Hello all,

I'm jwb and I'm one of the quest designers here on DDO. I just wanted to take some time out of my day to explain to you some of the things we consider when we plan out a dungeon.

To preface, I'll give you a little background info on myself and what I've done on the project. I've been the quest designer for The Pit, Invasion, Jungle of Khyber, Xorian Cipher, Tear of Dhakaan, Graverobber, Arachnophobia, Scrag's Sewer, Sharpwood's Warehouse, Kobold Island, the Necropolis series, and half a dozen quests coming in Module 3: Demon Sands. As you can see, it's a wide variety of dungeons and quests covering a large level spread and showcasing a variety of playstyles.

For the rest of this dev diary, I'm going to specifically talk a bit about The Pit and then delve into how some of those decisions came forth in Demon Sands.

The notion of the proto-typical MMO 'Player' doesn't really exist. Everybody likes something a little bit different from everyone else. Sure, there are experiences that they have in common and share, but there are many that they don't. Long ago, Richard Bartle wrote about 4 types of MMO players: Killers, Socializers, Explorers, and Achievers. When I initially envision a quest or dungeon idea, I pick one or two of those groups as my target and then craft a dungeon which that type of player would really enjoy and possibly consider one of the best dungeons in game. There's an obvious downside to that: the type of player I haven't designed the dungeon for isn't going to like it.

Fortunately, we build a large amount of content. I've been on the project for just over a year now, and involved with new content development for about 9 months. I can tell you first-hand that we're a very busy content team.

Allow me a moment to breakdown my current quest responsibilities for you:

5 adventures from update 2.2, in polish and bugfix from live feedback phase
6 adventures for The Demon Sands, in the final stages of QA approval and sign-off
6 adventures for update 3.1 in the first stages of QA
5 adventures for update 3.2 in the initial dungeon construction phase
6 adventures for module 4, halfway through the story and spec writing phase
5 adventures for update 4.1, in the initial story and spec writing phase
7 adventures for update 4.2, done the story phase, need to write specs
Module 5 is very fuzzy and far away at the moment.
10 adventure story arc for updates 5.1 and 5.2 that is in the initial story creation phase

As you can see, that's just under 50 quests at various stages of development, from post-launch polish to an idea that I really like that I wrote on the back of a napkin at the bar. What this means is that I'm afforded the luxury of taking chances with the dungeons and quests I make, exploring interesting ideas and mechanics to see how they evolve into exciting game play. Taking an idea like The Pit, which we knew from the start some people weren't ever going to want to play, and giving it a run and creating a memorable game experience is a challenging task, but one with rich rewards that scratches the itch of players who love that style of game play.

We also try to balance our experiences with our releases. Reading the forums, there is an obvious split between people who hate The Pit and love Invasion, and vice-versa. Neither of those people is wrong, they just have different playstyles. Our goal is to try and please everyone, and make experiences that appeal to everyone. This is a nightmarishly difficult problem for a single dungeon, but a very reasonable one for an update containing multiple adventures.

A decision similar to what I'm discussing here came across with The Demon Sands. We have this great big desert with a ton of really cool content in it - the best we've made to date. At the same time as the desert idea was coming together, I was putting the finishing touches on an idea to do a quest where you were defending a caravan, a blend between 'Kobold Assault' and 'Protect the Crate.' In discussions on how players would get to the desert, the caravan quest came up, and we decided that players would have to successfully complete it to gain access.

After a bit of thought and a couple of playtests, we deemed the defense quest was a couple of things. First, while it starts off slow, things get hectic very quickly. Second, it's made for a specific type of player. There are some people who think 'Kobold Assault' is one of the best quests in game, and there are some who hate it. We didn't want to gate Menechtarun to only one type of player, or to someone who would suffer through the adventure, so we modified the mechanic by adding another layer to it.

There is now an NPC on the airship tower who will take you to the desert if you pay a certain amount of money. Great. Now, people who don't want to do the quest won't have to. Problem solved, all players of varying playstyles are ideally happy. But that presented another issue. If you can just pay to get out there, then why do the quest at all? So, another wrinkle was added. If you beat the 'Desert Caravan' quest once, the quest giver will forever allow you to travel directly to the oasis as a reward, but the airship operator charges you every time. This now allowed us to create a quest that a playstyle will really enjoy, not alienate those who won't, and still provide a reasonable reward for those who decide to embark on the quest. By not trying to make everyone happy with a single quest and single decision, and iterating over an idea, adding layers, and analyzing how each layer appealed to each playstyle, we were able to make an experience that has a degree of depth to it and is enjoyable for all.

At the end of the day, my goal is to make the best content possible. If I have a choice between making an adventure that 70% of the population will love and 30% of the population will not want to repeat after the first run - knowing I'm going to make 4 other dungeons that cycle - and a dungeon that doesn't provoke an emotional reaction either way. I'm going to go with the 70/30 every time. My goal is to make the best adventures possible and to create moments and experiences that you love and stick in your mind as great gaming moments. Every time you take that chance, you risk having someone else hate what you made.

So take heed and take heart! Just because we did a dungeon like The Pit once, doesn't mean The Demon Sands is The Pit Jr, The Pit Sr, or The Pit's evil uncle. It was the exploration of an idea and an attempt to target and make a certain playstyle very happy. That's why we bundled it with several other avenues that target other playstyles. So have no fear; we recognize that there are a lot of you, and you have different wants and needs out of your gaming experience, and we're doing our best to make you all as happy as we can.

jwb

For further reading, I encourage you to visit:

Richard Bartle's article: HEARTS, CLUBS, DIAMONDS, SPADES: PLAYERS WHO SUIT MUDS - the foundation of MMO playstyles

Nick Yee: Daedalus Project – a thorough analyzation of MMO players