Been a while since I was a new player, but I remember having a bit of a hard time progressing in some quests or zone stories. It was often "Where do I go now? Who to do I talk to?" Mods helped me a lot in this case.

I also remember how I thought fighting even the easiest of bosses was incredibly difficult (and I still have trouble with the harder ones) I spent all of my remaining soulgems trying to defeat the Corruption in the Wyrd tree, because I couldn't stay alive. (So when I finally won I kept the level 30-something Wyrd tree branch as a souvenir)

I also had some trouble progressing in the Main main story. I had the quest 'Talk to the Benefactor' for ages, because I couldn't figure out who the Benefactor was or where they were. Now I've noticed she appears at the wayshrine (at least she does in Vukhel Guard where I like to start every time I quest with a new character) I found her on a boat. Granted I don't remember if I HAD talked to her by the wayshrine, but I did have the quest for a very long time before I found out she was on some boat. After talking to her and getting my soul stolen I was able to do the Harborage quests, and I focused mainly on those. When I was done and probably doing other quests, this dude suddenly showed up by a wayshrine and said "You gotta come with me to Coldhabour" and from there I was able to do those quests and then finally the final quest of the main story. (and I've completed the main story a few times now, because I do actually like that story, but the first time was the only time I only got to Coldharbour after completing all of the Harborage quests (except for the final one of course). The good thing tho is when I was doing the Cadwell's Silver, I had maybe 5 quests left, and when it was time for Cadwell's Gold it was "done" in an instant because I had already done all the required quests (the only faction I was lacking progression in was my own)

I don't remember when the zone guide came out (with Elsweyr?) but I honestly still use that as support wheels on a bike.

I don't think it is bad as the goal is to let players pick where to go. I think it should start with soul being taken, and escape sending you to portal room to pick where to go from there.

I think they need more quest marker types. Standard markers, prologue starter markers, repeatable markers, daily markers.

I think some of the expansion world lines should be brought to new players as well. Either by letting everyone start at level 1 in the lines, or having multiple places to pick them up. This would be another quest marker for feature unlock.

It’s honestly overwhelming for new players. Tried to get my dad to play but he quit a couple of days in before he kept accepting different quests and ended up in random zones.

We need better markings for main quests, dlcs, and subquests. And by different marking I mean something more noticeable than a slight change in the black and white symbol as it is now. Also, game should start with prologue quests for all new players to avoid confusion. in same spot for all players.