Initiation zone!

[pauluzz]

Hello all,

Since CoR is on steam, I've spend a lot of time in the inni zone helping out all these new players. I noticed a lot of bugs/irritations of new players. For a new player, even the smallest bug or annoyance can make them instant quit and uninstall. And i think there are some small easy fixes which can keep quite some players longer in game.
It is important that there will be some changes in the inni zone. Especially now with this huge flow of new players.

Here is a list. Feel free to discuss and add.

Invisible features:
- City names/party/quest shown on map not active by default.
Very usefull feature, Just not a single newbie knows about it.

- /Reset_powers
Create a reset powers button at the trainers.

- Combat log not active by default.

- Combat log - skill level not active by default

Lame! Ragequit.:
- Duel banner gives a wrong impression of war and the warzone.
Lowlvl duels are nothing more then normals + 1 attack spell. Move this quest to lvl 20+

- You can still hit a player when the duel ended, killing him and sending him back to the altar.
teleports newbies all the way back to the beginning...

- inni bow and staff seem bugged in duels. Shows med speed but is way slower.

- Let noobies know they should save at the nearest altar.
This is now shown after you die...

- It's too dark at night. ppl can't see.
'adjusting gamma makes it even worse' (newbie quote)

- Typo's in quests/storyline.

- Realm chat is empty. people think the game is empty.
Maybe add certain parts of the wz to the realm chat. Like central save.

- Game doesn't remember zoom level and chatbox dimensions.

Would be nice:
- new players should get a free 30 days mount.
Preferably a wolf, they are easy for questing as you can enter houses while mounted. This probably also makes them buy a horse after it expires

- Ask GS to bring back GC's. They're usefull again.
Right now players are there helping newbies but those should be at war in the warzone.

- [long term] Revamp the quests in inni zone. Maybe make some instanced tutorial zone.
Make it so that players can't die there. Place fences near cliffs or make a quest where they can see that they take fall dmg and that it's possible to drown. Dying is a huge frustration for newbies especially if you didn't know you can't swim or jump off cliffs.

- [long term] Do something about grinding/pve. It's the weak point of this game and makes players leave before they actually taste the great addictive part of the game.

[time-to-die]

HIHO PAUL

Nice thread! but i saw allot of those threads, And i never saw a replay of NGD. And if NGD gonna work now on those things it is already tolate.

( Some beginner quest in syrtis are also bugged)

[Raindance]

Noobs need a tutorial of every button and option, this game just has so many. Can't believe something like this still hasn't been done.

[Enitharmon]

+1000 to everything Pauluzz said!
Especially about those duel quests, they really give a wrong impression of the game. We try to convince newcomers that the PvP is good and worthy to stick with the game for (in spite of the boring PvE), and then they get the duel quest and go "WTF? So this is the fabled PvP? /ragequit", never to be seen again...

If these issues listed here were resolved, I'd say alot more people would get past the first initiation village (Right now, at least in alsius, it seems there is a ton at the first village, max 1/3 of that makes it to the second, and maybe half of that makes it to the main city. And that's just the first 10 levels...)

[standistortion]

I'm no good at PvP but had a dual in mont today for the hell of it and won :) (or maybe let win). Started a new toon a few days ago also for the hell of it and was lucky enough to find someone to dual in mont (omg, no problem now) and it was lame, pop......pop....pop... until one or the other dies.

That quest is a really bad introduction to the main aspect of RO, giving mid levels that quest and having them dual in skoll (and other starter towns) maybe?

[Zas_]

Good post Paul.

I also noted that the NPC guide (rulec if i remember) at start says nothing in Syrtis Initiation Zone... It may help if he was saying something interesting instead.
NPCs could give tips.

About /reset_powers, get rid of it, totally, we only need to be able to set and modify Power Points and Discipline Points freely.
Go to trainer, click Train, use +/-, simple as that.
It will ease job to new players to find the correct setup to grind faster (no need of obscure /reset_powers, no useless 60s delay).

