How to help new players with the 'wow migration'

richo262

Often when I log into do crafting (Vivec) there are new players in chat.

Common things I am told / asked.
1) I'm getting tired of running across the map
2) What is the story? What is going on?
3) What is a mundus?
4) Various questions about build / skills

Solution: The advice I give now is to just scrap their MW quests or finish off any they are in the process of. I ask them their alliance, and I port them to their real starting zone. I then say, do Morrowind after you've done the Main Quest and your Alliance zone quest.

The response has been very positive. ZOS really should implement a choice of starting location and starting mundus (given no DLC / Chapter zone has them) with a recommendation to new players to start in Cold Harbor.

I don't have any of my characters sleeping in Summerset, so I have no clue about how new players receive Summerset, but Morrowind often has new players confused. I actually really enjoyed MW so it is not a criticism of the zone, it is, that it is not a great starting zone.

Edit: Important to send them to their main capital and have them talk to the hooded figure so they truly get the vanilla start. Also take them to the nearest Mundus stone if you can before they, you know, *SPOILER*.

Any new player that is reading this should probably ask in their starting zone to be taken to the hooded figure in your alliances first proper zone. EP - Stonefalls, DC - Daggerfall, AD - Auridon.

Sanctuary_Reaper

Very much this.

The storyline arc must be very confusing for a new player.

Tasear

8 days then they can join guild with guild finder. 😜 If PC NA can join up with Tasear's guild.

r34lian

Follow them like they're doing to Asmongold

Gythral

An add-on that pops up every logon and after porting that reads

You are DC/EP/AD port to Daggerfall/Davon's Watch/Vulkel Guard and find the Benefactor

(and get killed like a good Emissary)
Then do what you are told

FierceSam

There are lots of players who have the same issues. You don’t have to have played WoW to be confused. ZOS does a pretty ***-poor job of explaining their game and providing any kind of tutorials/practice spaces to help players get better. I guess that’s what happens when you spend all your time talking to people who already know how to play the game. That said, the initial tutorial in Elsweyr is a billion times better than the garbage one in Summerset so maybe there’s progress.

I have found asking in chat is surprisingly helpful. One of the best things about the Anniversary was the number of people offering help with all sorts of stuff.

Finding a good guild is also great, so I’m looking forward to the new guild finder. I’ve noticed much more basic level questions in our guild chat recently and, again, it’s cool to see people being really helpful to one another. I hope the new guild finder will encourage guilds for all types of players.

I understand the suggestion of going to a player’s home city and starting from there. It gives players a much clearer overall story than either Morrowind or Summerset, but I think that will be a hard sell for new players who want dragons and necromancers and won’t want to spend days/months getting there (even if it is a great journey).

Best thing everyone can do is be pleasant and welcoming to everyone who’s coming in to the game. We were all beginners once.

Danikat

Players have been telling ZOS that it's a bad idea to dump new players into the latest expansion without any information on what order the game was designed to be played in since Morrowind hit the PTS, but it looks like they're determined to stick with this strategy no matter how much confusion it causes.

pod88kk

I've got a handy website for them to use

www.google.com

andreasv

pod88kk wrote: »

I've got a handy website for them to use

www.google.com

Something that has been mentioned on this forum before that I thought was very true for game design is, that if you have to go to an external source to understand what's going on (especially in the beginning of a game) then your game is poorly designed. You shouldn't have to go to Google to know where your staring area is for example.

MaleAmazon

Sticky a post here which outlines the story. And someone for the love of Stendarr walk into ZOS headquarters and tell them what an awful idea it is to start new players in the latest expansion.

It can be done unintrusively and sort of RP-friendly as well. Has been done in past games with 'alternate start' mods for example.

Just a simple letter in your inventory, or something. Just 'I had a premonition that I might face lands and stories I do not fully understand, lest I walk the path revealed by the hooded figure'. Something like that. Start a new tutorial for everyone if you have to.

Personally I would start everyone in a training arena for their own alliance. Redo the tutorial once and for all. At least previously it made sense because you started in the Coldharbour cell. Now... redo, fix please. "Forgotten adventurer´s leggings"...

But the story is weird for everyone. IIRC they still have the "you there, wet one" from Razum-Dar despite the fact that you haven´t fallen out of the sky and landed in the water near newbie island for years.

At this point it´s like a bad pick-up line or something

sionIV

Even back in Morrowind it was confusing. I took the boat to Glenumbra (I was playing a Breton), and I wanted to start on the main Daggerfall Pact quest. I somehow ended up in Orsinium because I took a quest close to the harbor, which told me to board the cart. After a few hours in Orsinium, being completely confused, I went back to Glenumbra once I figured out how the wayshrine and world map worked. I saw that I had a main quest in my quest log, and I chose to follow that quest, which took me far away from the Daggerfall Pact. It was first on my second character, that someone told me about the starting Islands.

