Guild Wars 2

I’ve not seen the new tutorial zone if it has changed at all. But with all the “not feeling overwhelmed by too many systems” thread of mind, I think that the tutorial area could use more tutorial to it.

It might take some time, but you all know it’s the right thing to do. After that A.Net could cater for the veteran players in the next feature pack. This one was big boost to the new players. Which is nice, but I’m not part of that demographic.

What do you think?

Most people think the game is easy to figure out and the zones are fine now. Don’t need anything too kitten.

I think ANet’s intentions are in the right place, but their implementation is horrible.

The trait system is one such example. ANet didn’t want new players to feel overwhelmed by the “trait point per level” system, and decided to make it more concise; “trait skill per 6 levels”. Unfortunately, they pushed back the trait tab unlock to level 30. At this point, a “new” player should be familiar with how the game is played. It’s essentially a hidden system to them that they’ll have to learn way late in the game.

I agree with OP that the tutorial area should include more tutorial. GW1 did an excellent job with that; before Ascalon City, before Shing Jea Monastery, before Kamadan, we were introduced to equipping weapons, defeating enemies, death and revival, using skills, and more. We were taught about the different classes and what secondary profession we might like to choose. And with Nightfall, we were taught (very early) how to command your heroes. Within 10 minutes of playing, you knew exactly how to play the game.

In GW2, it seems that you aren’t taught anything. I remember my first day playing this game back in BWE, and the tutorial levels haven’t changed at all in terms of gameplay. I wasn’t told to press 1 to attack something. I wasn’t told about downed state and rallying. I wasn’t told about unique class abilities (i.e. the necro’s death shroud, the ranger’s pet UI, the warrior’s adrenaline, etc.). The tutorial area is short-lived, and you’re then thrust into an unforgiving world. Granted, many of these “lessons” were self-taught through trial and error, but it’s nowhere near as newbie-friendly as GW1.

If ANet is really THAT concerned about helping new players understand the game, then why can’t the tutorial areas be as useful and helpful to new players as in GW1?

If they would implement such a tutorial zone, which I would be fine with in general, they better make it optional.

HHR LostProphet.4801:

If they would implement such a tutorial zone, which I would be fine with in general, they better make it optional.

I’m not sure if you played the original GW, but I do remember that the tutorial area was optional in Nightfall. And you weren’t punished for skipping it either; you got the same exp, same items, same amount of money… It was great.

An optional tutorial zone is the simple and extremely obvious response to new players learning the game (not that it is remotely difficult to figure out to start).

An optional tutorial zone would be more helpful IMO. It’s good to see ArenaNet trying to do something but I’m not sure how effective gated progression will be at teaching new players. We’ll just have to see.

We should remember that ArenaNet clearly sees this as a need. They have the game metrics and they would not be spending the time and resources to implement these changes unless they saw a real problem with new players figuring out GW2’s game systems.

I disagree intensely with everyone saying GW2 is easy to figure out or intuitive. We figured out how to play GW2 because we are forum-posters – that we even bother reading and posting on the forum makes us among the most dedicated of the playerbase. We know where to look and how to find answers, we are the upper end of the spectrum when it comes to having the time and drive to figure out esoteric game mechanics. This should not be expected of the rest of the playerbase. Indeed it should not be expected of ANY of player of ANY game.

It is the responsibility of the developers/designers to clearly explain how to play their game to their players. You don’t see tabletop games that just include a board and pieces without rule books. Every single player video game makes certain to explain its mechanics to players even if its something standard like an FPS. Some players seem to think MMO devs not explaining essential mechanics is acceptable way to throw a game out to the public – it is not in any other genre and it is not acceptable in MMOs either. Just because it was an MMO tradition doesn’t mean it wasn’t flawed.

ArenaNet has done a decent job removing many of those wretched traditions in MMOs when they made GW2. I find it hopeful to see MMO developers realizing that there need to be fundamental changes to the genre. It’s less hopeful seeing players who don’t seem to understand that themselves.

The tutorial bosses used to subtly teach players how to rally, since they featured 1 shot mechanics and adds that could be easily killed, but people complained about getting 1 shot.

They need to bring it back with a rally tutorial.