My purpose for this thread is NOT a kitteny rant, but to start constructive feedback for the NPE. Personally I feel kitteny rants may announce a problem, but they do nothing towards actually resolving the issue. Any discussion following please keep constructive and on the topic of how it could have been done, and what they can do to fix what is out now (and don’t just say roll everything back, ANet won’t roll back – but they can change it moving forward).
First of all, I understand the need for a NPE. I love(d) GW2 so much that in an effort to addict my friend I bought her an account. Her first few hours (pre NPE) in the game were spent at my house as I tutored her on how to do…well everything. “What was this, what was that, what do I do with this, where do I go/what do I do next” etc. Even with the concerning information I was receiving about the level gated NPE I was looking forward to it hoping it really would make things easier on new players, but I think in many aspects it might have made things worse.
When I first logged in it was on my main and the first thing I noticed was the compass. It annoyed me so much, after 5 min I was digging in the options for the control that was supposed to be there, and rage quitted when I couldn’t find it. I returned some hours later (after calming down) to play with my newbie friend on a lower level character and finally understood the purpose of the compass. I LOVE the compass. It’s fantastic for directing players to new things to do while wandering the world. I believe what angered me so much on my main, which has world completion, the compass just screams and screams at me to do local events. I want the compass to stay.
In order to get the full NPE experience, I made a new ( guardian charr) character and tried to play as if I had no working knowledge of gw2 – pulling a lot on memories of when I played at launch. First off is the tutorial, which immediately tells you WASD for movement. If you are around long enough it will also tell you how to control the camera via the mouse. I talked to the NPC with the green thingy, and was instructed to fight my way through the barracks. Quickly I established you press 1 to attack, and that these enemies won’t hurt you unless you hurt them, so I walked through the barracks to the dying charr with the green thingy over his head. He says go to the Crypts ASAP. Every NPC on the way (if they talk to you) says go to the crypts ASAP. No dilly-dallying, don’t look round, go-go-GO. I went in, walked past all the mobs (as they had no interest in me) and did the boss fight (which NPCs do most of the work anyways which is good else it’d take forever). End tutorial. I received a better version of my existing weapon as a reward.
Summary of what the tutorial teaches:
- WASD to move
- Moving the Camera with the right mouse button can also steer your character
Possible additional lessons gleamed: - Red circles = bad
- There’s this thing that makes my character run away and my skills lock up (ie fear)