Lock or Extend Help Wanted Quests When Requirements Are Filled

[MagnificentMage]

This is something I encountered for the first time today, and got some support for the idea when I brought it up on Reddit.

It is frustrating to spend hours or in some cases an entire in-game day gathering resources to complete a Help Wanted quest, only to have the NPC unavailable when you are ready to turn it in.

It's not like you are dropping items into the mail or shipping box, after all. You must track down the specific person. Okay, I get that it's part of the quest...

BUT if you couldn't gather all the materials until the last day past 9 or 10 pm, and/or the next day is a Festival day, you are out of luck.
Time wasted.

So, my proposed idea is that there should:
a) be a freeze on the quest once you gather the materials, so you can turn it in any time you like
OR
b) add an additional day to the timer once you have satisfied the quest requirements.
That way, if you miss someone or there is an event, you still stand a chance of catching up with them.

And if you think about it, this doesn't break the reality of the game at all. What villager is really going to say, "Never mind, I don't want my fish now because I had to dance in the field of flowers all day"?

 

[Magically Clueless]

I like your second suggestion (adding an extra day), but I like the idea of people unlocking their homes at night since they expect you to visit and deliver their quest. So if you get copper ores for Clint at 9pm and he isn't at the saloon, you can rush into his house and he's like 'oh thanks'

Alternatively, on a safer note (i don't like leaving my doors unlocked either!) maybe you can deliver the quest items to the front of their house. Like, maybe you can right click the door and a prompt comes up that asks if you want to deliver x item, and then you get your reward the next day in the mail or whenever you next talk to them.

 

[Chililover]

I like your second suggestion (adding an extra day), but I like the idea of people unlocking their homes at night since they expect you to visit and deliver their quest. So if you get copper ores for Clint at 9pm and he isn't at the saloon, you can rush into his house and he's like 'oh thanks'

Alternatively, on a safer note (i don't like leaving my doors unlocked either!) maybe you can deliver the quest items to the front of their house. Like, maybe you can right click the door and a prompt comes up that asks if you want to deliver x item, and then you get your reward the next day in the mail or whenever you next talk to them.

You could go up to the house and if you clicked on there front door to enter you would nock. And it would trigger a cut scene where they opened the door and took it and thanked you. I think you could gain hearts for this, I know if someone went out of there way to get to my house at the crack of dawn and gave me something I wanted i would be grateful! Just a thought

 

[27dschild]

You could go up to the house and if you clicked on there front door to enter you would nock. And it would trigger a cut scene where they opened the door and took it and thanked you. I think you could gain hearts for this, I know if someone went out of there way to get to my house at the crack of dawn and gave me something I wanted i would be grateful! Just a thought

Yeah, me: kills 10 frost jellies
lewis is nowhere to be seen, not the bar, not his house, NOWHERE I even checked the wiki

 

[Person090]

I like your second suggestion (adding an extra day), but I like the idea of people unlocking their homes at night since they expect you to visit and deliver their quest. So if you get copper ores for Clint at 9pm and he isn't at the saloon, you can rush into his house and he's like 'oh thanks'

Alternatively, on a safer note (i don't like leaving my doors unlocked either!) maybe you can deliver the quest items to the front of their house. Like, maybe you can right click the door and a prompt comes up that asks if you want to deliver x item, and then you get your reward the next day in the mail or whenever you next talk to them.

Maybe add a mail box to everyone's houses so you can deliver gifts and bring quest items to them when you cant find them

 

[Mcwhalen]

I think the rules/mechanisms would be similar to animals; they are already fed during a festival day. The quest hold-over could apply in a similar way. With some rules tweaking

 

[Odin]

a) be a freeze on the quest once you gather the materials, so you can turn it in any time you like

I really like this idea as I've definitely had times where I completed a quest, but it was too late in the day to get to the npc in time.

 

[liquidcat]

Both of them sound good! Could be very useful.

 

[Lemon_Stone]

I agree with the prospect of both a quest freeze and mailbox mechanic. We already see a few mailboxes around town, so why not make use of them? I also agree that festival days shouldn't count as a quest day. If there's a quest right before a festival day, unless you manage to fulfill the quest and find the quest-giver on the same day, it's essentially impossible to complete.

 

[SuperChouette]

Yeah, me: kills 10 frost jellies
lewis is nowhere to be seen, not the bar, not his house, NOWHERE I even checked the wiki

That happened to me too. I went into the Mayor’s Manor to wait for him before the door locks at 10pm. Then he entered the black background and walked into the house through the back wall to the left of his kitchen counter, heading towards his bed. Just traveling interdimentionally to avoid paying me for a job well done. Asshole. I’m saving up for a kitchen.

 

[Quirinea]

I agree with the prospect of both a quest freeze and mailbox mechanic. We already see a few mailboxes around town, so why not make use of them? I also agree that festival days shouldn't count as a quest day. If there's a quest right before a festival day, unless you manage to fulfill the quest and find the quest-giver on the same day, it's essentially impossible to complete.

