- a starting point where I'm NOT immediately required to fight (literally, that's in so many MMOs currently..."Welcome to this world, now go fight!"). Give me a chance to walk and look around a bit first. Then, at some point I can run into a guard requesting my help or whatever.
- a trainer for my class (optimally, I should have a note or something pointing me to them)
- vendors for class specific abilities
- vendors for basic armor and weapons (probably out of reach for an immediate newbie, but at least something they can look at and begin saving for)
- optionally, basic vendors for some crafting (I loved the Barbarian starting area in EQ, there was a vendor outside who sold sewing kits and basic patterns, and a basic book describing how to use them, allowing you to make armor for yourself with hides harvested from animals in the newbie yard)
- when it comes to the newbie yard: I said at another point that I liked the newbie yards in EQ which had mostly non-aggressive and non-social mobs. I think that's as it should be, but I think there should be some more social mobs already in the newbie yards to teach players early to watch out. Running from mob to mob should without care shouldn't be something players should get used to.
- while I would like some introductory quests, NO RAILS please. Nothing of "you did this, now do that, and then..".
1. A place to use try out the main parts of interacting with the world.
A. Craft station
B. Shop
C. Trainer
D. NPC showing you how to get grouped-up
E. Quest from crazy NPC that just wants banana nut bread but can't get the ingredients
F. Campfire
G. Acclimation area. eg: a windy cliff
H. A real dangerous mob or two
2. Pub or gathering place to socialize
I will try and not repeat too many obvious things that others have mentioned - or surely will. But I agree with them.
1. NPCs that begin to orient new players to this being a group focused game. A quest to recover the body of a fool that went out on her own after being told to bring friends. A bounty board for an enemy requiring at least a small group, with a warning not to do it alone. That type of thing. To go with soloable content so that new players can take their time, learn the mechanics of the game and learn their character a bit before going out to group.
2. To supplement this - perhaps a purely optional FFXIV type orientation for the truly new player on what the roles in a group are. What does "tank" even mean? Healers should only do damage when they aren't needed to heal. That type of really basic information. Ideally instanced if I can use a bad word so that the new player isn't interrupted by reading chat, getting messages, getting invitations to groups or guilds and the like. And can take as much or as little time as the player wants.
3. Information on the background and history of their race. NPCs that talk about it. Quests that relate to it. We could do a lot worse than follow the approach WoW took with its racial starting areas. To use the same bad word - instances along the lines of LOTRO's session play letting us play the role of famous figures from the race's history and arrival on Terminus. Ideally not required to advance important quest lines as in LOTRO but just for fun and information. Maybe no experience or loot at all.
Just to emphasize my point on the "i" word. VR doesn't like instances. Most of us don't want many instances - maybe none at all. But that is in the context of areas that would normally be public - and the antagonism is because they do not want the world to be too isolated and sterile. A FFXIV or LOTRO or ((fill in the name of other MMO)) 5 minute story telling session or tutorial in no way triggers these concerns. Not even remotely.
IMO:
As has been mentioned, if the exlusive or primary goal of the game is combat, then being able to engage in combat reasonably quickly seems fine to me.
However, if the goal of the game is NOT exclusively or primarily combat, then show me everything but combat, first. Is it a world or a combat & resource acquisition simulator?
If I have the choice to join several guilds (religious, economic, combat, crafting, harvesting, diplomacy, political) or one out of several types/categories, then an introduction to each also seems reasonable, so I can make an informed decision. If I can join them all? Then that can wait until later, unless it's vital that my contributions to that NPC organization/guild are in place before I start leveling. In which case, show me that first and strongly encourage a decision/choice before I can engage in combat.
With respect to geography, being dropped into the world within sight of a village of my race, again, seems plausible.
However, if the story or theme demands it, placing me in a zone that contains a village of my race, and having me explore to find it works too.
The completely contrived (current EQ1 TLP) situation of: You appear 2 meters from your guild leader, hand them your guild note, take a whole bunch of serious faction hits that you can't possible know the consequences of, are handed a weapon and a shirt, and told nothing further? Probably not ideal for the 21st century. :D
I'm not saying it wouldn't work, I'm saying modern MMO technology permits an implementation that is far more generous, forgiving, enticing, and 'sticky' with respect to customer retention.
