Remove Prologue Quests (And why the new player experience is awful)

Vrienda · June 2023

At least from the open world for people who don't own the DLC. Let people start it from the crown store -if they want- instead.

I was trying to get my friend into ESO some, after a while he decides he wants to try do a bit of solo questing to see if this is the long term MMO for him but as soon as he logs on he's assaulted by dozens upon dozens of quests and one of them immediately dumps him in another province far away from what he was doing before, it basically made him quit and give up on playing without me there to guide him through it.

ZOS, your prologue quest design is driving players like him away. It's fine for those of us who've been here 9 years. But for new players it's just a confusing mess. Clean up your new player experience. Give them some more guidance. I think the Balfiera starting area (The starting area nobody ever asked for, we wanted to select our intro, not what province we get dumped into) is a big contributor to new player confusion too, you're giving people choice paralysis. I get it's supposed to be "Your adventure, your way" and that works... for alts. But a new player needs structure to come to understand the game before they can get into the more choosing where and how they want to play elements.

Reintroduce the old intro experiences. Ideally start new players on either the Morrowind questline (While Vvardenfell is honestly a really bad new player experience, the intro was pretty much perfect) or the original 2014 questline for their Alliance. As it stands right now you can select Covenant for your character, walk through the Snowy portal in the Balfiera intro and wind up fighting your own faction in the very first zone. It's a complete mess. REMOVE Prologue quests from the open world. Leave them in the crown store. Maybe offer a way to toggle them back on for immersion minded people who want to begin those questlines naturally but new players frankly shouldn't be seeing them in their first intro town.

I want to bring my friends who're losing interest in their current MMO over but you make it so damn hard for me. You've got half a year free once Necrom is out, please use it to fix the game up for new players. It's been slowly deteriorating since one tamriel.

robwolf666 · June 2023

I've always thought first time players should be able to start the original way, in the Coldharbour prison.
Of course, people would then moan that there's not enough choice for first timers.

TheImperfect · June 2023

I totally agree with OP

ADarklore · June 2023

I have to agree that it's just downright confusing. NPCs constantly yelling at you from every side gets very distracting, even for a vet player. It would be nice if they just kept prologue quests on the Crown Store and allowed you to pick your questline from there.

FayJolyn · June 2023

When I started playing during Blackwood I really wanted to play the game in order of release. The amount of prologue quests I got bombarded with was super confusing as they are really persistent in trying to get your attention. New players have no clear way of knowing when they are starting a prologue quest. Also, I was also disappointed to learn I was not able to do the original tutorial quests for my other characters for the earlier chapters as they looked pretty good from what I saw on Youtube.. Like.. I get the Balfiera tutorial wanted to streamline things, but my experience wasn't super great. Would have loved to start with just the original tutorial quest in Cold Harbor. the world would have made much more sense that way!

Edit: I also want to add that I too experienced player choice paralysis when I got to the room with all the portals. I had no idea what or who the alliances represented I only ended up choosing the right one after searching for it on UESP. I think play the way you want is not to the benefit of new players, I was already over capacity of taking in new info as a newb. I would have much preferred a little more handholding and a clear path.

Remove the prologue quest NPC's or make them invisible at least until you accept the quest from the story tab. Both new and experienced players get little to no benefit of them, and at worst they are hated. Putting Stuga in a inn doesn't solve the problem of prologue NPC's at all, but just hides it a tad better.

Personally I think Balfiera is a mistake, experienced players already know how to get to the story they want. New players actually get a messy confusing start. I say: Bring back the original tutorials! Let new players automatically start with the main quest instead of dumping them in a zone of their choice. It's just bad experience for everyone now. Sorry if I sound harsh on this. But it has irked me from the beginning I started playing this game. If it weren't for others players in those early days who guided me along I would have stopped playing after a day.

Kendaric · June 2023

Agreed, the sheer amount of prologue quest givers is annoying. It would be far better to start them from the crown store.

Not to mention that all those quest giver NPCs and their wagons clutter up areas that weren't designed to have this many NPCs.

