Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text.

"neithskye" <jill_bookerGREENEGGSANDSPAM.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:456b92d3-8653-431f-a59f-f3e6fb9178a5@v4g2000yqa.googlegroups.com...
> On Dec 5, 5:15 am, "David Z" <d....DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Blizzard's priorities:
>> Make money first
>> Corrections/fixes later (in patches)
>
> Speaking again from a writer/editor point of view, think just for a
> minute how much written material there is in WoW. Quest logs - the
> giving of the quest, the completion of the quest, perhaps other text
> if it's a daily. Times how many thousands of quests? NPC dialogue. All
> those books in random locations.
>
> I myself can pick up a newsletter I released six months ago and spot a
> typo immediately, whereas six months ago I somehow missed this typo
> even after three separate checks.
>
> I think Blizzard can be forgiven for a few errors.
>
> Also, consider this: people who are hired as proofreaders might not
> necessarily have technical background knowledge of the stuff they are
> reading; they are just looking for grammar and spelling errors. I edit
> financial planning books, but I am not a financial planner. I don't
> know that you meant to say registered education savings plan here, not
> registered retirement savings plan; I'm just looking for typos.
>
> Whoever proofread the text might not have known a Dreadsteed from a
> hole in the ground.

C'mon, I'm sure they've got a million fanboys who would put their hand up
for a chance to proofread for Blizzard for *free*. Whereas I doubt you are
going to get many volunteers to proofread university text books.
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

On Fri, 5 Dec 2008 22:36:09 +0100, Pete B wrote:
> In article <slrngjhof5.g1a.urbin.DeleteThis@stinky.trash.net>,
> urbin.DeleteThis@invalid.invalid says...
>
>
> > I gave in to temptation when I ran across a WotLK CE box at a bookstore. I
> > now have Frosty, a CD with cool music, a new, bigger mousepad, 50 ingame pet
> > cookies from one of the TCG cards (that otherwise will stay unused, I got
> > cured of TCGs in my MtG days and a book with beautiful art.
>
> Aha!
>
> > Of course, living in Switzerland all the material is in German. That art
> > book must be some of the worst translation I have ever seen. Luckily, there
> > is only a little text at the start of each chapter but each of them is case
> > for much hillarity. They must have run the english original through
> > babelfish or had a korean tranlsater. I was rolling on the floor, that alone
> > was worth the price of the CE
>
> Hehe. Well, at least they didn't touch the pictures, right?

Nope, the pictures are in pristine condition!

Cheers
Urbin

--
Dun Morogh-EU (PvE)
Urbin (77), Dwarven Hunter | Surana (64), Draenei Mage
Mymule (70), Gnomish Warlock | Kordosch (61), Human Death Knight
Sunh (70), Nightelven Priest | Juran (33), Nightelven Druid
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

On Dec 5, 3:43 pm, lcpltom <lcpl....RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:

> But you would think the person who wrote the text to begin with would
> have had some knowledge of the game, and only passed it on to a
> proofreader to check for spelling and grammar mistakes.

I am re-reading a "mini-novel" by Stephen King right now called "The
Langoliers". Early in the book, a character is described as having
"deep blue eyes". Later in the book, his eyes are now "mild brown".
Later, when I get home, I can quote you page references.

You would think Mr. King would know his own subject matter.

Sometimes things don't occur to you "at the time". If I had been
proofreading the Dreadsteed section, I probably would have nodded my
head, thinking it meant skeletal horses, and kept reading. Only after
you pointed it out did I say, "Oh. Of course."

--
Jill
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

I have been extremely disappointed by the quality of the quest text as
well. Bliz has made Questhelper mandatory.

I did L1-70 without questhelper. 71-80 would be impossible without it.
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

faceman28208 DeleteThis @yahoo.com <faceman28208 DeleteThis @yahoo.com> wrote:
> I have been extremely disappointed by the quality of the quest text as
> well. Bliz has made Questhelper mandatory.
>
> I did L1-70 without questhelper. 71-80 would be impossible without it.

That's strange. I've got a completely opposite experience from my leveling
bout in Northrend. Most of the quests have been pretty interesting and
generally pointed well enough to the quest location. (And many of them
even had the gold arrow in your minimap to direct you to the general
area.)

I'd say from my memory that there were only less than 10 quests in Northrend
that were vague or misleading enough for me to check them from wowhead. And
at least a few of them were just because I wanted to confirm that a certain
mob is in the general area, as usually they were quite camped at the start.
(Now I haven't done Sholazar Basin yet, so if there is a plethora of vague
quests there, I'll revise my opinion.

--
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on
society." -Mark Twain
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

<faceman28208 RemoveThis @yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:85e2a991-259c-49d4-90fc-6e33d5ad3b39@e21g2000vbe.googlegroups.com...
>I have been extremely disappointed by the quality of the quest text as
> well. Bliz has made Questhelper mandatory.
>
> I did L1-70 without questhelper. 71-80 would be impossible without it.

Impossible? Interesting use of hyperbole, there.

I've never used Questhelper. I still use Cartographer (although I keep
saying, here, that I'm going to try something else) but that's it.

Granted there've been a few quests that made me want to tear my hair out,
but most I've managed Just Fine--and I still haven't used Wowhead or
Thottbot for locations.

