Pre-completed quests...

[LordBlade]

If you are going to put in fetch or kill quests, please make it possible to complete these tasks ahead of time.

A lot of games punish players who like to explore by making them have to go back to an area just to finish some quest they could have already done.

 

If you explore an area before going to do quests, you should be able to complete a lot of tasks along the way.

 

Many games will give you a quest such as killing 10 orcs. If we'd already killed 10+ orcs in the area before reaching the quest giver, please reward us for doing so. Don't make us go out and kill ANOTHER 10 orcs simply because we didn't have the quest earlier.

 

One of the things I loved about Risen and Risen 2 was that you could complete a lot of quests before you actually had them. If you were one of those players who likes to explore everything and kill stuff before going into town to talk to people, you would often get a lot of your quest objectives done. So you'd find the guys who'd ask you to do stuff and be able to tell them it's already done. They are often surprised but give you your reward right there. They don't send you back out to do something you've already done.

 

Naturally for story missions and such there would be stuff that's locked until you progress, but for most basic quests you can easily do the requirements before you're asked.

[Felithvian]

Never played Risen or Risen 2, but I surely know they're superb games, along with the Gothic series. And yes, anything coming from those games is a MUST.

[LordBlade]

It's definitely a great feature. I wander the map some exploring and killing all I can before going into town. When I get there some guy asks me to kill some monsters for him, and I tell him I took care of that on the way over. Bam, quest done.

No running back out to an area you already cleared out to kill some magically spawning enemies that weren't there the first time.

[Kalderas]

I must add that it make it much better when you can tell him "I allready took care of it" and not pick up and then talk again and tell him its done. Its a little thing but it make me feel better about it somewhy. I hope its understandable.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Similarly, if there's some quest item to retrieve, it should exist in the world even if we've never spoken to the quest-giver. So, if someone wants us to retrieve a lost ring, we should be able to say "Oh, this ring?" if we already have it. Or, perhaps lament that we had it and sold it 20 hours ago.

 

The NWN OC did this well. The companions' quest items could be found even without the PC having been given the quest.

[Aldereth]

Better yet, no grind quest at all