Fix the new player's experience ?

[elykz]

The new player's experience is currently a mess. And it seems we're too used to it to even care anymore..

The main selling point of the game is supposed to be pvp/rvr mechanics.. Yay, you can level up by just doing pvp.. Great!

So lets review a little scenario:

I'm level 2, yay ! Let's go and join a sc asap! Wooh, pew pew, it works ! So far i can decently compete with higher level guys.. Great Game!
Ding! yay, i'm level 3 ! now, im a big boy, got some new ability ! Let's kick some... oh well.. the drama starts here.
Bolster is gone, for the next 13 mins of the sc. non-bolster state even persists over death..
A bug that is now ingame for like so long i cannot even remember when it started.
Yay ! Playing with 500 hp is fun, great fun. Litterally getting oneshoted by everyone for the 13 remaining mins..
What a great experience, what a great image of the game it gives to newcomers !
Why would i queue again after such an horrible experience ? Alt-f4!

I know, nobody cares about new player's experience, we'll soon all be in t4, right ? why bother ?
Because ruining new players experience and giving them a false image of what the game is.. is not the best way to acquire new players..

To me, fixing this kind of issue seems at least as important as messing with gcd and ap management for fun..

[Automation]

I have to agree.
Lvling alts is a pain and im not even talking about the gear grind once youre in t4.
Lets say i hit lvl16, i go t2.
It gets worse there!
Youre competing against lvl36-39 players and even when youre lvl 20, facing a lvl 31 you WILL feel it.
It feels to me that bolster does jack sh** in lower tiers
PS: Real Elyks? The little shammy i know trough Dani?

[Hysteri4]

I somewhat agree but I just want to highlight another view on that T1 and T2/3 imbalance.
It allows for fast progression that you can really feel as a player. When you enter T1 fights you will start off being REALLY weak. But you get stronger quickly with every level and piece of gear. At level 12 once you have your influence blue gear, you become an absolute monster compared to others. For the first time you get that high of being able to dominate the battlefield.
Entering T2/3 you lose all your power for a short time. But that downtime is really not that long...you just join a few sieges and learn WB gameplay. And once you hit level 29+ you are once again a monster in SCs.

The imbalance of T1/2/3 is what makes it exciting in my opinion. When you get destroyed you know that in very short time, you will be the guy who can dominate. And with the use of xp-reduction scrolls you will spend a LOT more time being strong, than being weak. That level 12-15, 29+ and especially that delicious level 36+ (full genesis and epic quest weapons) power spike was by far the most fun I had in SCs.

...compare that with the t4 experience. You hit lvl 40 and wear conq/vanq, getting absolutely demolished by rr80 players in BIS gear. In T1-3 you knew that the only thing that seperated you from a seemingly unbeatable enemy were a few hours of grinding crests and levels. At lvl 40 though? "Haha you got me this time! You just wait until I get my 30k crests and we'll be able to fight on equal grounds!"

[Sulorie]

I have to agree.
Lvling alts is a pain and im not even talking about the gear grind once youre in t4.
Lets say i hit lvl16, i go t2.
It gets worse there!
Youre competing against lvl36-39 players and even when youre lvl 20, facing a lvl 31 you WILL feel it.
It feels to me that bolster does jack sh** in lower tiers

The bolster bug affects early levels in tier 1 and I assume it is hard to track down, otherwise it would have been fixed long ago. Relog or re-entering rvr fixes it, which obviously isn't possible in sc.

Now back to lvl16+ experience, which is ofc a personal one.
Let's be blunt, you will die the same with a higher level, if you don't progress as a player, because the character rank is just one factor of many and by far not the deciding one.
We recently rolled new destro chars with guild and we make no difference what rank the enemy players have, be it 16 or 39, premade or not.
Yesterday we had to invite a lvl 18+ dok (no grp heal), who outhealed the lvl 37 dok in our grp.
We are in the lower 20s currently.
You have to put in effort to fully utilize bolster. You can't just expect to wear whatever you like and expect that your stats are magically en par with higher rank players.
Bolster doesn't give you a certain amount of stats, it increases your current stats, this means you can influence it by setting up your gear.

edit: you can be a already monster in t1 right at 2-4+, if you are able to acquire talismans and gear with talisman slots, even white vendor gear. Obviously it ends the moment you get a lvl up

[Everdin]

The premates in low tier are the problem!!!

[tazdingo]

t1 was better when it was a perpetual battle royale at festenplaz

[Hysteri4]

t1 was better when it was a perpetual battle royale at festenplaz

Yeah, the other areas are too big for the population, or at least thats what it felt like when I leveled a few weeks ago. Running boxes in an empty t1 elf/dwarf is probably more off putting to new players than the t1 balancing issues.

[rejndjer]

t1 elf/dwarf warcamps aren't that far apart. problem is not the size of map, it's just that there's no players in t1 during most of the day, only during primetime will you find some people in rvr.

[tazdingo]

there are plenty of people, t1 scens pop all day with little waiting time. the t1 experience used to be a maelstrom in nordland where you could learn your class and ding 16 (or near enough) in a single evening of fun fights. now it always seems to take 2 or 3 days of hoping you dont run into an sc prem or just pveing it, nobody feels like running boxes in elf or dwarf

[Emissary]

t1 was better when it was a perpetual battle royale at festenplaz

I'm going to agree with this, T1 is just too big for the few I did love leveling my lowbies in Empire when everyone was forced to face off against each other.

I love all the t1 zones as they are beautiful.

I say take away the chicken and come up with a solution where we as 40s can go to t1 (gear/rr/etc lowered) and fight with these newbies to make them feel a part of something. Heck I would be okay with lower rr and rewards. Maybe make it if you were level de-buffed in t1 you could que for t1 scenarios as well. Just make it where we had to have a t1 gear set that we could only use or we would chicken and had max 10 renown points we could spend.

I would agree to make sure I tried to be in t1 often to help new people that joined the game enjoy their experience.

Another thought is create a group of destro/order players from all timezones and call it Newcomer Ambassadors, or whatever you like. Where we could de-bolster (all my toons are past t1 and I cant create more) if needed and guide the newcomers if anyone needed our assistance. I know we have advice but that is not what it is used for most the time (at least for the true new players). Maybe give us little incentives like gold/potions that we could help them out with if we "deemed it" that we thought it would help keep their interest until they got higher levels. I get the fact that is what Guilds should be doing, I know some are but I am talking about the ones falling through the cracks.

Just a thought