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Feedback - New Player Experience (probably the reason why people quit?)

  • Mik195
    Mik195
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    I started in Morrowind and after doing all the quests there, found a boat which took me to Gratwood. And then the quest had me run all the way to Haven and then wanted me to take another boat and go somewhere else. I was sure that I missed something and wasn't supposed to leave so I did Gratwood and the rest of the alliance quest line before I even know Auridon existed.

    I rhink the main and alliance quests need one color arrow and the "other places" a different color so you can tell the difference.
  • Northwold
    Northwold
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    I've long felt the developers have become so institutionalised in their own creation that they have forgotten what it would feel like to a new player. And at this point, what it feels like to a new player is: completely incomprehensible.

    The problem extends beyond the game itself into its own marketing. Even to buy the game you're looking at DLCs, Chapters, ESO plus with no sensible, plain English explanation of what that even means. Then there are events: what is a ticket (because it is not what that word means in the English language), what is a drop, what are these people even talking about.

    And that's without even going into the utter car crash that is the main story after One Tamriel. Not only does the game not even tell you that a main story exists, it is possible to play chunks of it completely out of order without having even started it, effectively breaking the main quest because, when you hit the bit you've already done when trying to play the quest for real, the quest simply disappears, and you are likely never to be able to find where to pick it up again. Not to mention that characters can be left simultaneously alive and dead.

    Even when you get to champion level, the champion skills refer to attributes that most newer players have never even heard of. How am I supposed to know what skill to put points into when I don't even know what the obscure type of damage referred to in the champion skill trees description even *is*. Did the developers expect players to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of game mechanics that the game itself never actually explains by the time they hit level 50?

    A game that almost requires players to Google search *before they even buy it* to make sure they buy the right thing, and then again to make sure it is played in the right order (WHY would a new player even guess they needed to do that), etc, needs a serious, serious overhaul. There needs to be some sort of onscreen on-the-fly help that appears automatically and isn't buried in menus that tells you *in real world, non-lore language* what is going on.

    That includes language that explains faults in the game that players need to know exist to understand what is happening. In the main quest, that means an admission that ESO started off having three gated regions, which players could not leave until they had finished the main quest, and because the main quest was written at that time, a lot of its story plain does not make sense any more. Without that admission, you're left with a constant sense of "what the...?!?!"
    Edited by Northwold on August 23, 2022 11:42AM
  • Northwold
    Northwold
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    I mean, there are big arrows over the quest givers. I agree there is not a lot of direction, but that is kind of the point. It is an open world MMORPG. You can do quests in almost any order at whatever pace you chose.

    Seriously, start a new character and go to, say, Daggerfall as a DC player. You will see what looks to be in excess of TWENTY "big arrows" and, in all likelihood, you will rock up with someone like Lyris Titanborn introducing the Greymoor Chapter and assume you're on the main quest (which, of course, you don't actually know exists).
    Edited by Northwold on August 23, 2022 11:46AM
  • Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo
    Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo
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    Youyouz06 wrote: »
    It's time to justify the pricing, that's for sure.

    What do you mean justify the pricing?

    The game is absolutely huge. You can get 7 years of content for free with game pass. Even then the game is super cheap on other consoles for a ton of content.

    The game functioning properly on PC EU.

    I've done raids, raids in PvP and all the rest there is to do in game (besides the latest dlc)

    The performance does not justify the pricing on PC EU and I am personally not a fan of the subscription system + payments on DLC, especially when mythicals hit and they are evidently overpowered.

    I'm not going to pay for a game just for a set(s), I desire a global and functionating package (my opinion)
    Edited by Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo on August 23, 2022 7:40PM
  • Dr_Con
    Dr_Con
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    The blackwood tutorial is great now but it literally drops you off in a zone of your choosing- the zone choices should be limited to forcing you into the situation in coldharbour.
    Edited by Dr_Con on August 23, 2022 4:56PM
  • Riptide
    Riptide
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    I’ve brought some ten or so folks into the game over the years. All of them close friends who have a high tolerance for new things. Most with a long experience with gaming, including rpgs and mmos.

    The only one that stuck was my wife of 25 years. And that because we are in the same home and I was able to act as her guide in all things.

    All of the rest stuck with it for a max of a couple of weeks. The bulk of those folks I’m still very close to and we do any number of activities together in RL, and play other games together.

    But the general mess, aimlessness, raw and avaricious monetization were just too much to get around to the point the game “stuck”.

    And directly speaking, U35 is just the latest reason that I can’t in good faith advocate the game to borderline insisting. There is always something these last few years that keeps me from being able to do that in good conscience. I’d be more of a closer about the game to my friends if I felt genuinely as if I was opening a door to value. But I can’t, so I don’t.
    Esse quam videri.
  • Prof_Bawbag
    Prof_Bawbag
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    I've played this game from beta, and even i get annoyed at the sheer number of quests, and intrusive quest givers. I still have to take stock to see if some of these markers are from base game quest givers or inane prologue quest givers.

    I have no idea how new players sift through all of that. No need for all the prologues to be hanging around. in fact, unless you tick on the dlc, ALL dlc quest givers should be hidden. I'm talking Stuga here. I know she's now a meme, but not all memes age well. This is one of those occasions. The joke has died a 1001 deaths. And prologues should only appear if activated within the crown store or somewhere else.

    The first zones (not the starter islands) need a clean up badly. They're likely to deter players than encourage them. I know if i was new i'd switch the game off never to play it again. At the very least, the markers should be coloured coded. They can do it with the dailies, so it can be done. no one wants to land off the ship and straight into, say, the Blackwood prologue quest. It's irrelevant at that point. Makes no sense to a new player.

    Imagine landing in the likes of Stonefalls, Vulkhel Guard or Daggerfall for the first ever time today? Wow. A whole lotta of nopes.
    Edited by Prof_Bawbag on August 23, 2022 5:38PM
  • LikiLoki
    LikiLoki
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    Stories a year long are the most unfriendly content for the player. You are forced to purchase paid pieces of this story and constantly forget what these dolls are talking about and what the point is.
  • FeedbackOnly
    FeedbackOnly
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    naissur wrote: »
    It took several months to convince 5 friends to try the game. This week they have finally tried it.

    3 of them quitted straight away.

    Why did they quit? Because the game is very messy.

    2 are still playing, but constantly complaining about how messy the game is.

    No explaination of how the interface works. No explaination of which quest to take first. No explaination on how to start the main quest, no explaination on what the icons are, etc, etc, etc, etc.

    I know in the last period the team has been focused its attention on DPS. My friends do not care about DPS.

    One of the 2 friends that are still playing said:
    I see there are lot of things to do in this game, but it is very messy. I don't know what to do and I am frustrated most of the time. If it wasn't for you helping me out, I would have quitted very quickly.


    I am not an expert UIX designer, but listening to them I started to remember that 5 years ago I had the same problem. I couldn't understand what to do. So many things (that I love) can be very confusing when you start out and no explaination is given. It would be nice if the development team focused on the new player experience instead of changing end game skills every week.

    Also does that tutorial prepare you for dungeon combat?
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