So I've rolled a fresh-faced, level 1 character on Baldur's Gate. My aim is to relearn the server, directly experience its new content, introduce myself to the players playing these days, and to take notes on the game's design (with an eye for future development).
I've gone with an unoptimized build -- a half-orc cleric-wizard crafter build (with all of the crafting feats, even the useless ones) -- to better replicate a new player's experience, and to handicap myself a little bit, as a veteran player, in terms of PVE.
... I've already died once.
I will probably play with my scry on "hidden," so that all of my encounters with other players are as natural as they can be, and so that any friends or enemies my character creates with the world are based mostly on his in character habits and haunts.
I will share occasional notes here, particularly when I find trouble areas (as that's part of the point), but I'll also try to share the positive moments too! I'll also allow comments here, but I would actually prefer them in PMs, so that I can try to keep this thread as tidy as possible (for easy reference when I'm looking back at design issues to consider).
In Character
Leonard Orhdalyon, "Teddy" to his friends, was a foundling child raised by a -- wait for it -- gnome. Since childhood, he's been used as most sons get used: As an extra body to help support the family business. But his muscles weren't put to work on a farm, or in a warehouse, or even behind the counter of a shop. His adopted father was a priest of Gond, and so he was raised to be a craftsman and a tinker.
For his gnomish father not only took advantage of the half-orc for carrying heavy components to and from the workshop, he also put him to work at the work bench itself. The huge half-orc somehow learned to handle teeny-tiny mechanical components and fragile glass phials with his ogre-like hands, and struggled through the mental gymnastics and knowledge-building exercises that he'd require to read and comprehend technical workbooks and magical grimoires. These things, things that seemed to him to come so easily to others, took real effort from him.
Since leaving his family for the Sword Coast, for reasons still unknown to most, he has been exploring his new home with vim and vigor. On arriving at the port city of Baldur's Gate, he paid a local lad for a tour of the city, then found himself recruited on a graveyard adventure by a falchion-wielding earth genasi, a human mage, and a dwarf. Despite taking a crushing blow from a rusty sword to his ribs (thank Gond for chainmail), Teddy made it through the night's escapades alive.
After the adventure, and a long, long bath and good night's sleep at the Blade & Stars Inn, he was ready for a new day.
Design Notes
- It's nice to have a little guidance coming into Baldur's Gate. I don't think we have comparable "Cliff Jones"-like figures or tour guides at any of the other starting locations just yet, unfortunately. (Side observation: Should Cliff Jones be named something that makes it a little more obvious to new players what his purpose is? "Town Guide" or something, perhaps?)
- I idly wonder if we should have a "processing" point where new PCs get some Q&A to place them at a starting map (as Mystra and Shaud currently do, albeit not incredibly clearly in the case of starting in Soubar), and to give them some server information. I'm imagining something like a border checkpoint. Don't know if this would be a burden every time someone made a new character, though I suppose we could make it skippable.
- The "Hear Ye, Hear Ye" and "Frequently Asked Questions" bulletin boards are hard to notice and hard to read. You also can't interact with them: You have to right-click and then examine them to get to the information. I wonder how many new players actually do this? As noted, they're also hard to read: They're walls of text, and a lot of the information is outdated or incorrect (for example, the advice not to use WASD for movement). I don't feel wall-of-text info dumps are very friendly to the end user, so we may have to think of some ways to better communicate this information (after it's updated to reflect more current server rules and norms). I didn't read either of the informational bulletin boards in full myself.
- Cliff Jones is handy for information. Though he "motions to some crops" at both locations, so that dialogue line may need to be updated to be more neutral. It makes no sense for him to be motioning at crops at the docks. Still, it doesn't hurt to have him around, as his information delivery feels far more natural and user-friendly than the bulletin boards beside him. I think he serves his purpose. I wonder if we should incorporate more server specific lore in the "tell me more about this place" part, though? Directing the reader to Candlekeep isn't very helpful, especially since there's no way they should normally be going there at level 1.
- Dedude's "Street kid" (I'd rather it reads "Street Kid" -- the lowercase "kid" low-key upsets me, since it's not consistent with other NPCs) tour guide was very enjoyable (even if he was a rather slow walker). I noticed a few typos that we'll want to correct sometime, but the overall event line is well-written and very informative. It engages the player more than the other info dumps, though it also asks more time and patience of the player, requiring them to actively follow the NPC across multiple maps. The tour doesn't hit every quest in the city, but it points out a few good level 1 starter quests and dumps you off near the graveyard and basic equipment merchant (if you start at the harbor anyway, I'm not sure if you backtrack or get dumped off somewhere else when starting at the farmlands).
- At the basic equipment merchant, I noticed that they don't sell the "backpack of the hearty." I picked one up from Maltz today, but wonder if this should be something we sell at Blunt's, too? It's very helpful to low-level characters, and affordable at starting level if you don't spring for pricey armor.
- After shopping, and still at the basic equipment merchant, I managed to run into a player who invited me into a party, which grew from 3 to 4 when another player arrived at the graveyard. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to gather a group to adventure as a new PC (given that there were only about 9 people online when I was playing at like 2 AM). This could have easily just been dumb luck and good timing though. I'll have to see if it remains a simple affair to find groups moving forward to really get a sense for it.
- The graveyard itself was dangerous at level 1 (that's where I died), but not punishingly so. I leveled up quickly and at level 2 the going was safer. It probably helped considerably that I was in a party, and that I've gotten over my historic "consumables shyness" (I probably burned through 10 cure light wounds potions last night, where in the past I'd always horded consumables until I had 99 of them sitting there doing nothing). All in all, I think the challenge level was acceptable for a CR 1-3 dungeon, especially in groups. You do need to bring the right weapons, though, which could be a trouble spot for new players. I forgot to check if the Flaming Fist at the gate to the graveyard suggest bringing the correct weapon types. I'd rather do something like that than turn off the DR entirely, I think, as it is a good introduction to D&D fundamentals (i.e. "make sure you bring the right equipment for the job," and, "undead can actually be pretty scary in this game"). The oozes in the cave dungeon might be a really nasty surprise for a new player, though; not sure if we should keep them as a learning experience as well, or consider replacing them with something "easier." My four-man party made it past them without any deaths, so maybe they're fine. A necromancer boss fight did more damage to us than anything else. Either way, low levels is where you probably want to learn tactics, when the cost of failure is low and easy to recoup. At higher levels, losing XP can feel like more of a grind to recover. I had my -200 XP back in probably less than 2 minutes once I was back in the graveyard.