Kesstryl · June 2023

It's annoying for old players as well since some of us don't do all the quests on all of our alts. I usually have a set story I play through with an alt, and it's annoying to be bombarded with NPCs yelling at me every time I visit most cities. With our limited quest cap, I can't just accept the quests to stop their hawking, and I still don't intend to do all of them on all my alts (AwA taught me to never mix up my stories again and I will only play a story on one alt. To re-experience the quests, I go to PTS when my server is not the one loaded, and remake my characters with my slider screenshots).

freespirit · June 2023

I totally agree with everything said already and would like to add one thing.....

To me one of the most important questlines to start is the Harborage Story, AKA original main story, among all the screaming DLC npcs the hooded figure is ridiculously easy to miss.

I have actually lost count of players that when I've asked if they have done "the original main story" actually have no idea what that is or how to find it, that to me is a totally crazy situation!!

Elsonso · June 2023

Vrienda wrote: »

I think the Balfiera starting area is a big contributor to new player confusion too, you're giving people choice paralysis. I get it's supposed to be "Your adventure, your way" and that works... for alts. But a new player needs structure to come to understand the game before they can get into the more choosing where and how they want to play elements.

I agree about the prologue quest barkers that are all over the place. Starting a new character results in a cacophony of "do my quest!" in major towns. I know to ignore all of them, but I feel sorry for new players that have to endure all of that. I am not a fan of the Crown store quest starters, so maybe what is needed is a way to tell from the in-game quest marker or dialog whether it is a zone-related quest or something that will take the player off into a different direction.

As for Balfiera, they do stand the NPC and player right in front of the most recent Chapter, so it is clear that they are aware of the possibility that there may be some indecision on the part of players as to which door to go through.

I also agree that their new player experience can be very confusing. Major changes were made to the way the game was originally designed, and the puzzle pieces don't exactly fit together properly anymore. Other games do go too far into holding hands, but ZOS just drops new players into the deep end with a suggestion to not drown.

They probably should have had a team that was responsible for overseeing continuity for new players that could advise on where these changes were causing problems.

AcadianPaladin · June 2023

Agree with OP. Dump the obtrusive, confusing DLC/Chapter questgivers and let those ready for those quests activate them via the 'Stories' section of the menu like we already can.

FantasticFreddie · June 2023

I think starting people in the actual OG main story is the best first option. If they bought xyz chapter specifically to play it then they can go there after they escape Coldharbour if they want.

Ascarl · June 2023

IMHO all the yelling DLC advertisers should be silenced until the character hast either finished or hit level 50.

Braffin · June 2023

Agreed, "play as you want" in it's current state is a complete mess.

Nothing against having options, unfortunately playing the game in story order isn't an option for new players anymore but requires knowledge of a veteran player.

Should be fixed asap.

DinoZavr · June 2023

moving Prologue ques-givers to some distant from mainstream routes hub might be a good idea too.
when player willingly visits the hub in question - they know what they are doing and why.
placing Prologue quest-givers in zone capitals confuses new players a plenty.

phaneub17_ESO · June 2023

Mission boards at Inns, Taverns, Fighters Guild, and Banks all compiled together.

ADarklore · June 2023

I'm not sure if they are already listed this way, but it would also be nice if they listed the "Prologue Quests" in the Crown Store in release order, so players could choose to do them in order or not. As it is, I have a spreadsheet where I have all the DLC prologue quests listed in order. While ZOS says you can do them in any order, I find that it's best to do them in chronological order as they were added to the game.

FayJolyn · June 2023

ADarklore wrote: »

I'm not sure if they are already listed this way, but it would also be nice if they listed the "Prologue Quests" in the Crown Store in release order, so players could choose to do them in order or not. As it is, I have a spreadsheet where I have all the DLC prologue quests listed in order. While ZOS says you can do them in any order, I find that it's best to do them in chronological order as they were added to the game.

