Quests are the main type of event featured in many VR MMORPGs, including Sword Art Online 1/4 and ALfheim Online . Often, these quests are given to the player by interacting with a bulletin board or a non-player character (NPC).

Most quests in Sword Art Online are repeatable, allowing the player to revisit familiar territories and reap XP and rewards. These quests typically have a "cooldown" timer to prevent players from abusing the system. Some quests (often critical to the story and with more valuable rewards) can only be completed once, while others can be repeated.

Some quests generate instanced maps that allow different players or groups to accept the same quest without interfering with each other.

System

NPCs with an available quest are indicated by a golden exclamation mark (!) above their head. The system tends to wait until the player asks an NPC the phrase "Is something bothering you?" before beginning the quest explanation. This does not apply to all quests; sometimes certain conditions must be met before a quest can be accepted. Once a quest has been started, the NPC's golden ! will change to a question mark (?), indicating that the quest is in progress. Once accepted, the quest and all details about it can be found in the player's quest log.

Some quests have secondary objectives that serve as conditions that must be met before the final objective becomes available to players. The current location of the active quest step is indicated on the map by a gold !, and the location of an objective that is unavailable for the final item is a gray !.

Cardinal system

Both Sword Art Online and ALfheim Online use the Cardinal System to power the automatic quest generation feature. Through the Cardinal System, folklore and character information is automatically collected, and the system continues to generate an infinite number of quests using reliable story templates and recurring characters important to the world.

Although automatically generated, these quests can lead to a "world-ending" event or create an event that completely changes the game world. The Cardinal System has the power to change the world at its discretion. This can be seen primarily in the world of Aincrad, as the intention of that world was for it to eventually be destroyed. The Cardinal System was disabled in ALfheim, but it could be enabled by the leadership and then resume changing the system at its own discretion, without permission from the ALfheim leadership team.

Due to the Cardinal System, Sword Art Online's known quests in the shop exceed 10,000 by the time a typical player reaches the 75th floor.

Known Quests

Sword Art Online

Cow Counterattack (1st Floor) (Reward: Cream)
This quest has no description.

Secret Forest Medicine (1st Floor) (Reward: Annealing Blade)
Obtain a rare item from Little Nepenthes.

Martial Arts Quest (2nd Floor) (Reward: Martial Arts - Additional Skill)
Breaking a demonic rock with your bare hands.

Guild Formation Quest (3rd Floor) (Reward: Guide Creation)
This quest has no description.

The Elf War (3rd - 9th Floor) (Reward: Random)
This is a campaign questline that takes the player through floors 3 through 9. It includes a number of quests and ends with the player choosing to help the Forest Elves or the Dark Elves.

Old Shipwright (4th Floor) (Reward: Custom Gondola)
This is a multi-step quest that allows the player to gain a means of free movement on the 4th floor. The later parts of this quest are closely linked to the Elven Wars campaign quest that concerns the 4th floor.

Fortress at the Top of the Lake (4th Floor) (Reward: Two people have chosen Yofilis's family heirlooms)
Following on from the Shipwright of Yore quest, this quest allows the player to continue the Elf Wars campaign on the side of the Dark Elves. The player must defend Yofel Castle against an invading force of Forest Elves.

Little Lost Jenny * (5th Floor) (Reward: Unknown)
Find a girl's missing pet.

The Tasteless Collector (5th Floor) (Reward: Unknown)
Find a certain type of relic.

Thirty-Year-Old Complaint (5th Floor) (Reward: Unknown)
Solve a problem with a spirit of lamentation.

Stachion's Curse (6th Floor) (Reward: Unknown)
Locate and recover a missing gold cube

Meditation Extra Skill Quest (6th Floor) (Reward: Meditation - Extra Skill)
This quest has no description.

The Dark Elf Queen's Quest (9th Floor) (Reward: Queen's Knight Sword)
This quest has no description

The Witch of the West and the Three Treasures (22nd floor) (Reward: Opportunity to purchase the K4 Forest House)
Defeat the witch and save Dorothy. Includes 3 optional side objectives to obtain the Scarecrow's Brain, the Heart of the Box, and the Lion's Courage, but these quests are not required to complete the main quest. This quest includes 3 NPCs who accompany players in their quest attempt. It is thematically inspired by the story "The Wizard of Oz."

Ogre Massacre Quest (30th Floor) (Reward: Unknown)
A quest that requires the player to kill a certain number of ogres wearing strange masks. This is a repeatable quest that refreshes once a week.

The Ice Dragon Quest (55th Floor) (Secret Reward: Crystallite Ingot)
Confrontation with X'rphan the White Worm

Angel Ring (Unknown Ground) (Angel's Whisper Ring)
Overcome the trials imposed by a sacred angel. One of the quest tasks is to fight a demonic monster that is a fluffy bunny with wings.

Alignment Recovery Quest (Various Floors) (Reward: Turn the player's orange cursor back to green)
When a player's cursor is orange, they have a chance to randomly encounter traveling NPCs who offer this quest. This quest has varying difficulty and duration, increasing based on the severity of the player's crimes.

ALfheim Online

Angel Ring
Beast God Slaying Quest
The Raiders of the Deep Sea
The Guardians of the World Tree
The Sacred Whirlpool of the Ice Palace