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Introduction Add-on

Iccotak
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Is there an add on that just makes the character start in coldharbor no matter the introduction or gives you the choice of where you want to start?
Tamriel
Morrowind
Summerset
Elsweyr

I miss the old Coldharbor Cutscene intro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fle96EAHlDg

The original Intro Gameplay (execpt for the fact the player ends in Stonefalls rather than Bleakfalls)
Edited by Iccotak on March 16, 2019 4:13PM
  • Gythral
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    No
    you can however talk to the benefactor on any new character and do a pale comparison of this (visit any original game area & you will get accosted to start this quest)
    “Be as a tower, that, firmly set,
    Shakes not its top for any blast that blows!”
    Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
  • starkerealm
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    That's more in the range a mod. Addons allow you to tweak the UI and mess around with some other things, but that kind of scripting is well outside the range of what someone can do.

    If ZOS chose to do so, they could implement alternate starting tutorials. You can already see this on the PTS, where you pick between a template start (which will skip the tutorial and stick you at a specific location) or starting normally. But there's no way to access this functionality as a player.
  • Iccotak
    Iccotak
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    Gythral wrote: »
    No
    you can however talk to the benefactor on any new character and do a pale comparison of this (visit any original game area & you will get accosted to start this quest)

    I don't care for how that was handled, it breaks pacing for me.
    And the original intro is stripped bare from what it was.
    the interactions with the prophet is greatly changed
    Edited by Iccotak on March 16, 2019 10:04AM
  • Danikat
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    Iccotak wrote: »
    Gythral wrote: »
    No
    you can however talk to the benefactor on any new character and do a pale comparison of this (visit any original game area & you will get accosted to start this quest)

    I don't care for how that was handled, it breaks pacing for me.
    And the original intro is stripped bare from what it was.
    the interactions with the prophet is greatly changed

    I miss getting to choose a weapon as well. I swear the game knows which weapons I want for that character and ensures I get everything but those.
    PC EU player | She/her/hers | PAWS (Positively Against Wrip-off Stuff) - Say No to Crown Crates!

    "Remember in this game we call life that no one said it's fair"
  • Iccotak
    Iccotak
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    Danikat wrote: »
    Iccotak wrote: »
    Gythral wrote: »
    No
    you can however talk to the benefactor on any new character and do a pale comparison of this (visit any original game area & you will get accosted to start this quest)

    I don't care for how that was handled, it breaks pacing for me.
    And the original intro is stripped bare from what it was.
    the interactions with the prophet is greatly changed

    I miss getting to choose a weapon as well. I swear the game knows which weapons I want for that character and ensures I get everything but those.

    seriously giving the player the armory option at the beginning to choose a weapon was really nice
  • Gythral
    Gythral
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    Only providing info...

    Personally I think that the very original Wailing Prison was far better than it's current pale comparison and these 'you WILL start in the newest chapter' and RNGesus WILL dictate what weapons you get and what armour (and you cant level the skill until you've found 3 and equipped them), oh and if you are magicka - tough as staves and cloth are rarer than rocking horse droppings...
    “Be as a tower, that, firmly set,
    Shakes not its top for any blast that blows!”
    Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
  • bearbelly
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    Unrelated, perhaps dumb, question...

    Is Elsweyr on the PTS yet?
    If so, what does the novice (new character) gear look like?
  • Gythral
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    bearbelly wrote: »
    Unrelated, perhaps dumb, question...

    Is Elsweyr on the PTS yet?
    If so, what does the novice (new character) gear look like?

    No
    maybe another month yet...
    (see the sticky post for very early pre-views)
    “Be as a tower, that, firmly set,
    Shakes not its top for any blast that blows!”
    Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
  • max_only
    max_only
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    Iccotak wrote: »
    Danikat wrote: »
    Iccotak wrote: »
    Gythral wrote: »
    No
    you can however talk to the benefactor on any new character and do a pale comparison of this (visit any original game area & you will get accosted to start this quest)

    I don't care for how that was handled, it breaks pacing for me.
    And the original intro is stripped bare from what it was.
    the interactions with the prophet is greatly changed

    I miss getting to choose a weapon as well. I swear the game knows which weapons I want for that character and ensures I get everything but those.

    seriously giving the player the armory option at the beginning to choose a weapon was really nice

    If you start in Summerset the weapon choices are on the ground. Yes there’s a weapon on the altar she wants you to pick up but you can then unequip it and pick up the weapons from the other side of the altar or along the ground as you catch up to her “ghost”

    If you start in Morrowind the weapon choices are all in one pirate “house”.