My Advice: Tell them to travel to their starting Island(s) and complete those first. It is a shame that ESO moves the starting location with every chapter.

richo262

They sh

sionIV wrote: »

Even back in Morrowind it was confusing. I took the boat to Glenumbra (I was playing a Breton), and I wanted to start on the main Daggerfall Pact quest. I somehow ended up in Orsinium because I took a quest close to the harbor, which told me to board the cart. After a few hours in Orsinium, being completely confused, I went back to Glenumbra once I figured out how the wayshrine and world map worked. I saw that I had a main quest in my quest log, and I chose to follow that quest, which took me far away from the Daggerfall Pact. It was first on my second character, that someone told me about the starting Islands.

My Advice: Tell them to travel to their starting Island(s) and complete those first. It is a shame that ESO moves the starting location with every chapter.

What I did was took them to their first starting zone main city, ie Daggerfall, and told them to talk to the hooded figure. That sends them to cold harbor, which in turn, sends them to the island you are referring to, because after escaping they get dumped on that island. So they get to start their Main Quest / Alliance Quest in parallel.

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO

Sanctuary_Reaper wrote: »

Very much this.

The storyline arc must be very confusing for a new player.

I had no issue when I started playing 5 years ago...wtf?

andreasv

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO wrote: »

Sanctuary_Reaper wrote: »

Very much this.

The storyline arc must be very confusing for a new player.

I had no issue when I started playing 5 years ago...wtf?

Did you start with the Morrowind or Summerset story 5 years ago?

richo262

@xenowarrior92eb17_ESO - Because 5 years ago you started in cold harbor. You had a clear direction and the Main Quest was tied to your level as you progressed through your Alliance Quest. Now it is a mess, the Prophet does not appear as you level, but the moment you take 2 steps out of the Harborage. You can just power through them with no meaning. Given there is so much content and the game is more open now it makes sense to not have it bound to character level, but to just appear after you walk outside? No. The prophet should appear after you complete certain zone quests in your alliance arc. For people leveling alts, they would simply just need to rush to that zone and complete that particular zone quest to activate the Prophet again.

Now, the alliance zones are not clear in their order, you do not start with the main quest, you start in Vvard / SS or now Litterbox, which, those stories take place AFTER the events of Cold Harbor.

ZOS should replace the Cadwell Almenac (spelling?) with a Zone Story Arc page.

Planemeld Stories:
AD Story - Roost > Auridon > Grahtwood > Greenshade > Mal > Reaper > Cold Harbor
EP Story - Bleakrock > Bal > Stonefalls > Deshaan > Shadowfen > Eastmarch > The Rift > Cold Harbor
DC Story - Stros > Betnik > Glenumbra > Stormhaven > Rivenspire > Alik'r Desert > Bangkorai > Cold Harbor
The game should actually block a player from entering Cold Harbor until they have completed 1 of the above arcs.

Daedric Wars: Morrowind > Clockwork City > Summerset > Elswyer

Self contained stories:
Imperial City (It is part of the Planemeld story, but it is not directly attached to the arcs above)
Craglorn
Wrothgar
Hew's Bane
Gold Coast
Murkmire

Given the Daedric Wars happened after the Planemeld, the confusion is obvious. Why start in a zone after the fact?

As for the other questions I get from new players. ZOS should just remove all mundus from all base game zones and move them all into Craglorn given that entire zone is all about mundus, story, crafting sets, trials, its all mundus related. Have the player choose a starting mundus, if they wish to change their mundus, go to Craglorn. The Craglorn quest even has you charge up the stones, and free the Warrior, Thief and Mage.

BejaProphet

I hear there is a great host of players in cyrodiil extremely eager to help orient newcomers. Send them that way for a swift education. They even extend a traditional custom that transcends multiple games. Something about having tea I believe.

richo262

The tea party happens after they figure out wtf to do.

Rukia541

THis was confusing to me too. It should start you in coldharbour THEN give you the option to go to an expansion area, not just drop you in there with 0 previous knowledge.

richo262

I can just imagine new players on Elsweyr.

Abnur - I think I have finally found a way to put an end to this stupid war after all these years!
Player - What war?

Abnur - It's okay [Insert person] didn't die in vain!
Player - Who? Why do I care?

Not to mention meeting Cadwell, only to later play through the main story to see him in Cold Harbor like he was never in Elsywer.

