Curse

Julia Darkheart · Feb 22, 2005, 11:39 AM // 11:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cruel Skeksis

As I said in another thread, I brought two brand new gamers to test the area, both adult women. I could safely say that if they were put through a test off the bat that after dying you'd have lost them both as customers before they ever got to the teaching part - yet both loved the new area in every way.
I took one to Tombs after a few hours of play, and you can guess the outcome.

Brand new gamers need a slow gaining progression that allows them to understand the world and warm up to it, throwing them into the pot might work for a young male, but certainly not for everyone.
I believe the area needs more pop-up confirmations, and more tutorials - some text, and some quest.

I'm new to Guild Wars, but definitely not a new gamer. I am a 33 year old female and I have to agree with you on this. IF I started the game and was immediately given a test of skills, I may have quit right there.

I was invited to this game via a player I had met in another MMORPG. I got my little code and after reading the site, installed the game and waited rather impatiently

for the event to start. While waiting on the game to start I chatted with my friend for a while about the game. He tried explaining the basics of the game and what not so that I could jump right in at level 20 and go do some PvP.

The event finally started, I made my first character. Julia Darkheart. Ranger/Elementalist, Lvl 20. Now, since I had sat at the computer trying to log in every 10 minutes after midnight (EST, not PST.. can you tell I was excited.. lol) My friend had long gone to bed. So, I'm on my own now. I have this buff LvL 20 character that I thought was pre-made, to include skills, attributes, etc.

I decide to venture out the gates of Lions Arch. Mind you, I had no idea there was such a thing as Henchman, nor did I know I had to assign my attribute points. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty. I know that I am a decent gamer, I had the movement and "basics" of game-play down but still got mauled. What was the problem.... ha ha. Well, i was about ready to say to heck with this.

I went back to the character creation instead and made a Level 1 Character. Oh my.. look at this... it explains a lot more. It let me get the hang of the game before being thrust into the fray. It's what saved me as a player and a soon to be customer so to speak. The "tutorial" still needs work, i'll grant yo uthat, but it's still much better to give a new player time to acclimatize himself/herself to a new game.

After finally "getting the hang of the game" I went and made some of the premades for the PvP Arena and had a lot of fun. The point is, all games, regardless of your gaming level need some sort of tutorial so you can learn the intracasies of the new game. Good work on what you've done so far.

Reaper2k3 · Feb 22, 2005, 01:53 PM // 13:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

That's interesting, xaanix. If you have suggestions for what might make these players' experience better, do be sure to share them in the Suggestions Thread. The new region is a step in the right direction, but we're always looking for more ways to make the "welcoming experience" better.

Oh, and just so you know, we had a lot more players than it appeared to you, I guess, for your estimate is very low.

Re-introduce the original solo tutorial that explained:
1) how to use skills
2) how to equip stuff
3) henchman
4) what skills do what
5) some other crap

Mumblyfish · Feb 22, 2005, 02:00 PM // 14:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reaper2k3

Re-introduce the original solo tutorial that explained:
1) how to use skills
2) how to equip stuff
3) henchman
4) what skills do what
5) some other crap

Oh come on, now. That old tutorial was dull. At least this tutorial has content for old and new players alike. Content for PvErs, Roleplayers, and PvPers. Granted, it needs a lot of work, but it's leagues ahead of the older content. If it annoys you so much, just ask for Arena to allow you to enter the Academy straight away. Don't take away content that some, if not most of us loved.

It's not all about fighting and PvP, y'know.

elder otter · Feb 22, 2005, 02:14 PM // 14:14

I was new in this last bte and I appreciated the tutorial very much. I have played MMorpg's before and if I had been dumped into post searing Ascaln and heard all the WTB's and WTS's I would have said "done this before...nothing new here". There is always a core of "semi-pro" players who have gamed so much that all they want is action, action, action. But, for a game to be successful you need to attract people...hopefully newer players who will play this game before all others.
I found the pre-searing Ascalon to be a nice way to start...to learn how to get the profession combo I could use most effectively, and to get into the style of the game. Also as I like Ranger as a 2nd profession and want a pet there is exploring to do to find a good pet. I found out that you dont have to settle for the first pet, there are others. My monk/ranger had a strider for example.
The problem I had with Kuntor's idea was that people who have a lot of experience with OTHER games will be given a fast track and will be very powerful early in the game....where's the fun in that? And also if I, as a newer player, feel like some one is being given a large advantage over me I will probably not like the game. Everybody starts equal how skilled you are will come out as you play the game.