    When I started in Coldharbor in 2016 they gave me a 2h sword and I had to run around killing Daedra to find the weapon I wanted, there wasn’t an armory.
    Edited by max_only on March 16, 2019 11:11AM
    #FiteForYourRite Bosmer = Stealth
    #OppositeResourceSiphoningAttacks
    || CP 1000+ || PC/NA || GUILDS: LWH; IA; CH; XA
    ""All gods' creatures (you lot) are equal when covered in A1 sauce"" -- Old Bosmeri Wisdom
  • Nestor
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    ZOS's idea was to provide an intro that got people in the game as quick as possible and still showing the basics. Good intention but a problem with the implementation. They applied it to every tutorial. And, it does mess with what is one of the best parts of the game, the story and the world.

    We have a few of these tutorials now. Give the player a choice for which start to take at initial character load. And, then which content to load into, Original Story, Chapter 1 or 2 or 3 etc. Let one tutorial, the original, be the longer richer version. The others have more streamlining, maybe even to the point where you wake up in a strange bed... kind of thing.

    Oh, and the Starter Islands. We need to be able to start on them again. Give us a travel choice when we pop into the game after the tutorial for those who want to skip those.
    Edited by Nestor on March 16, 2019 11:01AM
    Enjoy the game, life is what you really want to be worried about.

    PakKat "Everything was going well, until I died"
    Gary Gravestink "I am glad you died, I needed the help"

  • AcadianPaladin
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    Agree on the option to start in Cold Harbour - I'd pick that every time.

    For now, my character holds her nose, blasts through the flavor of the month new 'start', ports to her house, takes a shower to wash the new tutorial off. Then she steps out of her house looking for the dude with the hood so she can start the proper tutorial. Tedious but until we get a choice. . . .

    As far as starting weapons go, one of the first thing my new characters do is summon their banker - who just so happens to be holding a blue level 1 weapon that suits her to a tee.
    Edited by AcadianPaladin on March 16, 2019 11:11AM
    PC NA(no Steam), PvE, mostly solo
  • starkerealm
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    Nestor wrote: »
    ZOS's idea was to provide an intro that got people in the game as quick as possible and still showing the basics. Good intention but a problem with the implementation. They applied it to every tutorial. And, it does mess with what is one of the best parts of the game, the story and the world.

    We have a few of these tutorials now. Give the player a choice for which start to take at initial character load. And, then which content to load into, Original Story, Chapter 1 or 2 or 3 etc. Let one tutorial, the original, be the longer richer version. The others have more streamlining, maybe even to the point where you wake up in a strange bed... kind of thing.

    Oh, and the Starter Islands. We need to be able to start on them again. Give us a travel choice when we pop into the game after the tutorial for those who want to skip those.

    The problem was, the Coldharbour tutorial was long, and didn't cover much more than the new ones do. (Sneak attacks and lockpicking are gone.) But otherwise, the mind prison is a much better primer for the game.

    Also, and very importantly, it drops you in Summerset. As someone who is familiar with MMOs, you know how significant that is. It also gives new players a good view of how the game works in an uncontained environments.

    Coldharbour to the starters was a long slog that, in retrospect, gave a skewed perspective of how the game would actually play.

    Coldharbour was good for the story. That was it. Everything else about that needed to be revisited.

    My only regret is how kludgey the Benefactor mini-quest is. That could have been expanded into a quest that didn't ask us to act like idiots because the power of plot compels us.
  • Danikat
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    max_only wrote: »
    Iccotak wrote: »
    Danikat wrote: »
    Iccotak wrote: »
    Gythral wrote: »
    No
    you can however talk to the benefactor on any new character and do a pale comparison of this (visit any original game area & you will get accosted to start this quest)

    I don't care for how that was handled, it breaks pacing for me.
    And the original intro is stripped bare from what it was.
    the interactions with the prophet is greatly changed

    I miss getting to choose a weapon as well. I swear the game knows which weapons I want for that character and ensures I get everything but those.

    seriously giving the player the armory option at the beginning to choose a weapon was really nice

    If you start in Summerset the weapon choices are on the ground. Yes there’s a weapon on the altar she wants you to pick up but you can then unequip it and pick up the weapons from the other side of the altar or along the ground as you catch up to her “ghost”

    If you start in Morrowind the weapon choices are all in one pirate “house”.

