Starting Zone Idea

[GrimReaper]

There are people that talk about how there is a lack of players. Well i think this has to do a lot with the starting zone. I can bet that all new players come into this game not knowing much when they get in because they don't bother reading the newbie guide to help them out. Lets start with the character creation house, most players don't even know what the hell to do in this house. I knew a couple people that didn't even open up the chest there to grab their gear and died because of a thorn and quit. What I'm trying to say is there needs to be some sort of helping dialog at the beginning of the game to help out new players. This dialog would say something "Hello hearthling welcome to the world of Haven and Hearth". The NPC to your left allows you to choose your gender and the NPC above you lets you create a name for your self. Once you've done that don't forget to take your starting gear out of the chest to the right of you. Once you have done all this please exit out through the ladder/cellar to start your adventures." Once a player starts playing there could be another dialog that explains some simple things like how to chop trees or collect items from a tree. There should also be some explanation of how you can claim land for yourself and things that new players need to know. I also think lumber jacking should be a default skill because this does not take much effort. And another thing the starting zone needs to be totally revised, the fact that there are nothing but claims and actual bases around the starting zone just annoys the crap out of new players. They don't know anything about claims and try to walk into someone's area and get pissed off because they can't get in. Not to mention the MASSIVE lack of trees which the god dam city around the starting zone destroyed. What I'm trying to say is the starting zone needs to be empty of any kind of civilization and claims. There should just be a huge charter stone type statue that has a massive radius which would restrict players from making things within it. I don't know if its possible but somehow creating regrowing trees in the starting zone so new players can chop the tree down but in a few days the tree would grow back so there would never be a tree shortage. Some might say that if there is a charter stone then new players won't be able to chop or use a tree anyway but I'm hoping there is a way around that. My idea would be something like all new players start as a member of the charter stone and after a certain time limit their membership expires and they are no longer able to interact with the starting zone trees. All of this would be explained to a new player so he would know to collect some things to making starting tools and move on. And if you really wanna take it one step further adding a nice house which would have a couple of NPC's that you can talk to that would give information about the game.

To sum it all up my main objective of this post is to revise the staring zone so it doesn't have a huge ass city in the middle of it that takes all of the resources. From what i can see the only way to do this is to either destroy the city around it or create the starting zone somewhere else. I bet some of you will flame me for saying destroying the city can solve the problem but you all know that because of the city everything a new player needs is gone or behind a claim. There is no hope for a new player unless he knows someone in game.

[Nogetsu]

Mate, Have alook at what Novigard is about...

[Sever]

Mate, Have alook at what Novigard is about...

Mate, Nobody checks the runestones because the new players don't know what thehell they are...

Are you suggesting that the game continues to not tell you how to play? I absolutely would have quit if I hadn't had a friend tell me the basics.

[GrimReaper]

I've seen it but that is a player made starting zone. This need's to be implemented into the game and controlled by the developers so we can actually get more player's to this awesome game. And if you look at all my ideas i posted above Novigard is nowhere near this. Sooner or later Novigard will have civilizations all around it.

[Nogetsu]

I've seen it but that is a player made starting zone. This need's to be implemented into the game and controlled by the developers so we can actually get more player's to this awesome game. And if you look at all my ideas i posted above Novigard is nowhere near this. Sooner or later Novigard will have civilizations all around it.

The idea of Novigard is that you enter via chaterstone, follow the tutorial, get some skills and knowledge of how you play, then use the crossroads to move out of the area to either another village, or another area that I am thinking about making to be linked to. My plans have been changed greatly to what will be happening after I am done and most likely I will be staying at Novigard for a while after, so I would be able to monitor the area and inform someone building an Idol that it would be best not to settle there due to the area or whatever. The place is already filled with Civilization Aura due to Claims in the vicinity and such but this is unaffective, the Area has also been undergoing a Re forestization from the last time it was over harvested so its not like their won't be a tree within 2 mins of starting unlike the old RoB...

Mate, Nobody checks the runestones because the new players don't know what thehell they are...
Are you suggesting that the game continues to not tell you how to play? I absolutely would have quit if I hadn't had a friend tell me the basics.

The game shouldn't need to outright tell you how to play, but guide you along. Perhaps yes there should be pop up messages at the Character Creations I am not saying anything against that, but theres no real need for the game to tell you what to do, cause that would require an area which is unable to be altered by anyone, which means tenthousand more coding work needed to be done by JnL just to do that...

I will be making a Worded Message for people to read as they spawn reading Right Click Gray Stone things. Or something of the ilk so that people will know to read the runestones...

[Chakravanti]

I think a seperate world that shows how to do basic stuff that must be completed and gives one just enough LP to get a few basic skills, has trees, has an animal one is capable of killing (rabbit or something) that you can build a drying frame from that instantly processes the hide (and respawns the rabbit) so that you can do it a few time to make yourself a backpack and waterskin. With popups that tell you that such processes normally take X amount of time.

It would be a major project to code but would give players a starting place for getting a handle on the UI, getting a few basic supplies without them being directly handed to them and a give them a place to earn a couple K lp to buy a few basic skills to move about in the world and be able to do something other than wander about for half an hour and then jump on forums or IRC asking people how to find trees or what to do first.

[Nogetsu]

Personally I would love Jorb to draw us up something like this...



And replace all the runestones at Novigard with that kinda Runestone...

[GrimReaper]

Nogetsu i know you mean well but as i said before this is something that should not be controlled by a player in game. The starting zone should be maintained by the developers as they will have much more control over it and allow them to place incredible developer only building/items that will stand out so new players will know what to use or read. Simply putting up some rune stones which as said above new players don't know anything about. The fact remains you as a player cannot maintain a well organized starting zone. At any time your starting zone can be raided so all tress within a 50 mile radius will be chopped down and all items destroyed. I know you meant well but Novigard will turn into another Brodgar as new players spawn there.

[GrimReaper]

Chakravanti are you talking about a separate zone for every new player or one zone where every new player will spawn? I don't know much about how creating a whole new zone will affect the actual game world but i think it wouldn't be good at all. This zone would just take up extra space and probably cause lag somehow.

[Chakravanti]

No it would essentially just be an extrapolation of that place you already start at.