How does level gate teach a person systems?

How does level gate teach a person systems?

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Posted by: Warlock.2583

Warlock.2583

There are plenty of threads about this, but each has their own slant and focus.

I was convinced to play this game by friends who played in beta – about it’s openness, about exploring, about seeing sights, and having the ability to rally in combat.

I’ve convinced other people to play as well, as late as last month.

In what way does locking out skills, states, exploration, vistas, et al actually TRAIN a player to understand the systems which will be the bread and butter of their interaction with the game world?

In what way does locking out these things by level gate allow a player to explore the world, learn how it functions, or push themselves through experimentation to understand through trial and error how to engage myriad and varied challenges?

Like the overprotective parent, it doesn’t – it instead does nothing to prepare the child for self-reliance, social interaction, or overcoming challenges, such that when they are faced with how things actually work, they are woefully unprepared because they have acquired no actual experience with the systems, tools, and environment in which they are supposed to exist.

Lock-outs and gating seem like a great way to slow down grind bots and gold farmers on alts, but not like a beneficial method to train actual humans what the rules and tools of your game system are for enjoyment.

The New Player Experience should have been about adding instanced tutorial content that would provide pop-ups and tool tip assist about what things do, and how you gain them through use. It should have been an upgrade to the tool and hint interface. Not about locking out the downed state at low levels which gives a new player, despite being a lowbie the chance to turn around a tough fight and still have a heroic moment.

The new player experience should be opt-in – “Do you want a regulated low level experience with gated explanation of progress?” “Yes/no”

As a vet from the 3-day head start, I can’t even explain to some of my newest converts what they will experience if they pick up the game – how can I be a mentor and build community if the wealth of knowledge I’ve built can’t actually be used to help new players?

Please….undo this.

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Posted by: Vayne.8563

Vayne.8563

A level gate does not teach player systems. What it does is that it gives you more time to adjust to the systems you have before you get new systems.

If you had one ball and had to throw it up and down and catch it in one hand. That’s easy. When I through in a second ball, it becomes harder to keep going. When you throw in a third, it becomes harder.

Throwing lots of ideas at someone all at once, for most people anyway, insures they’ll miss some of it. My wife insists she can multitask and do stuff while watching TV, but then she misses stuff because she’s not watching carefully and she has to ask me why something happened.

The more you hit someone with the more there’s a chance something goes away.

So map markers are now revealed more slowly. You can learn a few, more are added, you can learn a few more.

Weapon skills, you get one and use it. You really get to know what it does, because it’s all you have. When you get the second if you’re anything like me you read it. But you don’t have five to read and remember. For a while you’re using only 2. You already know the first one. Now you learn the first and second and theoretically know them both when the third one hits.

But that’s one place I think Anet dropped the ball here. Because all the other weapons, whether you’ve used them or not, all become unlocked as you level. Which means you’re learning more at once. Of course by that point you should have the basics of the game down and maybe you’ll retain more about the five skills.

It’s not true for everyone, of course, but for most people, we can’t focus on everything all at once.

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Posted by: Sparks The Rescue.5043

Sparks The Rescue.5043

I feel as though the second feature patch as a whole was a great addition to a new player’s experience (ie, someone who has never loaded the game before.) Now, as far as someone creating an alt, sure, one might be upset because he/she feels like ArenaNet is time gating and restricting mechanics due to reasons that might not apply to him because he already has an 80 character, but to be completely and brutally honest, this portion of the feature wasn’t direction towards these kinds of players.

I can understand players disliking the new leveling re-work, starting with the first feature pack. There were some systems implemented, that I feel though, do make the game more challenging and antithetical of ArenaNet’s core idea about the leveling process. However, as far as this second feature pack goes, I strongly believe this was a step in the right direction. Most of the systems implemented as far as personal leveling goes, were to help patch some things players were upset about with the initial first feature patch – which is a great thing.

Also, on locking skills by level and not experience /kill anymore, ArenaNet has designed the system so that all of the big major unlocks (pre patch) are unlocked by level 15. Not only that, but ArenaNet has also made it faster to level to 15.

(edited by Sparks The Rescue.5043)

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Posted by: SkiTz.4590

SkiTz.4590

Anet dropped the ball when they decided “new players” = 8 year olds who never picked up a game before.

You want to teach players about this game anet? how bout actually telling players stuff that you would have to look up on the internet? think like how combo fields and finishers work? how traps in WvW are used? How conditions and boons affect gameplay ? Theres multiple things you could have taught new players, instead we get this braindead tutorial that a new born could do. I love anet’s metrics. This is what the metrics showed players didn’t know how to do? good god

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Posted by: Sparks The Rescue.5043

Sparks The Rescue.5043

You want to teach players about this game anet? how bout actually telling players stuff that you would have to look up on the internet? think like how combo fields and finishers work? how traps in WvW are used? How conditions and boons affect gameplay.

