Elsweyr comes with a new tutorial, and as a result, another chapter introduction quest is cast aside. This is of course a great shame, as like Broken Bonds before it, The Mind Trap is a great little introduction to the Summerset characters and content, which can never be experienced again by anyone who buys the new chapter. New characters are now forced to start in Elsweyr, and so any new players will never experience that great line from a passer-by as you escape the dank ruin near Shimmerene and come face-to-face with a yaghra -
"Are ... are those creatures ... newcomers? They're hideous!"
But why?
We have seen from what was done with Soul Shriven in Coldharbour that it is possible to adapt a quest that was intended as a "tutorial" into a quest that serves its other purpose perfectly well alone - as an introduction to the upcoming questline that all characters can play through. We also know from the way the chapters are applied to our accounts that the tutorial you receive is only dependent on what content you own; all possible tutorials, of which there are now four,
can be started by new characters, if you have the right content. But that is currently designed so that newer content overrides older stuff automatically.
This then leads to two Quality of Life requests, which will improve the questing options, roleplaying, and replayability for all players:
- Allow players to choose their starting location based on the content they own, which will determine which chapter tutorial they get;
- Allow players to play through all chapter intro quests by giving each one an in-game starter, like Soul Shriven in Coldharbour.
Choosing your Starting Location
Instead of being forced into the tutorial and starting location for the most recent chapter, players should be given the choice at Character Creation of where they will start. This could be a simple pop-up on clicking the "Create Character" button, before designing your character, which would also determine the location in the background of the character creator. Since the tutorials are based on the Chapters, the simplest method for this would be to list the chapter titles. The pop-up box could say something like:
Select a Chapter
This selection will determine your starting location and tutorial quest - once you have completed the tutorial, you will be free to explore Tamriel, and can start the other chapters from within the Collections interface or by finding the quest-giver in the world.
- Elsweyr
- Summerset
- Morrowind
- Coldharbour
Chapter Intro Quests
Each chapter intro should be made available to all players, so everyone can experience the introductions to all the available content regardless of when they bought the game or when they created their characters. This would also address the issue of some older characters missing skill points due to not being able to play these quests.
Soul Shriven in Coldharbour already does this - when you first arrive at a major city, a Hooded Figure gives you a quest to meet the Benefactor, and when you get there, you even get to see the original base game intro cutscene before being transported to the Wailing Prison.
Broken Bonds could easily do something similar - when you first arrive at a major city, the drunk Breton Fonten Jodain could appear, enticing you to join him on a voyage to Vvardenfell for new opportunities. You would then need to meet Jodain at the docks of a major city to board your ship. Once you have cast off, the original Morrowind intro cutscene would play, leading you to Firemoth and to the rest of Broken Bonds.
The Mind Trap could be done in the same way - when you first arrive at a major city, you see the adventurers Cainar, Grog, and Miriya discussing Queen Ayrenn's decree to open the borders to Summerset. When you talk to them, they give you a copy of the decree and invite you to join them on an expedition to some ruins on Summerset. Meet them at the docks and set sail. The original Summerset intro cutscene would then play and lead you into the Mind Trap as before.
Bright Moons, Warm Sands (the new Elsweyr tutorial) could be exactly the same - you meet Zamarak in a major city, who invites you to Elsweyr to join the Elsweyr Defense Force against the dragons. You would then need to meet up with the caravan to set off to Anequina, at which point, the Elsweyr intro cutscene would play (guessing here that it involves dragons), and you end up in the Star Haven Adeptorium to continue Bright Moons, Warm Sands.
