Regarding Locked Gates

If this preview event is true to the rest of the continent--and if it will stay this way to release--then it seems Anet is actually getting rid of the locked gates, but still forcing you to do the primary quests in order to actually do the missions.

Case in point: you can get to Jokanur Diggings as soon as you want, just hurry over there, but until you get and do the requisite primary quest, you don't get to do the mission.

Is this a compromise the explorers out there are willing to live with?

Personally, I would be very happy if this were indeed the case

I've nearly beaten the event (I think, anyway). This is, indeed, the case: Blacktide Den works in the same manner. Whether it will work this way at release remains to be seen, but for the moment, I know for a fact this is how it works.

there are locked gates, don't know what yer talking about sir!

try rushing to Beknur Harbor.

locked! until you have the right quests done##.

yay for locked gates ^^

I would say yes.

1 It forces people to actually do the missions.
2 The process to level up and get military titles if fairly easy. Took me a bit to understand the Resurrection Shrine folk.
3 You can explore as you like in Istan. This was a nice treat to the ridged ness of Cantha.

There is also a locked gate to Blackdtide from Dohjok, but if you enter Faranur from Diggings then head south. There is no locked gate to enter Blacktide from there.

I'm a huge proponent of locked gates, myself, but I'm not opposed to this system, either

And Beknur Harbor is not locked--or at least it wasn't for me. Whether by glitch or by design, I was able to simply walk through the gate.

The gate was closed for me and I still got to zone in. Maybe was just bugged. But the outpost east of that was locked and I couldn't enter until I met the requirements. I don't really mind locked gates personally... but my tune always changes with the 3rd or 4th character to go through the game and deal with them...

Funny, I walked right through the door at around L5 and made myself a party of 6 level 12's, and then went back out the way I came in

That's good. I'm glad to see the locked gates concept is done away with. It made Cantha just that much less enjoyable. What's this promotion point stuff? Is it yet another new "farming" crap we have to do?

Meh, its kinda stupid in a way, as they're basically still sticking to the lock concept w/o the actual physical barrier. I simply don't get why they can't just go back to the original prophecies system. It works out for everyone, hardcore players get to play all they want and the rest of us get to do our business, no one stepping on other people's toes, people free to do what they want.

If anything, atleast I like the ability that its much more explorable than factions, and the environment is more pleasing, I don't really mind doing missions in NF as much as I did in cantha, atleast this is my 1st impression, might change on the actual game.

im happy with that locked gates spoiled the fun of factions for me

There was one locked gate in a town (forget which it was) that I was able to zone through. However there is a locked gate leading to Kodlonu Hamlet, located at the far east end of Issnur Isles. No primaries left in my list but maybe I missed one somewhere. So it seems there will indeed be gates.

The explorers can still explore and reach new locations. The people who want to be run can still get run for their new armour and skills. However you still have to complete the story. Much better than Factions.

There is a back way to Beknur Harbor from the bog too, but the boatmen dialog is inactive...

Basically There will be a back way for most areas in a region but locked between regions untill primaries are complete. Then the quest allows for dialog with the approprate NPC to open the gate or boatmen.

I have the full map now (For the preview) and still have several quests to do yet...

Just focus on the primaries first... that gets you the furthest as fast as possible...

Basically this was true for Factions as well, but it was not as intuitive...