You do understand how the general learning process goes, don’t you? It starts with the basics, first. You have to learn algebra 1 before you learn algebra 2. Teaching a level 1 character how to say, use a trap in WvW, before teaching them how to dodge is a very slippery slope.

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Posted by: Kamui.4038

Kamui.4038

Anet dropped the ball when they decided “new players” = 8 year olds who never picked up a game before.

You want to teach players about this game anet? how bout actually telling players stuff that you would have to look up on the internet? think like how combo fields and finishers work? how traps in WvW are used? How conditions and boons affect gameplay ? Theres multiple things you could have taught new players, instead we get this braindead tutorial that a new born could do. I love anet’s metrics. This is what the metrics showed players didn’t know how to do? good god

When I was that age I was playing Commodore 64 and then DOS games all on my own. The audacity of this update though… and you brought up WvW: just imagine them putting this kind of tutorial in WvW. I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or bang my head against the wall just thinking about it.

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Posted by: Warlock.2583

Warlock.2583

Vayne, Sparks, while I understand where you are coming from, the process presented, as I’ve seen it, takes away more than it provides in helping to learn. There are, in fact, better ways to teach the skills and systems that they are level gating.

For instance, making you invulnerable to defeat in a story start instance, only to have you die in the outside world, only to then reveal later that there is a rally from downed state does not actually prepare the player for any of the later life/downed/defeated states of the game.

Focused, instanced tutorials, even if they are required as part of your story provide the ability to introduce a player to a system, give them details, and walk them through the functional system of the game, and allowing the player to do so at a pace that works for them, especially if the tutorial is repeatable until they understand the fundamentals.

What they have provided is a process where by you are taught something, and then that function is proven to be not the baseline or actual truth/nature of the game you are playing. In fact, you are being taught, and then told that what you experienced and learned is, in fact, wrong. Then, “Here’s how the world really works”. And there’s more, you can see the slots and the buttosn and the icons, but you aren’t ready for it yet. Because the system knows better what you are ready for, rather than adapting to the pace at which you as an individual can learn.

The previous system COULD overwhelm a player, I will not argue that point. But a player was allowed to learn, experiment, grow, and explore at THEIR pace. Not and artificially gated one which actually provides incorrect presentation of the final system at multiple stages.

So, to the devs, please…undo this. Find a better way. Because there ARE better ways to accommodate different players learning speeds and styles.

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Posted by: Zoso.8279

Zoso.8279

Anet dropped the ball when they decided “new players” = 8 year olds who never picked up a game before.

You want to teach players about this game anet? how bout actually telling players stuff that you would have to look up on the internet? think like how combo fields and finishers work? how traps in WvW are used? How conditions and boons affect gameplay ? Theres multiple things you could have taught new players, instead we get this braindead tutorial that a new born could do. I love anet’s metrics. This is what the metrics showed players didn’t know how to do? good god

When I was that age I was playing Commodore 64 and then DOS games all on my own. The audacity of this update though… and you brought up WvW: just imagine them putting this kind of tutorial in WvW. I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or bang my head against the wall just thinking about it.

What about the 30 year old who has never played any games. That is a different experience for them I know if i gave my father who works in the medical field my keyboard and told him to kill a skritt he’d have a hard time knowing how to do it. New players don’t have to be 5 year olds they can be adults who have never gamed before….

Necromancer Main

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Posted by: Sparks The Rescue.5043

Sparks The Rescue.5043

You do understand how the general learning process goes, don’t you? It starts with the basics, first. You have to learn algebra 1 before you learn algebra 2. Teaching a level 1 character how to say, use a trap in WvW, before teaching them how to dodge is a very slippery slope.

Level-gating an Elementalist’s earth attunement until level 24 is akin to teaching simple addition to the character in this metaphor, I assume.

Elementalists are the most, if not in the top 2, complex professions in Guild Wars 2. This is to help a new player learn the class. Giving them 20 skills in a matter of 5 levels is just too much, not to mention help them learn the skill to attunement swap when needed. This, also, I feel like is a great change to a learning elementalist.

If you are rolling an alt, this feature patch wasn’t designed for you. This feature patch was designed for players who have never loaded the game before. If you’re upset because you feel like ArenaNet is gating and locking mechanics for reasons that don’t apply to you, then I’m sorry. That’s just the nature of leveling a character – having to start from the beginning.

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Posted by: Kamui.4038

Kamui.4038

Anet dropped the ball when they decided “new players” = 8 year olds who never picked up a game before.

