145021-beginning-of-game-too-overwhelming

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I enjoy playing this game, however, every time I come back to play, I get way too overwhelmed at the beginning areas.  
 
Let's put it this way, I've spent years and years on WoW and have played it extensively and have played nearly every MMORPG to exist currently, but for some reason, Wildstar doesn't know how to do the flow of quests very well.
 
It actually works out pretty decent until you hit level 5 and it drops you in the first actual "city".  Now, the problem with this city (can't remember the name, something on dominion side) is that there is like 5000 npc's crammed into one area with a bunch of random quests scattered all over the place and some of these quests are insanely specific.  For example, I grabbed a tanking quest as an engineer when I had absolutely no intentions of tanking ever...but I didn't realize that at first.  So I went in the portal, ended up in this tanking sequence, realized what it was, dropped the quest and exited the teleporter.  Somehow I managed to not teleport where I was originally, but somewhere, who knows where, else.  I had no idea where I was.  I just somehow found a transport back to crimson isle, which also, I had no idea what it was.  What is crimson isle anyway? A questing zone for lowbies? I have no idea.  So I just recalled back to the original area I questing after I figured out that I set my recall there.
 
With all that said, I made it back, suffered through the lag and 5000 npc nameplates all over the place with no clue what to do, became frustrated and just deleted my engineer.  I rerolled warrior, because it's easier to learn, evidently and am going to try and see if I can cope with the mass amount of things going on again when I get to that same spot.
 
Why does it need to be this complicated? You wonder why this game has had a hard time attracting new players...well, this is one reason.  It doesn't need to be like this. There is no flow.  It just drops you right into a bunch of nonsense which was transitioning from a system that was working before you got to that "city".	
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There is actually a discussion in a similar vein going on in this topic here: https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/145007-there-are-too-many-quests/
 
If you were interested in reading some other people's opinions on the topic of to many quests.	
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			It's really not that hard though	
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			I dunno, i have never found it to be tough. BUT i dont like being over leveled all the time.....	
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			 And to think I thought this thread was going to be about how carbine.. said they removed many primes.. but instead just made them less noticeable and more troll like  :D	
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 And to think I thought this thread was going to be about how carbine.. said they removed many primes.. but instead just made them less noticeable and more troll like :D
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			You mean I have to read quests in an rpg before I click on portals and stuff? THAT'S CRAZY TALK.	
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The entire game pre 25 is rather awful. Which is really sad, because post 25 it gets really fun. 
 
None of the zones are cool, they just feel like generic MMO land #189023. There are 10,000 quests thrown at you pulling you in every direction except the one you want to be in and every 20 feet CHALLENGE BEGINS.
 
It's a ton of stuff to throw at a new player. 	
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			In another thread someone suggested an exp gain slider so us ocd people and completionists can enjoy all the content without outleveling our zones. I mean this is a must... So muchmuch side content i feel like i have to restrain myself from doing stuff just so i don't get overleveled... Carbine listen!!	
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You mean I have to read quests in an rpg before I click on portals and stuff? THAT'S CRAZY TALK.
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			Yeah the fact that if you'd read the quest you wouldn't have gone into a tanking primer at all, is completely irrelevant. Let's just continue flailing our hands about.	
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			Never had an issue with it.  Don't know why it's so complicated for some people.	
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Yeah the fact that if you'd read the quest you wouldn't have gone into a tanking primer at all, is completely irrelevant. Let's just continue flailing our hands about.
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			I don't understand this complaint at all. I leveled an exile and a dominion during beta and then dominion on live and never felt confused during any part of the leveling process.	
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I can understand what you're saying, when I first entered Ellevar and was bombarded by a mini-map filled with hundreds of symbols I had no idea what they meant, it took quite a while to actually feel comfortable with everything. Really doesn't help you get a barrage of quests, loads of Path stuff to do, and when you're trying to get through that you end up stumbling upon timed Challenges that only make it feel even more daunting. Plus if you ever open the menu and see dozens and dozens of options, not too great either. I myself spent like 10 minutes finding the logout button the first time.
 
