Combat based dungeon crawls are the worst kind of quest, except for all the others that have been tried
What kind of quest would you prefer? How do you create replayable challenge? Puzzles are quickly memorized and become pure time sinks. Platform zones are unpopular and frustrating with lag issues. Scavenger hunts become linear sequence trees eventually too.
The only really sustainable risk/reward element is combat
That being said, I've called often to move towards more named boss fights and fewer trash swarms, that'd definitely help push aoe builds back down into balance
The game should be a mix of all of the above. Some chains should be themed. A hobgoblin swarm theme might actually be similar to the AoE fests we have going now with a few surprises thrown in. An orc champion theme would see fewer mobs but stronger individual encounters. Devils and hellhounds might be just a nonstop set of single and duo mob encounters closely spaced with boss fights throughout.
There should be more escape quests. Most of the quests now are invasion quests where the players invade a monster lair. We should have quests where the players are ambushed at the start and need to find their way out, preferably with multiple potential exits, any of which could have a dangerous encounter at the end. We should have more timed quests. We should have more quests where dimension door and teleport are shut down.
There are a lot of ways to get away from the AoE pack meta that has developed over the years and SSG should find a way to broaden the game such that Sorcerors really want boon companions for the quests that cannot be quickly or easily blown away.
