UESP Forums

Okay, so in general the kind of jobs that you get in towns in Arena have perfectly reasonable time limits, right, you have a day to take an item somewhere in-town and life is great.

I've noticed a problem with getting quests from nobles, though, in that they don't always give you enough time to get somewhere. For instance today I was playing and I got a quest from a king who asked me to go to another town, get an item, and come back within 22 days. The problem is the town is about 21 days' travel away and there's no way I could get there and back on time. I've had this happen before and assumed that it was just a bug but now it looks like a problem with the game. It's not like I waited too long before accepting the quest, either, because I've only been in this city for a day or two.

Has anyone else had this problem or know what would cause it? I'm hoping this isn't a persistent flaw in the game's design, but I don't know.

I think the best practice is to start out on a quest as soon as you get it-- don't stop at a store to cash in your loot, don't stop at the Mages Guild to buy or identify anything, don't visit a temple for healing, don't take a quick nap at the nearest inn, etc. And that means not talking to anyone who might give you a quest unless you're already finished with any preliminary business. The time limits are definitely annoying, especially when it involves traveling to other locations and back. Even with quests within a city-- such as delivering or picking up some item, or escorting someone-- the time limit can be annoying if you're new to the city and haven't learned where everything is yet, and/or have a number of things you need to take care of first. I don't even like talking to an innkeeper unless I have to, since I never know when someone is going to intercept me and ask me to do something.