Return Quests for previous acts

One of the things that I didn't like about D2 and other arpgs is that there was never a reason to go back to a previous act after you moved on to the next one. It would be cool and interesting if as you progressed through later acts you unlocked optional quests in the previous acts. So midway through Act 2 you could unlock a new quest back in Act 1. Similarly, in Act 3 you could unlock another quest in Act 1 and one in Act 2. As I said, these quests would be optional but would obviously offer rewards like any other quest. These quests could unlock a new smaller area or a new portion of an existing area.

I see many benefits to this. It helps to change up the gameplay from the normal linear progression of an Act. I often find that I'm bored with the scenery and enemies well before a typical Act ends. Being able to get a complete (if brief) change in scenery and enemies halfway through an act without wasting my time would be very welcome. Additionally, this lets the player gauge his own progression. The player can battle some of his old foes and see just how much more powerful he's become. Of course the newly unlocked quest portion of an area would have an appropriate difficulty for the player's level.

Another large benefit is to the story. These return quests can perform the function of an epilogue. You can return to a previous act and learn what has happened since you left to the NPCs, town, and environment. This is a major oversight in most arpgs. You grind through an act, kill a ton of monsters and bosses, and generally do whatever the NPCs ask but you never actually get to see the effects of your actions beyond a dead body. Not to mention then you spend many hours building something of a relationship with the NPCs and then you leave and never see them again.

Of course the new quest would be tied into your previous actions. For example, a host of new, stronger monsters have moved into the sub-levels of the Prison because you killed Brutus and the NPCs at the coastal encampment want you to clear them out. Or maybe that you didn't actually kill Merveil properly the first time and now she's back, more powerful, and really pissed off. These sorts of things can add a lot more flavor to the game and help Wraeclast to feel like an actual world where things happen and change while you're gone in addition to making the gameplay and questing structure a little more interesting.

I just want to say that I agree, anything to keep the game from becoming even slightly bland. This seems like a good idea now that the devs have stated that we can go back and forth between acts at will.

sounds interesting, some sort of "can be opend later"-dungeon.

When a highlvl is in group with some lowlvls , do you want him to be able to open the dungeon for the whole party ?

I think that this kind of thing is a great way to increase the re-playabillity of a game and thus improve it's life span. Another example of a game that does this very well is Demons Souls for the PS3. In it, you can kill a npc if you wish, but that closes off options (or opens others) later on in the game. It provides a motive to go back and try things again, other then leveling an alt.

i would prefer such a system for when you finish all the acts, so instead of just rolling an alt or hunting equips you could go back to previous acts which allow you to feel and see the consequences of your actions during the acts

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Lachdanan wrote:

When a highlvl is in group with some lowlvls , do you want him to be able to open the dungeon for the whole party ?

I hadn't thought about this. I guess this would work however other similar situations will. Like if a high level player can give access to later acts to lower level payers.

I want to stress that these don't need to be big quests. Maybe on the order of 30-60 minutes where a good chunk of that time is spent going through previous content to get to the new area. The main benefit of these is to the flavor of the game.

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tpapp157 wrote:

Another large benefit is to the story. These return quests can perform the function of an epilogue. You can return to a previous act and learn what has happened since you left to the NPCs, town, and environment.

I think this is the best part of the idea, if GGG could manage to work it into the game, it would be a nice storytelling technique. Perhaps instead of just the quest narrative contributing to it, all of the NPCs could have new dialogue reflecting what had happened since you left.

Nice idea.
I´d realy like to see something like it, esp. if it comes along with quests like : "Nice Work back in that mine/cave/etc., but now that the [xyzmobgroup]thread is gone, some of that [nextActMobs] infest this area! And they are even more vicious than..."

I agree, this is an awesome idea on all counts.

However, I'm not sure if revisiting Acts is going to mesh with the story GGG has already designed, judging by the feel of the narrative of the Areas section of this site and a sense I got from this interview.

Regardless, I think that there could be some good functionality in here, too. GGG mentioned in the Skills section:
"A choice of staple skill gems are given out as quest rewards throughout the game to ensure that players have a variety of skills available."
This might be a good way to have a few slightly more eclectic skills or support gems available to anyone who wants them without throwing them at the player the way that using them as rewards for linear quests does.

While I like the idea to a point, it goes against what the devs have said.. Basically, that the story is about the character, not the world, and about the character attempting to save themselves. Wraeclast appears to just be in chaos and destruction is everywhere, even after you've gone through.