early game content turns new players away from the game

[artcreator.4859]

It's just too easy, been playing with new people and they wanted to quit due to the first leveling maps, its just a steam roll, walk up, press 1 on key board, move on, It's a great game, but man the level of quality from the new stuff and the old is massive, almost 2 different games. love the game though and looking forward to next xpac, hopefully it can fix this so the game can have a better future.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

You could always take them to areas above their level if they want harder fights. The game doesn’t stop you.

[KelyNeli.4516]

It gets expotentially more difficult at HoT maps and later. Tell them to have patience

[Linken.6345]

Tell them to character boost bring them into hot maps then when they have died enough you can go back to core and do it the right way.

[SexyMofo.8923]

Go do dungeons.

[Veprovina.4876]

Open world stuff - maybe, but there's also dungeons that are not as easy and some events and areas can still catch new players unaware. Depends on where they're leveling.

There's lots of different maps to explore, if one is too easy like, if you're leveling in Kryta and you find it easy, go to Ascalon and level there. You're not married to your starting region. You also don't need to level at current/lower level, you can go do maps that are above your level.

[Joote.4081]

I remember when the game first launched and those new areas were over run with players and the excitement was high. It's a shame to now see them so deserted. It happens with the majority of mmo's. If only they could come up with something to revitalise those starting/low level area's.

 

They are giving out level up scrolls with new players aren't they?

[Astyrah.4015]

> @"Joote.4081" said:

> I remember when the game first launched and those new areas were over run with players and the excitement was high. It's a shame to now see them so deserted. It happens with the majority of mmo's. If only they could come up with something to revitalise those starting/low level area's.

>

> They are giving out level up scrolls with new players aren't they?

 

for gw2 atleast, the starter areas are decently populated rarely deserted if you play during peak hours on your server's region (NA/EU)

 

in other MMORPGs there's no reason to go back to starter areas because all of the rewards you get aren't relevant to your level (even if that particular MMO has level scaling), in gw2 everything you get minus the map completion reward is sort of adjusted to your level

 

_____________

 

but yeah players get level 80 boost ticket if they buy the expansion pack

[Nightcore.5621]

> @"Veprovina.4876" said:

> Open world stuff - maybe, but there's also dungeons that are not as easy and some events and areas can still catch new players unaware. Depends on where they're leveling.

> There's lots of different maps to explore, if one is too easy like, if you're leveling in Kryta and you find it easy, go to Ascalon and level there. You're not married to your starting region. You also don't need to level at current/lower level, you can go do maps that are above your level.

 

All dungens can be done alone lol most paths can be done in 6 min or så

[Nightcore.5621]

But Yes eveything way to easy in this game i agree

[maddoctor.2738]

> @"artcreator.4859" said:

> It's just too easy, been playing with new people and they wanted to quit due to the first leveling maps, its just a steam roll, walk up, press 1 on key board, move on, It's a great game, but man the level of quality from the new stuff and the old is massive, almost 2 different games. love the game though and looking forward to next xpac, hopefully it can fix this so the game can have a better future.

 

You just described every mmorpg, and even single player rpg, out there. They almost always start very easy. Those people that you played with are experienced mmorpg players, or gamers in general? Because games, and especially mmorpgs, attract players with little to no gaming experience.

[maddoctor.2738]

> @"Nightcore.5621" said:

> > @"Veprovina.4876" said:

> > Open world stuff - maybe, but there's also dungeons that are not as easy and some events and areas can still catch new players unaware. Depends on where they're leveling.

> > There's lots of different maps to explore, if one is too easy like, if you're leveling in Kryta and you find it easy, go to Ascalon and level there. You're not married to your starting region. You also don't need to level at current/lower level, you can go do maps that are above your level.

>

> All dungens can be done alone lol most paths can be done in 6 min or så

 

You are saying you could run Ascalonian Catacombs solo on your very first level 30 character in 6 minutes? I find it hard to believe.