You want to teach players about this game anet? how bout actually telling players stuff that you would have to look up on the internet? think like how combo fields and finishers work? how traps in WvW are used? How conditions and boons affect gameplay ? Theres multiple things you could have taught new players, instead we get this braindead tutorial that a new born could do. I love anet’s metrics. This is what the metrics showed players didn’t know how to do? good god

When I was that age I was playing Commodore 64 and then DOS games all on my own. The audacity of this update though… and you brought up WvW: just imagine them putting this kind of tutorial in WvW. I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or bang my head against the wall just thinking about it.

What about the 30 year old who has never played any games. That is a different experience for them I know if i gave my father who works in the medical field my keyboard and told him to kill a skritt he’d have a hard time knowing how to do it. New players don’t have to be 5 year olds they can be adults who have never gamed before….

Your father can’t ask you “Okay how do I move around?” He can’t move the mouse to options and see the keybindings? He can’t look at the bottom of the screen and see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and try pressing those?

Come on. Stop making excuses. I’m sure your doctor or nurse father can figure this stuff out.

At any rate, why would ANet even WANT to bring people that couldn’t figure this out into the game? If they can’t figure how to press 1 on their keyboard then how the hell did they pass the login screen?

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Posted by: Kamui.4038

Kamui.4038

You do understand how the general learning process goes, don’t you? It starts with the basics, first. You have to learn algebra 1 before you learn algebra 2. Teaching a level 1 character how to say, use a trap in WvW, before teaching them how to dodge is a very slippery slope.

Level-gating an Elementalist’s earth attunement until level 24 is akin to teaching simple addition to the character in this metaphor, I assume.

Elementalists are the most, if not in the top 2, complex professions in Guild Wars 2. This is to help a new player learn the class. Giving them 20 skills in a matter of 5 levels is just too much, not to mention help them learn the skill to attunement swap when needed. This, also, I feel like is a great change to a learning elementalist.

If you are rolling an alt, this feature patch wasn’t designed for you. This feature patch was designed for players who have never loaded the game before. If you’re upset because you feel like ArenaNet is gating and locking mechanics for reasons that don’t apply to you, then I’m sorry. That’s just the nature of leveling a character – having to start from the beginning.

I just recently started an Ele and had NO PROBLEMS AT ALL switching through attunements. You got the Earth attunement around level 10 I believe, Air around 5. Anyone with a memory better than a goldfish can FIGURE IT OUT.

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Posted by: SkiTz.4590

SkiTz.4590

You want to teach players about this game anet? how bout actually telling players stuff that you would have to look up on the internet? think like how combo fields and finishers work? how traps in WvW are used? How conditions and boons affect gameplay.

You do understand how the general learning process goes, don’t you? It starts with the basics, first. You have to learn algebra 1 before you learn algebra 2. Teaching a level 1 character how to say, use a trap in WvW, before teaching them how to dodge is a very slippery slope.

I didn’t say to teach them at lvl 1…..they aren’t teaching them AT ALL at any lvl is my point….

there is only basic arithmetic being taught here in the NPE, and they just stopped after that… thats my point.

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Posted by: Malkavian.4516

Malkavian.4516

Just because you and the people you know or see play video games doesn’t mean that everyone else can play em intuitively. Not everyone learns as fast as others. Looking back at it, I don’t think the level gating is that big of an issue. Granted it makes facing the first boss more tedious than necessary, but it’s not really that big of a deal from a veteran player looking back at it. If I can’t use my other skills that early, I make the most of what I got.

On a different note, imagine yourself in the shoes of someone who buys this as their very first video game and did not do any prior research on their purchase. Chances are they wouldn’t know what to do either. Something like that caters to that portion of the playerbase.

FOR SKYRIM!!!!!

(edited by Malkavian.4516)

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Posted by: Sparks The Rescue.5043

Sparks The Rescue.5043

Kamui, your first post on this forum was 9 months ago. Assuming that you started playing Guild Wars 2 prior to or at the same time of your first post, with 9 months experience, I’m sure it wasn’t very difficult. However, imagine doing what you are doing, with say, 9 minutes experience. Can you atleast see how this could be challenging to a new player?

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Posted by: Kamui.4038

Kamui.4038

Kamui, your first post on this forum was 9 months ago. Assuming that you started playing Guild Wars 2 prior to or at the same time of your first post, with 9 months experience, I’m sure it wasn’t very difficult. However, imagine doing what you are doing, with say, 9 minutes experience. Can you atleast see how this could be challenging to a new player?

I had 9 minutes of experience when the game was released 2 years ago. Your argument is invalid.

We aren’t vapid sponges.

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Posted by: Sparks The Rescue.5043

Sparks The Rescue.5043

Kamui, your first post on this forum was 9 months ago. Assuming that you started playing Guild Wars 2 prior to or at the same time of your first post, with 9 months experience, I’m sure it wasn’t very difficult. However, imagine doing what you are doing, with say, 9 minutes experience. Can you atleast see how this could be challenging to a new player?