If it were my system to implement, I would have a personal journal be the primary initial interface, and the player make their character, race, background, class, religious and similar choices that fill in parts of the journal as they go through the player creation choices, then that last/final journal entry (could be several pages) is shown to them before they appear in the world. They read it, close the book, then appear in the world. I'm also a big fan of flavor characteristics such as allergies, phobias, hobbies, dreams, goals, personality affectations and general affinities being either randomly hidden/assigned or explicit choices.
I would also have an option to save character appearance profiles locally. It's a trivially easy feature to implement, and is a huge convenience for new players who want to experiment with race & appearance.
Waking up in an Inn, in a racial starting village, and then introduced to the various non-combat loops of the game before entering the sewers, crypts, graveyard, or area just outside of the town, would be a logical next step, after character creation. However, I would reather not appear on top of, inside of, or concurrently occupying the same space-time continuum as the next or previous random character who is just being created or was just created. That's just... lazy, given vastly superior options.
Any elements that make this area very different from any other starting (future or present) area : Ambiant sounds, introduction music, colors, building types and architecture, key NPCs with stories to tell, a couple of wandering high level monsters that make your own wandering at risk.
Remember how Faydwer was so different from Everfrost ?
Remember ice boned skeletons wandering close to halas entrance ?
It needs to be so emblematic that 22 years later, you still remember your first steps into the unknown.
Intuitive- like generally intuitive, not personally intuitive- initial, single, instruction.
When you appear, if the blurb in the chat window says: read the half scribbled note to yourself in your quest journal.
Have the quest journal then say: Wow I really messd up (or something) I really should talk to NPC-Name to...(illegible)
So from there, you start asking the people you see "do you know NPC-Name?" or "where can I find NPC-Name"? or whatever permutation or do what you want and come back to it. Maybe get a "oh! last I saw him in the bank, ask NPC-other name" and if you then ask a random NPC "where is the bank?" you get either "downstairs" or "ahead and to the left".
The starting city will be a maze(sort of, but cognitively, yes a maze), so have some art or landmarks at corners or junctions (steaming piles of dung!) Make where you log out important initially, like in a room becore you start camping in the wild.
If you venture outside, have someone/guard give an initial warning, once only(dont want to keep hearing it- but DO want to hear it if I am in the vicinity and a newbie comes out) so you know "where the 'art' begins" as Frank Zappa said of picture frames.
Make outside frought with peril that I can see. trees and hills are fine if small because Im not ready for jump scares or suprises yet, adds are different, adds are ok. Landscaped with the most mundane things that may become gathering spots (the log, orc hill, the highway, the rock, the broken cart at east gate)
wandering mobs and some static, social and with some small AI. and mobs that shouldnt be there because they are so high level that also wander.
Shouting NPC's that make me pay attention to things going on in the world and actually mean something, not general fluff.
My ideal starting area would include some sort of introduction to the world, race, and class I'm playing. This could be facilitated through natural gameplay or perhaps also include some sort of cinematic.
It should alos be located somewhere semi-near a major city.
Personally, I would want my character just dropped into the world and be left to figure out things on my own. However, since many people like having some direction, a character should start near a trainer or other NPC that could provide some sense of general direction. Major systems should be showcased through natural gameplay and hand-holding should be kept to a minimum. There should also be an area demonstrating the climate system and showcasing this feature early on.
There should be a town with various types of general vendors where items could be bought and sold. There should also be a number of factions that could be encountered be they enemy factions, or friendly town factions.
There should be a variety of mobs for each starting zone and some mobs that are unique to each starting zone. The level ranges of mobs would be fairly reasonable and social aggro would be minimal during the first few levels. Grouping should be encouraged before players leave their starting areas. To promote this each stating race should have access to at least one class that can heal, DPS, and tank.
Starting areas should have their own meaningful lore and exploration should be rewarded during these early levels.
Each starting area should have a few special crafting ingredients that are only found within the regions they are located. There should also be a quest that would send you to the closest major city to learn about crafting.