    When I started in Coldharbor in 2016 they gave me a 2h sword and I had to run around killing Daedra to find the weapon I wanted, there wasn’t an armory.

    Yeah they changed Coldharbour a while before Morrowind was released. Originally you were presented with a table full of weapons covering all the different choices and told to pick one (and could take more than one). Then they "streamlined" it and forced everyone to take a two-handed sword.
    PC EU player | She/her/hers | PAWS (Positively Against Wrip-off Stuff) - Say No to Crown Crates!

    "Remember in this game we call life that no one said it's fair"
  • max_only
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    Danikat wrote: »
    max_only wrote: »
    Iccotak wrote: »
    Danikat wrote: »
    Iccotak wrote: »
    Gythral wrote: »
    No
    you can however talk to the benefactor on any new character and do a pale comparison of this (visit any original game area & you will get accosted to start this quest)

    I don't care for how that was handled, it breaks pacing for me.
    And the original intro is stripped bare from what it was.
    the interactions with the prophet is greatly changed

    I miss getting to choose a weapon as well. I swear the game knows which weapons I want for that character and ensures I get everything but those.

    seriously giving the player the armory option at the beginning to choose a weapon was really nice

    If you start in Summerset the weapon choices are on the ground. Yes there’s a weapon on the altar she wants you to pick up but you can then unequip it and pick up the weapons from the other side of the altar or along the ground as you catch up to her “ghost”

    If you start in Morrowind the weapon choices are all in one pirate “house”.

    When I started in Coldharbor in 2016 they gave me a 2h sword and I had to run around killing Daedra to find the weapon I wanted, there wasn’t an armory.

    Yeah they changed Coldharbour a while before Morrowind was released. Originally you were presented with a table full of weapons covering all the different choices and told to pick one (and could take more than one). Then they "streamlined" it and forced everyone to take a two-handed sword.

    Before Morrowind? This was in July 2016, 2 years before Morrowind. Been more than “a while” lol
    #FiteForYourRite Bosmer = Stealth
    #OppositeResourceSiphoningAttacks
    || CP 1000+ || PC/NA || GUILDS: LWH; IA; CH; XA
    ""All gods' creatures (you lot) are equal when covered in A1 sauce"" -- Old Bosmeri Wisdom
  • theyancey
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  • starkerealm
    starkerealm
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    max_only wrote: »
    Danikat wrote: »
    max_only wrote: »
    Iccotak wrote: »
    Danikat wrote: »
    Iccotak wrote: »
    Gythral wrote: »
    No
    you can however talk to the benefactor on any new character and do a pale comparison of this (visit any original game area & you will get accosted to start this quest)

    I don't care for how that was handled, it breaks pacing for me.
    And the original intro is stripped bare from what it was.
    the interactions with the prophet is greatly changed

    I miss getting to choose a weapon as well. I swear the game knows which weapons I want for that character and ensures I get everything but those.

    seriously giving the player the armory option at the beginning to choose a weapon was really nice

    If you start in Summerset the weapon choices are on the ground. Yes there’s a weapon on the altar she wants you to pick up but you can then unequip it and pick up the weapons from the other side of the altar or along the ground as you catch up to her “ghost”

    If you start in Morrowind the weapon choices are all in one pirate “house”.

    When I started in Coldharbor in 2016 they gave me a 2h sword and I had to run around killing Daedra to find the weapon I wanted, there wasn’t an armory.

    Yeah they changed Coldharbour a while before Morrowind was released. Originally you were presented with a table full of weapons covering all the different choices and told to pick one (and could take more than one). Then they "streamlined" it and forced everyone to take a two-handed sword.

    Before Morrowind? This was in July 2016, 2 years before Morrowind. Been more than “a while” lol

    Morrowind was June 2017. That's not two years after July 2016...