I had 9 minutes of experience when the game was released 2 years ago. Your argument is invalid.

We aren’t vapid sponges.

I don’t understand your point… Okay, so everyone was new to the game when it was released. Obviously. But that doesn’t mean ArenaNet can not make improvements and changes to a system that increases confusion and overall leveling frustration for new players (in this case, learning 4 attunements in a matter of 20 minutes.)

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Posted by: Conncept.7638

Conncept.7638

Short answer, it doesn’t.

There is not a single educational study anywhere that shows that drawn out pacing helps with education. In fact if anything the majority of studies show that students learn and retain the best when a subject is newest, and that once it is drawn out repetition is best.

New system blocks all basic information at the start when you are most likely to retain it, and never repeats the advanced information more than once later on. From an educations perspective, this has been set up in the absolute worst way possible.

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Posted by: Vayne.8563

Vayne.8563

Vayne, Sparks, while I understand where you are coming from, the process presented, as I’ve seen it, takes away more than it provides in helping to learn. There are, in fact, better ways to teach the skills and systems that they are level gating.

For instance, making you invulnerable to defeat in a story start instance, only to have you die in the outside world, only to then reveal later that there is a rally from downed state does not actually prepare the player for any of the later life/downed/defeated states of the game.

Focused, instanced tutorials, even if they are required as part of your story provide the ability to introduce a player to a system, give them details, and walk them through the functional system of the game, and allowing the player to do so at a pace that works for them, especially if the tutorial is repeatable until they understand the fundamentals.

What they have provided is a process where by you are taught something, and then that function is proven to be not the baseline or actual truth/nature of the game you are playing. In fact, you are being taught, and then told that what you experienced and learned is, in fact, wrong. Then, “Here’s how the world really works”. And there’s more, you can see the slots and the buttosn and the icons, but you aren’t ready for it yet. Because the system knows better what you are ready for, rather than adapting to the pace at which you as an individual can learn.

The previous system COULD overwhelm a player, I will not argue that point. But a player was allowed to learn, experiment, grow, and explore at THEIR pace. Not and artificially gated one which actually provides incorrect presentation of the final system at multiple stages.

So, to the devs, please…undo this. Find a better way. Because there ARE better ways to accommodate different players learning speeds and styles.

That invulnerable to defeat in the starter instance has been in the game for at least a year…probably more. Not part of this patch.

That’s probably because there’s no waypoint in the tutorial.

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Posted by: Sparks The Rescue.5043

Sparks The Rescue.5043

Short answer, it doesn’t.

There is not a single educational study anywhere that shows that drawn out pacing helps with education. In fact if anything the majority of studies show that students learn and retain the best when a subject is newest, and that once it is drawn out repetition is best.

New system blocks all basic information at the start when you are most likely to retain it, and never repeats the advanced information more than once later on. From an educations perspective, this has been set up in the absolute worst way possible.

I will be the first to very quickly say you have it backwards. The few minutes that it takes for you to review and think about what you are trying to learn is the minimum length of time that neuroscientists believe is necessary to allow thought to go into a lasting, more easily retrievable memory.

Repeated exposure to information in specifically timed intervals provides the most powerful way to fix memory into the brain. Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information more elaborately if you want the retrieval to be of higher quality. Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information more elaborately, and in fixed, spaced intervals, if you want the retrieval to be the most vivid it can be. Learning occurs best when new information is incorporated gradually into the memory store rather than when it is jammed in all at once. … Memory is enhanced by creating associations between concepts. This experiment has been done hundreds of times, always achieving the same result: Concepts presented in a logically organized, hierarchical structure are much better remembered than when placed randomly — typically 40 percent better.

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Posted by: Zoso.8279

Zoso.8279

Anet dropped the ball when they decided “new players” = 8 year olds who never picked up a game before.

You want to teach players about this game anet? how bout actually telling players stuff that you would have to look up on the internet? think like how combo fields and finishers work? how traps in WvW are used? How conditions and boons affect gameplay ? Theres multiple things you could have taught new players, instead we get this braindead tutorial that a new born could do. I love anet’s metrics. This is what the metrics showed players didn’t know how to do? good god

When I was that age I was playing Commodore 64 and then DOS games all on my own. The audacity of this update though… and you brought up WvW: just imagine them putting this kind of tutorial in WvW. I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or bang my head against the wall just thinking about it.

What about the 30 year old who has never played any games. That is a different experience for them I know if i gave my father who works in the medical field my keyboard and told him to kill a skritt he’d have a hard time knowing how to do it. New players don’t have to be 5 year olds they can be adults who have never gamed before….

