As of current, Diving Points and Underwater Structures don’t have a proper introduction for new players; stuff like the importance of them as sources of exp, the fact that some of them are inaccessible early on due to lower max stamina or no potions to help the exploration.
Introductory Quest
A Diver wearing a jacket will be stationed near one of Frostmill Island’s smaller icebergs; once spoken to they’ll talk about a chart that can guide them to a treasure, but they’re too tired to go there so they want the player to in their stead to share the rewards.
The quest will:
- Introduce the player to Diving Points and explain what they are
- Warn the player of the possible risks while exploring a Diving Point (jellyfishes, sharks, sea urchins and whatever else)
- Tell the player that potions can help a lot with exploring Diving Points
- Tell the player how to find Diving Points and how deep they are
At the end of the quest you will be told about the existence of Underwater Structures and how they’re much better than Diving Points but are also way more dangerous.
Concept for the Quest Giver:
Enizor’s Shop
While also being able to enchant your gear early on, he should also have a shop that sells T1 and (rarely) T2 potions that are low in stock and have a low potency.
While this serves as a boost to Diving Points, it does also make him a lot more useful and introduces players a lot earlier to potions.
This does not inhibit the player’s ability to make potions as the ones made by Enizor would be low tier and not last long.
Diving Gear
As the next update will make Abyssal Diving possible, there should also be gear that can enhance your capabilities, such as, but not limited to: increased oxygen, increased stamina regen while near kelp (?), lower aggro range, better detection, better reagent looting (?) and so on.
Concept for a possible starter set related to Diving, with some perks related to it:
Diving Down
Pressing T underwater will make the player dash downwards, scaling with Agility and Swimming Speed.
Better Visibility
While increasing visibility underwater (lowering the blur effect) is an option, another one could be chests emitting bubbles to indicate their position.
Concept for bubbles rising up:
Final Thoughts
These ideas should be able to make the introduction to Diving Points smoother towards the new player; it’s not just the way they’re presented, but how they’re accessed as potions are an important factor in this case, and with Enizor being able to sell low tier potions, not only would players find Diving Points more bearable early on, but also an actual - enjoyable - option.
The addition of letting players dive by pressing T underwater would make this process faster as a diving button would also help with exploration overall; a side note to this, maybe instead of just diving downwards it could work depending on where your character/camera is facing to allow a smoother way to introduce diving.
tl;dr new quest to introduce diving points, player can press T to ‘high jump’ underwater, diving gear that boosts underwater exploration and Enizor being able to sell low tier potions to boost early game exploration while also introducing potions a lot earlier.