Gunnar's Ground

Quests

Entry posted by Merch Gwyar September 21, 2010

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I'd just lured Syd into my dungeon (as you do). Building mode on. Oak door demolished. Syd sent for more planks. Operation Get Second Construction Stone activated. Oh crap. System update.

I have never hammered doors together so fast. Ikea ought to employ me as a demonstrator. 40 doors rose and fell, while Syd repeatedly broke the 12 second mile. The strange rock appeared in my inventory as the countdown reached 50 seconds to go. I raced upstairs and teleported to Edgeville. That was just adrenaline fuelled noobishness. I could have used the glory around my neck, instead of the one upstairs. As it was, that was the perfect place to teleport to. I was ready!

Gunnar's Ground is a free to play quest, designed with newcomers in mind. There's no fighting involved; no tools or other resources are required to take with you. As long as you have level 5 crafting, then you can just turn up and complete the quest. Much of the proceedings are in conversation, so it's potentially a very fast quest. I just know that the You Tube offerings here are going to be people competing to get it done in the shortest possible time. I will fail.

It took me ten minutes waiting, several world hops and a visit to the forums, before I learned that I didn't have to challenge Haakon. Some trollish players were having a field-day. They were camping out at Haakon and slashing him down as soon as he arose. Haakon has a remarkably long spawn time, unless it just feels like that when you're waiting. In one world, there was a level 45 player, called Epic Jonsson, who was obviously having the time of his life. He had a dark bow and just let rip. I'd tried reasoning with him, explaining that this was part of a quest and we were all waiting to speak with him. He said that he understood and stepped back. I was mid-conversation with Haakon, when the next arrow hit. It took three shots for Epic to kill him, but he was so amused.

That's when I took myself to the RSOF 15-16-128-61704650:

There's a portion of the new quest where you have to challenge Haakon. I've not managed it in 10 mins, because everyone is talking to the same Haakon.

That means that people are standing there killing him before anyone can speak to him. I've hopped through a few worlds now and it's the same story everywhere.

I had responses from a handful of my peers, who'd already sussed that you could skip that bit. Then Mod Jack, the developer, responded:

You don't have to challenge Haakon. The option is there for if you don't want to look like a wuss in front of Gunthor.

You can always come back and challenge him later when the village has quieted down.

The rest of the quest passed within minutes, even accounting for the fact that I asked every question and read every answer. Including 'where is Edgeville?' You never know! There might be something important in there!

All in all, Gunnar's Ground was a sweet, entertaining, little quest. Nothing really for a higher level to write home about, though I did manage level 66 Dungeoneering at the end. Nothing to do with the quest per se, just that it gave me a 200xp ancient lamp to rub and I was less than 100xp from a dungeoneering level. :D

However, having said that it's no great shakes in itself, I recognise history in the making, when I see it. For a start, this is the first quest ever where I've been able to do this:

Doing a quest, whilst wearing a quest cape? :D I thought it was a glitch, until I ran into There. He explained that this quest replaces 'Romeo and Juliet'. A passer-by added that I wouldn't gain quest points from it, as I'd already had them from 'Romeo and Juliet'. In short, I could have skipped this quest and gone to do some smithing instead. But I'm a quester, I'm in there! I didn't think I'd have any rewards at all from it, but I still did it. I did get the rewards, minus the quest points.

Secondly, this quest is going to do to Varrock what has happened in every old town IRL. I've already seen it happen. A player asked another player where dwarf is now. The response was that he's in Juliet's house. No, he's not. He's in Dororan's house. :D However, that house will continue to be Juliet's house for anyone who played before today. Just like you would search in vain for the River Fleet in London (without a spade and a gasmask obviously), but we still talk about Fleet Street. I warrant that Juliet will live on in oral memory, long after the guides all speak of Dororan's House.

I also liked this quest because you get to have close ups of your outfit! I snapped away like a tourist. Here you go!