I'm close to dinging L75.

Xymmie
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

On Tue, 9 Dec 2008 20:14:29 -0800 (PST), "faceman28208@yahoo.com"
<faceman28208.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:

>I have been extremely disappointed by the quality of the quest text as
>well. Bliz has made Questhelper mandatory.
>
>I did L1-70 without questhelper. 71-80 would be impossible without it.

You're joking right? I've never used a mod like that and never will,
there's no need for it at all if you can read the quest directions
properly. Only had a handful of quests I've needed to check Wowhead for,
and those were because the npc was dead and hadn't respawned yet so was
unfindable...
--
EU-Draenor:
Sagart (80 Undead Priest)
Eilnich (70 Blood Elf Warlock)
Buinne (70 Troll Shaman)
Tairbh (70 Tauren Druid)
Balgair (70 Human Rogue)
Naomh (70 Draenei Priest)
Rosad (70 Human Warlock)
Sealgair (70 Dwarf Hunter)
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

I think it was Miikka <nope.DeleteThis@nowhere.invalid> that wrote something
like...

>faceman28208@yahoo.com <faceman28208.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> I have been extremely disappointed by the quality of the quest text as
>> well. Bliz has made Questhelper mandatory.
>>
>> I did L1-70 without questhelper. 71-80 would be impossible without it.
>
>That's strange. I've got a completely opposite experience from my leveling
>bout in Northrend. Most of the quests have been pretty interesting and
>generally pointed well enough to the quest location. (And many of them
>even had the gold arrow in your minimap to direct you to the general
>area.)
>
>I'd say from my memory that there were only less than 10 quests in Northrend
>that were vague or misleading enough for me to check them from wowhead. And
>at least a few of them were just because I wanted to confirm that a certain
>mob is in the general area, as usually they were quite camped at the start.
>(Now I haven't done Sholazar Basin yet, so if there is a plethora of vague
>quests there, I'll revise my opinion.

There's been only one quest so far I haven't been particularly happy
with the quest text, and that the one you need the Overcharged
Capacitor for. You have to acquire 3 items and it gives you no clue
as to where they are in the quest description.

I've only seen the Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra so far, but I have
done pretty much every quest in those zones (that you can at level 72)

Ashen Shugar
--
The lions sing and the hills take flight.
The moon by day, and the sun by night.
Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool.
Let the Lord of Chaos rule!
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

On Dec 9, 11:14 pm, "faceman28...@yahoo.com" <faceman28....RemoveThis@yahoo.com>
wrote:

> I have been extremely disappointed by the quality of the quest text as
> well. Bliz has made Questhelper mandatory.
>
> I did L1-70 without questhelper. 71-80 would be impossible without it.

My Paladin solo-quested from 70-80 and had to use Wowhead once (for
"Destroy the Sapling" - the quest text doesn't tell you where this
sapling is).

A few other times I've been really confused, but was determined to
figure it out, and after reading and re-reading the quest text,
finally got that "a-ha!" moment . . .

Honestly, as a writer myself, I've been very impressed with the
quality of the writing - some quests, even after originally describing
where you need to go, additionally end the quest text with, "Again,
<location> is just south-east of here".

With what specifically are you having trouble?

--
Jill
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

In <c6454c04-c43c-4a3a-89b3-0c69b6519534 RemoveThis @n33g2000pri.googlegroups.com> neithskye <jill_bookerGREENEGGSANDSPAM RemoveThis @hotmail.com> writes:

> Honestly, as a writer myself, I've been very impressed with the
> quality of the writing - some quests, even after originally describing
> where you need to go, additionally end the quest text with, "Again,
> <location> is just south-east of here".

The most common problem I've encountered is that the directions in the
text are just plain wrong.

A prime example of this is the quest "Just Checkin'" in Zul'Drak. The
questgiver tells you to go talk to his assistant who is "just north of
Gundrak." But the assistant is actually located *west* of Dundrak.

--
John Gordon A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs
gordon RemoveThis @panix.com B is for Basil, assaulted by bears
-- Edward Gorey, "The Gashlycrumb Tinies"
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

"faceman28208@yahoo.com" <faceman28208.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> writes:
>I have been extremely disappointed by the quality of the quest text as
>well. Bliz has made Questhelper mandatory.

Nonsense. *
--
* PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something
like corkscrews.
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

In article <6q9smrFb3ra0U1.RemoveThis@mid.individual.net>,
catrionarNOSPAM.RemoveThis@totalise.co.uk says...
>
> On Tue, 9 Dec 2008 20:14:29 -0800 (PST), "faceman28208@yahoo.com"
> <faceman28208.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >I have been extremely disappointed by the quality of the quest text as
> >well. Bliz has made Questhelper mandatory.
> >
> >I did L1-70 without questhelper. 71-80 would be impossible without it.
>
> You're joking right? I've never used a mod like that and never will,
> there's no need for it at all if you can read the quest directions
> properly.


Yeah, but then you need to read the quest!
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text. 

Yesterday I "did" a quest called "The Brothers Bronzebeard". The quest
text does not even list who the turn in is. There was no turn in
anywhere near the end of the quest.
 >> Stay informed about: Blizzard needs to kick the guy writing quest text.