If you were reading Game of Thrones for the first time, would you skip the first 2 chapters?

foxsyd · April 2014

If you were reading Game of Thrones for the first time, would you skip the first two chapters and go straight to the third chapter?

Would the story make sense to you, will you have context?

Will you feel as attached to characters, or will you not care because you didn't get their exposition or get to know them as you would of in the first two chapters?

Because you skipped the first two chapters, how much more likely is it that you will give up on reading the book at all?

Yes, this is about the Start Islands. Don't miss Stros M'Kai of the Daggerfall Covenant, Bleakrock Isle of the Ebonheart Pact and Khenrathi's Roost of the Aldmari Dominion.

Zenimax please fix your story. The defaulting to the third chapter is really confusing to many new players. And you are doing a disservice to your wonderful writers and to everyone who prefers their character's story to flow and make sense. You have broken immersion.

Killum · April 2014

I have to agree with the op's comments.

I can however understand that some people like to 'Jump' right in to the main plot. I think that the option to skip the starting areas should only be given after a player has gone through and completed the starting area on one character.

And remember that there are 6 Skyshards in the starting area which equate to 2 skill points plus the skill points received for quests. You can get to lvl 7 very easily in the starting zones and this gives a character an advantage when joining the main questline.

People can of course go back to these areas at any time but that does break the storyline somewhat.

Holmes · April 2014

100% agree with this. In Beta, you were forced to do the starter areas, and it makes sense. Different choices slightly affect the story, such as defending the port or the city in EP, or to keep the relic or destroy it in DC.

Even if I already know what happens, I still always do the starter areas. Good way to get ahead of the curve, get a few skill points and some better gear, not to mention the starter islands are riddled with nodes every 2 meters.

Rhylanna · April 2014

I agree completely. It makes much more sense to start out at the starter isles. Then, if a player has at least one character who has already completed them, allow them to skip to the main city. As other responders have said, this gives new players a chance for skyshards, gear, nodes, etc...not to mention an easier setting in which to learn and practice the mechanics of the game.

DanteYoda · April 2014

I wrote this in the beta forums and got a lot of agreement there too.

Rhylanna wrote: »

I agree completely. It makes much more sense to start out at the starter isles. Then, if a player has at least one character who has already completed them, allow them to skip to the main city. As other responders have said, this gives new players a chance for skyshards, gear, nodes, etc...not to mention an easier setting in which to learn and practice the mechanics of the game.

The only explanation i got was the PvP crowd was upset that they were locked into a linear PvE game and they couldn't impatiently go straight to Cyrodil..now they can..

Sadly the rest of us get an incomplete experience and the new players don't even know they exist and hit leveling walls.

But look at the whole direction of this game Cyrodil Cyrodil Cyrodil...sadly

foxsyd · April 2014

It's really strange that the Skip Option was put at the main city. It would of made much more sense to put the Skip Option at the island itself. That would of made everyone happy.

Instead Zenimax has catered to the few who complained about the Start Islands, and given a slap in the face to the people who enjoy good immersion.

Killum · April 2014

The same thing happened in EQ2. The Devs took away the original starting island years ago and people still complain today on the forums. I really do hope that the Devs here stick to their guns and don't listen too much to the whiners out there.

Coggage · April 2014

You can only skip the "intro" after you've done it once, unless they altered that. If you've done it once there's no reason to do it again. Plus, this isn't CLOSE to GoT in terms of storytelling, nice though it is.

foxsyd · April 2014

Coggage wrote: »

You can only skip the "intro" after you've done it once, unless they altered that. If you've done it once there's no reason to do it again. Plus, this isn't CLOSE to GoT in terms of storytelling, nice though it is.

Note, a person who thinks I'm referring to Coldharbour, rather telling... I'm not talking about the intro, aka Coldharbour.

That intro, Coldharbour part would be the prologue... not the first two chapters.

Coggage · April 2014

foxsyd wrote: »

Note, a person who thinks I'm referring to Coldharbour

I refer to the escape and the starter islands as the "intro", which is what I consider the the whole thing to be - the introduction for new players. If I meant just Coldharbour I'd have referred to it as the Intro, with a capital letter and no quotes. A subtle distinction that may have been beyond you. My apologies.

Prolyphiq · April 2014

foxsyd wrote: »

That intro, Coldharbour part would be the prologue... not the first two chapters.

Is it the first 2 chapters or is it the prologue and the first chapter?

I'm also not sure if this was pointed out above but as soon as you get to the main city after you "CHOOSE" skip, I'm pretty sure the first visible quest you see is one that takes you back to the starting island, where you can go if thats what you want to do.

Theres a lot of trivial whining on this thread...

Pretext · April 2014

The perfectly good starter islands became optional after some reviewers who expected TESO to launch like the latest CoD got bored.

So they had to spend time and resources making the starter islands optional. You might have noticed how the Prophets voice is not the same in the room you start in once you escape Coldharbour.

A total waste of time and money to cater to journos, which would have been better spent anywhere else in the MMO. Anywhere!

Vikova · April 2014

I'm pretty sure when reading Game of Thrones people just skip to the sexy bits.

DanteYoda · April 2014

Pretext wrote: »

The perfectly good starter islands became optional after some reviewers who expected TESO to launch like the latest CoD got bored.

So they had to spend time and resources making the starter islands optional. You might have noticed how the Prophets voice is not the same in the room you start in once you escape Coldharbour.

A total waste of time and money to cater to journos, which would have been better spent anywhere else in the MMO. Anywhere!

Actually for me personally it significantly ruined my game experience, luckily i shrugged it off and every character i make does Coldharbor and the isles on purpose, why would i skip half the game.

So far i've done them four times and that's not including the beta, and i still enjoy every bit, so at least on me they weren't wasted.

pinkempyreal · April 2014

Did OP actually read the ASOIF books? They pretty much start off as though you're missing something. He'll throughout the whole series it's as though there's always something that you're missing.
But I get your point. It was silly for them to start the game off the way they did completely by passing the starter islands. From a story stand point not much is lost by not completing it but why would anyone want to skip it? It's easy experience and a chance to build a foundation with some neat characters who seem to progress through the game with you. I got excited when I ran into Tryn, Rexus and Cap'n Rana, as well as others, in Bal Foyen and Ebonheart.

pinkempyreal · April 2014

DanteYoda wrote: »

The only explanation i got was the PvP crowd was upset that they were locked into a linear PvE game and they couldn't impatiently go straight to Cyrodil..now they can..

Sadly the rest of us get an incomplete experience and the new players don't even know they exist and hit leveling walls.

But look at the whole direction of this game Cyrodil Cyrodil Cyrodil...sadly

??? You can't start PvP until level 10!! So it doesn't matter! If my only concern was PvP I'd still rather do the starter Island as its a quick run through to get the experience for level 10. I'd rather do that than run through areas of the 3rd map at too low level and have to fight hard for it. But I don't care about PvP.
I do however care about the fluidity of the storyline and this move to nerf the starting islands does not go over well. Especially since I had to reroll my 1st character because I didn't know about Bleakrock until after doing a few other quests.

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If you were reading Game of Thrones for the first time, would you skip the first 2 chapters?

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