Overall a starting area should feel fun and not like your being given a bunch of trivial tasks that only serve the purpose of introducing you to major systems.
People and things that have nothing to do with me and my adventuring. The world should not revolve around the player, especially when they're brand new. I've always loved that first feeling of being a small fish in a big pond because it leaves room for growth. Maybe its starting the game and being dropped in a city with just a name (first trainer) on a piece of paper and not knowing who to ask for help finding them. Maybe its the first time traveling to your race's grand home city. Maybe its the first boatride into a big port and seeing the hustle and bustle of seasoned traders and swindlers. I just hope to have that experience at least within the first 5 levels.
If the game developers have already planned for and provided all the help you need, then players will grow increasingly reluctant to seeking out help from each other.
A vendor to sell stuff to that claims to have the best prices in town, but doesn't.
A lot of fast spawning enemies
Item drops that you can sell back to vendors for cash (and to other players like tradeskill and spell components).
Guards that I can run to if I need help
... and a reason for high level players to return so that I can gaze upon them and wonder what adventures they went on to get that gear (not how much they paid in an in-game store)
Kilsin said:Community Debate - What does your ideal MMORPG starting area include? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
Everthing that is needed to completely introduce a character to the game and all the game-specific mechanics that make the game different from others.
As many pointed out above, that means at a minimum:
You need the basics first but that is obvious. Class, crafting, and skill trainers, banks, general goods, armor repairers if it is in the game, reagent vendors if they are needed.
What I want after that though is a huge helping of lore. I want libraries, newspapers/criers, wanted posters, show us the high level wanted gang leader to show us we are nothing when we first see it, let the guard laugh in our face when we ask for the quest, dont simply have a greyed out quest marker. Drunken tavern adventurer seeds rumors of crystal spiders of the north as big as a horse. I want to see the envoys from other races pushing for shared interestes or simply grandstanding.
Tons of people will ignore all of that to simply speed to the grind, but these are important to make the cities feel alive. So many games just have NPCs simply standing around 24/7 never sleeping, never talking, have them change shifts, make them on a loop. Give them a home to go to we cant get into. I still remember in EQ I was searching for the tailor or something and couldn't find them in their shop because they were over at the baker having a short chat. It was the only MMO that had NPCs acting like NPCs. All of that lore is important.
Make their lives interesting, offer quests for being nosey. The flirty tailor is rejected by the baker because she is married, as the baker berates the tailor for trying to take advantage of her missing husband you can now ask where the husband was last seen and try to find him. You could even make straight faction quests with no xp or anything to script a few events and conversations in beyond the standard cycles of day to day.
I also want random things to climb. Secret areas to get to. Jumping around cities while LFG or just chatting with a guild is always going to happen. Did you guys see the neon rose in the city? What could it be for? Must be some high level quest or something. Nah, just a dev making something unusual.
Comparing the starting areas in EQ and considering very long zoning times, I hated some differences. In some cities you had to zone once to get to the bank, in others you had to zone twice. Some zones had vendors in the newbie zone in front of the city (so without zoning), some didnt.
I started as a Dark Elf, and zoning took 3 minutes or so. So a trip to the vendor took 6 minutes to zone alone (walking and selling not included), going to bank took 12 minutes.
At least make the effort to bank/sell similar in the different starting areas ... Please :D
"So many games just have NPCs simply standing around 24/7 never sleeping, never talking, have them change shifts, make them on a loop."
But be careful with this. If I am in a starting area with no realistic option to visit other places - yet - it can be enormously frustrating to get to a store or training facility just as it shuts down for the night (or for the day) and have to wait for two hours real time before I can use it. If I am looking for quests and go through areas when the questgivers are asleep or on their rounds elsewhere I just may assume that there are no quests.
One can have the NPC movement and activity without the frustration and when dealing with brand new players that may be wise. Have redundancy so if one shop closes another one with similar wares opens somewhere in the vicinity. If the questgiver needing 10 wolf skins takes a well earned rest maybe a questgiver needing 10 raccoon skins will awaken nearby. One that will let you cash-in the wolf skin quest and will give the skins to her friend that had asked you for them.
