again.

I'll see to it that the quest/story-writer team will consider your quest idea and of course we will, as always, be open for more ideas.

Awesome. I'm getting tired of being so poor in Pokemon games. ;_; It'd be nice to have something to fall back on when times 'get tough.'
 xDDD

The way you control inflation is to balance money created (through quests) with money destroyed (through npc sales, got to make people shop there enough). No amount of thinking will get this right the first time cause you don't know how much of either the players will do. Basically, make a guess at how much a quest gives and patch later :p

Ah, thanks for explaining that.

You take a quest, forget about it, accidentally do it, and all of a sudden a random message pops up

Lol. Well, in these types of quests, unless you catch like, 15 Pikachus, I'd doubt that'll happen. xDDD

-Ahem- Just had another thought. Which, yes, is another idea sort of, but it does tie into these sorts of quests. xD

Instead of money/items--it's always a nice surprise to get cheap bundles of experience from time to time. Which leads into my afterthought: If, hypothetically, quests do give out experience from time to time, it'd be cool if the player could choose what Pokemon and (how much) to give it too.

Example: Received 400 Xp from...Old Lady.

200Xp-->Torchic
200XP-->Haunter

Since the point of these types of quests are to have the set Pokemon...not-fainted, giving a small amount of Xp to the player might be a bit...cleaner then money or items (for the ingame economy and the player's trouble).

Besides, I don't know of yah'll's plans, but someone's going to get choked if players don't get some kind of Xp Share.

[Alais]

xp as a reward for your player character is fine, you did the quest, you learned something, etc.

If you can think of a way to justify (story-wise) how xp could be given to Pokemon as a reward, then sure. xp isn't like vitamins, it's supposed to represent actual experience in the field. You'd have to write it like...

I know a thing or two that might help your Pokemon, but I sure don't trust a kid like you not to tell everyone. So which Pokemon should I tell?

>Pikachu

The old lady shares a secret with Pikachu.
*whisper whisper*
Pikachu gains 400xp!

[Kuhns]

Good point. :O

And yeah, just an idea. Of course I wouldn't put it past an old person to insult you after you just finished helping them. xD

On another note. It'd be nice if, the Quest is being tracked or something of the sorts, for a message to pop up as you catch the different(or same) Pokemon. Something like:

"You caught a [Insert Pokemon Here]! This Pokemon is on [Insert NPC's Name Here] List! Would you like to add it to your party or send it to the [NPC]?"

 To avoid making things too complicated...for the player.

[Vampire Warlord]

AH! The random message strikes again!

But anyway, I have an Idea on the experience thing:
Here is a ticket for x experience for your pokemon
They can be redeemed at special  buildings and crap.

[Alais]

The point was that the game world isn't supposed to acknowledge that there are experience points at all. If experience could be bought or given away on tickets, no one would go to school, lol.

You use the Science Ticket...
Ding!
Congratulations! You know Science!

[ghostman50]

The experience doesnt have to be for just pokemon. I read somewhere that the player would have levels too. (on a separate scale)

 You could have a simple quest idea like

** spot 10 ghost pokemon**

After you spot them, Im sure the player has either caught or defeated them in battle. Im sure that is worth some kind of player experience.

[Kuhns]

You use the Science Ticket...
Ding!
Congratulations! You know Science!

If only. xDD

Hm...if players get their own 'experience,' maybe that'll be better. :| Like a stat for Pokball throwing and catching (lol). Higher success rate. xD

[Alais]

xp as a reward for your player character is fine, you did the quest, you learned something, etc.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough. Player experience is what I was referring to here.