I myself didn't mind it -too- much, and I worked through it to where I'm now fine with it and find the huge amounts of content to be great, but my partner was scared off pretty quickly and doesn't seem to want to plaay the game anymore at all. He's played multiple MMOs in his time so he's not easily put off, but just the constant barrage upfront of stuff was just too much.
			
				
	Edited October 23, 2015 by Minsc9	
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			So, a low level quest on instructions on how to play your class?  And a lvl 5 tank?  Um, what have 3 skills to use?  I'm sorry, but when you get to 50, and you ask someone how to do something or in a guild that needs a tank to run dungeons, and your response is, "I don't know how" or "I don't tank, why bother", dont be upset if said players shun you.	
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			this game has the best questing system I've come across. don't know where to go? just click the quest for an arrow. how much easier do you want it?	
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I don't understand this complaint at all.
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Let me sum up:
 
Took quest. Didn't like quest. Got teleported because reasons. Found way back. Angry at *game* for *self* not reading quest text.
 
You are now up to speed.
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Yes, it is entirely possible to out-level content through questing.  No, this is not often a problem, in that those whose only goal is to hit "end game" as quickly as possible can then abandon quests and grab new quests in the next area, while those of us who want to scour through "lore" or just enjoy the story of our characters can keep going even if the content is not 'optimal.' 
 
The only thing I've noticed which throws a sabot into the gears is that if you allow yourself to outpace your quests, thus outpace your quest rewards, you'll have a harder time in the 'training' instances, and will have a hard time in 'scaled up' events/instances.
 
The 'teleporting back from instance to a place where you had to travel from just to be able to get back on your map' does sound more like a bug, agreed.  And while yes, tasks and challenges have not really been so intuitive, after failing the first few, I got better at noticing them and actually diverting to do them, when they seem (1) interesting and (2) appropriate to what I'm up to.	
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			Non-linear questing should be considered a feature. Over the years questing in WoW just got too easy. I hate to say "too easy" about a game. Sounds so elitist. But really, it got to the point that there was no point to go out and explore and look for quests. It was just enter zone, now go here, now go here, now go here. Basically the game just held the player's hand and walked them though the zone. And, yeah, that's OK. But I like having quests that I have to go find and I like having more quests in a zone than I actually need to do to level up. It gives me the option to stick around in the zone and learn more story, or just move on to content more appropriate to my level in another zone. I don't really want my path laid out for me step by step from level one to fifty. 	
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Honestly, after watching a lot of Twitch streamers new to the game, I think this is a very valid complaint that Carbine needs to take into consideration.  This isn't a matter of things being too easy or too hard, but that you go from having a couple quests in the starter zone to having nearly a dozen the minute you zone into the next area - and that does overwhelm new players and that's not a good thing. Feeling overwhelmed doesn't translate well to having fun.
 
Wildstar is an MMO unlike others in many ways.  Someone new to the game has a lot of things to learn - combat, controls, how classes work, paths, challenges, stats, etc. so throwing so many quests on top of that when people are still getting used to the game provides confusion and is just too much, too fast.  It's not about holding someone's hand, but that players shouldn't be thrown into the deep end so quickly.  The progression needs to be a little smoother so new players have some time to adjust to the game's mechanics before they get this massive list of things to do.
 
People need to stop assuming that just because they didn't have a problem and things were easy for them, that everyone else will or should have that same player experience.  I used to feel the same way, but it only took a few days of watching streamers struggle with the early levels to see not everyone plays the same way, has the same level of MMO comprehension, or learns as fast.  Like I said, this isn't about dumbing down the game.  It's about easing new players into the game a little better so they stick around.  That's the nominative thing here that people should be focusing on.  We want people to stick around and learn the game, and if overwhelming players it detrimental to that and causing some people to leave, then it's something Carbine should take a look at.
			