Vandraad said:
- Some initial quest givers where you can earn some early money (not much, just some) and a piece or two of class specific gear.
Not even class specific gear but some class agnostic gear, like the patchwork leather quests of old. I hope this game walks away from heavy class specific itemization.
Snakes that drop armor and bow staves....
No seriously, require the players to think and figure things out. Use of the Preception system as an introduction to the world and how you gain information and begin quests. No icons over NPC heads. Show, don't tell. Require the players be observant, so if that means having a high level area near by, and you give the player plenty of clues, that they need to be careful and no go overthere. teach them a nice early lesson. But make it fun and compelling. Make the player feel that they need to think on their feet. Through the Preception System introduce climbing, diving and swimming and the dangers of said activities. Also some harvesting and simple crafting as well.
I prefer all zones, even beginner zones, to be integrated into the world as full fledged legitimate zones complete with incentives for multiple levels of players. If you absolutely must have a modern walkthrough that is purely for new players to acclimate to the game then I prefer that to be either instanced or some sort of beginner island style area and it should be skippable.
Budget option:
New chars start out in their racial city to avoid 'throw-away' content. Everything needed to get, and keep going, is already there. Most hand holding can be done via a journal, however showing, not telling is best. Let's see the game's signature features at the get go to whet the appetite. Maybe a newbie quest board where crafting, fetching and whatnot can be collected. Other players could even post wanted items, or quest partners to launch right into the social aspect.
Non-budget:
See above and spend time/money elsewhere.
dorotea said:"So many games just have NPCs simply standing around 24/7 never sleeping, never talking, have them change shifts, make them on a loop."
But be careful with this. If I am in a starting area with no realistic option to visit other places - yet - it can be enormously frustrating to get to a store or training facility just as it shuts down for the night (or for the day) and have to wait for two hours real time before I can use it. If I am looking for quests and go through areas when the questgivers are asleep or on their rounds elsewhere I just may assume that there are no quests.
One can have the NPC movement and activity without the frustration and when dealing with brand new players that may be wise. Have redundancy so if one shop closes another one with similar wares opens somewhere in the vicinity. If the questgiver needing 10 wolf skins takes a well earned rest maybe a questgiver needing 10 raccoon skins will awaken nearby. One that will let you cash-in the wolf skin quest and will give the skins to her friend that had asked you for them.
Well I did say change shifts lol but 24/7 service isn't necessary in my eyes. It can be annoying when things are closed, just like it can be annoying IRL when things are closed as long as the game is not running a 24 hour cycle lol. "Where did all the shops go?" quickly becomes going to the tavern to overhear the conversations of all the NPCs and find the quests available at night. One upping their problems or their successes. (Players asking themselves if the problems are possible quests in that area)
Future conversation: Yeah you did the day quests but did you do the night quests? What do you mean what are you talking about?
I love meaningful day night cycles. Outside cities, change the creatures you hunt and actually limit visibility a ton, run night only events. Inside cities, have evening events. Perhaps all the halflings go dancing or something, make it a common event they are known for. Have the night shift guards complain about being on the night shift. Experience every zone twice, once in the day once at night.
With this all said, having every shop and vendor open 24/7 is what more people want, because they want to ignore the game world and rush to do what they want to do. A 24/7 bank and repair vendor would likely be needed to keep from having a revolution.
Secrets tunnels and false walls leading in and out of the neighboring city.
Guards on post and even a few on patrol.
A rare kos spawn of higher level that would, on occasion, path in and around points of interest. Either that or it would be visible but out of reach for lower level players, who would be kept out of aggro range by strong currents, high cliffs, or extreme weather.
If the landscape is naturally flat, than it could have above/underground areas. Even in the real world, there are underground missile silos in places known mostly for agriculture, like Kansas, leftover from the Cuban Missile Crisis and sold off to private citizens to be converted into homes.
A quest NPC (or group of) who refuses to communicate openly and even insults/debuffs the adventurer if they continue to make inquiries.
Music. Not necessarily in the newbie yard itself, but perhaps closer towards the city gates and even in the vicinity of camps/towers.