Stop dropping newbies in DLC zones please

renne · January 2021

Thechuckage wrote: »

The entire elder scrolls franchise is really know for the story. Well, that and glitches. If the story gets broken up to hell and back, a large part of the draw is being hurt.

Look at pretty much any other game, there is a linear story to be found. Side stories as well, but there is always the main story to follow. But here you have a disjointed mess that quite literally tosses a newbie into the end of the story with absolutely no organic means of telling them its the latest chapter.

Might as well pickup the last book of a series, read the last chapter and expect to know what on gods green earth is going on. At the very least, there should be a story guide, much like the skill advisor. Something in game that tells players where they are in the narrative, so they can see everything chronologically or push into the narratively hot mess that jumping to the end inevitably provides.

It's an absolute mess doing it as it is. My first toon started in Elsweyr, didn't realise until I was halfway through another region that I'd LITERALLY NOT FINISHED THE ELSWEYR PROLOGUE QUEST despite finishing Elsweyr (because there's so many quests you just pick up along the way and the prologue isn't IN Elsweyr, so you're not looking for that quest marker in this zone) when I stumbled across a quest marker for it in AD territory. I'd run into main quest markers in other regions not realising you can pick up a regions main quest at ANY point in it, and that you're just starting the in middle.

I absolutely hated it, nothing made sense. I ended up starting a whole new toon, abandoning the Elsweyr questline and finding a list of the original order for how the main quest, alliance quests, fighters guild, mages guild, etc were all done and working through that, then going on to do Silver and Gold, Craglorn, etc. I've got distracted with other stuff so haven't worked on it for a while, but I'm working my way through the DLC (IC the only one that'll be out of order) in order of release and it was SO MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE than the absolute mess that was my first attempt at a playthrough.

Jayne_Doe · January 2021

katanagirl1 wrote: »

mfcostacampos wrote: »

I actually put up a poll a while back trying to show the devs the number of people supporting this.
There were quite a few votes (400), but not sure it got any attention lol

The most interesting thing is that only 1% of people who voted want the game to stay as is.
EVERYONE else doesn't like that you're forced to start in the tutorial for the latest zone you own.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/510995/starting-zone-how-would-you-rather-start-your-game/p1

Sorry I missed that or I would have voted too.

I like the way Wrothgar was done where you got an invitation to go there whenever it was convenient for you, but I think that was when I purchased the dlc. I believe Vvardenfell was the same way as well.

Just start players in Coldharbour and then in their base game faction area and give them a quest to go to the newest area whenever they want to. Meanwhile they can start the Harborage main quest and their faction quests, and will be in the right place to do the Fighters and Mages Guild quests as well.

Whenever I start a new character I travel by wayshrine or boat or whatever to get back to the faction area, but even though I know where to go it is still a huge pain to get there.

Wrothgar is that way because it was never a chapter. Morrowind, being the first chapter, introduced a new tutorial to drop new players right into the advertised chapter.

I can see both sides of this argument, and agree that the best solution would be to offer new players a choice of where to start. But it needs to be clear, without a ton of explanation, or you're going to lose them before they even start.

They already have the tutorial for Colharbour in cold storage, so they could easily bring it back. And no, what players experience in what is left of the original tutorial, isn't a tutorial at all. What's in the game now is a far cry from what it once was. And even when it was still the tutorial, they had shortened it at least a couple of times. And even changed it at one point so that players started in Stonefalls rather than Bleakrock. They totally bypassed the starter zones with just some vague hint that they could go talk to whoever found them, 'cuz they might need some help.

Also, let's not forget that players can get hints in the zone information screen about where to go next within the zone. Perhaps they could use that space to somehow advertise that the original story is available by going to X zone, or something.

Kwoung · January 2021

I just started a new character on a new "base" account I bought during one of the sales. Other than learning to punch, block and loot some gear (which I had to pick locks for with no instruction, good thing I am NOT a complete newbie), I ended up in a small seaside town in the middle of nowhere Vardenfell. No mention of anything else, no main storyline, just a quest to start leading me around Vardenfell, one of the biggest PITA zones in the game to quest through.

Keep in mind like most ESO players (I am guessing), I had never played an Elder Scroll game before in my life, had no clue of the lore, factions, alliance capitol's, etc... I bought the game originally because it was an MMO, I came back 4 years later because it was now rated as the one of the best MMO's available now... and my wife and I had played all the others that interested us to death and needed a change.

