Haven review

[Woody]

Excellent job SV. This is exactly the direction Haven needed to go in and you've created a system that is scalable (in that you could easily add more tutorials to the existing set) and most importantly, it's intuitive and easy to follow. The pacing is good, keeping the player on track while still allowing them to go off course here and there. Further to this, the ability to go back and see previous tutorials works well. Some of the highlights for me were:

• Building a wooden sword, using it to chop a tree, then getting a dynamic tutorial about breaking that sword. Perfect - I was hoping that would happen.
• Explaining the quick attack after parry mechanic. This I feel many people miss early on.
• The colourful visual cues are a great idea.
• The quality of the UI assets are a step up from what we've come to expect.
• Explaining how to buy and sell so seamlessly with the GV vendor.
• Showing the book system!

Here's some food for thought:

• Make sure the tutorial's Press-Key Indicator is dynamic. It should pick up my custom key bindings and dynamically shift that into the tutorial window.
• Remove all "Press Any Key" or "WASD" key prompts unless absolute necessary. It's too easy to accidentally close the tutorial window this way.
• Fix the GY vendor, It's stealing player's gold when trying to sell to it (even though it's funny).
• Show the player the number of players in each Haven instance. Some players might want to choose a less busy instance.
• Add a tooltip to the choose a city option. You probably want to give people an idea of Easy, Medium, Hard town's to start in (e.g. Tindrem easy, Hylspia Medium, GK Hard).
• Need to somehow show people how skills/attributes work and how to lock/unlock them etc.
• Reduce the logout time in Haven from 120s to 30s.
• Perhaps show the player the Library and get them to go there instead of the gate building, when buying the crafting book?
• You might need to somehow force the player to die from a foe so that they can see how to res and find their loot etc. (Maybe a Lictor TPs in?)
• EDIT: Adjust the damage dealt by Bandits so they are more of a challenge and tie together crafting/combat in that the player should work toward being able to fight them. Perhaps this ties into some more advanced tutorials or a capstone of sort before they leave Haven.
• Some ideas for future guides:
  • Advanced Combat Guide + detail more about armor values, shields etc.
  • Archery Guide
  • Magic Guide
  • Skinning and inventory management
  • Mining and extraction
  • Criminal/murder

Overall, great effort and an excellent start to a promising overall tutorial.

 

[BlackParagon]

There is one thing that is completely whack and out of the picture wrong right now in Haven though:

Bandit damage.

I crafted myself some Leather - Guard Fur Kallardian (just shy of 30 slashing def) and the bandits hit me for 3-4 damage. That is far too low. I know you want to teach players how to engage the humanoid npcs, but this is too weak.

If we assume a low life starter has around 80 hp, it is absolutely acceptable the bandits hit for 20 unblocked damage on a Tindremic Guard armored player. This will teach players much better about the danger, how valuable their health pool is and the importance of blocking.

But as it stands, anyone who is new and experiences this will just quit once they teleport outside of Haven and meet their first pack of wolves - god forbid they run into a bandit camp with casters.

 

[Woody]

There is one thing that is completely whack and out of the picture wrong right now in Haven though:

Bandit damage.

I crafted myself some Leather - Guard Fur Kallardian (just shy of 30 slashing def) and the bandits hit me for 3-4 damage. That is far too low. I know you want to teach players how to engage the humanoid npcs, but this is too weak.

If we assume a low life starter has around 80 hp, it is absolutely acceptable the bandits hit for 20 unblocked damage on a Tindremic Guard armored player. This will teach players much better about the danger, how valuable their health pool is and the importance of blocking.

But as it stands, anyone who is new and experiences this will just quit once they teleport outside of Haven and meet their first pack of wolves - god forbid they run into a bandit camp with casters.

Great point. It could also serve to increase the likelihood they experience death and learn how to resurrect. Note the dungeon has normal bandits like Nave.

 

[PoisonArrows]

I would love to see the Haven Boss again, with that minotaur cape. Woody you gotta agree with me on this one that thing was bad ass. And also it introduces new players to working together on boss kills.

 

[Skydancer]

I would love to see the Haven Boss again, with that minotaur cape. Woody you gotta agree with me on this one that thing was bad ass. And also it introduces new players to working together on boss kills.

It's pretty much a capstone - integrate all your game experience and learning to accomplish something that requires cooperation, game knowledge and character skill, signifying you are ready to 'graduate' to the mainland.

Sets a good precedent for possible npc guided content later - necro 'quest' path, the rumor/gossip npcs dropping hints on locations, materials etc

They might not officially be quests but can be used to guide players to potential content, places, situations and get them out in the world following breadcrumbs.

Who doesn't love a good mystery?

 

[BlackParagon]

So, I tested bandit damage again in Haven.

I was a 90 hp naked Veela with defensive stance and the bandits hit me for 5 damage. We can assume they hit for 8-9 damage without DS.

This is too low. I could fight 2 bandits with a dagger at the same time and not die and I am horrible when it comes to melee. Damage per hit needs to be at least 15 before DS, maybe 18.

 

[PoisonArrows]

It's pretty much a capstone - integrate all your game experience and learning to accomplish something that requires cooperation, game knowledge and character skill, signifying you are ready to 'graduate' to the mainland.

Sets a good precedent for possible npc guided content later - necro 'quest' path, the rumor/gossip npcs dropping hints on locations, materials etc

They might not officially be quests but can be used to guide players to potential content, places, situations and get them out in the world following breadcrumbs.

Who doesn't love a good mystery?

Yes haven is indeed missing a Capstone to accumulate all your skills and abilities for a final confrontation. And why i think it's a great idea indeed.

Also Interesting i do recall someone telling me recently that they won't have quest in game, but they will have like NPC task with rewards or something. So it is true? I remember in Mo1 you could get like a new sword from that Npc at the tindrem gate. You could also kill a Npc for his head and turn it in for i think it was the Domination 3 book but i can't remember.

 

[Woody]

So, I tested bandit damage again in Haven.

I was a 90 hp naked Veela with defensive stance and the bandits hit me for 5 damage. We can assume they hit for 8-9 damage without DS.

This is too low. I could fight 2 bandits with a dagger at the same time and not die and I am horrible when it comes to melee. Damage per hit needs to be at least 15 before DS, maybe 18.

Yea they used to be like normal bandits when stress test first launched and then were shadow nerfed somewhere in between.