    Also, interesting thing, you can pick up other weapons in the Mind Prison and on the island. Not sure about the Wailing Prison tutorial, though. I haven't done that since early 2016 (I think.)
  • max_only
    max_only
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    max_only wrote: »
    Danikat wrote: »
    max_only wrote: »
    Iccotak wrote: »
    Danikat wrote: »
    Iccotak wrote: »
    Gythral wrote: »
    No
    you can however talk to the benefactor on any new character and do a pale comparison of this (visit any original game area & you will get accosted to start this quest)

    I don't care for how that was handled, it breaks pacing for me.
    And the original intro is stripped bare from what it was.
    the interactions with the prophet is greatly changed

    I miss getting to choose a weapon as well. I swear the game knows which weapons I want for that character and ensures I get everything but those.

    seriously giving the player the armory option at the beginning to choose a weapon was really nice

    If you start in Summerset the weapon choices are on the ground. Yes there’s a weapon on the altar she wants you to pick up but you can then unequip it and pick up the weapons from the other side of the altar or along the ground as you catch up to her “ghost”

    If you start in Morrowind the weapon choices are all in one pirate “house”.

    When I started in Coldharbor in 2016 they gave me a 2h sword and I had to run around killing Daedra to find the weapon I wanted, there wasn’t an armory.

    Yeah they changed Coldharbour a while before Morrowind was released. Originally you were presented with a table full of weapons covering all the different choices and told to pick one (and could take more than one). Then they "streamlined" it and forced everyone to take a two-handed sword.

    Before Morrowind? This was in July 2016, 2 years before Morrowind. Been more than “a while” lol

    Morrowind was June 2017. That's not two years after July 2016...

    Also, interesting thing, you can pick up other weapons in the Mind Prison and on the island. Not sure about the Wailing Prison tutorial, though. I haven't done that since early 2016 (I think.)

    Okay 1 year.

    The second piece, I said that already lol
    #FiteForYourRite Bosmer = Stealth
    #OppositeResourceSiphoningAttacks
    || CP 1000+ || PC/NA || GUILDS: LWH; IA; CH; XA
    ""All gods' creatures (you lot) are equal when covered in A1 sauce"" -- Old Bosmeri Wisdom
  • barney2525
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    Gythral wrote: »
    Only providing info...

    Personally I think that the very original Wailing Prison was far better than it's current pale comparison and these 'you WILL start in the newest chapter' and RNGesus WILL dictate what weapons you get and what armour (and you cant level the skill until you've found 3 and equipped them), oh and if you are magicka - tough as staves and cloth are rarer than rocking horse droppings...


    I don't think this is correct. Just having a piece on does start the xp of the line. It does not start giving you options to use the passives. I have had a piece or two on, and when I got the third to trigger the line I was at 3rd level.

    EDIT: IMHO, I like the option to start the Main Quest 'when you want to'. And I like way it is done. It logically explains How your character got into Coldharbor. Just saying "You died", start here always had kind of an empty ring to it. How was I stupid enough to get killed? Now, at least it makes sense from a character history point of view. Granted I enjoyed the Morrorwind intro more than Summerset. Although it does give the character a rather jinxed feeling. I'm free - I'm a slave in Vvardenfall - I escaped - I'm free - I'm a slave in Coldharbor.

    Can't you stay out of trouble?
    Edited by barney2525 on March 16, 2019 3:09PM
  • Shawn_PT
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    This introduction was the best. Every other that came since proved to be not only lackluster but also confusing. It strayed new players away from the main quest, resulting in countless inconsistencies.

    Whether players start in Morrowind or Summerset or Elsweyr, they ARE a vestige and that part takes precedence over any other plot.

    Perhaps the Wailing Prison needs a rework to bring it in line with the other starts. Explain things better and cover ALL aspects of single game. To make it quicker is pointless since we can already skip it entirely (iirc) so there is no quicker than that.

    I went through each tutorial as they came out. Morrowind made some sense. You were in a ship, making a trip and got in trouble, and then had to get out of there. That works despite making zero effort towards explaining your vestige status.

    The Summerset tutorial I am still totally lost as what it is. First I found it too simple. Follow me because. Hit that key because. Go through that door because. Yay you escaped the mind prison for which no explanation is given and just popped up at random. Was I... was I supposed to be dead? Was I captured by giant gummy brains? Did I drown? Did I take a wrong turn in the city? Was that a bad dream? Or a skooma trip? What... what in blazes was that???? And how does any of this fit with the weird pink geyser video we get to see? It just makes no bleeping sense.

    I confess, the whole 'grab that 2H' deal bothered me so when I ran through it I tried to screw the system by destroying the weapon the moment I picked it up. Unfortunately another one spawned right in its place :tongue: bummer.
  • Iccotak
    Iccotak
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    barney2525 wrote: »
    Gythral wrote: »
    Only providing info...