Your father can’t ask you “Okay how do I move around?” He can’t move the mouse to options and see the keybindings? He can’t look at the bottom of the screen and see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and try pressing those?

Come on. Stop making excuses. I’m sure your doctor or nurse father can figure this stuff out.

At any rate, why would ANet even WANT to bring people that couldn’t figure this out into the game? If they can’t figure how to press 1 on their keyboard then how the hell did they pass the login screen?

Why does A-Net want to bring those people into the game…..WOW…… ok let me see if you understand this if I rephrase. Many people who read this thread have probably played xbox or playstation now remember when you gave your father or mother or grandfather… whatever …the control and told them to play and they where very confused? I am sure EVERYONE has had this experience. Now imagine in an MMO which is a lot more complex then FIFA or NBA2k or any other console game that are easy in comparison.

Necromancer Main

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Posted by: Kamui.4038

Kamui.4038

Kamui, your first post on this forum was 9 months ago. Assuming that you started playing Guild Wars 2 prior to or at the same time of your first post, with 9 months experience, I’m sure it wasn’t very difficult. However, imagine doing what you are doing, with say, 9 minutes experience. Can you atleast see how this could be challenging to a new player?

I had 9 minutes of experience when the game was released 2 years ago. Your argument is invalid.

We aren’t vapid sponges.

I don’t understand your point… Okay, so everyone was new to the game when it was released. Obviously. But that doesn’t mean ArenaNet can not make improvements and changes to a system that increases confusion and overall leveling frustration for new players (in this case, learning 4 attunements in a matter of 20 minutes.)

Look, I didn’t find it frustrating one bit. In fact I found it really engaging and exciting. The excitement got better when I got new weapons to try out and was able to whack monsters and learn those skills quite naturally. Instead now a player has to wait till they are level 10 just to fully use a weapon set, but wouldn’t you know it, when he equips another set he gets 5 whole new abilities without actually ever working to grind out those abilities as per the old, organic way. You can’t even use an offhand right away. I mean really? Taking the sword and board away from a guardian or warrior right at the beginning of a game? Taking a ranger’s PET COMMANDS away right at the beginning of the game? These Fkey abilities are the core mechanics behind the class and it’s now behind an artificial wall. ANet is forcing players to wear oven mitts and safety helmets for crying out loud.

The new system puts sanctions on a player and is anything but organic. This organic feel is what made GW2 shine. Weapon abilities unlocked as the player saw fit, at his own pace, by his own choice. He didn’t need to wait to reach an artificial goal line and receive his gold star and pat on the head for hitting level 10, he was able to gradually unlock a full weapon set before hitting level 3 if he chose to just attack monsters and not do hearts. This sense of freedom and exploration was at the heart of GW2 and now they are taking that away and forcing people to sit on a train. The downed state and underwater combat sanctions are even more absurd. The utility/elite changes are also absolutely ridiculous. You want to talk about making the game easier and accessible? What about depriving that poor new Ele of his much needed Cantrips for survival purposes?

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Posted by: Sparks The Rescue.5043

Sparks The Rescue.5043

If you create an ice cream store where you only serve people who know how to recite the alphabet backwards…. on a scale of 1 to dumb that would be literally the dumbest thing you could do for your business. You’re locking out potential customers who will help your business grow and succeed.

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Posted by: anzenketh.3759

anzenketh.3759

Level gating itself does not teach. It prevents front loading a player with too much information.

A lot of things people think is level gated is actually not. Vista are a excellent example of this.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Misconceptions-regarding-Level-gating/page/4#post4396936

In Game: Storm Bluff Isle — Anzz, Anzenketh Kyoto

(edited by anzenketh.3759)

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Posted by: Stooperdale.3560

Stooperdale.3560

The more you hit someone with the more there’s a chance something goes away.

That’s just opinion and not fact. Players buy computer games for challenge. This is a game of kill or be killed. If you go through the game pressing auto-attack and watching things die then you log off. It is boring. Anyone who wants fanfares for doing chores can go play Farmville.

There are many players who want to play an MMO because of the breadth of the game and the diversity. Deliberately restricting that breadth will turn off those players.

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Posted by: RedStar.4218

RedStar.4218

I’m for good tutorials.

But forcing players to only play with certain skills until they reach a high enough level isn’t really going to change anything. I know enough players that have been using the same class and the same weapons for months and still don’t even know what their skill release does. They just press every key.

Everytime I pull monsters with my gs 5 on my guardian and the second after a necro places staff mark 5, I cry a little inside.

Nowadays, and Anet even said it themselves, a lot of players don’t want to read it. They barely want to spend a minute thinking about which skill to use, what build to have or even what gear. They just take whatever, use whatever whenever and marvel at how it’s difficult.
“Meta builds” aren’t some high level min/maxing…it’s simply reading the traits descriptions and picking the ones that suit whichever skills you’ll be using (if you don’t use a staff, don’t take a trait related to it…).

