The number and levels of overworld zone maps needs a serious rework

As the title says, there are way too many low level zones in proportion to the higher level ones. Many cool new
scenes coming into the game that will barely be used ie. the hallowed plains a tier 2 zone with an entrance to
the backend passage of krawl !!

Now with the introduction of the 3 outskirts I see absolutely no need for any other tier 1 zones.
Also too many tier 2/3 for the amount of time that players are at that tier, and nowhere near enough tier 5+.

Id suggest simply changing all the 3 original starter zones from tier 1 to tier 2.
Then take the original Tier 1 zones that are left , and maybe some tier 2`s and make them tier 3`s.
Take the remainder of tier 2`s and all the tier 3`s and make them tier 4
Take all the tier 4 zones and make them 5
Take the 5s and make them 6.

Also Id be inclined to make all the zones to the north ,those up on the NE peninsula and those north of Brit to be 4+.
The rest of tougher stuff can be in the dungeons.

Please have a good look at the numbers of zones in proportion to how long people are at that level, which in terms of the life of the game is a tiny percentage.

@DarkStarr @Lord British @Chris

 

Hmmm i think you need to look at the map a bit closer.
As of the latest list from only 2 releases back this is the standings on the scene levels
Level One ...there are 16 that is including the starter zones and the three new outskirts
Level Two there are 15
Level Three 36
Level Four 34
Level Five 45

So yeah not sure if that balances out or not. But with the game coming close to launch and newer players coming in all the time its not very balanced. Less level 2 zones compared to all.
Just thought i would put this out there. And with the changes they are doing with uncloning scenes they may or may not bump up the tier levels. And you need to remember...that each level has a high end in them
So a level one can have a high end near level two mob in it....just like all the other scenes do now. Example.....Wyrmsands is a level two....but there are things there that are very high end 5..Ghost Corpion and those red skeles at the top of the hill.

 

As it it s, a new avatar gets to mid range way too fast. So, I would scale everything up in hardness so that someone coming out of the outskirts (half skull) would be challenged in a one skull, beaten silly in a two, then laughed at and escorted out in a three skull. Right now my alt came out of the outskirts and had an easy time in skull three.

Fix the fast scaling or scale up the lower tiers. My opinion, of course.

 

Yeah but now with the outskirts I think theres more than enough in there to cover all of tier 1, as I recall I was out of tier 1 zone in under a day so 16 seems excessive. And tier 2, maybe I was in
at the most for the week, I really cant remember, but you are through the first 3 tiers in no time.

Ive been from one end of the map to the other, checked out all high tier zones and theres only 2 or 3 that we find any good to farm, could do with more towards the higher end.
If your numbers are right wouldnt it be better if there were say the 3 outskirts, maybe 3 other T1s. 6-9 T2s. That would leave 16 - 19 zones to split between 3/4 and 5.

And yes its nice they have a range of mobs in but you have to wait too long for them to respawn as only a small pocket of mobs there.
once you hit level 80, as myself and guildmates all have sometime back, there isnt yet enough high end places to hunt, I know much has yet to be uncloned but everyone
Ive spoken too feels theres way to many low tier zones in proportion to the number of highend zones.

 

Yeah but however slow or fast it is people always get to the end eventually so more higher content vs lower would be a better option.

 

Glad someone made your leveling progress the standard. When did you go through and level up?

So your main gripe is your not having fun and want to only farm high end loot? LOL!

 

Some quests and storyline in the zones would be nice. So it's not just a 'Here's a 3 skull zone with lots of wolves and bandits. Oh, and a few spiders.'

I am sure this will happen once the devs have the time.

 

I made it this level fairly early on without powergaming. I only have 1 gm fighting skill unlike some who have over 100.
The point is EVERY SINGLE GUILDMEMBER who have played considerably less say the exact same thing, not enough higher end zones.
And no I didnt mention the loot thats a seperate story

And no mine isnt the standard by far, I play a lot but I do some of everything.
The point isnt how fast you get through, its the percentage of gametime you will spend in those
lower tier zones vs mid to higher, therefore there should be a higher percentage of mid to higher zones because otherwise tedium sets in if you have very few zones to hunt in.

Also I dont know a single person who played who didnt level up in the 1st starting zone (before outskirts) then pick a single convenient nearby tier 2 zone and do that before moving on and exploring. So no my leveing progress is not the standard but it is pretty damn normal.

 

Wyrmsands, an area I hunt a lot, is actually a 4-skull area. But yeah the Elites and Ghost Corpion seem to be 5-skull mobs.

 

It's true that by the addition of the outskirts they + the starting zones could be considered tier 1 and the rest of tiers 1 be bumped a step

When considering the distribution of scenes you also need to consider that at early levels its challenging to go thru passes
So you need to make sure is enoght low level scenes in each of the starting regions.

 

And it gives options to those that don't stick around in the outskirts. Nobody is required to stay there, some will go straight to their home towns or POT, of which will need neighboring lower tier zones to go adventuring. While the intent is to give new players a less disruptive experience with the outskirt scenes, they can't box / force them through it and need to provide similar lower tier experiences elsewhere.

If there aren't enough higher tier scenes, sure, ask for more of those. But don't completely remove the lower tier ones and force everyone through the outskirts. At that point, you basically have a forced starter island that you have to drudge through before you can go adventuring elsewhere.

