Seeking a Profession Quest under the new tradeskill layout [Archive]

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NiamiDenMother

09-26-2006, 12:44 AM

<div></div>This test was performed on Test outside the timeframe of the playtest, so that load/lag would notbe as much of an issue/concern. Rather, it attempts to view the Seeking a Profession quest through the eyes of a true newbie. Freeport-side testing was not conducted.Bug: the quest starter for Seeking a Profession still points folks to the tradeskill instances in villages and needs to be modified.Issue: Since Jane newbie is a true newbie, and thus cramped for space, she is prone to storing spare harvested "stuff" in the bank. For this reason, North Qeynos was chosen for running through this quest as the only zone that has both a banker and a tradeskill delegate needed for the quest. SQ, while containing a delegate, does not have a bank. QH, while having a bank, does not have a tradeskill delegate. Elddar, with no bank, no delegate, and not all of the appropriate equipment, would also have been ruled out. Of course, a true newbie would have found all this out the hard way, after much zoning and frustration from running around trying to find everything that they needed.Issue (additive annoyance): the tradeskill delegates in NQ and SQ are not in proximity to the tradeskill equipment. (Suggestion: perhaps a full repetoire of crafting equipment could be placed on the grounds of the Ironforge Estate? It doesn't seem like a big thing until you've finished your 5th lap or so on this quest, but it does add up. I'd say this quest took about 4 times as long as it would under the old setup, if not more, even if you know where to find all the equipment in the zone. If you don't know where to find the equipment, time spent on this quest goes up drastically, even as enjoyment level goes down.Seeking a Profession II: finally find the stove & kegs most of the way across the zone from the delegate, craft, ding artisan 3 from the one combine, run all the way back to the delegate. Hail, ding artisan 4.Seeking a Profession III: Run to the nearest chem table (single one, upstairs in the Jewel Box, crammed in with the barber). Ding tradeskill level 5 during the creation of this itemIssue (minor): Unable to sell anything back to Sayergei the Stylist, so if you find the 5 candles to be more than your ready cash can afford, and need to sell off excess kindling, the food you made in the previous step, etc., you need to wander back downstairs to sellSeeking a Profession IV: Run to the engraved desks in Sneed's. Ding artisan 6 even without managing a pristine, run back across NQ to the delegate again.Issue: the only 2 engraved desks are crowded into Sneed's, where, even with only 6 folks in the zone, crowding is already an issue in there due to folks broker-diving. Regardless, it is still a better layout than the only engraved desks in SQ, that cause traffic issues with the mage tower port pads right next to them.Seeking a Profession V: run to the outoor forges. Easier to find than any of the other equipment yet, with more wiggle room if several crafters pounce on them at once (they can craft from the sides and behind, as well as in front, something not viable in many of the indoor locations). Flub pristine and you've still managed to ding artisan 7.Comment: Outdoor stations like this are easier on crafters than the current indoor ones. There is more room for crafters to spread out and still be able to access the equipment, and less chance that a stray pet is going to block someone at, or away from, needed equipment.Seeking a Profession VI: run to the nearest looms, in Clothspinners, squirm your way to the sewing table, ding artisan 8. Run back to the delegate, get/scribe Artisan Essentials volume 7.Issues: The decorative spinning wheel immediately on the left as you walk into Clothspinners is placed in such a way that a wood elf cannot pass between it and the table in the middle of the room, to access the sewing table on the left side of the room . You must jump, climb onto/over the table, or run counter-clockwise around the room to it. Anyone crafting at the second sewing table, in the back of the room, could block an attempt to access the other table from this direction. If either of the NPCs in this building are still used in quests, the layout of items in this room could make things go from "crowded and inconvenient" to "nightmarish" pretty quickly.Seeking a Profession VII: Run to the outdoor woodworking table at a Call to Arms. Play ring-around-the-building halfway to find a fuel vendor, then back again. As with the forge step, this woodworking table is easier for multiple players to access at once, due to the outdoor nature of it. Run back to the delegate, get your reward, and the next step, which requires you to run back to the woodworking table again.Seeking a Profession VIII: you've the benefit of already knowing where to find this piece of equipment and where to find the fuel. Even if your first-ever piece of furniture is so rickety it wouldn't hold the weight of a gnome, savor the ding to artisan 9, then run back to the delegate again.Seeking a Profession IX: scribe artisan 8, run to find the nearest work benches in the Jewel Box. Then run OUT of the Jewel Box and across the street to A Call to Arms to buy coal, then run back inside again to craft. Hit the crafting xp cap until you declare your level 10 tradeskill profession, before you've done more than a quick traste-test of the professions.Issue: Work Bench in the Jewel Box in NQ has no coal for sale on either of the vendors in the room with it.Bug: Hail the delegate after completing the crafting for Seeking a Profession IX, and he tells you to find a "Crafting Trainer in the villages or Qeynos Harbor" - only that isn't where the trainers are now. The nearest crafting trainer is now standing directly beside the tradeskill delegate.side-issue: Why is there an adventuring level requirement on this quest reward? (The artisan's tunic - required level 5, while the quest itself has no adventuring requirements whatsoever, and can be completed at adventurer level 2.)Evaluation: The most major thing that Jane Newbie learned was how annoying it is to run in circles around the zone. Yes, there was running around the tradeskill instance to do in the old layout, but the distance was smaller and the equipment and fuel easier to find. In the new layout, significantly more time is spent running around than in crafting, making the stated goal of the quest - figuring out what level 10 class you wish to choose, be overshadowded by the running around. On top burying any "fun factor" that this quest may have had, it distracts from the goal of the quest, and may lead to profession decisions (later regretted) based on which equipment was the easiest for them to find/access. This, in turn, leads to a greater potential for a raise in CSR requests from folks who find themselves in a profession that they hate, wanting to change professions. (Which, of course, leads to more ranting when they find they can't do so.) There are many potential points of frustration, from being blocked up against, or away from needed equipment by people, pets, etc. to confusion as to where to find the proper fuels when they're not directly near the equipment, to the fact that this quest will now take significantly longer than it used to due to increased distances to travel.For what it is worth, I, personally, am having a hard time finding any "fun factor" in this quest anymore due to the changed focus from finding out what tradeskill profession you might enjoy to spending lots of time running around the zone, repeatedly, and I worry about how it will impact the new player experience from the crafting perspective.<div></div>