I used to hate tutorials, but really this game needs some. Some kind of terribly long tutorial that really thinks you’ve never once played a game and spends long hours teaching you every single freaking thing. With a voice over in case you can’t read. And it should be unskippeable and everyone, even veterans, should be forced to go through it.
If they are going to strech out the leveling experience, might as well make it teach you things.

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Posted by: Warlock.2583

Warlock.2583

Ok, it’s become clear that everything ‘as is’ isn’t intentional (Thanks to Vayne for making sure Colin’s detailed post didn’t get lost in the flurry.)

While I still think there are better ways to present focused, ‘repeatable at your own pace’ systems to learn the game other than level gating, until they get the bugs figured out, and present us with what they actually intended, this becomes a moot discussion.

If it isn’t what they meant for us to experience, then trying to understand where the comparative value of it versus the prior system is not useful.

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Posted by: butch.8136

butch.8136

Disclaimer: – There are, obviously, other reasons that cause an early player drop-off.

Overwhelming a new player causes a bad player retention. Why?

- Lots of gaming companies confirm that there’s a great amount of players that drop off very very early. (example: before lv40 in GW2)

- Anet wouldn’t have put resources in this system if they didn’t believe it would create a better retention. There’s a cost (resources) and they want to see a profit (player retention).

Level gating (as a part of the NPE) does a much better job than written tips, /wiki commands, external guides, an explicit tutorial, etc.

The NPE is basically a seamless tutorial which will ‘always’ improve the experience of a new player. Why? Simply because you’re playing the game and the game teaches you without you noticing it.
A LOT of people skip hints, written guides, etc. just because they’re eager to play and they figure they’ll learn it just by playing (trial and error). But this, amongst other reasons, causes a major part of the new players (hence the new system) to get frustrated and quit.

The only caveat when creating these systems: The NPE may not hurt the new players experience, i.e ‘the fun’. But this is something we can’t really comment on. We are all biased as we have been playing, whether it’s 2 years or 4 days, with the old system. We’ve ‘survived’ the trial/error part. But I’m sure for every few players who stuck through, there’s one who quit.

So, let’s just wait on the bug fixes etc. as the only issue at hand is the degraded ‘new character experience’. Metrics will prove whether the NPE works, so only Anet will know.

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Throw out: Hotjoin!

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Posted by: DeathPanel.8362

DeathPanel.8362

Level gating itself does not teach. It prevents front loading a player of too much information.

A lot of things people think is level gated is actually not. Vista are a excellent example of this.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Misconceptions-regarding-Level-gating/page/4#post4396936

You are assuming the people in question are all first time newbies. People don’t need to waste that extra time “learning” when they are making alts after leveling 18 lvl 80s.

The only thing that does is make player retention harder because people that try to keep playing and make new characters will be turned off by the tedious and annoying gating.

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Posted by: Stooperdale.3560

Stooperdale.3560

If you create an ice cream store where you only serve people who know how to recite the alphabet backwards…. on a scale of 1 to dumb that would be literally the dumbest thing you could do for your business. You’re locking out potential customers who will help your business grow and succeed.

If you create an ice cream store where people have to buy a vanilla ice before they can buy a chocolate ice, and someone has to buy 20 ice creams before they can have a Strawberry ice, how many customers will you keep? Will they buy all those other ice creams just to get what they actually want unlocked?

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Posted by: Conncept.7638

Conncept.7638

Short answer, it doesn’t.

There is not a single educational study anywhere that shows that drawn out pacing helps with education. In fact if anything the majority of studies show that students learn and retain the best when a subject is newest, and that once it is drawn out repetition is best.

New system blocks all basic information at the start when you are most likely to retain it, and never repeats the advanced information more than once later on. From an educations perspective, this has been set up in the absolute worst way possible.

I will be the first to very quickly say you have it backwards. The few minutes that it takes for you to review and think about what you are trying to learn is the minimum length of time that neuroscientists believe is necessary to allow thought to go into a lasting, more easily retrievable memory.

Repeated exposure to information in specifically timed intervals provides the most powerful way to fix memory into the brain. Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information more elaborately if you want the retrieval to be of higher quality. Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information more elaborately, and in fixed, spaced intervals, if you want the retrieval to be the most vivid it can be. Learning occurs best when new information is incorporated gradually into the memory store rather than when it is jammed in all at once. … Memory is enhanced by creating associations between concepts. This experiment has been done hundreds of times, always achieving the same result: Concepts presented in a logically organized, hierarchical structure are much better remembered than when placed randomly — typically 40 percent better.

I’m not talking about a cursory review, of course that doesn’t help.

Nor did I say that concepts should be wantonly disorganized.