[Asum.4960]

I think that's unfortunately a fairly accurate representation of the game.

 

If your skill at the game (as well as game knowledge) increases proportionally to the content, in retrospect I'd almost say HoT and especially PoF now are, relatively speaking, easier than core was 8 years ago.

 

We had a lot over powercreep over the years, and once you realise that nowdays you can easily achieve perma 25 Might and Fury on yourself on all professions (often times as low as by level 30), and 25 Vuln on enemies, and beyond that learn to circle strafe and/or chain CC's - I don't recall struggling in HoT or PoF anywhere as much (or rather, at all) than with Core at launch, despite me coming in as an experienced MMO (and in general RPG) player at the time too.

 

Meanwhile, sure, core nowdays genuinely allows you to oneshot the vast majority of mobs with almost any single button press on a reasonably set up/equipped character (while that's only true for select skills and builds for expansion content), paling in comparison to content down the line in genuinely problematic ways in terms of retaining new players, and lack of teaching those who get through it the base game mechanics to then find HoT and PoF easy as well.

So yes, while the game gets drastically more "difficult" from core to expansion content at any given time, the vastly buffed player tools as well as expected increases in player skill through moving through that content and adjusting and building your character, imo actually still made it easier overall, while completely invalidating core as a game, or at least learning experience.

 

> @"artcreator.4859" said:

> It's just too easy, been playing with new people and they wanted to quit due to the first leveling maps, its just a steam roll, walk up, press 1 on key board, move on

 

That's unfortunately the gist of GW2's open world content (and with that, the vast majority of game content).

You can try rushing to expansion content and maybe have them struggle and have fun for a bit, but if they are adaptive/learning players - updating their build and gear as they go, those soon won't be much more than movement keys to walk/circle strafe and 1 either.

 

 

[Naxos.2503]

I dont understand, isn't that the same in Every MMo ever ?

 

Ironically, if it wasn't, new players would quit because then they face difficulties as soon as they start playing... I'm sorry. No, the argument doesn't hold up. They left because they were bored, and probably did fights only as opposed to what the game also offers on the side, like puzzle jump, exploration or heaven's forbid, crafting.

[Astralporing.1957]

> @"Nightcore.5621" said:

> > @"Veprovina.4876" said:

> > Open world stuff - maybe, but there's also dungeons that are not as easy and some events and areas can still catch new players unaware. Depends on where they're leveling.

> > There's lots of different maps to explore, if one is too easy like, if you're leveling in Kryta and you find it easy, go to Ascalon and level there. You're not married to your starting region. You also don't need to level at current/lower level, you can go do maps that are above your level.

>

> All dungens can be done alone lol most paths can be done in 6 min or så

Not by most players though. In this game, there's an absolutely massive gap between average and top players. And that's even when we ignore the existence of _below_ average players.

[Mortifera.6138]

Every MMO is just “press dps button”. Some require you to heal on top of it, but they’re still easy.

[Oxstar.7643]

That is why I enjoyed taking on champions by myself and stuff like that. There are plenty of things in the leveling maps that is actually hard if there isn't already people there.

[Solanum.6983]

In this game, I'd say that's just as it should be. In a group it gets ten times easier but as solo I think it's fairly balanced.

I think the beginner maps are great for learning your class as a new player. New players are flooded with info and have to learn all their skills and traits as well as everything that goes into the combat system like Utility, Conditions, Stunbreaks, CC.

For me, the core game is mostly a fun learning experience and from HoT onwards is where you put that learning to use on harder difficulty maps.

[Myriada.7580]

If they expected the difficulty to stay the same based on the first few levels, I don't think they've played any games before in their life lol

 

Also, I think that GW2 does a good job early on to pull you into the world and incentivize exploration, which is a big thing throughout the entirety of the game as a whole. While it's true that weapon skills and utilities could start getting unlocked a bit earlier on, the first few levels are so quick to breeze through it's almost a non-issue imo.

