Guild Wars 2

With PoF coming out soon, we have a lot of new players checking out the game. However, a lot of them get confused REALLY fast and often just stop playing. GW2 Facebook groups I follow get flooded with new players asking a lot of questions about things they should be informed about in game. That’s why I think new player experience should be mader more appealing and easier to understand. I don’t think that it demands revamping everything, just small tweaks here and there. Here’s the list of my top suggestions:
- write a short description about megaservers and the importance (or the lack of it) of selecting the right server. People often fear they might choose the “wrong” server and instead of checking out the game, they head to forums to ask about the “right” one.
- put a green story star in the corner of the screen immiedately after tutorial instance. The star could tell players something like “do hearts and events until you are level 10, that’s when your story starts!” or anything like it. People often just get lost after tutorial, they are looking for quests that are not present in the game. Now I know that we have scouts but a short description in the corner of the screen that i s always up would be much more effective
- make hearts 50% faster to complete – a lot of early heart quests are just boring and feel as bland as quests in other mmos. By making them shorter, you keep things fresh for players.

What are your thoughts and suggestions?

During leveling you get a TON of new info. In the form of small wobbly things where the loot chests are. Since you usually level up during some form of activity, they are often perceived as annoying and clicked away without anyone reading them.

It would be better to have a help-manual ingame where you can re-read all those bits of info that you clicked away. A question-mark button could (for example in the specialization window) open the corresponding page in the help-manual.

Also I believe the introduction of game-mechanics should be included in the story. Dodging should not just be a chest in the starter areas, but a mandatory part of the lvl 10 story. This is the line, you need to dodge across it in order to progress.

With lvl 20 the story could include a small training camp, where you get a training rifle/hammer/etc and have to cause combos with fields than an NPC cast on the ground. This way people would learn what projectile/blast/etc finishers are and what they’re good for.

In general I believe GW2’s tutorial relies to heavily on text instead of showing the mechanics in a training-environment. And even the text that is included usually comes at a bad time, is ignored and can’t be re-read.

Verthiss.9541:

- put a green story star in the corner of the screen immiedately after tutorial instance. The star could tell players something like “do hearts and events until you are level 10, that’s when your story starts!” or anything like it. People often just get lost after tutorial, they are looking for quests that are not present in the game. Now I know that we have scouts but a short description in the corner of the screen that i s always up would be much more effective

The tutorial ends with an NPC telling them to go out into the countryside and find people who need help, and then as soon as that cut scene ends a scout calls them over and (if you speak to them) points out exactly where the hearts are and what they involve.

On top of that there’s the content guide in the top right corner telling them to speak to the scout and then to find and complete hearts and events.

Do you really think a 4th piece of text saying exactly the same thing is going to make a difference?

If they can find a guy with a question mark over his head and read and follow the on-screen instructions in other games I would have thought they could repeat the process in GW2 with slightly different icons.

While I wouldn’t call any of this a “revamp”, I agree that heart completion is tedious and could use a downsize in exploration…

The mega server issue is going to be a problem regardless of where you write it. people are going to continue to ask that question. They ask, because it’s easier than searching for the answer. I do however think that the notice should be available and visible on server selection.

The game mechanics shouldn’t be part of the personal story. But it would be nice with a repeatable “Mechanics Training” in the story journal. This story should depend on your class, and it should take you through all weapon and skill mechanics, as well as combo’s, dodging, etc etc etc as separate chapters…

Also, I think that:
- completinh renowned hearts should give you some rewards besides pitiful amount o karma and copper – something like new currency akin to s3 currencies orvat least map reward track progression
- heart area should be clear (there should be boundaries visible when you are in range)
- heart progress should be shared across party to incentivise socialazing

Verthiss.9541:

- put a green story star in the corner of the screen immediately after tutorial instance. The star could tell players something like “do hearts and events until you are level 10, that’s when your story starts!” or anything like it. People often just get lost after tutorial, they are looking for quests that are not present in the game. Now I know that we have scouts but a short description in the corner of the screen that i s always up would be much more effective

What are your thoughts and suggestions?

I like this one.