And then there are days when certain NPC:s are unreachable. Harvey just sits in his room all Saturday and the front door is locked. Pierre's is closed on Wednesdays. That Lewis thing is a bug (hopefully fixed in1.5?)

 

[Lemon_Stone]

Also, when you hover over mailboxes with your cursor, it seems as if the they can be interacted with, but clicking them doesn't do anything. This always felt odd to me, and it would be cool to see them actually serve a purpose someday.

 

[imnvs]

While not opposed to this idea, some things I've been thinking about...

On one hand, people shouldn't stop wanting the thing they asked for... but what if it's assumed that if you don't deliver in 2 days, that someone else does? It's not like you're the only one in town that can read the board, presumably.

And on the other hand, there are ways around most of these troubles that folks have. I mean, one of the first things I would suggest is preparing ahead of time by saving every thing you get your hands on except those things you need to sell so they're sitting there just waiting for someone to ask for them. That way, when it's asked for, all you have to do is go grab what's asked for and spend 2 whole days just tracking down the person that asked for it. I mean, nobody who is inaccessible on any particular day is also inaccessible the following day (except in the case of festivals, more on that in a moment). And later game, you can do the work to get a thing that makes the "it's too late to get to the person" issue not as big a deal.

As for when a festival would interfere with the Help Wanted board, I think that adding a day to the time limit as Mcwhalen suggested is the better way to go. That's the only thing that preparation can't fix.

 

[mouse]

I think for me that a problem with "just save materials" is that the inaccessible quest-giver (especially the festival scenario) is most annoying early on, before I have a hoard to pull from. If I am able to stockpile, I might not even be bothering with the help wanted quests at that point.

 

[Zen_the_Ogre]

How about letting us send letters via mailbox.
You can only send two letters a day. This way if you stack two help wanted on the same day you can still send the items. Mailbox of course would be closed on holidays.

But give premade letters that change depending on season, heart level and or silly scenes. This way you can
1. Send letter (has same bonus as talking)
2. Send gift (same bonus as gift/2)
3. Send request (fulfills board request)
4. Good with lewis about his secret (abuse may lead to cutscene to meet Mr x at the train station)

 

[Laissez_Faire_Farming]

Aw... Please don't lock or extend.
This is how I got an unexpected chase from men.
If I miss the quest, that means that man is not for me.
Please I am begging you not to worship perfectionism.

I created a thread called "Let the destiny chooses your spouse."

https://forums.stardewvalley.net/threads/fun-suggestion-let-the-destiny-chooses-your-spouse.8744/

 

[Quirinea]

I think for me that a problem with "just save materials" is that the inaccessible quest-giver (especially the festival scenario) is most annoying early on, before I have a hoard to pull from. If I am able to stockpile, I might not even be bothering with the help wanted quests at that point.

Yeah. And just in the early game the quests are doubly important, both for friendship and for the sum you get. I usually hoard a little bit of everything in the early game but it still can happen that Harvey asks for a bream on Friday, I don't have any, and he's left the bar when I get one and is behind locks all Saturday.

 

[Lemon_Stone]

Aw... Please don't lock or extend.
This is how I got an unexpected chase from men.
If I miss the quest, that means that man is not for me.
Please I am begging you not to worship perfectionism.

Now that I think about it, a quest freeze does feel a bit extreme. However, I do still think that adding functionality to the mailboxes around town by allowing the player to deliver quest items through them is a good idea, and I also agree that festival days shouldn't count as quest days. I do think that a little twist would be a nice touch, though. What if you were to get a bit more relationship points for delivering gifts in-person? Like, you'd get the normal amount of relationship points if you delivered the items via mail, but if you delivered them in-person, you'd get some extra relationship points, because it's more personable.

 

[imnvs]

Well, we do already give gifts in person and get these benefits... so if it is implemented, it's probably better to have it be that giving a gift by dropping it in the mail box being less personable means you get fewer relationship points, just imho.

 

[Laissez_Faire_Farming]

Now that I think about it, a quest freeze does feel a bit extreme. However, I do still think that adding functionality to the mailboxes around town by allowing the player to deliver quest items through them is a good idea, and I also agree that festival days shouldn't count as quest days. I do think that a little twist would be a nice touch, though. What if you were to get a bit more relationship points for delivering gifts in-person? Like, you'd get the normal amount of relationship points if you delivered the items via mail, but if you delivered them in-person, you'd get some extra relationship points, because it's more personable.

I would admit that I like 45% of your idea about the mailboxes.
I prefer not to deliver them their favorite gift. Instead, I like to raise their hearts by completing their quests. –this is good for someone who is not sure who to date or marry.
Thanks for hearing me.

However...55% I am not fond of it.

I am not convinced by it because I want the game to allow me to fail the quest.
I think that failure should happen especially when you fail to send an in-person gift before the due date...
E.g., I would fail to deliver a fish to Elliot because he was in his cabinet the whole time. _Possibly it means that in the future I won't date Elliot.
I am letting destiny happen.

Correct me I misunderstand you or maybe I mentioned it wrong.
I am open to hearing your thoughts on that.