Comments on: Blizzard and SOE Agree: Improving the Newbie Experience Equals Success and Growth

By: Gareth

Gareth — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:04:24 +0000

I only went through the Kelethin zone you are describing there with a new player once, I actually much preferred the Qeynos zones that Wolfshead’s articles were based on personally even while they were not perfect!

As for getting into it, I remember it took me a few hours to get into WoW originally (I remember starting at that dreary dwarf starting zone) maybe if I hadn’t have purchased the game and TBC I would have given up, but the blood elf zone was much more enjoyable, it really had some emotion in the storylines.

In comparison EQ2 took longer to get into but once I got to my racial mentor (Froglok) I really felt at home in the game. If anything I would like to see them get you involved with a race/zone in the same way that WoW did, it adds emotional depth to the story which makes everything mean so much more when questing/adventuring etc.

By: Gareth

Gareth — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:57:40 +0000

I’m skeptical of the 15 minutes decision thing here, some people do load something up and literally play for 5-10 minutes before making their “decision”. I question myself how many of them were all that bothered in the first place, anything more complicated then tetris takes some serious time set aside to decide whether to get into it.

I gave Star Trek Online that time, probably in all about 4-6 hours, the graphics were ok, the gameplay though was tepid.

Putting aside the third person starship battles that could have been captured in all their glory on a Spectrum 48k the big problem was after many hours of gameplay the designers failed to challenge me once.

Its as if games designers now are mortally afraid to let potential new customers fail in a game. I’ve heard WoW’s Ghostcrawler talk about how he doesn’t like the concept of aggro being something you have to work hard at holding for a warrior because he thinks players feel emasculated by losing it. One of the first things I like to see now in a game is something stomp all over my new character teaching me maybe to not wander close to the dragon.

Or a close battle I lose that makes me wonder what I could do to improve the next time. I do wonder now if new players really are that fragile in games with setbacks, or if designers are too worried about players failing and then turning away.

Personally I think if they can show the potential of the world, even glimpses of it then it makes all the setbacks worth, again something that in 4-6 hours STO failed to do.

For the entire duration of the play I didn’t see anything that inspired me to play, things like seeing a mounted night on a great looking charger, some sort of high level activity that looks fantastic fun to get involved with. Instead I very much had the impression that what I was playing was all there was to see.

By: Noizy

Noizy — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:33:03 +0000

Before you congratulate SOE on revamping 3 of the 5 existing starting areas, just remember that the EQ2 developers had revamped the Queen’s Colony starting area and you still tore it apart in your first article. And if you notice, Queen’s Colony is not one of the zones that is going to be revamped.

There is one other thing to note. In June, Brenlo announced at FanFaire that his team would be looking into improving the new player experience. The emphasis in his presentation was that Halas would be the best starting zone and he made it sound like it would be used as the free trial zone. I’m glad to see that other areas will be getting some love.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:58:30 +0000

Pfft, forget that. I want my BattleTech virtual world already.

By: The Best Of The Rest: Opium Edition - We Fly Spitfires - MMORPG Blog

The Best Of The Rest: Opium Edition - We Fly Spitfires - MMORPG Blog — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:01:22 +0000

[...] MMO blogger extraordinaire, discusses the importance of newbie friendly games and starting areas and how Blizzard and SOE are both now taking note of the exact same [...]

By: /AFK – Sync in Progress « Bio Break

/AFK – Sync in Progress « Bio Break — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:10:11 +0000

[...] Wolfshead looks at how both SOE and Blizzard are improving the new player experience [...]

By: Longasc

Longasc — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:18:54 +0000

They are really learning. The latest expansion also seems to be very good.

Next Step: Set the whole theme park design core afire and create the next generation of EverQuest, that is about as stunning and new as EQ and Ultima Online were back in the days as MMORPGs were a novelty!

By: loredena

loredena — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:19:17 +0000

@Brian, the reference to Halas by Brenlo is that Halas will be made available as a starting area in the next live update, which should be May. When EQ2 launched, part of the differentiation from EQ was that the lands were shattered, and only Qeynos and Freeport were (opposing) starting areas. There are now starting areas in Timorous Deep (Kunark), Darklight Woods (Neriak) and in Greater Fay (Kelethin). We’re all looking forward to Halas launching in May, and I hope that you try again then!

By: Daria

Daria — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:52:22 +0000

I remember your EQ2 newbie experience articles well and I feel largely the same way. I’ve tried a few times to get “into” EQ2 and really want to, because it is such a rich game. But I found myself getting so frustrated that quests would send me to the same damn hill to kill those orcs about 50 different times. EQ2 could really use an interface update, with a much easier map showing quest objectives (not the add-on which only serves to clutter things up.)

I’ll be watching to see how much they really have changed the new player experience.

By: Wolfshead

Wolfshead — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:25:37 +0000

Actually I forgot most of the names, as it’s been a while. You are right, disagreement doesn’t equate complacency in all cases. That characterization was not directed at you but directed at one self-appointed leader of the EQ fan community.