Skip Starter Island Option should be on Island

foxsyd

Hi!

I'll have more to say on this later, right now I on a bus to work.

I bring this up because I love the Elder Scrolls, and I want the game to succeed. Consider this quality control!

The option to skip the starter island should be on the island. You are doing a horrible disservice to new players by putting the skip option at main city for many reasons. One of which it does not make sense to the story.

If people want to skip, let them have an option to run down to docks and catch a boat to the main city.

Instead you are making brand new players run down to dock to go back to island.

Why are they the ones being punished? They will now not experience the awesomeness of arriving at the main city for the first time after establishing themselves as heroes on the starter island. Because they saw main city before, when they had to find their way to docks to get to starter Island.

Oh , let's not forget what the prophet says about being teleported far away from each other.

Please fix!

Rasly

this is so true, i was looking forward to reexperience the nice breton story and i must say, starting from a city, realy ruins the start of the story that used to be awesome

foxsyd

Yes! On my first beta weekend I chose Daggerfall, and it was a wonderful smooth story experience. And after my adventures on starter islands, I'd "earned" my trip to main city, when I arrived I was truly was wide eyed with wonder.

It's so sad to think that sort of impact and immersion has now been stolen from new players.

I want other players to experience that too!

SoulScream

I too started on the starter island in beta and thought it worked very well. I was surprised when it was changed to start in the main city.

Cormoran

Agreed, ZOS chose an incredibly backwards way of going about this.

It's especially perplexing considering they handled the option to skip Coldharbour correctly.

hrdndv_ESO

All the Elder Scrolls games had a starter scenario that you had to go through when you started a new character. I think Zenimax/Bethesda listened too hard to complainers who just wanted to play PvP. Now it seems you are thrown into the middle of the game with no idea what to do next. Of course, talking to people is easy and no problem, but the Starter Island gave a sense of immersion that is missing now. An option is to improve the opening scenario so that the introduction to the game is more linear in the individual cities, but that means replicating a lot of stuff. Already I noticed the same quests in each of the three cities ... which is immersion breaking... LOL

ShinChuck

I agree.

The option to skip the starter islands is FANTASTIC. I'm all for options.

The implementation is a bit lacking, though. I really feel like the natural way to do it would be to, as it's been said, start on the island, and notify the player that they can run right to the docks and hit the main city if desired.

gorathffeb17_ESO

First they crippled Coldharbour starting area and now this. Well we can only hope devs will wake up and fix it.

Zargorius

You should thank some "prominent" reviewers that have complained about the game not being enough open and forcing you into doing starting islands.

SmithNL

I did not even know their was an option. I just started in te city and went to the island.

KerinKor

gorathffeb17_ESO wrote: »

First they crippled Coldharbour starting area and now this. Well we can only hope devs will wake up and fix it.

I only played since the first tranche of beta invites in February (B16), but I see no change in Coldharbour.

What did I miss?

Roguepope

I didn't even know there was a starting island, thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely go to the boat when levelling up any alts.

foxsyd

The starter islands are, depending on faction you choose, Stros M'Kai, Khenarthi's Roost or Bleakrock Isle #TeamIsland

When you leave Inn at main city you find yourself at, to go down to docks to be taken to starter island... Be sure to squeeze your eyes shut so you don't see the sights of the main city (aka arrival spoilers).

I actually don't see how transition to island is going to go smooth for anyone, as soon as I stepped out of inn to find quest giver for islands I was overwhelmed by all the sights. It was instant confusion. And the quest person out side, I was worried about speaking to her because I doublets if it was right one.

And I didn't want to accidentally start a new quest lead with the wrong NPC.

BigDumbViking

Agreed, in the last Beta when I noticed I wasn't in the starting area I was kinda upset. The story line and the XP gain is pretty important. Not to mention the 3 skyshards on that island that a lot of noobs will be missing....

pinkempyreal

The whole thing was an awful experience for me. I started questing around the main city and people started saying how they have heard good things about me and what I did for Bleak rock. I had no idea what they were talking about. Finally found the guy who told me about being rescued and then took the boat there. Needless to say that was where I wwould have preferred to start.

SpionChick

I definitely agree.

Having the option to skip the islands is great, especially for alts, but this should happen at the island itself, for example by having an option to just jump into a boat and sail to the city.

This would allow those who want to experience the islands to smoothly begin the story rather than having to look for it (and possibly completely miss it) and those who want to skip the content could easily do so - and maybe even return later on, knowing that the islands exist.

Hilgara

I seem to have bypassed Khenarthi’s Roost all together and started at Auridon. I've no idea how I did this. It should not be possible to accidentaly miss the starting area.

Yasha

I find the story for AD works great if you skip the starter Island- in fact it is more immersive for me because I don't have to do all the tedious mmo-style quests on the optional island.

However, I agree that the implementation was not good because you can easily get 7 levels on the starter islands, along with money, materials, and skill levels. You are therefore always behind the eight-ball if you decide not to go back to the optional zones.

People who don't know about the areas because they didn't read the quest properly feel like there is a pacing problem with the game, mobs are too difficult etc.

People who know about the areas but want to skip them effectively can't because you can easily get 6 or 7 levels in a couple of hours, along with other benefits, which is just too good to miss out on.

siuolly

Agree. Having the "starter island" to SKIP by default and go thru all those unecessary means to get back to it to quest is a really BAD design (not to mention the flow of the story). On the other hand, giving an option at the starter island for the user who would like to skip it and head right to the main city is a MUCH more elegant design.

Hands up who did actually SKIP the starter island?

Hilgara

I'll have to go find the starting area tonight. Although I'm lvl 8 now so not sure if I will get much xp from the quests there.

albelnoxgm

I'll agree what has been said already. The option the skip the introduction islands is great (how many games has that option) but the player should definitely start from the island and decide how to advance from there.