				
	Edited October 23, 2015 by Cantatus	
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I had a couple friends start playing they all had similar negative comments:"Why am I getting so many​ achievements for doing nothing?"
"Tracker clutter."
"Quest hotkeys."	
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{| class="blockquote"
Honestly, after watching a lot of Twitch streamers new to the game, I think this is a very valid complaint that Carbine needs to take into consideration.  This isn't a matter of things being too easy or too hard, but that you go from having a couple quests in the starter zone to having nearly a dozen the minute you zone into the next area - and that does overwhelm new players and that's not a good thing. Feeling overwhelmed doesn't translate to well to having fun.
 
Wildstar is an MMO unlike others in many ways.  Someone new to the game has a lot of things to learn - combat, controls, how classes work, paths, challenges, stats, etc. so throwing so many quests on top of that when people are still getting used to the game provides confusion and is just too much, too fast.  It's not about holding someone's hand, but that players shouldn't be thrown into the deep end so quickly.  The progression needs to be a little smoother so new players have some time to adjust to the game's mechanics before they get this massive list of things to do.
 
People need to stop assuming that just because they didn't have a problem and things were easy for them, that everyone else will or should have that same player experience.  I used to feel the same way, but it only took a few days of watching streamers struggle with the early levels to see not everyone plays the same way, has the same level of MMO comprehension, or learns as fast.  Like I said, this isn't about dumbing down the game.  It's about easing new players into the game a little better so they stick around.  That's the nominative thing here that people should be focusing on.  We want people to stick around and learn the game, and if overwhelming players it detrimental to that and causing some people to leave, then it's something Carbine should take a look at.
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			I ran into this 'problem'  during my run of a new character made specifically to assess the F2P reboot.  WIldstar does a pretty poor job of flow control on quests. You get a LOT of stuff to do all the time, and if you're bad at time management and prioritizing objectives, you may feel like you're getting a very disjointed experience.    But I also noticed something else about the experience:  There's ALWAYS something new to find. Even as a veteran player who was around for beta and the following months after launch, I'm still finding new things that I didn't know about. Even though I'm wandering around aimlessly across the map every time I see a new quest, I'm still finding new cool things to do.  The best piece of advice I would give a new player is to spend a little bit of time learning how the quest tracker and quest log works so they can filter out the stuff they aren't interested in.  Once you do that you should be easily able to get the gaming experience you're most interested in.  Challenges can be dismissed with a click of a button, tasks, events, story, and path missions can all be turned on or off, and filtered by level or distance to your current location.   The Nexus content finder can help get you to where there's content relative to your level. Wildstar is a little different than most MMOs in a lot of little ways. Don't be angry that this is so, be glad that there's new stuff to learn, and spend a little time learning instead of complaining that it's not the same and you'll start having fun.  
			
				
	Edited October 23, 2015 by Elite Seraph	
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			Here is a pretty good tip if you're new and reading this. Don't bother with tasks. If you get a task, just delete it. Stick to regional and world stories.
			
				
	Edited October 23, 2015 by Thelonious	
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See two flat out obvious signs this thread is a troll:
 
First, there is no city at level 5.
Second, there is no tanking quest at level 5 (unless they very recently added one - the first role specific content is level 10).	
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See two flat out obvious signs this thread is a troll:
 
First, there is no city at level 5.
Second, there is no tanking quest at level 5 (unless they very recently added one - the first role specific content is level 10).
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See two flat out obvious signs this thread is a troll:
 
First, there is no city at level 5.
Second, there is no tanking quest at level 5 (unless they very recently added one - the first role specific content is level 10).
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Why does it need to be this complicated? You wonder why this game has had a hard time attracting new players...well, this is one reason.  It doesn't need to be like this. There is no flow.  It just drops you right into a bunch of nonsense which was transitioning from a system that was working before you got to that "city".
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I enjoy playing this game, however, every time I come back to play, I get way too overwhelmed at the beginning areas.  
 
Let's put it this way, I've spent years and years on WoW and have played it extensively and have played nearly every MMORPG to exist currently, but for some reason, Wildstar doesn't know how to do the flow of quests very well.
 
