Chad's analysis as a returning player

[c2k]

It takes me a little under an hour to run all those quests... probably faster once I hit epics. It only takes me longer when I'm RPing with people while doing said quests, and even then, I think the longest it took me was 2-3 hours. I can't see running all the quests taking 4 hours.

[Tanlaus]

I think anything that ultimately reduces the amount of XP you can earn questing would be a bitter pill for much of the player base.

There is a point, especially by epic levels, that progression becomes a grind.

The irony is that weekly quests themselves are a grind but the trade off is you endure the quest grind to lessen the overall grind.

One thing I do agree with is that, once you hit epic levels the bounties should be for things like the Balor. It would promote grouping as well...

Although I’d say they should be special bounties from the standpoint that questing seems to be something people do alone or when it’s difficult to find a group more often than not.

[c2k]

When I first began playing here, 11-12 years ago now, I was against repetitive quests for many of the reasons here: Its tedious. Its immersion breaking. It doesn't contribute to your progression in RP.

But...

I changed my mind after getting in a long debate over it. Quests are a necessary evil, because it allows some people to progress without having to worry about grinding. A player spends 1-2 hours a week getting that XP boost, and then spends the rest of their time RPing and furthering their IC needs. Of course most players will just grind it out like they always do, but that % of players that rather hang out in Candlekeep, or tavern hop the server, or do guild activities, etc. For some characters, its more immersion breaking to be hunting orcs for 5-6 hours at a time then the 1-2 hours it takes to run around the server to do the quests.

[Snarfy]

Quests are just as awful for me as they were every time since maybe the 2nd or 3rd time doing them. There is no RP to it, there is no adventure or exploration...

My sentiments exactly.... oh, wait, I thought you were talking about grinding

Group running through a dungeon and "adventure" RP is fine and all, but to me it still essentially feels like grinding + small talk. The only time I really enjoy it is when my characters are with people that mine know.

The thing about quests, having done them a bazillion times, is that it gets my characters out and about, and into areas where I'm far more likely to run into other characters (who are not campfire RP'ing). If I'm not in the mood to RP, I can go do them full speed, get my XP, and log the heck off. Or, I can do them at a leisurely pace and see who I find. I don't necessarily "enjoy" quests, but they're about on par in tedium with slogging through dungeon X for also the bazillionth time.

Quest XP isn't necessarily better than the alternatives, but at least it's a constant, once a week thing that my hermits can go do to get that XP, and without having to type endlessly or mulch content. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I guess I'm just numb to the whole questing process now, and I have the route down to a science which makes it far more tolerable.

** Late edit - For comparison sake: A few days ago my Ranger was at level 25 and within spitting distance of 26... 1.5 hours of questing later, he was level 26.5 ... and then I took him for 3 hours'ish of Reaching Woods/Fire Giants "adventuring", blammo, level 27. Was either of that time spent more gratifying than the other in terms of IC advancement, or XP? Nope. At the end of the day it was all just watching that little blue bar move from left to right.