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO

richo262 wrote: »

@xenowarrior92eb17_ESO - Because 5 years ago you started in cold harbor. You had a clear direction and the Main Quest was tied to your level as you progressed through your Alliance Quest. Now it is a mess, the Prophet does not appear as you level, but the moment you take 2 steps out of the Harborage. You can just power through them with no meaning. Given there is so much content and the game is more open now it makes sense to not have it bound to character level, but to just appear after you walk outside? No. The prophet should appear after you complete certain zone quests in your alliance arc. For people leveling alts, they would simply just need to rush to that zone and complete that particular zone quest to activate the Prophet again.

Now, the alliance zones are not clear in their order, you do not start with the main quest, you start in Vvard / SS or now Litterbox, which, those stories take place AFTER the events of Cold Harbor.

ZOS should replace the Cadwell Almenac (spelling?) with a Zone Story Arc page.

Planemeld Stories:
AD Story - Roost > Auridon > Grahtwood > Greenshade > Mal > Reaper > Cold Harbor
EP Story - Bleakrock > Bal > Stonefalls > Deshaan > Shadowfen > Eastmarch > The Rift > Cold Harbor
DC Story - Stros > Betnik > Glenumbra > Stormhaven > Rivenspire > Alik'r Desert > Bangkorai > Cold Harbor
The game should actually block a player from entering Cold Harbor until they have completed 1 of the above arcs.

Daedric Wars: Morrowind > Clockwork City > Summerset > Elswyer

Self contained stories:
Imperial City (It is part of the Planemeld story, but it is not directly attached to the arcs above)
Craglorn
Wrothgar
Hew's Bane
Gold Coast
Murkmire

Given the Daedric Wars happened after the Planemeld, the confusion is obvious. Why start in a zone after the fact?

As for the other questions I get from new players. ZOS should just remove all mundus from all base game zones and move them all into Craglorn given that entire zone is all about mundus, story, crafting sets, trials, its all mundus related. Have the player choose a starting mundus, if they wish to change their mundus, go to Craglorn. The Craglorn quest even has you charge up the stones, and free the Warrior, Thief and Mage.

I see...yeah its messy now...I dont do alts so I guess it was pretty much straightforward for me...but if I would start one I would be clueless especially that things like story should be done in a line not from all directions how you feel like it...oh well more work for zos I guess

me_ming

richo262 wrote: »

@xenowarrior92eb17_ESO - Because 5 years ago you started in cold harbor. You had a clear direction and the Main Quest was tied to your level as you progressed through your Alliance Quest. Now it is a mess, the Prophet does not appear as you level, but the moment you take 2 steps out of the Harborage. You can just power through them with no meaning. Given there is so much content and the game is more open now it makes sense to not have it bound to character level, but to just appear after you walk outside? No. The prophet should appear after you complete certain zone quests in your alliance arc. For people leveling alts, they would simply just need to rush to that zone and complete that particular zone quest to activate the Prophet again.

Now, the alliance zones are not clear in their order, you do not start with the main quest, you start in Vvard / SS or now Litterbox, which, those stories take place AFTER the events of Cold Harbor.

ZOS should replace the Cadwell Almenac (spelling?) with a Zone Story Arc page.

Planemeld Stories:
AD Story - Roost > Auridon > Grahtwood > Greenshade > Mal > Reaper > Cold Harbor
EP Story - Bleakrock > Bal > Stonefalls > Deshaan > Shadowfen > Eastmarch > The Rift > Cold Harbor
DC Story - Stros > Betnik > Glenumbra > Stormhaven > Rivenspire > Alik'r Desert > Bangkorai > Cold Harbor
The game should actually block a player from entering Cold Harbor until they have completed 1 of the above arcs.

Daedric Wars: Morrowind > Clockwork City > Summerset > Elswyer

Self contained stories:
Imperial City (It is part of the Planemeld story, but it is not directly attached to the arcs above)
Craglorn
Wrothgar
Hew's Bane
Gold Coast
Murkmire

Given the Daedric Wars happened after the Planemeld, the confusion is obvious. Why start in a zone after the fact?

As for the other questions I get from new players. ZOS should just remove all mundus from all base game zones and move them all into Craglorn given that entire zone is all about mundus, story, crafting sets, trials, its all mundus related. Have the player choose a starting mundus, if they wish to change their mundus, go to Craglorn. The Craglorn quest even has you charge up the stones, and free the Warrior, Thief and Mage.

Yeah, I completely agree with this.

