Thoughts from a longtime player and 120 crafter

Here are my observations from what I constantly hear from new players. This is from carefully listening to what new players are asking in universal chat and on the forums. As well as speaking to some people as well.

I do not, in any way claim I know all the answers to the New Player question/dilemma. But I can share a few observations:

1. When A new player account starts the game, most have no idea at all they can actually get 1 free POT row lot deed. In fact, the quest that gives this can be completely missed by players.

2. The second most frequently asked question from a new player is: How do I make the maps work? This is because most all scenes are still missing maps, and a new player playing our game sees this and then wonders if they just aren't aware of some way to make maps work. The next question after this usually is: Is this game still in Beta? Because a very core basic game mechanic is still missing in the game, this gives an unfinished appearance to them.

3. If players do finish all the quests/tasks in the Solace Bridge outskirts, they then will typically continue on to Soltown (they are led there) and from there do the quests in Soltown and/or continue onto the Love part of the Main Quest. This part here (Love part of the Main Quest) I hear from many that they stop playing, encounter difficulty or are confused by direction. The sudden ramp up in difficulty (sent to tier 4-5 scenes) as well as various issues with the sequence and tasks and markers for the Love part of the Main Quest are concerning.

4. Where do I find Insert Random Recipe Name Here is the 3rd most commonly asked question.

5. For some reason, players either do not want or even know about the 2 other Outskirts areas. These areas can either be discovered by the player on their own, or if they happen to speak to Arabella, she then will direct them to go visit them (one at a time, per conversion with her).

This is just my observations from actual new players.

As for factors that might be related to older player accounts that might be returning may have other issues or concerns that makes them not want to return playing (most of them have stuck blue markers on their characters, and they think they have stuck quests. This is from speaking to a few returning players who had questions about "stuck quests" of which I had to explain that they actually have stuck blue markers on their account, and not a stuck quest.).

 

@Rowell posted an interesting proposal for a crafting system rework here:

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...stem-revamp-move-away-from-strict-rng.162539/

 

Or instead of putting recipes in the loot table put them into crafting advancement where they always should have been but I do get your point. So irritating to me that they did that. I love crafting systems that have progression matter more and you get notifications "you have learned a new recipe", and perhaps you are a master crafter now notification. We are lacking reward systems that matter. Crafters should not be forced into combat. Let them earn their way by crafting and crafting quests or missions. Give us tools to make our vendors globally searchable and more interesting with bags of goods to put on our vendors possible. Let the economy manage itself with competition knowing who has what for sale from searches we can do and teleporting there or add a request for goods system to mail for a cost to you for the vendor owner to mail it to you. Add those crafting tasks for certain resources. So much we could do but please don't anyone keep using the economy as a stop for anything. I get tired of hearing it.

Just give us our search option, ability to learn and progress strictly from crafting acquiring recipes and some resources and even titles as we go, and give us creative vendor options to compete and let it go where it may. Also for heavens sake add enhancing recipes to the cooking tree to make lower and upper tier recipes more viable.

 

Well if we had an achievement/task system displayed in a tab in our journals as we should have all along there would always be something more. Also if the journal system had tabs listing systems and features of the game they would not wonder. Let's hope the new journal will be much improved upon to include missing basics that have left new players lost and confused for way too long.

 

I recall having trouble figuring out where to get the quest (and the room). From their guides, I kept reading it's in my alliance main city (think that' what they said). I couldn't remember which I had chosen. Eventually I found a document on a wall in Vivic City offering the penthouse and how to get it. Problem solved.

Not perfect by any means. Glad I have a room. Now I'm looking to buy a home. I have enough gold to get a small one. Saving up for something a little bigger.

 

Couldn't agree more. Adventures don't have to craft, they can buy equipment and weapons in the markets. Why force people to do stuff that they don't enjoy doing? This is a game right?