It actually works out pretty decent until you hit level 5 and it drops you in the first actual "city".  Now, the problem with this city (can't remember the name, something on dominion side) is that there is like 5000 npc's crammed into one area with a bunch of random quests scattered all over the place and some of these quests are insanely specific.  For example, I grabbed a tanking quest as an engineer when I had absolutely no intentions of tanking ever...but I didn't realize that at first.  So I went in the portal, ended up in this tanking sequence, realized what it was, dropped the quest and exited the teleporter.  Somehow I managed to not teleport where I was originally, but somewhere, who knows where, else.  I had no idea where I was.  I just somehow found a transport back to crimson isle, which also, I had no idea what it was.  What is crimson isle anyway? A questing zone for lowbies? I have no idea.  So I just recalled back to the original area I questing after I figured out that I set my recall there.
 
With all that said, I made it back, suffered through the lag and 5000 npc nameplates all over the place with no clue what to do, became frustrated and just deleted my engineer.  I rerolled warrior, because it's easier to learn, evidently and am going to try and see if I can cope with the mass amount of things going on again when I get to that same spot.
 
Why does it need to be this complicated? You wonder why this game has had a hard time attracting new players...well, this is one reason.  It doesn't need to be like this. There is no flow.  It just drops you right into a bunch of nonsense which was transitioning from a system that was working before you got to that "city".
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I love being overwhelmed, and even to me it was overwhelming. Talking about the old intro where you actually got told how to use your path buttons, which they removed.
 
I really missed an explanation on the path things, as it took me a while to remember that the 'g' button makes your bot appear as a scientist, for instance. As a settler some quests are indeed very confusing. I saw someone talking about not knowing how to handle caches and yes, I looked it up on the internet as well. Nowhere is there a proper explanation to be found.
 
I understand they want to throw you into the action asap as it is really a lot of fun to be out there, but maybe if people leveled a little slower at low levels so they get the time to figure everything out, it would help. Especially if you put in a few explanatory quests about paths, professions (more than: make this, good luck) and abilities in general (strikethrough, critical hit, criticial crit, critical spam and hit, criticicialala... *takes pill*). 
 
ANYhoo, I love having to figure all of it out, but I can definitely understand how this can be off putting to some. It's hard to put all of that stuff in a game and create a ton of options (which I love) but also make it clear as day what to find where. By all means I wouldn't want content to be cut, but then clarifying it may be a tough one to tackle. 
 
And that's only that part of the game. Not even talking about how everything is so shiny that important signs fall flat to new people. Later on you'll figure out what everything means, but in the beginning is very hard to even see the green checkmark above a questgiver's head. 
 
To some it may come natural, or you are like me and you simply love to figure it all out, but surely it is clear that throwing the whole game at someone within one level is a little too much. Personally I love the heal/tank practise, though. It may be tiny but it got me to figure out how setting different specs works. 
 
So the question to me would be: "How to clarify the gameplay/ui without cutting content or nerfing it?". 
			
				
	Edited October 24, 2015 by shadowmessengerx	
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The early tank/heal quest isn't trying to make you into a tank or healer.  Its just to show you the very bare minimum basics of tanking or healing in case you want to give it a try later.  Its like Carbine telling you, "Hey, your class can also be a tank if you are interested"
 
Its actually quite a short quest that can be completed in less than 5 minutes.  Not doing it doesn't seem to affect your game in any negative way.
			
				
	Edited October 24, 2015 by Duhgirl2u2	
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			I would definitely NOT recommend scientist or settler to a new player. Explorer would be my recommendation for a first time experience. You get jump puzzles, and finishing exploring all of the map gets you exposed to much more content.	
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{| class="blockquote"
I would definitely NOT recommend scientist or settler to a new player. Explorer would be my recommendation for a first time experience. You get jump puzzles, and finishing exploring all of the map gets you exposed to much more content.
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I enjoy playing this game, however, every time I come back to play, I get way too overwhelmed at the beginning areas.  
 
Let's put it this way, I've spent years and years on WoW and have played it extensively and have played nearly every MMORPG to exist currently, but for some reason, Wildstar doesn't know how to do the flow of quests very well.
 
