I don't see any currently open threads on this topic.

Anyhow, based on today's AMA, as we all know they appear to be going forward with the 'nix' the starter islands as the default location to arrive after Coldharbour.

They did say they ARE going to put an NPC close by that will offer players the opportunity to go back to them. Which of course doesn't actually address the major gripes over this change.

At any rate, they didn't say anything about fixing (or completely revamping as would be required) the story line. Answering such questions as "Why would my character choose to sail all the way to that island after just waking up from unconsciousness? What major motivation would drive him to take such a journey there? We know why we want to get OFF the island." or "What are the people on those islands doing there, why are they stuck there, why are ships which are perfectly fine in the main city, now at this island an in disrepair or without a crew, etc..?"

Nor did they address whether, given that the islands are now 'optional' content, how will that affect our leveling experience? Will we have less on-level content to do, given they will make the starter islands the same level range of other content we could choose to do instead? Where if we do city content we will out-level the starter island content, and if we do starter island content we will out-level city content.

They didn't provide ANY assurances whatsoever that this change was adequately thought through, and despite the cut-up bloody mess they've created, they DO have a band-aid to offer (making the NPC to send you back more visible).

They may have messed up the presentation of the stories on those islands, but the stories on those islands had nothing to do with the MQ, they were, in some ways, an obstacle to get off the island to get to where the game really starts. The stories began and ended on the island, as far as I can tell. Now, they are just another place to go to do some questing. I had no problem locating the NPC that told me there was something to do on that island, and I was not even looking for them at the time.

The stories on those islands are like any other story in the game, you start it when you talk to the quest giver. If the beta's never dumped us on those islands to begin with, would anyone even be worried about it?

This coming from someone who didn't even bother playing them. They introduce you to the world and let you know how the other factions interact with yours, they're very much a part of the "MQ", stop lying for ZOS.

Find your own reason to go to the islands. The quests basically ask for your help, say you are needed there. That said, you come back to the city as a well-geared, well-provisioned level 7/8 with skills, ready to go out into the world.

I will use starter island. It's a good start for crafting. Starter islands do not offer much challenge but offers more than enough raw materials.

The fact that they are at least $30million into the development of the game, with thousands of man hours on development, server setup and configuration, and many coffee runs by the office interns, its safe to say that their decisions are always well thought through before implementing. Just because you or someone else may not like the change, doesn't mean they did it on a whim.

I have played those islands 15 times. Unless your looking over my shoulder when I am playing the game, don't assume what I have done or not done.

He did address the story aspect though. That quest NPC will obviously have dialog and within that quest dialog the story will be explained why you would want to go to those islands and why you would want to stay here and start questing. Something that the Prophet already does btw, but i guess if its in a quest form people won't just ignore or skip the dialog?

The leveling aspect has already been addressed as well. When they first made the change the City and the surrounding areas were adjusted.

I just don't understand why they don't *reverse* the "fix". Have the game send you to the starter island, with a boat that will go straight to the faction city? Rewrite a couple of the quests to allow for a stand-alone adventure ON the island OR skip it and travel straight to the mainland, but yeah, I have to admit, the removal of the starter island with the option to go back just seems...counter intuitive.

I mean, I get why some people want to skip the starter island, although I didn't find it all that obnoxious, but, most *starter* instances allow you skip the starter sequence, but not go back, precisely because, as OP stated, the *reason* for being there initially doesn't jive well with skipping and then going back. I really think we could ease a lot of worries with just a tiny bit of a rewrite, and have the starter island be the default, but have it skippable by the very same boat option that they're currently offering at the mainland to go back.

I dunno - maybe there will be an unhappy segment of the population any way you work it, but it just seems...so...backwards, to do it this way, to me.

This isn't really the case for the starter island stories. They are relevant. And they really do make for a great introduction for new players, and provide a good motivation to be on that island to begin with and to find a way to get off of them.

That said, it would be fine, and there would have been no controversy, if they had simply allowed players a means to exit those islands early. 90% of new players would choose to do them, and for those who were bored with them, having done them multiple times, they could exit early. ZOS could easily have implemented a way to choose to leave early even if a player had chosen to stick around for awhile. Any of these options would have satisfied those who wanted to skip that content, and not ruffled the feathers of anyone else, who now see the story line completely messed up, and a start to the game which requires them making inexplicable choices with their character to sail BACK to an island that their rescuers sailed off to, without any good motivation for doing so.

To be fair, those 30 million dollar decisions were made and beta was released, then bloggers started complaining so they made a last minute change. The starter islands were designed for months to be the initial introduction. The change was made in a week. It is fair to point out that the decision was rushed, not intended, and could have been handled poorly in implementation.

