Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 589 - 572: Why Are There More and More Side Quests?

Chapter 589: Chapter 572: Why Are There More and More Side Quests?

This is a problem that everyone had previously overlooked, and now, it seems very serious and apparently irreversible.

Zhuge Jun’s video has become the key link that turns the power gamers and hoarders into the XP party.

If it really succeeds, and there are no more power gamers in "Endless Fantasy Legend 2", only XP party members, then this mechanism will no longer produce negative emotions. On the contrary, it will continuously generate positive emotions!

Thinking about this, Lilith got frantic.

"Damn it!

"How could Zhuge Jun do this!

"That’s not what I meant at all!"

Obviously, Zhuge Jun has anticipated Lilith’s prediction, although he started from a wrong premise, he accidentally arrived at the right conclusion.

"Endless Fantasy Legend 2" indeed has planned enhancements for Heroes and Xi Yun throughout the game, as well as for various less popular UP pool Five-star characters. The power level is spiraling upward, and every character can get a share of the bounty.

Even this enhancement is done in two ways:

The first is pure design patterns, like Xing Ying and Ningyun Monarch, subsequent content cooperates with the mechanism to provide an indirect enhancement.

The other is a pure numerical enhancement. This enhancement is not only for those characters whose stats were intentionally designed to be lower but there will also be adjustments based on real-time monitoring of usage rates, total damage, and other comprehensive data, according to certain rules, to enhance those weaker characters.

For example, after evaluating factors such as usage rate and total damage, among the weakest characters, randomly select one and use the pre-set enhancement plan to boost specific attributes.

This is also pre-written in the program, even Gu Fan doesn’t know who will be enhanced specifically.

But anyway, Zhuge Jun guessed right, the characters in the game will indeed be enhanced; it’s just a question of how much.

Of course, with so many characters, it’s not possible to be absolutely fair.

Even though everyone has the chance to be enhanced, there are always a few evergreens that can’t be perfectly balanced.

But no matter what, this mechanism is much better than those in other gacha games that never adjust for balance.

Players won’t be too critical, after all, the XP party just wants some recognition.

General developers only need to avoid stale activities like not bringing back a less popular XP character for over 300 days, and if they do value enhancements for less popular characters like Nitiandang does, they’re truly a godsend.

"Damn that Zhuge Jun, let’s wait and see!

"Didn’t expect him to bite the hand that feeds him.

"Hmph, I’m not worried! Once the ’Fantasy Book’ comes into play, everything will get better!"

Lilith vanished in a huff.

...

At the same time, Chen Tingquan was looking at his quest list and beginning to question his existence.

"If I remember correctly, there was only one side quest in this list at the beginning, right?"

Looking back at his previous gaming experience, Chen Tingquan felt somewhat desperate because there were still several side quest entries on his quest list.

And this was after he had already completed many quests.

Initially, there was only a very simple quest "Mountain Encounter", which was just about defeating a few monsters and rescuing a forager who had fainted on the road.

Even after he activated the quest to purify the four Cave Heaven Blessed Lands, Chen Tingquan thought it would take at most ten minutes to complete.

But as the quest went deeper, things got more and more off track.

Because the deeper you go, the more quests these Cave Heaven Blessed Lands open up!

The first Cave Heaven Blessed Land is the default one, which takes no more than five minutes throughout.

The second Cave Heaven Blessed Land started to get complicated; after saving the Angelica essence, to make sure the millennium Angelica could yield the best results, he still needed to find Codonopsis, Astragalus, Goji berries, special water, and a medicine furnace.

And after finding the Codonopsis essence, there was still a task.

In the plot setup, Codonopsis’ effects are somewhat similar to Ginseng’s, but the medicinal strength is weaker, so it can only replace Ginseng for treating general deficiency syndromes, but for severe debilitation, Ginseng is required.

In other words, Codonopsis always felt overshadowed by Ginseng.

Here, three different Codonopsis essences were all influenced by evil spirits, wanting to prove that they were stronger than Ginseng, and therefore they each went to different places to start their cultivation.

One buried itself deep into the earth, hoping to absorb more nutrients; another soaked itself in water, wanting to try hydroponic methods for scientific research; yet another simply parasitized on other plants, becoming a breeding ground for evil spirits...

At this point, the player must find each of these three Codonopsis essences and complete different puzzles.

