Starting Locations in the World

For me, it is very important that there be multiple possible starting locations. Sometimes a particular part of the map just isn't what the player is looking for. Restarting in another place can make a big difference.

I have written a lot about Everquest on these fora, so it should be no shock that I choose to do so again: When Everquest came out there were *11* starting areas. The first couple that I tried didn't do it for me, but I found one that I enjoyed very much. I am very thankful that I wasn't forced to start in one spot.

When EQ2 came out, we had *2* choices. My interest in the game was short-lived. Perhaps if there were alternate starting areas I would have given the game a 2nd or 3rd chance.

Now with a story-driven game, it is hard to have multiple beginnings. However, people might want to explore the world a bit before getting into the main quest line. I strongly encourage the inclusion of multiple starting areas, even if we need to travel across the map to start the quest line. (I think it would only take 2-3 beers to come up with a solid way of starting a single quest in multiple spots. I'm dragging it out a bit because I like beer)

 

Getting rid of quest lines would go a long way. UO had eight possible starting towns, one based on each of the original eight professions in the Ultima series (beginning with Ultima IV). You could perhaps read a small summary of each town and decide which best suits your play style or character choice.

One of my biggest complaints with games since UO (and now even UO), is the inclusion of newbie friendly starter/tutorial area(s).

 

I'm basically OK with one at launch. I do love the idea of the 8 classes / virtues / starting towns. That would add a ton of depth. But I'd really rather that built a small initial game and make it work.

I think about GW2. They made a huge game with like 5 races. Each with their own deep and unique area that took you through 2/3 of your levels. There was a reasonably solid "personal story" where the first large chunk was very race dependent and immerse...but everyone just blitzed through all of this, got to the end game, and 90% of the content they'd created was never something you'd see again.

I'd rather not see the game be a mile with and an inch deep. WoW is already 2 miles wide and 2 inches deep. If you want to compete with other games with far larger budgets, you need to pick a few things and do them really, really well.

 

To follow up on this topic: RG said that we would have multiple starting areas, but not a menu. There might be some randomization in the process.

1) What stops me from create/delete/create/delete until I get my preferred location?

2) What if I want to play with my friend/spouse/stalkee who is already in the game?

Player choice is required here, and a menu is fine with me.