 

Maybe you miss understood my comment or I was not clear enough. I agree that ESO was able to reboot the game from a terrible start but they had dev team of 50ish people and a publisher that dropped another 50 million into development. As passionate as are 5 devs are they lack the resources to do a reboot.

 

way to have faith in our potential.... Its attitudes like that the prevent growth and greatness

 

they will have to because the current path is not sustainable

 

I have access to several such rooms. In addition to providing a space where I can place a storage locker they act as quick travel system that allows me to go from one room to another at whim, and also to my single purchased house as well. It is quite nice.

 

Optimism pressed too far approaches delusion.

 

Progress is in the eye of the beholder. And MMOs are not about power creep unless we make it about that.

It is very easy to play the game, enjoy the content, and not give a hoot about level 120 crafters if one chooses to do so.

 

This phrase has been said over and over year after year.

 

I am not sure that is true. @Anpu has a good list of early improvements that would help.

Unfortunately early game work has halted according to Chris. Paraphrasing from a livestream a few months ago "Solace Bridge Outskirts was a big success at 12% retention, which is great for a FTP MMO, so great that we are halting all future work on the early game, huzzah!"

So rather than finish up that success and get these new players firmly anchored in the game, lets leave them confused in Soltown and start some new systems we can half finish!

 

First, new players stopped playing at the Isle of Storms so that gets removed. Now they stop playing at the Love part of the main quest. Is it time again for another NUE overhaul or the removal of the entire Love quest? What does Chris's metrics say now as the place where most if not all new players quit at?

 

We wouldn't have needed a nue overhaul near as much if the game provided the information of what's available to do in this game from the beginning. Sure single player perhaps could keep you guessing for hours if you want but multi-player should have the 'what else is there to do in this game' tabbed into players journal to look at or not. These are basic needs nothing extra. Just missing basics for way too long for this game along with reward system and achievement/task system. And every other incomplete system such as cooking.

 

Like I said, a month or so ago in a livestream he said we're up to 12% retention in Solace Bridge, and then (it was hard to tell) either "That's good enough we're done" or "It totally wasn't worth it even though I'm also saying 12% is awesome so we're not putting any more time into it."

Whereas, if it were me I would have said "Excellent, we are making progress, now lets get those new players over where they should be next, Highvale and Blood River and give them a bit more guidance and see if we can get that 12% even higher, and make it last longer."

 

To be sure, for this and numerous other games.

 

How would you have concurrently maintained the interest of players that had long since left those areas behind, keeping in mind the limited resources that would be at your command?

 

YES!! this right here. this would be very helpful for a new player. A quest at the very beginning, well before where they would get their own row deed, that leads them to getting their own room at an inn in one of our many epc towns. they could deco it to their hearts content, put down loads of chests to store their loot in and when they finally get a deed, well, they still have the room at an inn as default as a back up. Its a great idea!

 

Did that happen?

If you want to speak about the past, just pick any of a dozen half finished systems and don't start those.

But this is the present, early game improvement can still happen. Step 1 in my mind is Arabella running up to you at some point in Soltown and saying "Oh thank the maker I found you, it's going down in Highvale! I've got a teleport scroll that you can use to get there, go as soon as you can. Talk to the town crier here first, though. Ask him to bind you here. This Recall scroll will bring you back."

And open up Highvale as a location they can teleport to with a Teleport to Zone scroll.

Then do the same in Resolute for Blood River. Suddenly most new players hit all the early areas, so have a satisfying difficulty curve, see the quality scenes, have optional direction, get introduced to the questlines, and potentially gain an understanding of their world location.

But back to the past, there are plenty of things that could be not started and the game would not be any different, or might even be better for it.

How about the huge developer time sink of Heritage and the deco pallette. It literally was created just to squeeze the existing players and unless something recently changed, still isn't working correctly. Instead of squeezing us, how about spending that time continuing the thing that is admittedly working great compared to other MMO's? Carry that forward.

However: combat balance for the combat people is good. I hope it made you all happy and can't begrudge that.