Quit making higher than thou assumptions about what I stated.

I am talking about extensive exposition of the course material early on, which studies and practical use HAVE shown to be effective for generations. Followed by organized and regular repetition of that material. This new system does neither, there is no exposure to the majority of the games concepts early on, then when they are exposed, it isn’t done in any logical manner, then it isn’t ever repeated more than once.

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Posted by: DonQuack.9025

DonQuack.9025

This is odd. because iirc

The old system made you HAVE to use the skills to access the later skills.

Ele example
use fire 1 to kill about 5guys to get fire 2 etc etc.
At level 3 or so Air unlocks
use air 1 to kill about 5guys to get air 2 etc etc.

Currently

Firstly its tied to level not use.
Secondly its ALL the skills for a weapon are unlocked instantly.

So I can switch from Staff to Dagger to Sceptre and still be overwhelmed with skills.
Old system of use actually took longer as you had to use each skill for each weapon. Rather than kitten just being unlocked.

Old system.
If I never went underwater I would have nothing except #1 unlocked.
New system If I never went underwater but passed level 23 I would have everything unlocked.

actually on reading above other have posted this so … im late to the party.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am9gVQB8gss

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Posted by: anzenketh.3759

anzenketh.3759

Level gating itself does not teach. It prevents front loading a player of too much information.

A lot of things people think is level gated is actually not. Vista are a excellent example of this.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Misconceptions-regarding-Level-gating/page/4#post4396936

You are assuming the people in question are all first time newbies. People don’t need to waste that extra time “learning” when they are making alts after leveling 18 lvl 80s.

The only thing that does is make player retention harder because people that try to keep playing and make new characters will be turned off by the tedious and annoying gating.

No that is not all what I am assuming. Please see the post Colin made that I link. A lot of things are likely bugs. If I make a new character I can expect I would have to unlock my skills just like before. Now instead of having it come from using the weapon it comes from leveling up. (Note I do not personally agree with this change see: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Learning-Curve/first#post4389552)

The only thing that I think are designed to unlock every time is skills and traits. For skills their needs to be some re-balance they have acknowledged that. For traits they are looking into it. They should all be unlocking at about the same time it was unlocking before.

In Game: Storm Bluff Isle — Anzz, Anzenketh Kyoto

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Posted by: Sparks The Rescue.5043

Sparks The Rescue.5043

Look, I didn’t find it frustrating one bit. In fact I found it really engaging and exciting. The excitement got better when I got new weapons to try out and was able to whack monsters and learn those skills quite naturally. Instead now a player has to wait till they are level 10 just to fully use a weapon set, but wouldn’t you know it, when he equips another set he gets 5 whole new abilities without actually ever working to grind out those abilities as per the old, organic way. You can’t even use an offhand right away. I mean really? Taking the sword and board away from a guardian or warrior right at the beginning of a game? Taking a ranger’s PET COMMANDS away right at the beginning of the game? These Fkey abilities are the core mechanics behind the class and it’s now behind an artificial wall. ANet is forcing players to wear oven mitts and safety helmets for crying out loud.

So, great, I’m glad you are enjoying the game. The concept here to grasp (which you really are not) is that while you personally may not have been frustrated, the system CAN / POTENTIALLY / MAY lead new players to be, which is why ArenaNet changed some aspects of it. Again, by level 15, you have everything unlocked! And not only that, but they made leveling to 15 even faster than it was before! All in all, at the end of the day the player is going to 1. Have everything unlocked by level 15 and 2. Has had a much smoother introduction to the game and has learned valuable core concepts and merchanics.

Again, from a perspective of a mesmer, teaching someone their core skills such as mind wrack (f1) when the player doesn’t even have a firm grasp on their weapon #3 ability to summon a clone is a slippery slope. Or, again, from a perspective of a warrior, teaching someone to use their adrenaline based f1 ability when they do not even grasp yet the idea of gaining adrenaline is a slippery slope.

Lastly, as for your elementalist needed cantrips – this is why ArenaNet is changing the difficulty and dodge mechanics of lower leveled enemies – so the player does not become reliant on utilities to stay alive as much as his ability and skill and knowledge of the game play mechanics.

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Posted by: ShroomOneUp.6913

ShroomOneUp.6913

Anet dropped the ball when they decided “new players” = 8 year olds who never picked up a game before.

You want to teach players about this game anet? how bout actually telling players stuff that you would have to look up on the internet? think like how combo fields and finishers work? how traps in WvW are used? How conditions and boons affect gameplay ? Theres multiple things you could have taught new players, instead we get this braindead tutorial that a new born could do. I love anet’s metrics. This is what the metrics showed players didn’t know how to do? good god

When I was that age I was playing Commodore 64 and then DOS games all on my own. The audacity of this update though… and you brought up WvW: just imagine them putting this kind of tutorial in WvW. I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or bang my head against the wall just thinking about it.

