![]() (These new starting zones also are significantly more polished and refined then their older counterparts and I hope to discuss this in part 2). The new starting zones are a wise and sensible return to they way characters started back in the original EverQuest and in WoW. Since then SOE has created additional newbie starting zones in Faydwer, Neriak and Timorous Deep which is a reversal in the original design philosophy of herding players into one of two alignments/starting cities. Once they reached a certain level they had to make a choice between choosing the cities of Qeynos (good) and Freeport (evil). When EQ2 launched 5 years ago it was called the Isle of Refuge and was meant to teach players about the MMO and give them some details as to the back story. ![]() ![]() I’ve decided to play a male barbarian mystic with a good alignment starting in the Qeynos newbie area called the Queen’s Colony. Let’s see if any of those improvements made it into the first 15 minutes of gameplay. Where I differ from a newbie is that I will present my analysis of what I encounter both by providing constructive critiques and offering solutions to problems.īy many accounts EQ2 has improved over the years. This lack of familiarity is useful when approaching an analysis of the first 15 minutes of gameplay as I will try to do all of the typical things a newbie player might do as they stumble into a re-imagined Norrath for the first time. Previously to this article I have played EQ2 on three brief occasions: once when it was released, again during the release of the Faydwer expansion, then after the release of the continent of Kunark and again just recently to try out the game in it’s Shadow Odyssey incarnation.įor some reason I EQ2 never quite clicked with me, therefore I have no real knowledge of the MMO as a whole except my own brief experiences and what I’ve heard from others. Back then I was so upset for SOE for letting EQ deteriorate that I swore I’d never buy another Sony product - I’m not kidding.ĭespite my feelings about SOE I felt compelled to give EQ2 a try. In view of this cardinal rule and with a fresh set of eyes, let’s take a look at the first 15 minutes of a MMO that had showed great promise but somehow missed the mark: EverQuest2.īack after playing EQ for many years I had pretty much given up on SOE due to the poorly quality of their expansions most notably the disaster that was Gates of Discord. Eventually they ended up with a newbie experience that was so completely perfect that they used it as a template for all of their newbie starting lands. Introductory content should be attempted only after the team is experienced and has a clear vision of the game.įor example, Blizzard spent many months refining and polishing the WoW newbie experience of the human lands of Elwynn Forest. Initial content for video games should never be completed first because at that point the team is not experienced enough - you don’t want players to have to suffer through not quite perfected content and untested design ideas while the team is figuring out how to create and script the MMO. Smart video game companies realize this and plan accordingly with regards to budgeting and production scheduling. A video game that fails to capture the interest of a player during that time is essentially dead in the water. The sobering reality is that after 15 minutes most players have made up their minds whether your game is a piece of crap or something they will keep playing. It is during this brief window of opportunity that most players decide whether to invest their time in your game. One of the first things I learned as a game designer is that the first 15 minutes of your video game is critical.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |