135569-feedback-conveying-information

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Hello everyone, I'd first like to appologize for the large post in advance. This post is being created with the sole purpose of providing massive feedback towards Carbine and their development team. The team has so far done a fantastic job with the new Free-to-Play model, despite server instability, and several bugs. As an introduction, I'd like to discuss a bit of my background. I have played many, many MMO's in the past, and gained much experience playing these games over the years. I have played World of Warcraft for a little more than 10 years over multiple accounts, leveled over 34 level 85, and higher characters. I have been in Top World 15 guilds in the past, and recently quit, World of Warcraft, after having once again achieved a different World top 120 ranking, playing a rare class prior to being buffed. I came back to this game, after quitting a month after release, to come back to this wonderful game and experience a truly exciting MMO, despite it's bugs and problems. Carbine is working their best to provide clear information to new players, allowing them to witness not only a wonderful game, but something they have put blood, sweat, and tears into, for people who want a true MMO experience. While Carbine is working hard to give players a fantastic experience, I've decided to sit down and compile a list of minor things that they've overlooked. Carbine, as we know, has done a lot of challenging feats in order to overhaul the entire starter experience, for new players to easily understand what is being conveyed to them. However, there are several things that have been overlooked. Things that have been in the game, still exist since launch, which are causing many sorts of confusion to newer players. Although I don't consider myself "cutting edge", I would like to think that experience would allow to understand an MMO like Wildstar versus other MMOs. So, again, I appologize for the long list and hope the guys at Carbine take the time to see the things that I see, and hopefully understand why these issues can be seen as a problem, to the average player.
 
I'd first like to discuss the basics.
 
Simplicity.
 
         Simplicity, is a very touchy subject when it comes to MMOs. Many players view simplicity as "Making a game too easy". This is not always the case. The simplicity of a game can affect many aspects of the game, be it difficulty, readability, or even understanding what is put in front of a player. While simplicity is often wanted in a game, it often receives negative feedback from players complaining that things are "too easy". Players then wish that things became easier and easier, to please the playerbase. Things being too simple obviously hurts the player base, making them feel as if they deserve more than what they actually do. Carbine does a fantastic job of making players work for what they deserve, while making things not-so outlandish, in terms of difficulty. Let's explore exactly what makes a game's simplicity a defining factor.
   
         Complexity of a game comes in many shapes and forms. Not all things need to be complex, nor do things need to be too simple. A game can be simple to pick up, and challenging to master. Complexity to master, is what makes things content enjoyable. Difficulty can also be a double edged sword. Something that's too difficult can often shun players from wanting to try again. So, I'd like to give you guys at Carbine for doing a job well done, and say you, "You are doing a good job attempting to introduce players into a truly unique game". I have a few concerns, however, that make this job feel.. unfinished.  I've never developed content in a game, and completely understand the huge undertaking of an unfinished job. I too also feel, there is always room for improvement. 
 
        I'd like to lightly talk about things I'm going to describe in detail here shortly, and introduce the kinds of thing that I see as a problem. Players are given information in a way that teaches them how to do everything in the game. Talking to movement, jumping, double jumping, interacting, talking with NPCs, and even using abilities. There are some things that aren't conveyed well enough that causes players to ask the same questions, over and over. While most of these questions can often be answered by reading patch notes, many of these players do not. The second thing I'd like to discuss is information. Before I talk about information, I'd like to point out, that players want a game that's easy to read. While players don't need things given to them for free, they don't need to have to ask twenty questions, before they even start playing. Simplicity, in this regard refers to the access of information, that makes understanding information in an easy to understand form. The complexity of this information can then be improved based on complex mechanics, that reflect off of things players learn. Things such as, maximizing damage output, optimizing your LAS, or even finding the AMP setup are things that should be complicated to master, but easier to understand. So, instead of labelling the next segment as Information, I hope you understand that the things i'll be discussing is understood to be related to relaying information to the players.
 
Questing.
 
       Let's start off with the first thing players learn to do in any MMO, "Questing". Questing is the biggest part of an MMO, It's what players spend most their time doing. Picking up this object, talking to that NPC, killing these monsters, saving these vegetables. You name it, quests make you do it. While questing is not often the most fun thing players have ever done, Carbine does a fantastic job of making questing feel more enjoyable than in other mmos. You do a great job, at introducing players how to interact with NPCs, and begin questing, but there have been a few things about questing that have given me questions I've had to answer to friends. Other things told to me about questing, are things I've also noticed. Being overwhelmed.
     
      Quests often overwhelm players, giving them too much to look at. Many times I look at my Quest Log, and see so many quests, that I have no idea which quest I'm doing. The quests often don't number them selves properly. I find myself having to scroll down my quest log to find the specific quest that I'm doing, which is closest to me, because it's not automatically tracking the close quests. Not only is the Quest Tracker not tracking close quests, it will track quests in zones that you're not even apart of. I was about to hit level 50 on my dominion stalker, when i noticed it still had a quest tracking that was from Deradune, a level 7-14 zone. I was so overwhelmed with the amount of quests that I had, that I didn't even notice that. Players will often see an exclamation mark and believe that the first thing they do, is pick it up. The quests aren't the only thing overwhelming players, the map is incredibly overwhelming at first too. Many icons should not be turned on, by default, for a starting player. Seeing things like vendors on the map just adds too much clutter to newer players and they'll often get lost. I know you can easily turn these icons off, but I think that players should have to turn some icons on instead of it being the other way around.
 
