175 replies to this topic

[Blackadder]

The game is just not enjoyable, and the new player experience is very bad. heck its currently not that great for experienced players due to how bad the matchmaking system is, and PGI's refusal to do something remotely logical in regards to it.

To break it down:

1. lack of any in game social interaction isolates all players, only experienced online gamers will really use voice comms. Forcing players to download a 3rd party program just to talk to other people about the game is bad design, and lack of chat is not acceptable to most people these days. People play games in part for the social interaction.

2. Trial mechs completely useless. New players must suffer through multiple losses/self destruct mode, to even attempt to learn the game basics.

3. Bad tutorials, lack of new player matchmaking to let players fight other new players. Hvaing to grind mindlessly while getting crushed is not fun so you can mabye buy one mech.

once you get beyond the beginner level, you then have to put up with terrible match making, overpowered FOTM weapons builds, overpowered ECM, and coolant flush stacking which will completely turn the game into an alpha strike fest, and make it mandatory to run mechs with multiple module slots.

[jackal40]

The lack of any decent training tutorial and the inability for a new player to try out the game without being dropped into a furball right off are the problem. When I started MWO last month, I had the advantage of having three friends who had played much longer. I'm no stranger to complex games and with their help I was able to learn the controls in about 10 matches.

Now, if training grounds allowed you to drop with some firends - there would be a great advantage in the learning process. I don't want to use WoT as an example BUT in WoT our clan used to drop together. We worked on tactics for a map, learned the pecularities of a new tank, weak spots, etc. There's no option for that right now.

Also, the lack of in-game chat and new control options hampers communication. Why would I want to type a question when my mech stops moving while I type? I don't want to be a sitting duck because I'm trying to scream for help. We need some hot keys with predefined messages, i.e. F1 Help!, F2 They are here.

[Perigren]

How about a finished game? Multi player is only half a game and needs a sp campaign to make it worth while.

As an example take Mech 3, it had a campaign which I played through several times before I even knew what MP was, I went and played on the zone confident I knew what I was doing only to find out it was completely different online.

This did not deter me because I already had a decent grasp of the mech lab, the mechanics of piloting a mech and targeting, all from playing the campaign.

I played MW3 from 1999 till it shut down and beyond, MW4 in all its flavors paled to MW3 and held little appeal for me and didn't last long for me and MW:O even less so.

This post is not intended as an anti MW:O post, quite the contrary it is intended to shed some light on the situation as I see it.I sincerely hope MW:O is a success.

Peace

[MaddMaxx]

Rabid Imp, on 23 March 2013 - 03:01 AM, said:

custom trial mechs would be nice, the normal trial mechs really do blow.

That is only true due to the fact that they face off versus fully Custom jobs.

[Tetatae Squawkins]

Trial mechs need to be scrapped in their entirety. They were never a good idea.

The game needs a real tutorial.

We need more mechanics to support the community. Call it CW Lite. Add chat lobby system. The ability to easily match up specific teams without having to sync drop. A few bits of cosmetic swag for groups to fight over.

[MrPenguin]

The community

[Thirdstar]

Perigren, on 23 March 2013 - 07:52 AM, said:

How about a finished game? Multi player is only half a game and needs a sp campaign to make it worth while.

As an example take Mech 3, it had a campaign which I played through several times before I even knew what MP was, I went and played on the zone confident I knew what I was doing only to find out it was completely different online.

As someone who would also like an SP campaign, I'd say that's it's very unlikely to happen in the near-future (read ever).

Which is why we need that tutorial.

[Tetatae Squawkins]

MrPenguin, on 23 March 2013 - 08:03 AM, said:

The community

All game communities larger than a few hundred people are terrible. If that is enough to scare someone off they don't need to be playing online games.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

simple fix to this ENTIRE new player interest/experience problem



ADD A PROPER TUTORIAL LEVEL THAT TEACHES NEW PLAYERS THE GAME MECHANICS LIKE EVERY OTHER MECHWARRIOR/PROFESSIONAL MADE GAME EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shiro Matsumoto]

1) Make a new Training Mission.. fully voiced, cool.. like a training run at an academy. in the end they get their graduation. Break down mission to parts you can replay singly.. like "walk over to the Jump tutorial, and only test that".

2) They get either a money allowance of, say 3-6 Million, or a choice of 1 out of 2-4 mechs. Keep the trial mechs as tryouts.