About mounts, instead of 30 days i would limit mounts to a region:
- first mount only useable in initiation zone, lost when character enters safe zone (cannot cross on boat, etc...)
- second mount obtained by a quest in safe zone, but lost when character does first quest in warzone (can be killed by enemy...)
- war zone, no free mount

Also about default map options: party members should be visible by default

[Tamui]

You've got very good points Paul, and Anna too.
In my opinion, grinding doesn't need more GS boosts. We will complain either way anyway. What there should be is more quests. And I agree that there should be atleast 1 GC/GM.





Why do you have the Alsius logo Paul? :O

[VeterKh]

why all of it most causes anxiety players than NGD or do you think that NGD not in a course what the New players don't wanna grind to 60 couse it's boring?!

if i sow 2 years ago - what i need grind to 60 lvl - I would delete a game instantly. so I am surprised that someone yet tries to play.

[VeterKh]

You've got very good points Paul, and Anna too.
In my opinion, grinding doesn't need more GS boosts. We will complain either way anyway. What there should be is more quests. And I agree that there should be atleast 1 GC/GM.







i don't think so about boosters...
realm task - lots of quest!!! but who knows about it

[_Kharbon_]

I agree with most of what has been posted here.
The game is dodgy to handle on first login, since some features are disabled by default, others enabled. The game doesn't even remember the default zoom and chatbox dimensions. That really sets even me off, since entering TDM requires a minute of fiddling my GUI to playable settings. Especially the character zoom is a mess - it's difficult to play with the default, and it's just annoying.

The absence of basic game guide, such as binding to altars, makes the image of the game to the players just a lot of running around.

Few, and repetitive quests, with no focus on pvp/rvr mean, that the players must spend maybe a month of questing/grinding, before they experience war, which is the "main focus of the game". I had several players asking me, when the pvp/rvr begins, and why are they forced to PvE. After telling them, how things are, some of them were very disappointed.

The new players are a great opportunity to give Haven "the drive", but if most of them leave again, it's just a shame.

[pauluzz]

Forgot about the zoom level and chatbox dimensions. Added it ;)

Btw, this thread isn't made to bitch on NGD but just to help them improve the game.
This is what we, players, are annoyed about and this may be hard to see as dev.



and oh don't worry tamui :P

[Tamui]

and oh don't worry tamui :P

If you say so >.>


Anyway, I believe quests & story lines play a huuuge role in MMOs. Regnum does have a story but it's weak. Nobody reads the quests. Quests interface aren't appealing.
How about less text more quests hmm? As Paul mentioned, more guided tutorial-like quests.
About that duel quest: I don't why it is unfriendly, as I enjoyed it. How it works is a little difficult, it took me a while till I got it. Also that bug Pauluzz mentioned about the last hit.
I'm not sure if it is intended or not but, those quest banners don't work outside the initiation zone.
More quests are needed. And they should continue up to 50. Making like 4 quests per level seems a very good number in my opinion.

But of course for now, they should polish up this expansion. However they shouldn't take long for this part of the game. A better entry will make it more appealing and stayable(not sure if it's a word). Forget the graphics and all the eye candy, we have enough for now.

[Eyfura]

They should have at least fixed the very first bugs new players see in the game before releasing this on steam.
- New players can not see combat log at all by default - not in tab, not even on upper part of chat box
- After first relog new players will have no weapon on their hand anymore. I have seen very many players who are running around without weapon which tells me they maybe do not know how to equip it.
- At ignis the place where newbies spawn you can jump on the pool but there is no way to get out of there except dying :facepalm3:

I could list even more issues but I am not sure if any of those will ever get fixed or even get into developers attention.

[pauluzz]

I think it's intended that the duel banners don't work outside the inni zone..

@eyfu those are pretty critical points ;o

I also noticed that the first tribe camp quest in syrtis is bugged sometimes.. players can't enter the tribe camp... mass rage quit point there -_-