      I'd like to have a small segment to something that really upsets me sometimes. Quests are a big part of gameplay, as I've stated before. When a player picks up a quest, they intend to do a quest. Players make those quests their ultimate goal to accomplish. Players don't collect quests, as if they're part of an achievement, to contain every quest in the game, at once. Players do the quests. The maps in this game, are very well designed. They have great art, they're easy to understand. You can tell where paths are, you can see bases, gathering nodes, you name it. Quests often contain pictures, of a noting feature of the zone. A giant statue, a world boss, an Eldan laboratory. These things are great to have. Why do these items block quest objectives. I cannot express this enough. There has been many times I have picked up a quest, looked at the map, could not find where the quest was to take me, only to find out that it was in the town that i was standing in. I'm trying to complete quests, why is one of these pretty pictures, although it has fancy art, more of a priority than completing something players want to complete in an allotted time? The other gripe I have about this, is they often hide behind that annoying icon that are in most quest hubs. The "!" icon with a circle around it. They signify a quest hub, which is fine. Why don't we have the option to turn this off? Why do we see this icon if we completed the quest hub? These things confuse me, and bother me so much more than it should. I don't know if you guys ever discussed this, or if it never occurred to you, but this is something that can be very misleading. I've played this for a little while now, so i know to be on the lookout for hiding quests on the map. Some of my friends, were not aware that it was a thing. This is also the case with path missions, as they will also hide behind things on the map.
 
      Why does picking up a quest, sound so condescending? This is just a minor complaint, but picking up a quest sounds as if I'm dropping a quest in other MMOs. It's almost like an error sound, as if you messed something up. Quests are a good thing, don't think that they're not! However, there has been a growing strategy with quests. It has been found out, that doing only Zone quests and Story Quests, is more efficient than doing Tasks. This is something that has been brought to my attention by my friends, and guildies, telling people "You will level faster this way". Although I do not disagree, as I've seen them level fast, nor do I hate this fact, I have a few issues. These quests are obviously slightly more important, as they're the quests that open up new quest chains, progress the story in a zone, and make players feel as if they're progressing. They're the quests that have players exploring the zones in a timely fashion. While it's easy to notice a quest that is a Zone Quest, or Story Quest, it's not easily portrayed to players. These quests are an "!" symbol, that have a mountain symbol behind it, or what is the Scientist "atom" icon behind it. If players doing research of this strategy for questing try to quest only with these quests, there should be an option in the interface to, "Color the name of a text blue, when a call comes in, that is a part of these chains.". Many times, have I tried these strategies of only doing these quests, receive a call, only to find out, after I pick up the call, that it's part of the Zone Quests or Story Quests. Just a suggestion, on that regard.
 
      When players do an expedition, they aren't aware that there are sometimes two quests for an expedition, upon queueing up for one. When you enter an expedition, I've noticed that a player is may only get one quest granting a single reward, when sometimes there is a second quest outside of the expedition that a player is unaware of. I'm not sure if this was fixed for the free-to-play model, this was something I haven't tested in the new model, as the game has been too laggy to have me try out.
 
The last thing I'd like to discuss are minor things that I don't think deserve their own segment, but I think they could go hand-in-hand with questing. Players aren't given a quest that introduces them to buying a decor from a vendor, and placing it in their house. While I think the quest should give them 10 silver to buy a basic item, it should teach players the basic to placing an item. You could even go an extra step, and have a quest where players are given a "Tutorial Fabkit" that removes all the debris from the middle of the housing yard, where the house is, clearing that land out. This way, not only does it show players how to build and remove things from plots, it also opens up that space for creative builders, who don't want a house, but they don't want to pay 3 plat for a bunker. Some players aren't aware of how to access the System Menu, nor do they know about pinning things to your Menu Bar, next to your abilities. This is something that is always asked by players. "How do I access Mounts, Pets, or Holo-Wardrobe?", "How do I rune something?", "How do I put up a ticket to contact Customer Support?". While the experienced player would understand to view all of their abilities on a bar, new players often find it easier to ask questions, when that's not the case. Some players aren't aware of Level up Rewards. Yes, it's a giant blue button on the top left of the screen, but some people don't realize you can click it, other players don't understand what an AMP is, when they're awarded one.
 
Again, I'd like to state, that I'm sorry for the spam, but I really wanted to voice my concerns for some of the things I noticed that some new players have a problem with. It's not always the new players fault for being a bad player, it's also the company making the game. While I don't want to say Carbine did a bad job, because they didn't! Things are never finished. Carbine, I love you guys! You guys are working so hard, and I respect everything that you guys do. I don't have a job, so I spend most of my time playing this game, regardless of it's lags and bugs. I love playing this game, it's fun, it's unique, it's challenging, while creative. This game is a real MMO, I do not regret quitting World of Warcraft for this game. I will try to support you guys as best I can. Keep up the good work. I'll see you guys in Nexus!	
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thats really a wall of text you left us here.... :p
Im not going to respond to something in detail but its obv that you like the game and want to improve it further.
I can totally relate to that idea and you have some good points in there.
But...just a personal thought:
It's just a game in the end so dont live your life in it. Get a job or do something else with your life while as well keeping the little kid in yourself alive and playing games (like WS).
I cant imagine spending time in WS atm with the lag issues it has. There is no fun...
Maybe you think im an idiot for responding to you in this way and maybe i am?
but i just took 30min to read your wall of text and reply to it so maybe think about it a bit.	
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