It actually works out pretty decent until you hit level 5 and it drops you in the first actual "city".  Now, the problem with this city (can't remember the name, something on dominion side) is that there is like 5000 npc's crammed into one area with a bunch of random quests scattered all over the place and some of these quests are insanely specific.  For example, I grabbed a tanking quest as an engineer when I had absolutely no intentions of tanking ever...but I didn't realize that at first.  So I went in the portal, ended up in this tanking sequence, realized what it was, dropped the quest and exited the teleporter.  Somehow I managed to not teleport where I was originally, but somewhere, who knows where, else.  I had no idea where I was.  I just somehow found a transport back to crimson isle, which also, I had no idea what it was.  What is crimson isle anyway? A questing zone for lowbies? I have no idea.  So I just recalled back to the original area I questing after I figured out that I set my recall there.
 
With all that said, I made it back, suffered through the lag and 5000 npc nameplates all over the place with no clue what to do, became frustrated and just deleted my engineer.  I rerolled warrior, because it's easier to learn, evidently and am going to try and see if I can cope with the mass amount of things going on again when I get to that same spot.
 
Why does it need to be this complicated? You wonder why this game has had a hard time attracting new players...well, this is one reason.  It doesn't need to be like this. There is no flow.  It just drops you right into a bunch of nonsense which was transitioning from a system that was working before you got to that "city".
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{| class="blockquote"
I would definitely NOT recommend scientist or settler to a new player. Explorer would be my recommendation for a first time experience. You get jump puzzles, and finishing exploring all of the map gets you exposed to much more content.
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{| class="blockquote"
Honestly, after watching a lot of Twitch streamers new to the game, I think this is a very valid complaint that Carbine needs to take into consideration.  This isn't a matter of things being too easy or too hard, but that you go from having a couple quests in the starter zone to having nearly a dozen the minute you zone into the next area - and that does overwhelm new players and that's not a good thing. Feeling overwhelmed doesn't translate well to having fun.
 
Wildstar is an MMO unlike others in many ways.  Someone new to the game has a lot of things to learn - combat, controls, how classes work, paths, challenges, stats, etc. so throwing so many quests on top of that when people are still getting used to the game provides confusion and is just too much, too fast.  It's not about holding someone's hand, but that players shouldn't be thrown into the deep end so quickly.  The progression needs to be a little smoother so new players have some time to adjust to the game's mechanics before they get this massive list of things to do.
 
People need to stop assuming that just because they didn't have a problem and things were easy for them, that everyone else will or should have that same player experience.  I used to feel the same way, but it only took a few days of watching streamers struggle with the early levels to see not everyone plays the same way, has the same level of MMO comprehension, or learns as fast.  Like I said, this isn't about dumbing down the game.  It's about easing new players into the game a little better so they stick around.  That's the nominative thing here that people should be focusing on.  We want people to stick around and learn the game, and if overwhelming players it detrimental to that and causing some people to leave, then it's something Carbine should take a look at.
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I'd seen a lot of twitch streams and youtubers & you know what a fair bit did as soon a a tutorial would pop up they would click it away or if they got new abilities they wouldn't even read what they did. Not all did this but most of the ones i saw did.
 
That right there tells me that it's no wonder they feel swamped.
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Scientist was my first class on Esper which was my first to 50 back before when the game was harder to level up in. No it is not too hard for a new player, you just have your own preferences that differ from some. Stop making overtly simplistic assumptions about content just because you don't like it because factually speaking there are many of us that do like it.
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I would definitely NOT recommend scientist or settler to a new player. Explorer would be my recommendation for a first time experience. You get jump puzzles, and finishing exploring all of the map gets you exposed to much more content.
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			There has always been a problem with this game for the first 20 levels, going back to the first day. The mantra on the forums used to be , wait until whitevale before you judge. I figured they would have addressed it by now.	
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{| class="blockquote"
I'd seen a lot of twitch streams and youtubers & you know what a fair bit did as soon a a tutorial would pop up they would click it away or if they got new abilities they wouldn't even read what they did. Not all did this but most of the ones i saw did.
 
That right there tells me that it's no wonder they feel swamped.
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