What about the 30 year old who has never played any games. That is a different experience for them I know if i gave my father who works in the medical field my keyboard and told him to kill a skritt he’d have a hard time knowing how to do it. New players don’t have to be 5 year olds they can be adults who have never gamed before….

Your father can’t ask you “Okay how do I move around?” He can’t move the mouse to options and see the keybindings? He can’t look at the bottom of the screen and see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and try pressing those?

Come on. Stop making excuses. I’m sure your doctor or nurse father can figure this stuff out.

At any rate, why would ANet even WANT to bring people that couldn’t figure this out into the game? If they can’t figure how to press 1 on their keyboard then how the hell did they pass the login screen?

Why does A-Net want to bring those people into the game…..WOW…… ok let me see if you understand this if I rephrase. Many people who read this thread have probably played xbox or playstation now remember when you gave your father or mother or grandfather… whatever …the control and told them to play and they where very confused? I am sure EVERYONE has had this experience. Now imagine in an MMO which is a lot more complex then FIFA or NBA2k or any other console game that are easy in comparison.

why would peole who were not itnerested in the first palyce even bother to learn a game if they KNOW they won´t paly it again? of course they are confused then.

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Posted by: ShroomOneUp.6913

ShroomOneUp.6913

BTW aren´t vayle and sparks allreadynone as THE Anetcan´tdowrong´s of this forum? why do you bother trying to argue with them. even if you would them give 100% evidence they´re wrong, they would still argue.

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Posted by: Sparks The Rescue.5043

Sparks The Rescue.5043

If you create an ice cream store where you only serve people who know how to recite the alphabet backwards…. on a scale of 1 to dumb that would be literally the dumbest thing you could do for your business. You’re locking out potential customers who will help your business grow and succeed.

If you create an ice cream store where people have to buy a vanilla ice before they can buy a chocolate ice, and someone has to buy 20 ice creams before they can have a Strawberry ice, how many customers will you keep? Will they buy all those other ice creams just to get what they actually want unlocked?

I was talking about 1. Allowing people to be able to buy and play the game. You’re talking about 2. People already playing the game and current game play mechanics.

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Posted by: Warlock.2583

Warlock.2583

Everybody, I was asking a question and making a statement based on experience. Don’t make this into namecalling. Conversation was thereby invited.

Vayne, myself, and anzenketh have all posted the link to “Colin’s More Detailed Post”: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Misconceptions-regarding-Level-gating/page/4#post4396936 in that thread.

Since there are things which are clearly unintentional and bugs in what we are seeing, the question of the level-gating, and how it is actually working vs supposed to work, makes my concerns and question irrelevant until we get to see what they ACTUALLY meant to do.

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Posted by: Yenrah.8532

Yenrah.8532

The little point hat ANet seems to have missed is that teaching new players how to press buttons is entirely secondary to making them involved and keeping their interest. I simply don’t see a reason why a new player should choose GW2 over other games. Everything that makes GW2 special has been taken away from them. What exactly are they supposed to see? What is there to get their attention?

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Posted by: Windu The Forbidden One.6045

Windu The Forbidden One.6045

A level gate does not teach player systems. What it does is that it gives you more time to adjust to the systems you have before you get new systems.

Which is not needed at all. If some people get overwhelmed by just 2-6 skills in the beginning of the game then I can’t possibly comprehend how they can call themselves gamers, or why they even play games.

At the very least it should be for new players only.

Dear A-net: Please nerf rock. Paper is fine
~Sincerely, Scissors

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Posted by: Zoso.8279

Zoso.8279

Oh man you would think a community of video gamers would want to be accepting of others and want new people to game with; so many people here have a god complex or feel they are “better” then others. kitten i wonder what real life problems their overcompensating for by doing these types of things. While I do agree it should be an option or only with your very first toon I think people are forgetting this is a MMO the more people the better……

Necromancer Main

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Posted by: Windu The Forbidden One.6045

Windu The Forbidden One.6045

Oh man you would think a community of video gamers would want to be accepting of others and want new people to game with; so many people here have a god complex or feel they are “better” then others. kitten i wonder what real life problems their overcompensating for by doing these types of things. While I do agree it should be an option or only with your very first toon I think people are forgetting this is a MMO the more people the better……

I have respect for other people and do not think myself above anyone. I genuinely believe that level gating skills is just over the top, nobody needs it. There might be people who don’t mind, but I believe there is no one who actually needs it in order to function properly in this game, or else risk getting overwhelmed. Guild Wars 2 is already known for having so little spells/skills.

Dear A-net: Please nerf rock. Paper is fine
~Sincerely, Scissors