3) Make the Training mission available any time, and give a test area, like the other training fields with a few shoot-at props, if they just want to refamiliarize.

4) Make a new version of the Chameleon Training mech

EDITH says:

5) Make in an Instance i can go in with a group to test out together. If Prettyplease: make it so you can duel.

Edited by John McFianna, 01 April 2013 - 04:07 PM.

[gautrek]

RG Notch, on 23 March 2013 - 07:01 AM, said:

The continuing narrative of why new players quit is, based on what PGI has said and what most people who say their friends quit, is these people are morons.

You sir are a complete and utter [REDACTED]I stopped playing this game after a few matches in the closed beta because it was just not fun.
I have read about and played the table top game from way back when,have played all the mech games up to mech 4 which I didn't like.I loved mech commander but then hated the second one.
I understand stuff like torso twist and Alpha strikes and other words and lore.But unfortunately in its current state I don't know if I will ever come back.I pop over to the forums most nights to keep abreast of what's happening game wise.But there is nothing that I have seen since I last played to make me come back.
I just don't like the game.(sorry PGI)
Simples.
and then there is stuff like Firefall coming out (which I am in the beta of so between playing WOT(2 years of play and counting(plus a lot of RL money)) and that I don't have much time for a game I have lost interest in).
But to call people like me a moron is a joke mate.We all have our reasons for not playing and that includes my 3 mates who tried at the game at the same time I was playing.not one of us has been back since.So that 4 prospective players lost to PGI.
Of which the main reason that they stopped was the god awful trial mechs and the 8 nil stomps we got handed to night after night.Dying every game to an 8 nil loss is just not fun.

Edited by Dakkath, 23 March 2013 - 10:12 AM.
Keep it clean. Last warning.

[Phlyk]

buttmonkey, on 23 March 2013 - 03:19 AM, said:

they can ask in these channels for a guild and find one relatively quickly, or even use the guild finder.
more importantly they feel like they are not playing on their own!

I think an in-game global lobby would be of great benefit to new players. People need somewhere to ask new-player-style questions.

EDIT: When I first downloaded the game and clicked the 'launch' button and was immediately thrust into a PvP match, I was so shocked. I was so certain that it would launch me into a tutorial mode. After all, I'd picked a trial mech.

I shouldn't have to go onto Youtube to find out how to play a game.

Edited by Phlyk, 23 March 2013 - 08:16 AM.

[maXe72]

As i am relativley new to this game these were my first impessions:

1. At the beginning i was just overstressed by controlling the mech because of indep. Arm/Torso
movement in combination with all time different maps AND the
outstanding performance ( or my poor...) of the players i had been dropped with.
If i start to play a new game i play the (MWO missing) solo campaign to get some "gamefeel".
If i then start to play online, i normally filter a specific map wich i play over and over and so on.

2. There are some annoying bugs (no Hud, Minimap failure ...) which hardend the gameplay for noobs.

3. You have to use some external mechlab to play around with different setting/ weapon combos whithout
costing you massive C-Bills.

4. It REALLY sucks to get stompped over and over again, that is a real pain !

5. The Trial Mechs are a joke, they are not competitive.

6. There are a few things (ECM, TAG, Target marking...) wich influence each other.
These "mechanics" arent easy to understand for a rookie.

Without this Forum i was completely lost.
Even thinked about quitting, but i liked these unique MWO gameplay and decided to go through
these needed 300 matches to get some sort of control.

Edited by maXe72, 23 March 2013 - 08:28 AM.

[Bishop Steiner]

I'm fairly certain the overwhelming negativity, arrogance and ignorance rampant on the forums, in particular, GenDis, does nothing to help.

In game, while the training grounds is a step in the right direction, I would agree it needs a proper tutorial to go with.

A proper lobby with ingame chat, instead of 3rd party software would certainly help.

Duuming the game to "Call of Mechs" might seem like a good idea for maintaining the casual base, but MW:O will never be able to compete with big money studios for that. What will keep it afloat is depth, and the semi-sum complexity, IF it can be introduced through a tutorial. I personally don't get what is so hard about turning torsos and legs, but it is what it is. We should neither expect, nor want to keep every casual here if by doing so we have to become a totally different game than previous MW titles, a cookie cutter clone of other games.

I'm fairly certain the overwhelming negativity, arrogance and ignorance rampant on the forums, in particular, GenDis, does nothing to help.

