I was running around with my sov completing every quest i could in a vain attempt to get strong enough to go kill some of the nasty world spawns, and happened to complete the Master Quest by complete accident.  Obviously my first thought was "wow...wait, What?"

The problem for me is that i did it all within 1 turn, and the reasoning behind the game winning quest just felt like fluff.  Insert random channeler with enough essense to share and in doing so make me so powerful that everyone in the world spontainiously surrenders.  In a world were my sov is still running scared of monsters, and all within a single turn, the quest in short has no epicness, and in a world were things do feel epic, winning in such a way just felt disappointing.

(note: i know you can turn master quests off, but i would rather them be fun than have to remove part of a game just make sure i can enjoy the win)

As a suggestion, as part of the quest, maybe have a requirement to go and do something epic, like bring down a level 10 monster (army or not) in tactical combat, for another sov to his knee's and bow before you, something to give this all powerful channeler reason to actually give you the essense.  Maybe even have you battle him, and if you can beat him, then he gives you the win.

My other concern about the quest is the fact that in the map i was playing, if it was multiplayer, it was in the middle of my territory, and no-one could have broken in there to take it off me, so i could have happily sat out the game getting stronger and strong, knowing full well if they broke through my defenses, i oculd activate the instant win button.  Can such a quest have a turn delay before you can even act on it, and have it annouced globaly at some point.
aka:


You walk onto Master quest goodie hut
'you have found a old tomb, which speaks of a powerful channeler beyond all imagination'
a new tech has been added to your adventuring tree "search for channeler"

commencing research announces globaly that you've started the master quest, giving people a chance to rally themselves in a last ditch effort to stop you.

After a set number of turns or knowledge points required, the location is revealed

Going to location brings up a dialog asking you if your sure you want to step into this place, thereby giving you a chance to back out if you don't actually want to win via this method.

Then atleast have to get through some sort of guardian, or the channeler himself (or previous suggestions where you must prove yourself)  Having the rest of the players rallying together to stop you from winning might in itself be a priving point.  If you can defeat enough of their forces, the channeler will concede your are indeed worth the trouble.

All in all i have nothing against many different ways of winning, but this just seems way to easy...and made me win a perfectly good game i was enjoy:P:P