Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Free start content/Tutorial

    • 2756 posts
    August 17, 2019 5:03 AM PDT

    I earlier said I didn't see how you could properly get a feel for a game like Pantheon without being in with the actual live players, but I realise I was thinking 'old-school'.

    With streaming and uploaded vids the way they are now, it would just take some carefully designed tutorial vids and regular demo streams with an emphasis on the community and shared experience to fill the void that segregated trial servers might leave.

    Please, though, VR, if you go that way, don't just rely on 'community made' vids.

    I, and others, will no doubt be making those (I love making tutorial vids. Check my Battlefield ones hehe) BUT there should be a set of official ones that are propery designed and focused.

    I'm sure community content will be great, but there is often a *lot* to filter and of varying quality and focus.

    You don't want to leave your trial users and potential buyers to chance.

    What they did for Battlefield 1 is showcase community YouTube vids (no, none of mine were picked *sad face*) and moving forward sponsored some good content creators to make more focused ones, but it never really quite provided an adequate and broad 'tutorial'.  More a scattering of cool ideas and brief intros.

    VR can do better!


    This post was edited by disposalist at August 17, 2019 5:05 AM PDT
    • 429 posts
    August 17, 2019 7:46 AM PDT

      I've played all types .

     I am not a fan of tutorial islands , I feel they never capture the real world ( By real world I mean the actual mainlands ) . 

     I do not believe having a island  with ! , ? or little glowy lines guiding you to your trainer telling you what to do , does anything to  promote real game  ( it a false sense of reality ).

     I do get maybe there is someone who has been living out in the boonies who has never played or seen a MMO ( hard to see ) . Would be easier to put them in their starting city ( that little note from EQ was easy enough to read ) , with little but their skivies maybe a note or something to say Welcome your trainer will guide you on your way insert name of trainer .  This way they are not being fooled at the start ( they see Pantheon the way its meant to be seen or played ) . 

     If free trial  is 5 or 10 levels let them expierence the actual game , I understand people worried about griefers/spammers/gold sellers ( well they are at higher levels too ) . ( not a fan of free trials either ) .

    Just throw little ole me into your world , I am certain I will survive :)


    This post was edited by Shea at August 17, 2019 7:58 AM PDT
    • 1428 posts
    August 17, 2019 9:33 AM PDT

    disposalist said:

    I earlier said I didn't see how you could properly get a feel for a game like Pantheon without being in with the actual live players, but I realise I was thinking 'old-school'.

    With streaming and uploaded vids the way they are now, it would just take some carefully designed tutorial vids and regular demo streams with an emphasis on the community and shared experience to fill the void that segregated trial servers might leave.

    Please, though, VR, if you go that way, don't just rely on 'community made' vids.

    I, and others, will no doubt be making those (I love making tutorial vids. Check my Battlefield ones hehe) BUT there should be a set of official ones that are propery designed and focused.

    I'm sure community content will be great, but there is often a *lot* to filter and of varying quality and focus.

    You don't want to leave your trial users and potential buyers to chance.

    What they did for Battlefield 1 is showcase community YouTube vids (no, none of mine were picked *sad face*) and moving forward sponsored some good content creators to make more focused ones, but it never really quite provided an adequate and broad 'tutorial'.  More a scattering of cool ideas and brief intros.

    VR can do better!

     

    nothing wrong with being old school.  i preferred your original thought as it makes more sense.  

    to address your new outlook:

    all you need is a highlighting class trailer. 

    sfv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ86u--82Sk

    lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTNwrJGjpxo

     

    you don't have to be a fan of street fighter or league of legends to know what information is being delievered(frame data, application of skills, optimal usage, etc) it just has to pique your interest.  and if you are a fan of the game or you want to know more about it, you can go back and watch it several times to dissect the information.

     

    there is no need to do in depth stuff.  leave that to the community.  it builds hype, speculation and desire.  it's more appealing for players to be able to express themselves than it is to have a metric that dictates playstyle.

    • 23 posts
    August 17, 2019 7:48 PM PDT

    My first though is that, as long as it's optional or only for the free trial, I can see why it might be helpful for some new players or to keep out spammers on free accounts, but I personally do not want to be forced to go through a tutorial island scripted bs scenario before getting to the real game.

    But on further thought, I think the idea in general seems kind of out of place with the kind of world that VR is making, what leaving out quest hubs, no instancing, and having separate starting cities for each race, so I'm not sure if it would work very well to begin with without them having to put in a lot of extra work to create something that works quite differently from the intention of the game. I think they can prevent problems from free accounts by limiting speech and trade options for those players, which has been done in many others games. As for new players, like others have said, they won't really get a feel for the game if they're in some separate area that's cut off from the rest of the world.  Pantheon isn't meant to be an on-rails experience, and I don't think it needs to be at the beginning of the game any more than at any other point. Some people won't be able to get into that, but VR seems pretty dedicated to making a game with a specific target audience, so I don't see the need to cater to a group that they're not designing the game for. Not to say that there shouldn't be some guidance at the beginning, but 5-10 levels before you can even choose where you want to go seems pretty restrictive and antithetical to the kind of game they're trying to create.

    Also, they seem to have plans for a volunteer guide system where veteran players can help out newbies, along with incentives for experienced players to participate in that, and that system will work a lot better if the new players are in the same world as the veterans.

    • 1714 posts
    August 18, 2019 7:52 PM PDT

    asterlea said:

    My first though is that, as long as it's optional or only for the free trial, I can see why it might be helpful for some new players or to keep out spammers on free accounts, but I personally do not want to be forced to go through a tutorial island scripted bs scenario before getting to the real game.

    But on further thought, I think the idea in general seems kind of out of place with the kind of world that VR is making, what leaving out quest hubs, no instancing, and having separate starting cities for each race, so I'm not sure if it would work very well to begin with without them having to put in a lot of extra work to create something that works quite differently from the intention of the game. I think they can prevent problems from free accounts by limiting speech and trade options for those players, which has been done in many others games. As for new players, like others have said, they won't really get a feel for the game if they're in some separate area that's cut off from the rest of the world.  Pantheon isn't meant to be an on-rails experience, and I don't think it needs to be at the beginning of the game any more than at any other point. Some people won't be able to get into that, but VR seems pretty dedicated to making a game with a specific target audience, so I don't see the need to cater to a group that they're not designing the game for. Not to say that there shouldn't be some guidance at the beginning, but 5-10 levels before you can even choose where you want to go seems pretty restrictive and antithetical to the kind of game they're trying to create.

    Also, they seem to have plans for a volunteer guide system where veteran players can help out newbies, along with incentives for experienced players to participate in that, and that system will work a lot better if the new players are in the same world as the veterans.

    Well said throughout.