I really dislike this new thing that they are doing with the chapters. I see how this can be very confusing to a new player. I really think that ZoS should do it like how it was before, I mean, if a new player would want to go to Morrowind or Summerset or anywhere they could. That is why they are called Chapters, right? Because they follow a chronological order. It's honestly messed up. And by the ZoS, it's not your player based to educate your new customers. It's yours.

richo262

I'd actually say that people should have the choice of starting either:

1) Planemeld story (Strongly recommended for new players) - Start in Cold Harbor
2) Daedric War story - Start in any zone they have in this order - Wrothgar*, Morrowind, Clockwork, Summerset, Elsweyr
*I included Wrothgar in this because, whilst not directly connected in main story, it does tease the Daedric war at the end, it is a better start zone too.

The game also presently lacks any direction for somebody that has completed MW to head to CWC for the next part in the story. It is just guesswork. There should be a quest giver that appears after MW if you own CWC. (Maybe I didn't see it if it already does do that).

If you have completed these quest lines on any character, you unlock the ability to start a new character starting in these locations:
3) Hews Bane - Start off getting off the boat to the heist.
4) Gold Coast - Start off in Gold Coast, washed up on shore.
5) Murkmire - Start off on the Island of the Murkmire prologue quest, which leads to Murkmire.

Edit: For 3, 4 and 5, you could still start in Cold Harbor, but when you escape, you end up fished out of the water by thieves about to commit a heist, by an assassin who asks you to prove yourself or by a group of archaeologists on their way to the Murkmire prologue Island.

AndyMac

A lot of new players would have bought Morrowind or Summerset so likely that’s where they would expect to start out.

Definitely there should be clear advice about the starting zones and a way to get there. A guiding NPC would very helpful imo.

TheValar85

well i think if ZOS cant do that or the players dont want to use google wich is lets face it they have every right to not relate on google, it is our responisbility to help teh new commers to guide them. Let me tell you why i think this. WoW was full and is and will be full with elitism and arrogant, not helpful, semi keyboard karatekids, with bad atitudes with that said WE yes i say we as the ESO community mebers ave to help them guiding them, by explainign them what we know, basicly those players are like our next generation in line (not literally but you know what i mean). A huge and new enviroment game experiance like ESO for a WoW player needs to be explained in details, offer them helps, by lets say opening a Discord chanel fro those players, and explain them what we know about ESO. Those players are new to this game, and thier numbers are rapidly growing, we have to guide them in some way, becasue we are welcoming them aren't we? And we are not teh same community mebers like most people on Battlenet forums, where people askign help and they recives as a responding like google it, or git gud, or even wors replys. i would suggest to use every platfroms we have to help them out, including forum threads, face book,(like facebook groups etc) youtube, twitch, discord. We basicly have every tool in our hands to help them and also to guide them, we just have to take care of them in a way how we take care for eachother in game as well. that includes also using the general chats, or even creating a guiding guild for that reason. our options how to help them is realy wast. Let us help them guys how every we can

richo262

AndyMac wrote: »

A lot of new players would have bought Morrowind or Summerset so likely that’s where they would expect to start out.

Definitely there should be clear advice about the starting zones and a way to get there. A guiding NPC would very helpful imo.

If I bought the lord of the rings trilogy, I wouldn't expect to start on 'The Return of the King'. If I was to buy a game with the expansion included, I would not expect to start at anywhere other than the beginning.

I think it is a cool feature for veteran players that have completed the game, that they may wish to dive straight into the new story content. I'd like to see it optional, not mandatory.

Completely agree about guidance, it is what the game lacks. The original story had a degree of guidance in it. The main story was clear, and said, 'RIGHT! Go to the Harborage now!'. The zones, after completion clearly said, go to the next zone. The Mages / Fighters Guilds jumped out at you and said get to the Guild in the next zone. The new Chapter system sorely lacks this push.

idk

Guilds are really a great source of information. While there are man fan sites that have a wealth of information and I suggest any new player look to them, a new player does not even know what to look for. So a good active casual and social guild is the best place to go.

No thread or fan site can cover everything in a manner that everyone can find their answer easily. Go Guild!

BrianLovesLisa

andreasv wrote: »

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO wrote: »

Sanctuary_Reaper wrote: »

Very much this.

The storyline arc must be very confusing for a new player.

I had no issue when I started playing 5 years ago...wtf?

Did you start with the Morrowind or Summerset story 5 years ago?

andreasv wrote: »

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO wrote: »

Sanctuary_Reaper wrote: »

Very much this.

The storyline arc must be very confusing for a new player.

I had no issue when I started playing 5 years ago...wtf?

Did you start with the Morrowind or Summerset story 5 years ago?

I started in Summerset Because TIMETRAVEL and the Psijics are kind of known for control of time