 

I think the number of tier ones plus the outskirts is fine. There are 3 in Hidden Vale and for those who live there its nice to have three tier ones there to work on. And the others are spread out all over the rest of Novia. I believe that once they get past that most go straight into the tier 3's. The twos are not that great except for a couple so they could get bumped. Again waiting for them to finish uncloning zones and see where it goes...who knows they may change the levels on them all by the time they get done.

 

I noticed people mentioning how quick players adapt to higher skull areas and would like to speak for those that don't traverse the levels as quickly as the rest of us. I, myself, am comfortable in 5-skull areas, and would definitely like to see more of them. But, at the same time, I wouldn't want to see low-level areas removed, as there are some players who make focus more on crafting/socializing and may still be limited to hunting in these areas. In addition, as new players are added, these areas may become overcrowded, and may need to keep the currently available areas, if not more, to accommodate an upward fluctuating player base. So, basically, getting rid of 1-3 Skull areas may not be a wise choice, when considering the long-term aspects of the game.

 

Agreed , I wouldnt want to make it so that it discourages new players, and I dint say get rid of them just reduce them as it seems to me that if you spend all this time unclong zones and designing interesting areas it would be a shame if theyre not used, and by your own example its the same at the top end.

Obviously over time theyll be adding new zones, more continents etc which as theyve said in a past dev chat that youll have to have completed the storyline to get to the other continent
we can safely assume that it will be higher level content. It just seemed to me a waste of a lot of good well developed scenes that wont be used for very long/ atall by a lot of players.

 

Looking at those numbers there really is a need for re-assessment.

ideally you want several options for starter scenes to enhance the new user experience but after that you want a slim 'waist' since the mid tier is really just a transport stepping stones where the least hours will be spent. Where most players end up is the highest tier where you should have the most diversity for the longevity of the game.

Looking at that then just by the numbers you present it does seem like there are way too many tier 3 and not enough tier 5.

Would have been nice to see a metrics chart with player distribution based on levels in scene from Chris. I'd bet tier 3 is very very low in such stats.

146 total.
If we think the 16 starter is ok then just by looking at the numbers (ignoring story and progression etc) by my guesstimate then it should look more like this:
16
20
20
35
55

So I'm with @Anvar on that part.

Although I'm less invested in the "best spots" thingie.

 

@Anvar , @Spoon , As I said, you have to take into account what the player base may look like after release. If you start removing/altering zones of a particular difficulty, and if the player base increases heavily, you will be left with overcrowded zones of players competing for resources/xp. I totally agree there needs to be more 5-Skull locations to accommodate the current amount of players who are hunting in these zones. I'm sure devs are doing some sort of metrics with regards to zones and trying to figure out the best way to implement them. Anyway, just my thoughts on it.

 

Obviously,you must feel everyone is a equal player to you and there no need for lower level zones. So you are suggesting that people who have disabilities don't need lower level zones to be able to farm solo,or have you not considered that part of the equation?
I farmed the mine hear Owl's Head until they stripped most of the resources from it. @Chris @DarkStarr @Lord British seemed to be worried about people parking alts at the entrance and farming all they want. Was any consideration given to those of us who could never handle most of the other mines? No,it wasn't. As usually happens,people end up abusing something,then the ones who get punished the most are those who don't have a lot of options.
And what you want to suggest to me is more of the same thing. New players who might never really get their sea legs under them,older player who have slow reaction times,people with disabilities, we need options also. They have made a lot of mines where if you can't fight fast and have pretty decent skills,you can forget it.
I am not whining about my and other situations for pity,only pointing out that not everyone can do higher level zones and if the lower ones are removed for the most part,then what is left?

 

That also brings up the issue that all "Tier Ones" aren't created equal. East Perennial Trail is a fantastic Tier 1 experience for new players. it starts out as somewhat challenging, but you really progress as you move along. On the other hand, Middle Downs (about to be redone) in South Paladis and Mariah Overlook in Verdantis kicked my butt every time I ventured in there. Iwas overrun with high-level enemies and was unable to kill anything. This is true for certain maps in all Tiers.

I personally like the wide range of places any player can go to hunt while leveling up. I have 3-4 favorite spots that I go to for each Tier, depending on what I'm interested in doing for that particular play-session. Do I need to make some gold--fight bandits and sell/salvage their weapons; do I just need to level up some specific powers--go to fight wolves and bears; do I want to collect resources--go to where there are a lot of trees or ore; do I just want a "different" map to cleanse the pallete of the same-old-same-old--there are unique maps available for that too.

I could be completely wrong about this, but I think that most players will spend the majority of their time in-game at the Tier 2 and 3 levels. This should translate to AL of about 25-50, I think?

 

1-4 skull zones are worthless period. When I leveled up, I spent maybe 1-2 hour in each of them before hitting 5 skulls ever since for the next 1000 hours.

 

I imagine the answer is to give higher level players a REASON to go to these lower level scenes. Obviously the reason won't be XP.

I think this is the reason some other games have rare spawn creatures in low level areas (just don't make then auto aggro, not nice for low level players) for older players to go back and challenge/tame when they pop up.


Regards
Spung