Takeaways
- The New Player experience tends to follow the pattern of "teach the player three times"
The Beautiful Path: WoW New Player Experience Critique
The good:
Effectively introduces the player to core mechanics and game loops in the game, as well as familiarizing them with controls and player progression systems.
In the early parts of the tutorial sequence for WoW characters, the player is asked to hit a target dummy.
The player is told via text, verbally, and then visually with obvious indicators to execute the attack. This combination of "teach the player three times" is a key lesson explained in one of our USC courses- games often have a lot going on, and their complicated systems require reinforcement and time for players to grasp them.
The bad (what can be improved):
Feels very much tutorial-y, and the premise of the locale, while believable, is not immersive and feels removed from the rest of the game and the way WoW is marketed to the public (there are no epic characters you are fighting alongside a la Shadowlands cinematics, no grand nation you represent a la Battle for Azeroth trailers, etc)
Note that this tutorial takes place on a deserted island apart from the mainland, which is a key narrative decision which succeeds in isolating the player, but lacks the organic immersion and discovery of mechanics that, say, the carefully crafted beginnings of Stardew Valley have. Both are RPGs which are very dialogue-driven in their narrative exposition, but Stardew Valley does a better job of making the player feel unique, able to craft their own character, and allowing for discovery of the world that feels authentic, while still within the bounds of the designer's intentions.