Jshail

09-26-2006, 06:01 AM

<DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> NiamiDenMother wrote: For what it is worth, I, personally, am having a hard time finding any "fun factor" in this quest anymore due to the changed focus from finding out what tradeskill profession you might enjoy to spending lots of time running around the zone, repeatedly, and I worry about how it will impact the new player experience from the crafting perspective. <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I will have to agree. Also because some of the lower level HQ quests require you to be at least a lvl 9 crafter to make the combines everyone will be forced into doing this quest if they want to complete the Manastone and PGT quest. While doing these quests on my Lvl 42 Assasin i was very frustrated that finding the equipment in East freeport was a challenge to find. Additionally none of the vendors in the bowyer shop sold coal even though there was a forge there. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>While i may not be a full time crafter i do my share on test and i find these changes more of an annoyance than anything. I'm not concerned about people seeing me work at a forge to "show off" my skill. I find that if i charge a fair price (totally server dependant) and turn around the orders in a fairly quick fashion the word of mouth advertisement that i get plus displaying my wares on the broker get me more buisness that standing around in a city zone and having someone "see" me crafting</DIV>

Deila

09-26-2006, 09:06 AM

Good run through to look at the perspective of what a new player, or even someone just new to crafting might well experience. I'd have to agree that Seeking a Tradeskill Profession really doesn't work as a gentle introduction to crafting as it once did, since crafting tables and fuel sellers are more hidden away now than anything else. I couldn't imagine trying to get started with crafting as a new player having to hunt that hard to find even where to craft. Especially since the starter isles still have crafting instances - it's what a prospective new crafter is likely to first see, with things laid out there for them. Until they get to the big, bad City. Welcome to the jungle, baby. <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> NiamiDenMother wrote: (snip) Hit the crafting xp cap until you declare your level 10 tradeskill profession, before you've done more than a quick traste-test of the professions. <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> This part probably isn't as bad as it seems. Remember the 50% bonus XP on Test - applies to crafting as well (as I was told), so the already rapid advancement through the t1 crafting levels won't be quite as fast as we see on Test. Oh, and Manxs - Seeking a Tradeskill Profession isn't a required quest to advance in crafting levels, not in the least. No one has to do it if all they're after is level 9 to do those HQs - they can just make a few random items or whatnot and progress along just fine.

NiamiDenMother

09-26-2006, 09:18 PM

Good point on the xp-thing. The last time I tested this quest on Live, I believe I had the "oomph" to make a couple more items before I hit the level 10 cap. With full vitality and discovery xp (especially on pristines), these levels really fly by in either environment, and this quest is generally a good way to judge the impact on the new player experience from a crafting perspective, since it involves harvesting, and the use of all crafting equipment.Anyway, we'll see how it goes from here now that some issues have been verbalized. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

Jshail

09-27-2006, 04:52 AM

Vyviel, you are 100% correct. I guess what i was implying was that doing the profession quest seems to advance your abilities and gives you the books you need rather than having to purchase them.. for me it was the easiest way to get to level 9.

Deila

09-27-2006, 06:08 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Jshail wrote: Vyviel, you are 100% correct. I guess what i was implying was that doing the profession quest seems to advance your abilities and gives you the books you need rather than having to purchase them.. for me it was the easiest way to get to level 9. <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> Absolutely. And I found that doing those quests with brand new characters who had to rely on their own devices (yes, there was a good long time when I absolutely refused to twink any alts in any way, much to their chagrin), even just the part about getting your 3-9 essentials books for free was a huge boon. I was just pointing out that these quests were not required to be done, as in, a gate to HQs with crafting steps, for example. In any case, and all nit-picking of details aside, I do think that the Seeking a Tradeskill Profession series was a very good thing for players new to the game, or just new to crafting even, since it was really about the only somewhat in-depth introduction to crafting a player got in game. It'd be a shame to let such a useful new player experience tool go to waste, or even worse, possibly serve in the reverse of its intended function and actually frustrate a new player.