Public Quests in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

What is a Public Quest?

Throughout the open world their are small areas dedicated to a specific Public Quest. A Public Quest (PQ) usually consists of three stages. Anyone who enters the area set aside for a PQ may participate in the objectives, either by themselves or as part of a group or warband. In most cases, the second and third stages have countdown timers and you must complete the stage objectives within the allotted time to advance or complete the PQ.

PQ’s typically help to tell the “chapter” of the story you are currently questing in. Various parts of a given map are assigned Chapter designations to help the player feel as if they are a crucial part of the war story. PQ’s are one of the most important aspects of the Chapter.

How Do I Do a PQ?

As previously mentioned, all you need to do to participate in a PQ is to be in the area. Just being there, however, does not mean that you will be able to accomplish the goals to advance the quest. In most cases, the first stage of a PQ consists or killing mass amounts of a certain type of mob that spawns rapidly and roams the area. Stage one normally isn’t on a timer, so you can take as long as you need to complete this task, which, with time, can be accomplished by any solo player.

Stage two, however, is generally much more difficult. Usually stage two will consist of interacting with items that pop up around the area. These items are usually guarded by one of more Champion-class mobs making this an exceedingly difficult task for just one person. A minimum of three people working together may be able to complete stage two, but a group of six or more is recommended. It is important, though, that the group consist of all three major play-types: Tanks, healers, and DPS.

Once stage two is completed, the third and most difficult stage begins. Usually stage three consists of killing one Hero-class monster. I know of no class that can solo a Hero monster, and even a tank will typically require two healers dedicated to keeping him alive. A minimum of a group of six players, and often more, is required to complete the final stage of a PQ.

What Does A PQ Reward?

There are two unique benefits from doing Player Quests. The first is, upon completion, a treasure chest filled will wonderful items ranging from wearables, to crafting materials, to cold hard cash. Whether or not you receive a reward from the treasure chest depends on three factors.

The first is: Your contribution during all three stages. How much you, individually, contributed to the completion of all three stages of the PQ will grant you a Contribution Bonus up to +500. The second is: Your diligence. You receive a bonus of +100 to your roll for every time you participated in the PQ but did not receive a reward. The third is: Your actual roll. Every person that participated in the PQ is given a “roll” between 100 and 1000. Your final score is your roll plus any other bonuses you’ve earned. Usually between three and six people will be rewarded with a “loot bag” from the treasure chest. The person who scored the highest has a chance of their loot bag being Blue or Purple, indicating that the contents of their bag are better than everyone else’s. You may choose one item from the loot bag to keep. You are allowed to win as many times as you feel like doing the PQ, choosing whichever reward you want each time.

The second “reward” from Public Quests is in the form of Influence points. As mentioned before, PQ’s are always associated with a specific Chapter. In each quest hub for each Chapter is an NPC known as a Rally Master. As you progress through the three tiers of Influence, per chapter, he will make a new reward available to you. The rewards are progressively better as you work through the tiers. The only way to earn influence is to do the PQ’s, earning points from both killing associated mobs and completing stages. By default, your current Influence level is indicated by a light blue bar in the upper right hand portion of your UI.