In game, while the training grounds is a step in the right direction, I would agree it needs a proper tutorial to go with.

A proper lobby with ingame chat, instead of 3rd party software would certainly help.

Duuming the game to "Call of Mechs" might seem like a good idea for maintaining the casual base, but MW:O will never be able to compete with big money studios for that. What will keep it afloat is depth, and the semi-sum complexity, IF it can be introduced through a tutorial. I personally don't get what is so hard about turning torsos and legs, but it is what it is. We should neither expect, nor want to keep every casual here if by doing so we have to become a totally different game than previous MW titles, a cookie cutter clone of other games.

[KingCobra]

Wildcat2013, on 23 March 2013 - 03:00 AM, said:

Include a stock-only game mode.

I agree it would help new players alot even if it was just for 48-72 hours they would be in that queue only. It also would be far more balanced that throwing them all in with the wolfish premades and elite pugs. And that is leaving the trial mechs as is yes they overheat but after a few hours players would learn how to control there heat and basic movement. Also a few tutorial PVE missions would help so they could understand some basic tactics and skill. But the whole thing boils down to WHY have they made MWO so boring and grindy when it could have been a exciting in-depth involved MMORPG?

Edited by KingCobra, 23 March 2013 - 08:17 AM.

[maXe72]

KingCobra, on 23 March 2013 - 08:16 AM, said:

But the whole thing boils down to WHY have they made MWO so boring and grindy when it could have been a exciting in-depth involved MMORPG?

Hmm.. is it boring ?
Dont think so.

[Captain Wolfsburg]

MustrumRidcully, on 23 March 2013 - 02:55 AM, said:

I mean, one thing seems obvious. We really need a real tutorial. If you have any idea how to design this tutorial, make sure to mention it.
.

Tutorial should be easy to figure out, for any developer.

The tutorial should be split into several sections, or lessons, and in the vein of a cadet going through field training.

Lesson 1: Basic movement

Lesson 2: Advanced Movement

Lesson 3: Basic Combat

Lesson 4: General Combat Tactics

Lesson 5: Advanced Maneuvers and Combat Tactics.

At the end of these lessons, the player should be able to choose one of maybe 3 or 4 mechs (preferably mediums) to use has his starting mech.

It would also be a good idea to have a small mech customization tutorial, and to give the starting player maybe 200,000 C-bills to start.

This has been done in previous titles and works just fine. Not sure why it hasn't been implemented here, especially with the issues they've been having keeping new players around. I would think this would be priority 1 at this point.

[Tickdoff Tank]

Rabid Imp, on 23 March 2013 - 03:01 AM, said:

custom trial mechs would be nice, the normal trial mechs really do blow.

Judging by the "Heavy Trial Mech contest" the devs agree with you and are attempting to improve the situation.

[MustrumRidcully]

RG Notch, on 23 March 2013 - 07:01 AM, said:

The continuing narrative of why new players quit is, based on what PGI has said and what most people who say their friends quit, is these people are morons. Torso twisting is to much for them to grasp. The learning curve is too high. Oh well lets basically dumb the game down so these folks can play. We've already had arm lock and throttle decay and 3rd person is coming. I say just get rid of heat management and weapon groups, just let every one alpha strike and make all weapons lock on and we'll have a huge hit on our hands.

Who's the greater moron:
The one that doesn't intuitively grasp a complex control system not found in other games of similar genres (First Person Shooters, Flight Simulators), or the one that doesn't provide a good introduction to the players to these controls?

Have you ever played a Flight Simulator that focused on simulation, with things like flaps, rudders, pitch and yaw controls, radar systems and an assortment of short range, long range, air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and what not, in the middle of flight with no instructors but 15 other guys that are itching for a fight and know what they are doing? How well do you think you would fare?

[MustrumRidcully]

crabcakes66, on 23 March 2013 - 08:07 AM, said:

All game communities larger than a few hundred people are terrible. If that is enough to scare someone off they don't need to be playing online games.

I don't know, i have much more positive experiences.

A game like Startrek Online has a General Chat where everyone can talk and ask his "stupid" beginner question. Sure, there are asshats around that might insult you for asking a question or whatever, but hell, there is always someone that will try to help you.

But MW:O already fails here because it doesn't even have a General Chat. Any question you have must be asked in the forums, or during a match. And even those with the best will to help a noob will have trouble providing assistance because the chat interface sucks and you're too busy fighting anyway.