Antonz

I too agree with you. The whole startup experience is now screwed up completely. You gets teleported to the City, then should look for a ship to transport you to start location (not an easy task, I must say). And it all looks logically wrong now. Zenimax, please reconsider this change!

RustyBlades

Oddly, you can blame the press for this - a few whiny press member said what a bore the cold harbour was (whut?) and what a chore it was to do the islands (love the snowy island) and ranted and rumbled about how bad the game was because of the starter islands. I loved them. I didn't love the articles, I loved the island progression. On a positive note some of the folks who didn't want to play ESO from the start and complained about the starter areas are unemployed.

the bad news is the damage was done and ESO opted to invert the starter zones. Actually, I think the DC had 2 islands (the 2nd one being the orc occupied island).

caffeinesoul

Just to add to the general consensus that this was a badly implemented fix:

"The option to skip the starter island should be on the island."

I agree completely. It was an awkward experience going from the narrow, guided confines of Coldharbour, straight to the large city of Daggerfall, then going back to a smaller series of islands to find out why I was in Daggerfall in the first place! That and the impersonated voice of The Prophet which made the experience feel like a quick-fix and not a well constructed narrative.

KerinKor wrote: »

gorathffeb17_ESO wrote: »

First they crippled Coldharbour starting area and now this. Well we can only hope devs will wake up and fix it.

I only played since the first tranche of beta invites in February (B16), but I see no change in Coldharbour.

What did I miss?

I may have failed to notice things yesterday, but I think you had a better selection of weapons to start with (I saw no bows when I played yesterday). Not much else is different, to be honest. Those racial tomes that teach you crafting styles don't seem to be as common as they were in beta (I looted 3 from all the urns and trunks in beta - none in release), but I imagine that's just because it was beta and ZOS wanted players to be able to test as much as possible. The mini "boss" fight towards the end (when Molag Bal pops up and summons enemies) is also different - M. Bal summons 3 skeletons first, then a boss who is a bit more mobile and interesting than the beta boss.

foxsyd wrote: »

Oh , let's not forget what the prophet says about being teleported far away from each other.

Maybe if you're old and blind, "far away" means "fives minutes down the road".

Hilgara

When you start in an area you assume thats where your supposed to be. I saw the ship that takes you to the starting area but assumed it would take me to the next area of progression so ignored it. I've done a couple of Beta weekends but still missed this so someone seeing this for the first time almost certainly will.
I thought the leveling was a bit tougher than I remembered. No wonder. I've skipped the 1st half dozen levels of easy content.

Cormoran

Roguepope wrote: »

I didn't even know there was a starting island, thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely go to the boat when levelling up any alts.

pinkempyreal wrote: »

The whole thing was an awful experience for me. I started questing around the main city and people started saying how they have heard good things about me and what I did for Bleak rock. I had no idea what they were talking about. Finally found the guy who told me about being rescued and then took the boat there. Needless to say that was where I wwould have preferred to start.

Hilgara wrote: »

I'll have to go find the starting area tonight. Although I'm lvl 8 now so not sure if I will get much xp from the quests there.

Hilgara wrote: »

When you start in an area you assume thats where your supposed to be. I saw the ship that takes you to the starting area but assumed it would take me to the next area of progression so ignored it. I've done a couple of Beta weekends but still missed this so someone seeing this for the first time almost certainly will.
I thought the leveling was a bit tougher than I remembered. No wonder. I've skipped the 1st half dozen levels of easy content.

This is precisely what I fear will be a common experience among new players.

The prophet gives the information in such a throwaway line that it's easy to glaze over as fluff dialogue instead of something of importance. With no quest marker on the person that takes you back to the areas you're really left to just stumble upon it, not even realising you've missed something.

And even once you do you're basically taking the HMS Delorean with Captain Brown and first mate McFly, hitting 76 knots per hour and sailing right into the past to begin the story.

Personally I don't blame the people who complained about feeling confined on the starter islands. The idea of having the choice is perfectly fine with me. It's the implementation of that choice that's an issue, and for that I can only blame ZOS.

Diora

totally agree. This change is so opposite of any other MMO/game that I've ever played, and was very jarring when i made a character in an alliance i didn't get to try in beta and found myself lost in a giant city.

New players are never going to find the ship without help, heck, there isn't even a quest marker over the guy on the boat you need to talk to in order to sail back.

The option to skip *forward* should be on the island, not an option to skip *backward* in the city.

Don't get me wrong, I like the fact that the option exists, its just that the implementation is poor. There are still a few days to change it, for those folks who didn't pre-order, but i doubt it will happen.

foxsyd

For me it's not just about levelling content. I really like the story that happened on the Daggerfall Covenant stater islands. People are not going to realise they are missing out on some great stories their character can be a part of, making connections with NPCs.

The consequences of some decisions you make, it was all so wonderfully immersive. So many are not even going to realise what they missed out on.

Vectur

I 100% agree. Skipping the starter zone isn't optional right now - it's mandatory! Horrible design choice IMO, as it confuses the mess out of people.

I honestly would rather the choice be made on the islands, not main city.

foxsyd

I hope Zenimax is paying attention to what we say, as far as I can see from every comment made. Everyone agrees skip option should be on the island.

Even those who want to skip say option should be on island!

And as it is now, it really isn't an option, you are right Vectur. The skip is mandatory because of the way it's been implemented!

xtamsynx

I agree. Skip at the docks on the island. I liked the islands, gave me a chance to get into the game at a gentle pace. It felt like we were both discovering together and the small canvas made it easier and less daunting. I get why others may want to go straight to the city but there is a good chance that players that may enjoy/benefit from the Islands may miss them all together by accident.