I would personally suggest just taking the prologue quests of the crown store completely. Make a separate button in the Story tab next to the [Start zone story] that says [start prologue quest]. To me this would be the most clear. Easy to guide a new player towards and also everything would be neatly in one place accessible. Plus I think the DLC listed there are already listed in chronological order right?

ZOS_Icy · June 2023

Greetings,

This thread has been moved to the Quests and Exploration section, as it is better suited there.

Thank you for your understanding.

Mik195 · June 2023

Or, at a minimum, make the quest markers a different color.

SilverBride · June 2023

This really needs to be fixed because it is illogical and confusing, especially for a new player.

valenwood_vegan · June 2023

I have to agree with this 1000%... I started playing before Greymoor, so there were fewer of these quests around.

And even then I found it confusing and overwhelming. I got sent all over the place, to zones I hadn't gone to and had no wayshrines in. Zero understanding of what I was doing or why. At one point I went into a mage's guild to talk to Abnur Tharn for the main quest... and there was a second Abnur there offering a prologue quest. Not knowing better, I talked to the wrong one and got so lost and didn't finish the MAIN STORY until months later when I created my second character. If it was a mess even back then, I can't imagine how it is for a player starting out now.

I would personally remove these quests from the open world and hide them somewhere... like a special explorers' guild hall or something that has all of the prologue quest givers... a mission board found in inns and taverns... a consolidated NPC that offers you a chance to travel to distant lands and lets you choose which DLC you want to start... but at the absolute least, they should have different quest icons and maybe a notice in the initial quest dialogue / the quest journal that they are prologue quests related to a specific DLC.

(EDIT to add: I don't know if this has been fixed, but my memory is that there were and probably still are issues where other quests in the game can break if you have certain prologue quests active... so another reason to place them somewhere where players have to seek them out, rather than shoving them in a new player's face).

Mesite · June 2023

I don't have all of the DLC and I started a couple of the quests including the one to find people in the outlaws refuge, then thought, I don't have Murkmire, why am I doing that prologue?

I'd rather not have the prologue quest appear unless I have the DLC.

Jestir · June 2023

I would love if those prologue quest givers were locked away in craglorn and in the final zones of each alliance, it would be a little more nicer at least

So that new players, who hopefully got stabby stabbed and went through the original tutorial which started them on a nice linear and logical path through their alliance zone quests, don't get shot literally all over the world without a single clue on anything

Vrienda · June 2023

Bleakz wrote: »

I would love if those prologue quest givers were locked away in craglorn and in the final zones of each alliance, it would be a little more nicer at least

So that new players, who hopefully got stabby stabbed and went through the original tutorial which started them on a nice linear and logical path through their alliance zone quests, don't get shot literally all over the world without a single clue on anything

Craglorn is actually the perfect place for them. Open up a little adenturer's guild hall and have them all congregate there.

Or hell, even a questers board where you can pick up prologue notes and are sent to meet the PHASED NPC wherever ZOS originally put them. Basically a board that works like the crown store way of accepting the quests, but isn't going to confuse new players as it'd remove the NPC's until a quest is accepted from the Craglorn board (Or crown store).

Rkindaleft · June 2023

I've always thought that they should just put any new accounts into the original Coldharbour so new players can experience the actual main story before they get lost with 4473 intro quests and NPCs yelling at them as soon as they leave.

I have always thought that if they didn't do that they should set a level requirement (I.E level 10 or so) before all of these NPCs start talking to them. They can still pick up the quests through the Crown Store earlier, if they so wish.

Sete · July 2023

Starting the game after a few years away, it's confusing as hell. So many prologue quests, characters that you should meet later in the story giving you quests on the starting area, it's certainly turning people away and needs addressing.

FabresFour · July 2023

I'm very happy to see that this is not my problem alone. I mean... I did all the quests in the game, I can play smoothly. Now, explain to someone new to the game? Dude, it's complicated!

Arizona_Steve · July 2023

Or simply stopping the quest givers from yelling at the player as they pass by would be a huge help. They still have the black arrows above them so it's easy to tell that there's a quest available.