AQ

This help file explains autoquests in detail. If you need a quick list of
autoquest commands, please see Help AQ_COMMANDS

Autoquests are adventures created by Medievia implementors. They are
quests constructed from the many stories and themes that are
interwoven throughout the land. Players seeking out and accepting these
missions will need to utilize their skills as fighters, as well as
their knowledge of the many details of Medievia, to find specific mobs,
kill specific mobs, acquire certain objects, give objects to mobs, find
certain areas of Medievia, and many other objectives.

The ultimate goal is to complete the quest and receive autoquests
points, which are a requirement for leveling (See Help MLR Heroes
will also perform autoquests and will turn in their points for
special bonuses.

Autoquest Structure
Autoquests are composed of a series of objectives. The objectives range
from finding a certain mob, to killing a certain mob and bringing
its equipment back to another mob. There are various objective types,
but the basic ones are as follows:

Kill Objective:
A kill objective will require a player to kill a certain number
of a certain mob or mobs. The player will be shown which mob he or
she must kill by the AUTOQUEST or AQ command, which will show the
mob's name. If multiple mobs must be killed, the AQ command will show
how many of the required mobs have been killed by the player thus far.

Give Objective:
A give objective will require a player to give a certain number of a
certain object or objects to a certain mob. The player will be shown which
objects to give to which mob by the AQ command. If there are multiple
objects to give, the AQ command will show how many of the required objects
have been given to the mob by the player thus far.

Find Objective:
The find objective can be further broken down as follows:

 FIND MOB    A find mob objective requires a player to find a
              specific mob. Finding a mob requires walking into
              the room that mob occupies.

 FIND OBJECT A find object objective requires a player to find a
              specific objective. This requires that the player
              simply come into contact with the object; however, if
              paired with the objective flag "FIND ORIGINAL" it will
              require the player to acquire the object themselves
              rather than purchasing it, being given it, etc. For
              more information on the "FIND ORIGINAL" flag please
              see the section below on objective flags.

 FIND ROOM   A find room objective will require the player to find
              a room in a Medievia zone. The player will be given the
              room's name.

 FIND WILDERNESS ROOM
              The find wilderness room objective will require the
              player to find a specific wilderness room given its X/Y
              coordinates.

An autoquest can have one objective, or it can have a million (though
most will have fewer than 5). New types of objectives will be developed
as the autoquest module progresses.

When a player completes an objective, the game will automatically
execute a sequence of events designed to enrich the plot and inform the
questor of his next objective, if there is one. These actions can range
from mobs that speak to the player, to groups of mobs that suddenly
appear and bicker with the player, or even items that suddenly appear.

The AQ command will let the player know how many objectives are
remaining in the quest. Objectives must be done in order, and the player
will only be given information about the current objective, not the
ones to follow. You won't know where the adventure is leading!

Objective Flags
Objectives can be modified by flags. These are flags similar to the
flags on equipment, like anti-evil, glow, etc. The flags present
restrictions on how you can achieve the objective. Most of the flags are
self-explanatory, but all will be listed and reviewed here:

    SOLO     The solo flag will keep the questor from being able to
              join a formation during the objective.
    NOPORTAL: The noportal flag will keep the questor from using
              clantown portals during the objective.
    NODRAGON: The nodragon flag will keep the questor from calling
              dragons during the objective.
    NOMAGIC:  The nomagic flag will keep the user from using spells
              during the quest; however, this only restricts the
              CAST command, so the questor will be able to use
              scrolls, staffs, magical items, etc.
    NOCOMMUNICATION:
              This will keep the player from utilizing any communication
              channel except pray during the objective.
    NODEATH:  The presence of this flag means that if at any point
              on the objective the player dies, the objective and
              consequently the quest will be failed. This cannot
              be avoided by resurrection.
    NOSUMMON: The player will not be able to be summoned by another
              player during the objective.
    NOPHASE:  The player will not be able to phase to another player
              during the objective.
    NOTOPHASE:The player will not be able to be phased to by another
              player during the objective.
    FINDORIGINAL:
              The findoriginal flag is perhaps the most difficult
              aspect of autoquests to understand. It will be used on
              find object and give object objectives. It basically
              requires the player to obtain the object by actually
              finding it on the mob, or in the room that it normally
              loads. It stops players from buying objects off auction,
              getting objects from their clannies or others, and using
              objects they had on hand before the quest to complete the
              objective. This uses the same code as the clan equipment
              point system. If the objective is marked find original, you
              must go and get the object yourself. When you do loot
              the object it bonds to you (See Help BOND If you are
              on an objective to give an object to a mob, and the
              findoriginal flag is set, you must find the item yourself,
              have it bound to you, and give the bound item to the mob.
              NOTE If, during your autoquest, you get more of an object
              than you need, the excess objects will be removed from you
              when you abandon, fail or complete the quest. Thus, if you
              are asked to find 4 flutes and the "FIND ORIGINAL" flag is
              set, and you find 5, all of them bonding to you, the
              remaining flute will be removed from you when you abandon,
              complete, or fail the quest. This is done to keep people
              from exploiting the aq code to pop objects for them with
              the express purpose of keeping the object after the quest.
              This only applies to objects that bond to you during the
              autoquest.
    "FORCE HINT"
              Low-level players are automatically given a hint on
              objectives, telling them in what zone to look for the object
              or mob they need to find. On some objectives for
              higher-level players, this hint might be helpful or
              necessary. The "FORCE HINT" flag causes the autoquest code to
              tell you what zone to look in for your objective, no matter
              how high your level. This is shown at the time you receive
              the objective, so pay attention.

