Personal story marker for closest zone gateway (green swirl) routes players on Play-for-free accounts through locked portals

[Kerbezena.3804]

Play-for-free restrictions block access to capital cities below character level 10 and to Lion's Arch below level 35.
When a new player moves far away from their character's homeland (by taking a long ride, using one of the other race's starting waypoints, entering a Mist Rift etc.), the game's pathfinding will calculate that the shortest route to their personal story mission is through the asura gate hub in Lion's Arch.
When the approach the asura gate in a foreign captial below level 35 on a Play-for-free account, access will be blocked.
(Yes, seasoned players know that there are actually two green personal story markers: the green star is the final destination, the green swirl is the closest zone/instance gateway/transition, but new players often don't realize that for quite a while.)
This can be very confusing and is a potential quit moment.
It is my conviction that identifying and eliminating early game quit moments is one of the most important tasks of MMO game designers.
I believe it is worth the development time to adapt the pathfinding algorithm to account for play-for-free restrictions, to not lose players here,
but only you have the metrics of how many people stop playing after approaching a locked asura gate to Lion's Arch while on their personal story (at least I hope you do).

The Quit Moment - Why Games Lose Players | Josh Strife Hayes

Edited August 11 by Kerbezena.3804
appeal for investing development time to not lose players based on metrics

[Dean Calaway.9718]

I can tell you another even worse quitting moment:

Player gets their base 20 slot bag filled with stuff, press the + icon on the inventory window and boom, gem store.

They don't know they can add bags to their free slots, and they further don't know all the trophy items from quests can be discarded.

During the early hours the game should force players to equip another bag, and we should have a 3rd tab for event items that could clear itself after log off and/or daily reset.

Also having low level armor and weapons that can't be salvaged or sold is a hindrance, I've seen people saving those "because it might unlock a secret later."

[Linken.6345]

So waypointing back to your starting maps are not an option anymore?

[Safphyre.9657]

just play the game till you are high enough to go through the portals.. why would you wanna go into a level 35 area if you are under level 10? the game is designed to let you level up and get to know your skills/ area before moving forward. but ya.. asura gates are restricted to new accounts till level 18. its the way it is.

[Kerbezena.3804]

14 hours ago, Safphyre.9657 said:

just play the game till you are high enough to go through the portals.. why would you wanna go into a level 35 area if you are under level 10? the game is designed to let you level up and get to know your skills/ area before moving forward. but ya.. asura gates are restricted to new accounts till level 18. its the way it is.

You misunderstand. "why would you wanna go into a level 35 area if you are under level 10?" tells me that you misread my first sentence.
I am very much in favor of taking things slow and leveling naturally. (I'm not aware of a restriction on Asura gates til level 18, only that they are introduced via the level up dialogue for level 18. An unlocked account (pre-HoT account or with any expansion) can use them earlier I believe, but that's besides the point.)

Consider this: A character is currently exploring in a 15-25 zone like Brisban Wildlands, Kessex Hills, Snowden Drifts, or Diessa Plateau. They have just hit level 20 and unlocked their chapter 2 personal story. They chance upon a Mist Rift at one of these locations [Map of Mist Rift locations], and either through figuring it out on their own or with help from another player, enter it. After defeating the Mist Stalker inside, they will be transported across Tyria to any random location.
When they now want to follow their personal story quest, the green marker, they may likely be led into a foreign capital and to the Asura Portal to Lion's Arch.

On 8/11/2024 at 8:46 PM, Linken.6345 said:

So waypointing back to your starting maps are not an option anymore?

Of course I know that you can waypoint close to the actual location of the story instance, but do you honestly think that the green marker leading to a blocked Asura Portal is intended behavior?