The one buried in the soil needs to be dug out following clues on the ground, eventually digging a big hole to unearth it;

The one in the water requires opening a mechanism to drain the water and then defeat the monsters at the bottom;

The one parasitizing other plants demands the defeat of all evil spirits and purification, then using a special technique to separate it from the original plant...

The other medicinal herbs were likewise, but each herb, according to its own medicinal properties and characteristics, had different task content and puzzle-solving methods.

After huffing and puffing through the second Cave Heaven Blessed Land, the content for the third one increased even further!

The second Cave Heaven Blessed Land had five small sub-quests, and each of those had two to four mini sub-quests.

The third Cave Heaven Blessed Land was even more daunting, unleashing ten small sub-quests, and each of those had three to five mini sub-quests.

As for the fourth Cave Heaven Blessed Land, Chen Tingquan didn’t even dare to think about it.

But by now, players had started to rant online; those who could endure were likely almost at the end of the quest, their consciousness blurred from relentless gaming.

According to these players, players actually needed to rescue seventy-seven different kinds of herb spirits throughout the entire quest series.

Each spirit had a varying number of sub-quests, with different storylines and decryption methods.

For instance, some required fighting monsters, others cooking, searching, racing, and still others involved a whole mess of puzzle-solving.

Their only commonality was that they were all not easy to complete.

It’s also precisely for this reason that many players online have dubbed these spirits the "Seventy-Seven ×××××××".

When the quest was first picked up, it seemed it would take a mere ten minutes to complete.

After finishing the first stage, it looked like twenty minutes should be sufficient.

After finishing the second stage, perhaps two hours might be enough, right?

By the end of the third stage, it seemed that the completion time would need to be stretched out to days.

By the time they were on the fourth stage, many players started to ponder seriously: Is it even possible to finish this thing before the next update?

Of course, the volume of this task wasn’t that exaggerated; all in all, you could definitely finish it within twenty hours.

But the problem is, not every player has several hours to play every day.

If you play for just one or two hours a day, this sub-quest alone could keep players busy for a fortnight.

If there were players who initially underestimated this quest, thinking they could grind through it in an afternoon, then grind away and do it without making a peep.

Naturally, one can’t blame the players for underestimating the task, as it started off very misleading, looking like just an ordinary sub-quest with no particular grand scenes, leading to misconceptions among players.

If it was made clear to players from the start that the quest was long and complicated, maybe players’ negative feelings would have been lessened after witnessing the "spawning of quest offspring".

But what can you say, this kind of misunderstanding and disappointment is exactly what Lilith wants, the perfect way to collect negative emotions.

Besides, there’s another infuriating thing about this quest: the further you go, the worse the rewards!

You would expect that inside "Endless Fantasy Legend 2", quests would reward you with Game Coins, which could be used to obtain gacha draws.

So generally, players grind through tasks quite joyfully.

Although the story can’t be skipped, the main storyline was rather succinct to begin with, the dialogues weren’t too many, and with exploration, combat, and dialogue interspersed with one another, plus the generous rewards after completion, players had little to complain about.

But this sub-quest was different; the initial rewards were normal, but they dwindled as the quest progressed!

Even to the point where, in the middle of the series, they stopped giving Game Coins which could be exchanged for gacha draws, instead handing out basic strengthening materials like Character Experience Books, weapon forging stones, and the like.

And while these things were useful, the players generally didn’t lack them.

This is really frustrating!

To grind, it’s torturous and the reward is small; to not grind, having the quest hanging there is just plain annoying.

At this point, many players just outright abandoned the quest.

No more! Out of sight, out of mind, as long as it’s not hanging in my quest list, it can hang anywhere it pleases!

That kind-hearted herb gatherer is still in a coma, being cared for by the Ginseng Spirit.

But what of it? You just keep on sleeping.

To save you, I’ve traveled through most of Great Liang, I’ve done my utmost. You just keep lying there; with the Ginseng Spirit looking after you, you won’t die. I need a break.

Not completing the quest will affect your lifespan, but continuing to grind this quest will affect mine.

Many players ultimately chose to make peace with themselves.

But there was still a portion of the player community that couldn’t let go no matter what.

Those were the players who purchased the physical edition of the "Fantasy Book"!

Because without completing this sub-quest, there’s no way to stamp the "Fantasy Book"!

And each time they scanned the corresponding section, it would buzz and shake, reminding them there was still something left undone.

Who can withstand that? Isn’t this just torturing people with OCD?

No choice, just have to keep on grinding.