    Personally I think that the very original Wailing Prison was far better than it's current pale comparison and these 'you WILL start in the newest chapter' and RNGesus WILL dictate what weapons you get and what armour (and you cant level the skill until you've found 3 and equipped them), oh and if you are magicka - tough as staves and cloth are rarer than rocking horse droppings...

    Just saying "You died", start here always had kind of an empty ring to it. How was I stupid enough to get killed? Now, at least it makes sense from a character history point of view. Granted I enjoyed the Morrorwind intro more than Summerset. Although it does give the character a rather jinxed feeling. I'm free - I'm a slave in Vvardenfall - I escaped - I'm free - I'm a slave in Coldharbor.

    Can't you stay out of trouble?

    That argument doesn't make sense when you apply it to the other intros
    Why were you on a boat to Morrowind?
    Why were you with a dungeon party in Summerset?

    Every ES title starts with the player as a prisoner. You don't need an in-game explanation, that part is up to the player

    The very original Coldharbor intro was leagues better than all of the currently existing ones now.
    The problem was, the Coldharbour tutorial was long, and didn't cover much more than the new ones do. (Sneak attacks and lockpicking are gone.) But otherwise, the mind prison is a much better primer for the game.

    Also, and very importantly, it drops you in Summerset. As someone who is familiar with MMOs, you know how significant that is. It also gives new players a good view of how the game works in an uncontained environments.

    Coldharbour to the starters was a long slog that, in retrospect, gave a skewed perspective of how the game would actually play.

    Coldharbour was good for the story. That was it. Everything else about that needed to be revisited.

    My only regret is how kludgey the Benefactor mini-quest is. That could have been expanded into a quest that didn't ask us to act like idiots because the power of plot compels us.

    First I am talking about giving the player the option to start in coldharbor. Like in Gameplay options menu.
    I am talking about Vet players who would like to play the story in an order of their choosing from the character creation menu rather than running around from the latest chapter,to their home faction, and then finally go through Coldharbor to start on the starter island is a pain and really hurts the pacing

    Second, literally everything handling the current iteration of Coldharbour, and all the intros, could be handled better.
    All the current intros are are so stripped down it's sad.
    The Coldharbor intro is focused and doesn't skirt around what is happening.

    The original was a better opening imo as it had more story and I was never confused how the game was going to play after it was over. If anything the new intros leave the player kind of like "Huh?"
    You had more interaction with characters which gave you a better idea what was going on as well as more of a connection to the characters. Also a massive-mutiplayer jailbreak from a Daedric Plane is Awesome. Feels way more epic than what we have.

    I understand that ZOS has new players start in new zones is too keep their attraction but the benefactor is just silly and poorly implemented.
    Edited by Iccotak on March 16, 2019 3:45PM
  • Iccotak
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    @max_only

    In the very beginning of the game at launch, as well as beta, Coldharbor had the player make their way to the armory so then players could choose what they wanted, then they had the weapon tutorial.
    This was more friendly to the fact that players were participating in an MMO and it felt more like we were working together for a break out
  • Iccotak
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    Repeated deleted
    Edited by Iccotak on March 16, 2019 4:20PM
  • Iccotak
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    Doing a play-through with a new character
    Very frustrated
    I would much rather prefer to have the option, in the gameplay menu settings, to start new characters in the Original Coldharbor intro, not the cut-up one we have now.
    With the Prophet speech cutscene in the OP and tutorial. That beginning cutscene is just awesome
    I would have it play out much the same with just a few changes.

    Here is a basic idea of the play-through
    1. Have the opening Cutscene that is in the OP
    2. Create the character
    3. Prophet talks to you in your cell
    4. Lyris breaks you out of your cell and you tell her about the prophet
    5. You team up to break him out
    6. Lyris hands you a weapon to use for now
    7. You fight some enemies, get a basic idea of controls
    8. You head to armory and find some gear, a couple pieces of armor, and a different choice of weapons if you want
    9. fight mini-boss
    9. Sneak and Take out the Eyes
    10. Meet Cadwell
    11. break into Prophet's cell and get him out
    12. Fight Boss
    13. Take Skyshard & Esape Coldharbor
    14. Start in the Starter island of your faction, with the option to head to mainland if you want.

    Final Note: use the original voice files for the Prophet when he is calling upon Akatosh to escape Coldharbor

    Starting in the latest expansion just doesn't work for me and the beginning coldharbor section is not as awesome as it was.
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