Klael · Feb 22, 2005, 03:41 PM // 15:41

That is not going to work. Take the academy for example. Because I've played PvP in the arena before, my mind switched into PvP mode immediately despite being unceremoniously dumped into a battle. I proceeded to pound the opponents while some of the players on both teams have no idea whats going on. We won by a big margin.

I'm sure the team that lost doesn't like that at all. Being tested on something new without prior experience is going to turn away people almost certainly. Imagine you signed up for a module and being given a quiz on the first day. You'll hate the lecturer for a long time after that.

The Old Ascalon is better suited for getting to know more about the game in detail. Basic mechanics should be taught in a somewhat more controlled envrionment like that previous BWEs. People need to figure out things by themselves. What Cicciro suggested in the Newe Olde Ascalone thread seems to be feasible.

RealityDesign · Feb 23, 2005, 01:35 AM // 01:35

I don't know if any of you play CoH (City of Heroes) but they had a similar issue.

The solution? When you make a character in CoH and hit START, a window comes up and you have to pick: "Start Tutorial or Skip Tutorial." If you skip it, you start at level 2 and at a trainer, if you start it, you start at level 1, do the 4 newbie missions and ding level 2 in the process.

I don't see why this would be hard to do in GW.

Condor_Swiftfeather · Feb 23, 2005, 04:38 AM // 04:38

My two cents worth:

This weekend was my first time in the game. My first venture into the 'Academy' was a disaster. I had no rev capability because I did not understand I had to do that back in the beginning to get the rev signet. But I learned. I found the learning interesting. And finding I could build up lots of skills was exhilerating. (even found a bug for one test!!!)

I like it. Let's me spend some quiet time with my character so that I can prepare for the brutal mission phase of the game. For the released version I would like to just see some tips or guide so that I know what I'm supposed to do to create a useful character. The thing I hate most about any game (except maybe the very first time) is trashing a character I built up to correct the errors of my ways.

I don't think that the 'test' is something I really would find interesting. Part of the game is building up your character, even if it is redundant and repetitive.

Condor_Swiftfeather · Feb 23, 2005, 04:40 AM // 04:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealityDesign.com

I don't know if any of you play CoH (City of Heroes) but they had a similar issue.

[snip]

I don't see why this would be hard to do in GW.

The main difference is that you can build up much more than a level 2 character in the introduction phase of GuildWars. My character, at the end of the weekend, was level 7 and I had not entered the Academy yet.

Galatea Orea · Feb 23, 2005, 06:45 AM // 06:45

My experience was similar to Condor's. I built two characters this BWE. One I took to post-searing at level 7, and immediately wished I hadn't. The other is level 8 and still in pre-searing Ascalon. Different people having different playing styles and enjoy different aspects of the game. For those of us who like to explore in detail, learn everything from the ground up, and don't mind taking time to master the basics, the new game start is wonderful. For those who want to get at "it", you can go to the Academy at level 3 and press ahead. This seems a fairly balanced approach.

Galatea Orea
In the beginning was Woman.
Then came man.
The rest is history.

RealityDesign · Feb 23, 2005, 11:55 AM // 11:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Condor_Swiftfeather

The main difference is that you can build up much more than a level 2 character in the introduction phase of GuildWars. My character, at the end of the weekend, was level 7 and I had not entered the Academy yet.

Keyword: can

You don't HAVE to level past 3. If you wanted a quick out, you would just say "Skip Tutorial" and start off in the regular Ascelon as a level 3 character with a secondary profession. In the beta before this one, everyone in ascelon was level 2 and that was the NORMAL level to do the first mission (defending the northern wall). Being level 7 before leaving the tutorial zone is kind of silly really... There isn't much of a challenge left once you start doing the real missions at 7 instead of 2 or 3.

Dreamsmith · Feb 23, 2005, 06:04 PM // 18:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by kunt0r

250,000 people played E3 GW, where you were droped off in a battle zone with NO help or aid. Now that E3 demo spawned how many fansites, forums, and media?

Obviously the arguement "if you drop new players off into that area they'll quit" doesn't hold much water.

We're basing the average player off of E3 people? Obviously, your argument doesn't hold much water. The average game buyer doesn't even know what "E3" is...

Brett Kuntz · Feb 23, 2005, 07:00 PM // 19:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreamsmith

We're basing the average player off of E3 people? Obviously, your argument doesn't hold much water. The average game buyer doesn't even know what "E3" is...

No? First the average game buyer is a 36 year old, average player 29. Maybe 8 year olds don't know what E3 is, but I have for the last 10 years or so, and so does everyone else I know who plays games.