[Danikat.8537]

I find it interesting that I've often heard the opposite, although more often outside of this forum. People saying they tried GW2 and found it too complicated because the active combat system means you have to move and dodge even while attacking, professions don't have a clear designated role in parties, new skills aren't necessarily stronger than older ones and the down-levelling systems and limited vertical progression means if you're struggling with something you can't just leave it and come back later when it's guaranteed to be easy.

 

Of course the fact that it relies more on player skill than character level or stats means there will be a lot of variation. I've periodically seen new players on this forum who say they've been playing for a month or less, but they're asking about the details of skill coefficents and damange calculations and other details which are so far above my understanding of the game after playing for years that I can't even understand the question. Assuming they're able to put the theory into practice I suspect they'll find the starter maps far easier than I did when I was new (or even easier than I find them now) and they'll probably be the type of people who can solo dungeons, something I've always found impossible.

 

But if you're finding the early game too easy there is the option of skipping ahead to harder content. The game won't stop you. A level 2 character can go into a level 80 map if they know where to find one. Of course that goes to the opposite extreme, everything will one-shot you and you'll barely be able to scratch an enemy, but all the stuff in between is similarly available. You could take a level 10 character into the level 15-25 maps, or whatever you think is appropriate.

[Redfeather.6401]

The new player experience is not a good one. Karma hearts are just an NPC with an icon over their head expecting local errands of killing rats to raise a bar. A new player is going to see that as no better than the often criticized mmo questing system of older games and korean grinders.

[Lonami.2987]

> @"artcreator.4859" said:

> It's just too easy, been playing with new people and they wanted to quit due to the first leveling maps, its just a steam roll, walk up, press 1 on key board, move on, It's a great game, but man the level of quality from the new stuff and the old is massive, almost 2 different games. love the game though and looking forward to next xpac, hopefully it can fix this so the game can have a better future.

 

End of Dragons needs a new starting experience, preferably at Cantha with the new zones, through level scaling.

 

Content from 2012 is just bad compared to modern standards, and drives new players away, specially the younger audiences.

[kharmin.7683]

Not every game is for everyone. It simply cannot happen. There are many games I've tried and found the early experience to be more difficult than I would like to the point where it started to become more of a chore than entertainment. I didn't go to those forums and complain about the difficulty and/or ask for changes to it to suit my preference; rather, I left and found other games that more ably fit my gaming entertainment needs.

 

Clearly, not every new player is turned away by the early parts of GW2 -- I see new players all of the time in higher than 1-15 zones.

[Veprovina.4876]

> @"Nightcore.5621" said:

> > @"Veprovina.4876" said:

> > Open world stuff - maybe, but there's also dungeons that are not as easy and some events and areas can still catch new players unaware. Depends on where they're leveling.

> > There's lots of different maps to explore, if one is too easy like, if you're leveling in Kryta and you find it easy, go to Ascalon and level there. You're not married to your starting region. You also don't need to level at current/lower level, you can go do maps that are above your level.

>

> All dungens can be done alone lol most paths can be done in 6 min or så

 

With a fully ascended lvl 80 character and a player that knows what to expect in there and has mastered all the paths - sure.

But come on, not with new players that don't even know the mechanics properly and have at best green gear on them...

 

And not even ascended lvl 80 people can solo dungeons sometimes...

[Astyrah.4015]

> @"Veprovina.4876" said:

> With a fully ascended lvl 80 character and a player that knows what to expect in there and has mastered all the paths - sure.

 

not just that, you also have to build specifically for a dungeon run you're doing, so that means playing around with your traits/build a bit and carrying and swapping around multiple armour sets depending on what you're facing.

 

and also i think some explorable paths are basically impossible to do solo even if you use portals or rewinder (atleast as intended/without exploits) like the laser room in CoE where you need to interact with 5 consoles at the same time

 

this is not something a completely new player can do or even manage