I greatly prefer the starter islands. That said, I don't care that they changed it so that people who don't like them can skip. It's a win-win situation for everyone.

I think the idea is to simply go wherever you think your character would like to go. When you get out of Helgen in Skyrim, for example, you can choose to follow an NPC to Riverwood, or go completely the other way and do something else. It's a similar scenario now that you are landing in a large open world environment.

There is some flexibility to talk with the quest giver and if you think your character would be interested in helping that NPC, you can go and visit those islands.

No longer "starter" islands, they are simply islands, now - part of the overall game world that you can explore. There are additional islands in the game in higher level zones you can visit in the same way when you find an NPC with a boat who is willing to take you.

Haven't played the latest 0.182 yet, but so far I've never had any issues with leveling too slowly, regardless of whether I visit the starter islands or whether I do any particular quests with a given character.

Wherever you go and whatever you choose to do, your character will progress as you play the game. If you run into enemies that are too difficult, simply team up with a friend or two. If you find the enemies are not challenging enough, you may want to move on and explore some uncharted terrain.

I can only imagine them coming up with some highly strained and contrived reason for us to rush back to these starter islands.... "Your rescuers! They're in trouble! I realize they just dumped your unconscious body off here in the city, and you JUST woke up out of your coma, but you may want to sail off to the island they went to. I hear they are in dire straits and could really use the help of the unconscious stranger they rescued earlier!! Quick! There's a boat waiting by the docks to rush you over there!"

Having played it both ways, the areas around the Starter Cities provide the same kind of introduction to the game for the player. Also, the earliest beta's were limited to those islands, which makes sense as it uncovered as little of the main story as possible so that part would not be leaked out until ZOS was ready. So, it could have been intended all along for those islands to be just another place to quest and explore. Now we wake up in house, just like we did on the islands (at least in the Daggerfall Covenant, I think it is different for the others) and we are thrown out in the world to start the game.

Got to say I like how it is now, seems it fits the best of both worlds, I will be doing the starter islands anyway, and now the quest giver appears right in front of you makes it easier not to miss it.

Well I think your main issue might be you're just looking at it wrong. First the Islands are no longer "starter" Islands, they are now simply content you can do like all other content in the game. So because they are no longer "stater" Islands you don't go "back" to them. You simply choose to do the content or you don't.

I did have a hard time finding the starter island on my first playthrough. The prophet does mention something about talking to your rescuers, but there was no clear indication as to where said rescuers were (not to mention the DC town (forgot the name... so terrible at names) has 2 ports. Apparently now that's been fixed, great! The only question I have is the following: The prophet mentions that we landed in different locations, yet everything seems to indicate he is also in town. I'm guessing they just haven't changed the dialog from back when you'd pop up on the starter island instead and I'm hoping they fix that sometime soon as it does get rather confusing.

Other than that, I'm not really bothered by the fact that the starter islands are optional. I personally enjoyed the DC island (again, forgot the name...) and plan on going there first.

At some point, the game tells you where to meet the Profit to continue the MQ. Not going to spoil how and where.

The ONLY problem is that people got used to the islands. If you can just think of them as just islands now, it's not a problem. Unless of course you have a very difficult time finding the docks to go to the islands, and prefer a linear game. That's fair, but not what the devs intended I think.

I'm having a difficult time understanding what motivation my character would have for leaving the city to travel all the way to this tiny remote island. Just some adventurous wandering spirit? A major desire to say 'Thanks!' to my rescuers? It's just eating me up that I haven't repaid the favor to the people who fished me out of the water? Maybe I can find them and see if they could use my help. Hey what do you know, they do!

Actually, I'm pretty much content with the changes they mentioned, at least the way they sound. My main concern was that new players, especially new players from other MMO's, would be confused and turned off without a smooth start to questing. For me, I'll do the islands, at least on the first character in a faction, and it won't make any difference.

Yes, they have some kinks to work out with the dialogue, and I hope they will, because once again, first impressions. I don't want my friends from WoW to start playing and think the game is an unfinished mess.

Because it's there. The same reason you go anywhere in a game.

Why does your character have any motivation to go anywhere in the game? Seriously? Have you EVER played a video game before? You must have never played a TES game I take it. Seriously though, the motivation is what you make it. Do you want to go to the islands? no? Okay, cool. don't go. If you do, Okay, cool. Go. You're really over thinking it. Why did you randomly go in that cave you saw in Skyrim on your way to Riverwood? Was there a big quest marker that pointed you there?

I completely agree. Send players to the islands, then allow players to skip/exit the islands early if they wish to. New players are happy, experienced players are happy.