One thing that I seem to hear a lot in regards to missions, is that they are very 'straightforward' - follow the path, kill things along the way. And if you already guessed that this was another thread to try and bring up ideas to the contrary, then you deserve a cookie. We've got plenty of creative minds here, let's put them to work.
Anywho, here's my scenario:
Plot: It was a beautiful, sunny day in Tyria. All was right with the world - the songs of birds wafted gently on the mid day's spring breeze, while clouds lazily streaked across the heavens. With such nice weather, the Chosen decided to have a picnic. But alas! The dastardly White Mantle arrived, and stole the picnic basket, whisking it away to their heavily guarded fortress of evil, where they would attempt to discern the secrets of its unimaginable power. With their picnic ruined, and their appetites unsated, the Chosen decide that they must get their lunch back ... by any means necessary.
Execution: The path to, and the fortress itself, are heavily fortified (as one would expect such a place to logically be.) Henceforth, the traditional approach of '8 players mow down everything' will not work here. Thinking and cooperation are a necessity - thus, teams are split up into two: 4 and 4 (either by players that must recognize this, or by in game mechanics) and sent along different paths, where they must cooperate in order to allow the other group to advance. Here's an example of this kind of scenario that i've used previously: Group A needs to continue forward, but a massive number of Mantle are blocking their path - there is no possible way to fight through. Group B, on the other hand, finds a mostly empty guard outpost .. not very challenging, but they can attack it - and more importantly, torch it. By doing so, the Mantle are sure to notice the sudden gout of flames even from a distance - drawing many away from the group blocking Group A's path, leaving them with a manageable number of leftovers, while Group B retreats to avoid detection.
There's plenty of ways you can balance this back and forth, such as one group taking out watchtowers while another sneaks into the fortress .. or a group outside using explosives to secure an escape route for the other group, etc, etc.
Granted, they might not be willing to go through all of this trouble just to get lunch back, but what is important is the underlying mechanics of the situation. By bringing people together through forcing them apart, overall a much greater sense of interaction and teamwork is stressed.
Having said that .. what kind of scenarios or elements would others like to see added?
Mission Scenarios:
Spooky
Aladdar
You steal my lunch and I'll blow up your whole damn building. Never, and I do mean never come between a man and his food.
I'd like to have some more diverse missions but there would have to be some clues given to the players as to how to defeat it. Maybe an NPC guard could be along the path who would give clues.
"Alas, you are here to save us from the evils of the white mantle. The only way into the fortress is along this path however it is crawling with guards and I'm not sure you could survive. However, there is an old guard tower down this path mostly unoccupied. Maybe a diversion can be made allowing the rest of you to enter the fortress."
Or something along those lines.
either that, or design the maps so that there are several ways to complete it. (I do seem to remember hearing this touted as selling points a long time ago although that seems to not be so true anymore.)
I'd like to have some more diverse missions but there would have to be some clues given to the players as to how to defeat it. Maybe an NPC guard could be along the path who would give clues.
"Alas, you are here to save us from the evils of the white mantle. The only way into the fortress is along this path however it is crawling with guards and I'm not sure you could survive. However, there is an old guard tower down this path mostly unoccupied. Maybe a diversion can be made allowing the rest of you to enter the fortress."
Or something along those lines.
either that, or design the maps so that there are several ways to complete it. (I do seem to remember hearing this touted as selling points a long time ago although that seems to not be so true anymore.)
Sausaletus Rex
That Zealot stole my Pic-a-nic basket, Ranger Smith!
While I like the idea of more scenarios in missions as well as using the power of instancing to really alter and shape the mission as you go along in dramatic ways what really intrigues me is the idea of options and branching paths. As Spooky says most missions are on rails, there's a start and an end and just one path to get there. Sometimes there are side paths but there's never a fork in the road. I'd like to see missions where there's two or more equal ways of getting things done, where the team needs to choose which one is more beneficial to them.
To use Spooky's expample what if, over the course of the mission you needed to both destroy that outpost and to get through the pass swarming with Zealots. Perhaps the most obvious path is through the pack of Mantle where you can barge through the front gates as the Mantle work feverishly to close them but perhaps there's also a small and twisting path that will take you to the back of the outpost where a kindly NPC washer woman will let you in to slaughter the Mantle within for vengence for her dead son. Now, she'll let you in and you can kill the few unawares Mantle inside in short order but not before one of them manages to raise the alarm. The pack of Zealots outside will start to stream back towards the outpost, leaving your party inside fighting off a seige. Or you could fight your way through the Zealots first. Tackling the Zealots will be tough because they're in a tight cluster, it's going to be a real hard fight but if you defeat them before tackling the outpost it won't be as hard because while the Outpost will be alerted to you and you'll need to break down the gate yourself, the horde of Zealots won't be there to assault you afterwards as they'll already be dead.
So, you get a choice when you get to that point in the mission. Maybe you'll try and take on the Zealots, maybe you'll try stealth, it's up to you. A team of Warriors and Fire Ele with a good healer might charge ahead. A team of Rangers and Lightning Ele with good snares and ranged damage might prefer to pick off the Zealots from inside the fortified Outpost. Or maybe you'll try and split you team up so one part can slip into the Outpost and achieve the object (say it's assassinating an NPC or stealing back that picnic bastket) while the rest try to keep the Zealots busy.
It introduces more options and even strategy into how a team deals with a mission. It's not a slog, there's some thought involved to how you progress. That's what I'd really like to see.
While I like the idea of more scenarios in missions as well as using the power of instancing to really alter and shape the mission as you go along in dramatic ways what really intrigues me is the idea of options and branching paths. As Spooky says most missions are on rails, there's a start and an end and just one path to get there. Sometimes there are side paths but there's never a fork in the road. I'd like to see missions where there's two or more equal ways of getting things done, where the team needs to choose which one is more beneficial to them.
To use Spooky's expample what if, over the course of the mission you needed to both destroy that outpost and to get through the pass swarming with Zealots. Perhaps the most obvious path is through the pack of Mantle where you can barge through the front gates as the Mantle work feverishly to close them but perhaps there's also a small and twisting path that will take you to the back of the outpost where a kindly NPC washer woman will let you in to slaughter the Mantle within for vengence for her dead son. Now, she'll let you in and you can kill the few unawares Mantle inside in short order but not before one of them manages to raise the alarm. The pack of Zealots outside will start to stream back towards the outpost, leaving your party inside fighting off a seige. Or you could fight your way through the Zealots first. Tackling the Zealots will be tough because they're in a tight cluster, it's going to be a real hard fight but if you defeat them before tackling the outpost it won't be as hard because while the Outpost will be alerted to you and you'll need to break down the gate yourself, the horde of Zealots won't be there to assault you afterwards as they'll already be dead.
So, you get a choice when you get to that point in the mission. Maybe you'll try and take on the Zealots, maybe you'll try stealth, it's up to you. A team of Warriors and Fire Ele with a good healer might charge ahead. A team of Rangers and Lightning Ele with good snares and ranged damage might prefer to pick off the Zealots from inside the fortified Outpost. Or maybe you'll try and split you team up so one part can slip into the Outpost and achieve the object (say it's assassinating an NPC or stealing back that picnic bastket) while the rest try to keep the Zealots busy.
It introduces more options and even strategy into how a team deals with a mission. It's not a slog, there's some thought involved to how you progress. That's what I'd really like to see.