I think *most* people buy ESO because it is a MMO with high ratings or a cheap price on sale, not because they are into the Elder Scrolls universe. I know I wasn't expecting great graphics out of a 5+ year old game and quite honestly, I do not think the new zones are really any better graphic wise than the old ones. The original start in Coldharbor was awesome, engaging and dragged me into the story, the Vardenfell one is pretty lacking.

Sylvermynx · January 2021

Kwoung wrote: »

I just started a new character on a new "base" account I bought during one of the sales. Other than learning to punch, block and loot some gear (which I had to pick locks for with no instruction, good thing I am NOT a complete newbie), I ended up in a small seaside town in the middle of nowhere Vardenfell. No mention of anything else, no main storyline, just a quest to start leading me around Vardenfell, one of the biggest PITA zones in the game to quest through.

Keep in mind like most ESO players (I am guessing), I had never played an Elder Scroll game before in my life, had no clue of the lore, factions, alliance capitol's, etc... I bought the game originally because it was an MMO, I came back 4 years later because it was now rated as the one of the best MMO's available now... and my wife and I had played all the others that interested us to death and needed a change.

I think *most* people buy ESO because it is a MMO with high ratings or a cheap price on sale, not because they are into the Elder Scrolls universe. I know I wasn't expecting great graphics out of a 5+ year old game and quite honestly, I do not think the new zones are really any better graphic wise than the old ones. The original start in Coldharbor was awesome, engaging and dragged me into the story, the Vardenfell one is pretty lacking.

I really loved the Vvardenfell start - because Morrowind is to this day one of my favorite TES games (along with Oblivion and Skyrim - but really I love all the single player games, to the point that Daggerfall is my absolute fav of all time of any game I've ever played since 1985) - but still, I think the "money talks" need to drop players into the latest chapter makes the overall experience magnitudes worse. Sure, I spent months reading the forum before I bought the game; sure, I googled what needed to happen to get to the "original MQ" - but a game company should not require that level of perspicaciousness from new players!

Of course, this was not my first MMORPG either. A simple UI option to explain a few things and offer a choice would be very welcome.

Sinlar · January 2021

Sadly at this point, the continuity of the timelines and progression involving the various prologues and expansion quest lines in relation to the core original content is very broken.

New players should be routed only through the original Cold harbor questline and starting island in order to restore some continuity and guidance to the starting experience. That original content still holds up very well, and contains a lot of information that new players should know and will need later on.

After that, then open up the world and let people go where they desire.

And please, for the love of some loving thing, let those of us who are experienced, turn off the prologue quest givers until we decide to do those quests. Some of them are seriously annoying in their persistence of following you around, anxiously waiting for the second when they can try and give you their quest. This one does not care if they being mentally lashed by higher beings to do so...they can wait!

Iccotak · January 2021

Steps 1-3 at the very least

1. All players should be allowed to choose their introduction

2. All "tutorials" should be reformatted into introductions like Coldharbour was

3. Create a quality of life feature that creates a story guide so then players at the very least have the option to choose how they do the story

4. As consequence of pushing Dungeons to be part of the Year long story - create a Solo quest story mode option so then players can experience the dungeon story at their own pace

5. As consequence of pushing End Game Group Content to be part of the Year Long Story - Create an optional Group mode for the Main Story Bosses so then they live up to the build up.

(edit: Steps 4 & 5 providing a more overall consistent gameplay experience across the year for both casual and end game play styles)

- end

Kwoung · January 2021

Thank you ZOS for taking care of this issue!

renne · January 2021

Yeah there's some pretty decent QoL stuff coming which is nice.

LadyDestiny · January 2021

Kwoung wrote: »

Let them experience the game right, most don't even know their starter city, the quests, etc... They are dying repeatedly to Harrowstorms and world bosses instead... its not a great newbie experience by any means. I run a guild that helps new players, and I can't tell you how many have been frustrated getting dropped into Vardenfell or Skyrim and struggling to finish the zones, those are NOT newbie zones! Not to mention, they do not lead you to the harborage quest line, one of the most important lines in the game.

I've always felt that the main story quest, harborage quest line, fighters and mage quild should be a mandatory requirement. At least on a first playthrough anyway.