Autoquest Time Limits
Autoquest time limits can be somewhat tricky. Each objective has a
time limit, a set amount of days, hours, or minutes that you need
to complete the objective in. In addition to this, the overall
quest has a time limit. Sometimes the quest will have no time limit,
and you may perform the quest at your leisure. Sometimes particular
objectives will have no time limit. You can perform these at whatever pace
you like, provided you still finish the overall quest before the overall
time limit expires.

The AQ Command

See HELP "AQ COMMANDS" for a list of options.

The AUTOQUEST or AQ command has several options. If you simply type
AQ it will show your current quest. If you type AQ HISTORY it will
give you a detailed history of quests you have completed, failed,
died on, etc. If you type AQ ABANDON it will allow you to abandon
your current autoquest, but note that this could result in a penalty
and possible loss of autoquest points (the penalty is waived if you have
completed the first objective). If you type AQ REVIEW it will show you a
list of all the text messages you have received so far on the autoquest.

How Does One Start an Autoquest?
There are two different ways to start an autoquest:

Receive the quest from a mob:
      Autoquests will be attached to random mobs through the game.
      If a mob has knowledge of a quest that you are capable of, it
      will be shown with a yellow AQ in front of its description.
      To ask the mob about the quest, use the ASK command. ask <mob>.
      You will be shown the first objective and some other bits of
      information and then be asked if you wish to accept the quest.
      The second you accept, the timer begins, and you can type AQ
      to look at your first objective. Once a mob has given their AQ
      out to a player they will no longer have it to give to others
      and will no longer display the yellow AQ The mob that you
      receive the quest from may have nothing to do with the actual
      quest itself.

Receive the quest from an autoquest scroll:
      Autoquest scrolls will load on random mobs, like orbs or potions.
      They will be bonded to the person who makes the kill and will
      not be lootable by anyone else. You simply then type "look quest"
      and you will be told how many objectives the quest has and what
      the overall time limit is. If you choose to proceed, you will be
      shown the first objective and asked if you wish to accept the
      quest. However, if you choose to see the first objective and
      then do not accept the quest, the scroll will disappear. This
      is to prevent people from bypassing the time limit by looking at
      the first objective, let's say it is to find Scruff, turning down
      the quest, holding on to the scroll, finding Scruff, THEN looking at
      the scroll and accepting the quest and thus cheating their way past
      the first objective.

Bonded Mobs
Sometimes the mob or mobs you need to complete a quest will not
be loaded because other players have killed them. This can make meeting
the timelimit difficult. In an attempt to help players compensate for
this we have added a complex system of checks that occur when
a player enters a zone that contains the target or targets of their
current objective. If the mob the player needs to find has already been
killed the code will pop that mob and bond it to the player. Bonded mobs
will have the BONDED tag and will only be attackable by the player
they are bonded to, or his/her form. This will occur for objects that
load on mobs as well. If a player needs to find an object that loads
on a mob that has already been killed, the game will pop that mob
when they enter the zone. Note though that the percentage chance of
the object loading will still be checked by the code. This special
popping can only occur one time each objective. This restriction is
in place to prevent players from popping then killing a mob over and
over in order to get easy equ or exp. Please note, this system is
NOT a guarantee that what you need will be popped for you. The code
that determines this popping is very complex and may not work in every
possible situation. It is merely intended as a bonus aid that will
sometimes help you find what you need.

Autoquest Ghost Objects
Ghost objects are an attempt to keep players from failing autoquests
simply because an object refuses to pop in a zone. When a zone resets,
the code will check to see if any of the objects loading in that zone
are currently needed by an autoquester. When it loads one of these
objects, it will first attempt to load it under normal conditions. If
the initial load fails, the autoquest code will raise the chances and
attempt to load the object again. Objects loaded by autoquest code
are visible only to autoquesters who need the object for their current
objective. Hence, they are named "Ghost" objects. Once the object is
looted it becomes visible to others. Note: This does NOT guarantee
that an object you need will load. It merely makes it more probable
for it to load. Also, the presence of a ghost object on a mob does
NOT stop a non autoquester from killing the mob. If a mob with a
ghost object is killed by a formation that does not have a member
that needs the object, the object is extracted instead of being placed
on the corpse.

Autoquest Points
Unlike experience points, you can only get autoquest points when you
need them to level. This is done so that an experienced player won't
simply do a whole bunch of easier autoquests in low levels and then
not have to do higher level quests later on. The amount of points
for autoquests varies depending on the difficulty. Also, in some cases
you will be allowed to run the same quest more than once, if you can
find it, but each successive time you run it, your points will be
reduced by 1/2. In other words, if you run a quest for the first time
and receive 100 points, and then run that quest again, you will
receive 50 points, then 25, then 12, then 6, etc.

Autoquest Cash Rewards:
All players receive a cash reward when they complete a particular
autoquest. The reward is given only the first time the autoquest
is completed. The formula for the cash amount is:
50,000 X (current level-9)

Hero Autoquests:
Heroes will have autoquests in the future, and the prizes they will
receive for participation will be very valuable and exciting.

Please use the PRAY command to report AQ problems, or if you receive no
response e-mail aqreview@medievia.com. Thanks.

See Also: MLR ANNOUNCEMENT AQ_COMMANDS "TRACK AQS"