Almost every time I go to Embark Beach, I see someone who is "stuck" there and can't find their way out. I have to be honest, typing "go talk to [Tyrian/Canthan/Elonian traveler]" over and over again can get tiring. In fact, sometimes when one of them asks what Beach is about, I get tempted to respond with "newbie magnet."
The people who get "stuck" there are mostly people who are either new or have been away from the game for a while. In addition to this, it's also likely that these people didn't bother to read what Zaishen Scout said to them when they ported over. I'm wondering if it's possible to have one extra dialogue before porting if that specific character (or account) has never been to Embark Beach before. It will at least alert people that they aren't picking up another quest. Or better yet, change the mark above Zaishen Scout so that they don't look like quest NPCs.
It's also possible that they were interested in what this "Embark Beach" is all about, traveled there for sightseeing, and can't find their way back because they haven't unlocked their respective port cities yet. There's the NPC Ra B'erte Jii that briefly explains what Embark Beach is about, but he really doesn't explain what you technically can do or who you need to talk to to get out of the area. I think there should be some tour-guide kind of NPC, sort of like the ones you find in mission outposts that brief you on the situation; and stick a big mark above them (preferably a "?") so that people take notice.|||I agree. I always get actually stuck between the xunlai chest and the merchant...
I feel like the npcs could have been placed a bit better. Like adding all the travel npcs on the same spot (as opposed to all over the outpost.)
And I agree, the zaishen scouts should have a different kind of thing to distinguish them other than the quest update sign... I can see why newbies end up in embark without really meaning to go there.|||An extra dialogue would not fix this, as it is very likely that Anet would implement these as they did with the gate keepers in Cantha. Remember these obnoxious and horribly designed dialogues that forced you to click "yes, let me through, damnit!" at least 3 times per gate keeper?
A way to help anyone stuck there would be twofold:
1. Improve the NPC placement. It is a horrible GUI that makes you run around and search for the travel NPCs who are spread all over the place. Yes, by now I realize that the Elonian is in the north (how fitting for a continent with such a southern feeling), Tyria and EotN is in the southeast, and Cantha is in the west (how fitting for a chapter with such an eastern feeling).
Until you figure that out, however, you spend quite some time running around in circles, becoming more and more enraged and lost in all the redundancy. Seriously: why are there 3 copies of xunlai chest and xunlai agent, and 3 copies of all the merchants and traders? And 3 or 4 copies of the zaishen flagstands? And don't get me started on these totally irrelevant flavour NPCs near the ship.
A simple way to fix this bad design would be to reduce the redundancy and to place the travel NPCs next to each other in a neat little line.
Yes, it wouldn't be so "amazingly life-like, and look, the NPCs might even emote at each other, isn't this neaaaaaaat??? Let's force the player to look at more NPCs doing emotes at each other in a GW:B questline!!!", but it would be easier to use and hence better.
2. Do you remember these help messages that a new character gets? "You can do more damage by using your skills. Try to hex this foe with Empathy!" / "In later areas of this game, you can team up with people!" etc etc?
While some of these tips are tied to the tutorial(s), others aren't. I sometimes encounter the "You are repeatedly pinging your target. Stop doing that. Just ping it once and watch what happens"-message, and this one can happen repeatedly on one character. (H+H can be enraging.)
What I am getting at here is that one of these gameplay hint messages would be the ideal way to get the newbies out of the Embark Beach. Install a timer. If someone is spending more than 10-15 minutes on the Embark Beach, tell him how to leave in such a hint popup.|||Best help message GW 1 has outside of tutorial content is from the Heroes who have extra attribute points to spend :)
OT: I agree that the Scouts should use a different icon on their heads. Quest marker makes a lot of players go to them with wrong expectations. Why didn't they add "Embark Beach" button like the "Guild Hall" button with an option to leave it in a similar manner("Leave Embark Beach" in party window or something)?|||I have yet to use one of those scouts, I've always just used the map. One thing I'd like to see done with them is turning off the icon after you've been to the Beach. Seriously, I've been there, no need to keep trying to get my attention about it.
The NPC population could definitely do with being reworked. Put the Travel NPCs in one area, Merchants and traders in another, and storage in the third. Leave the Zaishen quest signs and NPCs down by the boat. Add in the BMP NPCs just for convenience. I don't mind the flavor NPCs, but I am kind of hoping there's a point to them coming up in the future. (One other thing- change the names of the NPCs and make them individuals, instead of just copy/pasting the populations from the three main cities. And seriously, you can get away with reversing the name of one character to use for another (Canthan and Elonian Rune traders Mahseh and Hesham) but not if you put them in the same area.)
And most importantly - a big sign, dead center of the Beach, easy to spot and having a permanent quest exclamation point over it, proclaiming for all who read it what Embark Beach is, where things are, and how to get out.
@ wyzim: You may not want to have your email set as your location. Everyone can see it and this place gets bots crawling through on a regular basis.|||I think you guys are talking about two different kinds of stuck. The NPC pathfinding isn't great in EB, but also apparently low levels are unable to map out. At least from what I gather, I usually see someone stuck there.|||Quote:
I think you guys are talking about two different kinds of stuck. The NPC pathfinding isn't great in EB, but also apparently low levels are unable to map out. At least from what I gather, I usually see someone stuck there.
That makes sense -- if they haven't gotten the travel city for their campaign, they will be stuck.
If that is disabled, they may just not realize the boat lets them out.|||Quote:
but also apparently low levels are unable to map out.
This is what I was trying to talk about. Yes, EB's horrible pathfinding is annoying, but the low level people not finding their way out could be more than annoying.
A whole bunch of people telling them they have to "grow wings" or "take refugee boat with bunch of sketchy people" or "swim off the island" might bring chuckle to a few people (myself guilty), but I'm sure it can be frustrating to many newbies.|||yes, I believe that EB is probably one of the worst designed places in gw. In order for me to pick out the travel npc I basically have to put my nose on my computer screen (so I can read it amidst the plethora of useless npcs).
Put all the travel guys together (or put a 2nd set, say on the boat), get rid of the "!" completely from the scout (it serves NO purpose really---other than confusion!).
and we wont even go into pathing issues---the place is just very very poorly designed!|||Quote:
That makes sense -- if they haven't gotten the travel city for their campaign, they will be stuck.
If that is disabled, they may just not realize the boat lets them out.
The Travel NPCs will still send them out. It's just a matter of letting the newbies know that. That's why I suggested this:
Quote:
And most importantly - a big sign, dead center of the Beach, easy to spot and having a permanent quest exclamation point over it, proclaiming for all who read it what Embark Beach is, where things are, and how to get out.
As well as having all the Travel NPCs in one place instead of spread out. Easier to find that way if you don't know where anything is.
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